5 ethical eating habits to fully embrace
5 ethical eating habits to fully embrace
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the ethical concerns surrounding our food choices? It can be hard to do what’s right all the time. Which is why it works best to take a few simple principles and adhere to them as and when we can.
Keep it simple. Find balance. Avoid giving yourself guilt trips. While food debates continue to rage on around the ethics of meat, dairy, veganism, sugar and preservatives, packaging, pesticides, food miles, and so on - we can stay informed WITHOUT feeling desperately like we’re failing to do enough.
There is a lot of focus on our dietary choices, and that’s how it should be. It’s right that we treat this as an ongoing area for change and improvement. Food accounts for over a quarter (26 percent) of global greenhouse gas emissions, so the way we eat and consume lies at the very heart of tackling climate change.
But what are the most important things we can do day-to-day, to lessen our impact? Here are five basic ethical eating habits to try and stick to…
Turn your back on packaged foods
There may be a lot of talk around recycling, but the reality is the majority of the world’s food packaging is single use and NOT recycled. Here in the UK, only one third of plastic food packaging is dropped in the recycling bin. Huge amounts of low grade plastic are thrown into landfill every year, and end up polluting our waterways and threatening the lives of millions of marine animals. Avoiding packaged foods helps reduce the impact of its production on the planet, while also making a clear statement to the industry.
But let’s not forget the benefits to our health! Shunning these processed foods reduces our intake of salt, saturated fat and synthetic ingredients such as flavourings and preservatives.
Of course it's not easy turning our back on convenience. Finding time to make things from scratch, visit bulk stores or source eco-friendlier goods with compostable or biodegradable packaging requires real effort and a willingness to reprioritise. Planning our week’s meals and even working our diaries around meal prep can make a huge difference.
A study by consumer body Which? found 29 per cent of all plastic packaging used by British supermarkets was either non-recyclable or difficult to recycle.
2. Eat less meat
Eating less meat is one of the most important things we can do to lessen our carbon footprint. If not THE most important. While so much focus is placed on sourcing our food locally, it’s WHAT we’re eating that should be front and centre. The livestock sector accounts for about 14.5 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions so is a huge area of opportunity to counter global warming.
Rejecting factory farmed meat can not only help reduce emissions of methane and nitrous oxide (the most harmful of greenhouse gases) but also encourage us to delve deeper into our food sources. Ask your butcher for meat farmed with respect for animal welfare and the environment. Double or triple your veggie intake, and explore new meal ideas and recipes!
3. COOK more FROM SCRATCH
Cooking with real food, using fresh raw ingredients, boosts health and wellbeing as we get far more nutrition from food this way. Our approach to food changes too; we develop more of a gratitude mindset and start to view cooking as a privilege rather than a chore.
It inspires healthier eating in our children, encourages us to sit down with our families, and enables us to get right up close to the source of our food, supporting local growers and producers. Plus, it’s generally more cost efficient, not to mention satisfying!
“Cooking is at once child’s play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.”
Save favourite recipes to Pinterest boards and plan meals in advance. Enjoy the process by allowing time to cook rather than squeezing it in amongst other things. Mindful cooking has all kinds of psychological and emotional benefits, and in itself is an act of self care.
4. WASTE IS ONLY WASTE…
…if we waste it! How true these words are (spoken by vegan superstar Will.i.am.) Ethical eating is a lot to do with the value we place on our food, and how we handle and manage it. This means cooking and eating mindfully, planning our meals for the week ahead, and being smart with leftovers and the volumes we’ve purchased and cooked in order to limit our waste.
Batch cooking and freezing can play a big role in this. Freezing veggie scraps to use later in stocks, soups, smoothies or sauces is a great way to rescue those from the bin. And of course composting is a key part of reducing the food wastage that winds up in landfill.
Take inspiration from low waste chefs like Max La Manna (check out his Instagram!) and download apps such as Olio, ShareWaste and Too Good to Go to connect with others in your neighbourhood sharing composts or food that would otherwise go in the bin.
5. SAY NO TO GMOS
You only need do a little research to learn that Genetically Modified Organisms are a risk to our health and cause problems for the planet such as biodiversity loss. Genetically modified crops require high doses of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers which are associated with nitrous oxide emissions - 300 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. The impact of GMO on human health is not fully known but has been linked to cancers, chronic illness, diabetes, autism, allergies and reproductive disorders.
Buying organic can be pricey, but if we approach it in a small, staggered way - with perhaps just two to three switches in your weekly shop at first - you’ll find it’s more feasible. Other aspects of your food shop might change (for example, eating less meat!), and you’ll find ways to save money elsewhere.
What to switch first as priority? Consider organic meats (seeing you’re buying it less often), dairy products, and organic rice. If you’ve access to local organic producers or a veggie box scheme, this is often the cheapest way of buying organic produce. Below are high versus low priority lists for organic fruit and veg:
BEST TO BUY ORGANIC:
Apples, Tomatoes, Spinach, Cucumbers, Celery, Potatoes, Peaches, Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Sweet bell peppers, Grapes, Nectarines, Kale, Green beans, Salad leaves, Fresh herbs, Broccoli, Carrots, Cherries.
LOWER PRIORITY:
Onions, Oranges, Bananas, Mangoes, Pineapple, Sweet potatoes, Avocados, Kiwi, Aubergine, Melon, Sweetcorn, Asparagus, Mushrooms, Grapefruit, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Peas (frozen).
TALK ABOUT IT: What do you find you’re having most success with, in terms of these ethical eating habits? Please share successes or challenges…
