Sustainability in your diet
I read the article about the 2015 Dietary Guidelines omitting sustainability and would love for you to give more details about how important sustainability is in our diet and lifestyle!
Food for profit as opposed to food for health can differentiate if it is sustainable food. How can we tell? As an instructor, I always remind, if it was made in a plant, do not eat it! If it was made from a plant, eat it! That is sustainability! Most sustainable foods do not have to be labeled sustainable because they are real foods that our bodies were designed to eat. Not only are they healthy foods for us to eat, they are also healthy for the soil and the environment. In addition, sustainable foods, should be humane for all farm employees, provide fair compensation to the farmer and support the local economy. According to Shikha Nepal, with Connecting Innovators with Market Influences, he states that many large companies have made a major shift toward being a sustainable company. This major shift has compelled others to not only get involved in major activities related to sustainability and social development, but also to integrate sustainability and corporate social responsibility as part of their core strategies. That is why the disappointment, with the newly government released 2015 Dietary Guidelines, that make no reference to sustainability! Sustainable food is what people ate for thousands of years, up until the 20th century! Is the time not right for incorporating sustainability within our food supply? We are already utilizing renewable energy sources like wind and solar power as excellent examples of development strategies that are sustainable. Just last week, during the Greenbuild show in New Orleans, Building Green, Inc, announced its annual top 10 sustainable building products list, now in its 13th year. In my travels around the world, I see sustainability being practiced, from hotels proudly claiming their sustainable efforts through housekeeping, restaurants claiming sustainable foods on their menus to the option of renting an electric car. Sustainability as it applies to our food industry is behind the times! Together we can all educate our society on the importance of sustainability!
Thought for the week: Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it. Lou Holtz
Next free nutrition class is 7 p.m. Nov. 9 at Organic Emporium.
Phylis B. Canion is a doctor of naturopathic medicine and is a certified nutritional consultant; email her at firstname.lastname@example.org. This column is for nutritional information only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or cure.
-By Phylis Canion