HEALTHY EATING, HEALTHY PLANET?

Red Paw Paw, fresh local Queensland fruit

What makes a healthy life and how does taking care of ourselves affect the planet? Every human activity from basic provision of food has an impact on nature. As our numbers grow the effects are intensified. 



Food choices also trigger trends in  how and what food is available to us. While working towards a healthy body you can also reduce the impact on the planet. 

Do we need to eat as much as we do? Sometimes just eating less can improve our health. Lower food intakes draw more lightly on our resources with less waste products produced. 


Highly processed foods often strip away desirable properties including fibre, vitamins or minerals (sometimes being added back later). The more highly processed foods are the greater the environmental impact -- more energy and water are used and emissions from processing, handling and transportation are created. 


Where we choose food that has been changed less usually less changes will occur to the environment. 


We are increasingly aware that chemicals used in the primary production of food can accumulate as toxins in our bodies. Some chemicals pass through our bodies before eventually being expelled through ocean outfalls joining other pollution entering from the land to the sea. 


Eating fish? Many top choice fish from the wild have depleted in alarming numbers however you can make sustainable fish choices. For easy reference download Australia's Sustainable Seafood Mini Guide at the Australian Marine Conservation Society here. If you are a school you may be inspired to see how Palm Beach Currumbin Senior High School students are working on a local communication project related to sustainable fishing here


Be healthy, make healthy choices for yourself and the environment. Keep it simple, natural, fresh, local and as sustainable as possible to tread more lightly on our injured planet. 










www.ausmepa.org.au