Healthy eating can protect you from diseases and prolong your life, but it turns out that not only humans can benefit from this. Switching your diet to a healthier one can save the environment as well, as greenhouse gas emissions resulting from crops and food productions would drop.
Healthy eating cuts the greenhouse gas emissions
We already know that healthy eating works wonders on our bodies. However, it doesn’t mean that we have to make drastic changes, such as going vegan or giving up gluten. Experts say that merely sticking to the dietary recommendations issued by nutritionists should be enough to benefit the environment, not only our health.
A recent study analyzed a hypothesis where the inhabitants of 28 countries with high incomes, such as US, Germany, or Japan would stick to the nutritional guidelines issued by each government. The results showed that greenhouse gas emissions related to food production would fall by almost 10 percent, from 25 percent to 13 percent.
However, these are not the only beneficial changes. Switching to healthy eating should reduce the surface of land needed for food production by almost 17 percent. While it doesn’t sound impressive at a first glance, it’s would still be a major improvement.
Everything people have to do is stick to the dietary guidelines
Food production is an important source of greenhouse gases. The growing and harvesting of crops, livestock, and the transportation of all the products contributes to as much as 30 percent of all gas emissions. However, healthy eating of more natural foods that don’t require much fertilizer can really work wonders.
If you want to embrace healthy eating completely, there are plenty of diets you can opt for in your everyday life, as anything can contribute to saving the environment. Of course, the change needs to be adopted by a large number of people, but anything is welcome.
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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