Kate Geagan

GREEN Topics

Experience lean, green cuisine for yourself.

No matter where you are in your own journey about the food you eat and the impact it has your health, your weight, your energy levels, your life, and the earth, these resources will help move you towards delicious, satisfying and totally doable food that is better for you and the planet.


Your L.E.A.N. Cheat Sheet

Don’t have all the info about a product? Not sure where to start? You’re not alone.

LLocal or global? Where did your food start out? Strive to eat locally and regionally as much as your area allows.

EEnergy? How much energy did it take to bring the food to your plate, including processing, packaging, transportation and temperature of food?

AAnimal or plant? Plant is usually always a leaner AND greener choice.

NNecessary: Be honest here. Is it a critical item that meets BOTH your health and you weight goals? If so, can you find it in an Eco-Friendly label (see below)?


Shortcuts!

Not ready to change your diet? Five Quick Shortcuts to Trim Your Carbon Footprint Without Altering Your Diet

Most Americans have no idea that their food choices are accelerating global warming. Here are four quick shortcuts anyone can take right now to have an impact—so easy that your family will barely notice.

  • Shop Eco-Friendly labels. Switching to eco-friendly versions of your foods can significantly lessen the impact of your current diet. Look for labels such as Certified Organic, Rainforest Alliance Certified, Bird Friendly, Marine Stewardship Council, Food Alliance, Fair Trade Certified, Grass-Fed, Certified Humane Raised and Handled, and r-BGH free.
  • Take less. Here’s the truth: most of us are eating way more than we need. Slow your carbon and calorie burn by serving less food, using smaller plates, cups and snack bags. And by all means AVOID being supersized at restaurants and movies in the name of “saving a buck”...
  • Eliminate your food waste. A UK study found consumers on average throw away 1/3 of the food they buy (from spoilage, plate waste, etc.) This not only wastes money and resources, but food emits methane from landfills, which is 23x as powerful as carbon in warming our atmosphere. Save leftovers. Buy frozen naked fruits and veggies if your produce bin tends to spoil.
  • Equip Your Kitchen For Green Cuisine: Energy Star Rated appliances, smarter cooking methods, and composting your waste are just a few easy ways you can trim one of the biggest pieces of your “food footprint”-home storage and preparation (which can be up to 30% of a food’s total footprint).
  • Concentrate: Concentrated juices are greener because they have smaller, lighter packages that use less fossil fuel to make and ship. The same goes for tea bags instead of bottled tea and bouillon cubes instead of broths.

 

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Top 25 Tips for Lean & Green Eating

To be sure, “green” is an immense category. So this is my boiled down essential list to bring you to a core of healthy and delicious eating that gets you shedding carbon and excess weight at the same time.

  1. Eat less red meat. The amount of beef in your diet is one of the biggest factors in your global impact. Instead, Swap vegetables for red meat 2 days a week (even more if you can!)
  2. Ban the bottled water. Liquids are one of the heaviest items to ship, and there’s perfectly good water coming out of your tap (invest in a good filter if you’re concerned).
  3. Celebrate 1 ingredient foods. Beans. Fruit. Fish. You get it-use these as the mainstay of a healthy diet.
  4. Start snacking sustainably-for your waist as well as your waste. Ditch the processed snack foods and choose whole, real foods instead.
  5. Be an efficient shopper-minimize shopping trips to different stores if possible, reuse bags, shop the bulk bins. Your habits as a shopper is one of the largest determinants of a food’s total footprint.
  6. Become a Locavore: eat locally (or regionally) and seasonally to the extent that you can.
  7. Compost your food waste. Food scraps are about 12% of a family’s household waste, and emit powerful warming gasses in landfill-regenerate them into healthy soil instead!
  8. Join a CSA (log onto www.localharvest.org). Community supported agriculture is one of the pillars of healthy, leaner, and more sustainable eating.
  9. Rediscover that beautiful kitchen-and use it more, and take out less. Dining out significantly increases a food’s carbon footprint, especially if there’s packaging.
  10. Enjoy a grassfed bison burger instead of beef.
  11. Get the dish on sustainable fish for your region: www.oceansalive.org.
  12. Put FISHPHONE on our speed dial; Text FISHPHONE: whether at a fish counter or a sushi bar, text the Blue Ocean Institute’s FishPhone at 30644 and enter FISH, followed by the type of fish you are considering. You’ll get a text back telling you if your catch is green or not.
  13. Get dirty: plant an herb pot, a windowsill, or a garden, whatever you can manage. The greenest food is something you grow yourself.
  14. Buy Barramundi. And Catfish. And Tilapia. US raised, plant eating fish are lean and green superfoods and much more sustainable then air flown salmon or tuna.
  15. Energy Efficient Appliances. Your fridge is one of the most energy-hungry appliances in your home-make sure it’s working as efficiently as possible.
  16. Drink at Home. Make your coffee at home and save money as well as the environment.
  17. Practice Hara Hachi Bu. This literally translates in Okinowan as “eat until you are 8 parts full”. Eat less. Take Less-and give your brain time to catch up with your stomach.
  18. Limit highly packaged “single serving” snacks, foods and beverages. Hit the bulk aisle and bulk up instead.
  19. Eat the greens and peels, too. Beet greens are super nutritious and often are sent to the landfill. Make sweet potato fries without peeling the potatoes, and enjoy produce with the skin on for added fiber and nutrition (scrub first).
  20. Cut the air travel: airplane transport guzzles 10 x the fossil fuel of going by truck (rail is even greener, boat is greenest). Fresh fish like sushi, Kobe beef (which must be slaughtered in Japan to be official) and highly perishable fruits like berries are often flown.
  21. Choose local artisan cheese. Now more than ever there are amazing artisan cheeses being made around the country. Save food miles and choose these rather than international ones.
  22. Total 3 oz day of any meat/fish. To truly bring your diet into the guidelines for a sustainable earth.
  23. Make your Rainforest Purchases eco-chic. The last remaining rainforests are acting like giant sinks for all of our carbon. Be sure your purchases from these regions (coffee, chocolate, spices, bananas) keep what’s left intact.
  24. Check the zipcode on that beef and OJ. Be sure it’s from USA and not Brazil or any other country where rainforest is often cleared to make room for production.
  25. Pack a PB&J for lunch. Make your own lunch and bring to work in reusable containers-and if it’s PB&J or almond butter with local jam on whole grain bread, it’s fast, easy, healthy and greener too.