What are the benefits of Sustainable Eating?

Sustainable eating is about choosing foods that are healthful to our environment AND our bodies. It’s about nourishing ourselves wholly and completely. Providing pleasure but preserving the food system for the future. It leads to healthy, thriving, individuals and communities, as well as a better, more balanced ecosystem. 

There are so many benefits when we lean towards sustainable eating:

• Optimum nutrition through a more natural nutrient dense food source (plant-based). These are proving to be the most ideal diets with not only weight loss, regaining energy and adding fiber to our diet, but scientifically proven to prevent and reverse certain illnesses (think Diabetes, Heart Disease, and even Cancer). 
• Improves the overall economic health and vitality of your local community. I am privileged to live in a rural farming area in Dothan, AL and truly believe in supporting the local farmers, their families, buying local and putting the money back into the community in which I reside. It's a win win. 
• Reduces the use of limited resources such as fossil fuels. And as the population moves from our pastoral roots towards a life centered about the thirsty industrial machine, it's crucial that we start moving into a greener and more abundant form of energy to minimize emissions. 
• Protects the environment from chemicals and practices that may harm us (farmer and/or consumer). It's better for our health, and our children's health, therefore cutting down future disease, allergies, etc. It also preserves the plants and animals and the nutrients in our soil. 

Some of us will never be able to grow our own food. I have been afforded the opportunity to have a small garden at my home and have been able to grow a few vegetables and herbs, but unless you're a farmer the best way to support the benefits of sustainable farming is to eat sustainably. Do it now! Take a look at what you have in your fridge. Think about where it came from. Do you know where it came from? Did you meet the farmer that produced it? Did you pick it up at the local farmers market? Did it come from Malaysia? A package? 

Here are a few tips to start eating sustainably:

• Shop local - Buy foods at local farmers markets. Local farmers are all about their communities. These are our neighbors. When we do this, this money stays within your local community. (And did I mention these foods are so much better for you?)
• Grow something - If you can, grow something. Start small if you have to. I always advise folks to take a look at what grows well in your local area. Is it tomatoes? Is it squash? Do a little research and then plant something and watch it grow. There is nothing more satisfactory (I suppose there is) than watching your own food grow and putting it on the plate!
• Bring up Conversations about FOOD - Get out in the local community and start talking with your local farmer (if you have them). Be curious as to where your food is coming from. Ask the local grocer where your food is sourced. Ask the server or manager at your favorite restaurant about the food on your plate and how it came to be. Start being more mindful. 
• Eat Seasonally - If it's possible, focus on foods that are available in season where you live and you'll be supporting sustainability. We know that berries are available in summer. Eat those in the summer. Squash and Zucchini as well. Then in the fall we will all be eating butternut squash! See what's available in your area and find recipes around that. 
• Update your Grocery List and Provider - Think bulk foods, more minimally processed foods, and more plant-based meals. This in turn translates into less packaging, less waste, less energy used to produce certain foods and fewer artificial ingredients — those not found in nature — and chemicals in the food system. 

Let's face it, our current Health-care system is a joke! So many of us are sick, lethargic, diabetic, and taking this pill and that (some, for the rest of our lives, so they've told us) and we feel no way out. Could it be that by changing our diets to a more sustainable eating - way of life - could just be the very thing that fixes this Health-care system? Not  Congress, nor our President. YOU could just be the one in control of that. 

Food is health! Health doesn't happen in the healthcare system nor does it happen by accident. It's what you do in your kitchen and what you intentionally eat 365 days a year. The question is, what's it worth? There is a price and that price is changing our diets, our lifestyle. But the end so justifies the means. 

There is great satisfaction in knowing that you are feeding yourself with the best possible ingredients and food you can find to stay healthy and that you actively support sustainable agriculture, your community and your beautiful world!

​This post was written by Susan Avello, Personal Chef at Lean Bean Chef Personal Chef Services in Dothan Alabama - offering Healthy Meal Prep, Meal Planning, Private Cooking Classes, Private Dinner Parties and Education on Healthy Eating. ​