Have you ever heard of a planetarian diet before? Maybe you never heard of that before, different from the other diets such as Vegan diet, pescetarian, reducetarian or flexitarian which has been widely known by people. As the name implies, this diet means eating foods that are low in carbon production and aim to reduce environmental problems.
As we know the vegan diet means not consuming animal ingredients at all, the pescatarian diet means avoiding meat but still eating fish while the flexitarian diet is those who increase vegetable consumption and consume only a few animal products.
This new diet is carried out with a focus on maintenance and concern for the environment with the aim of reducing environmental problems and global warming. The EAT-Lancet Commission is an international organization whose task is to determine targets for sustainable food production and they have announced these new types of diets. The commission hopes that this diet can have a very positive impact.
Their official website explains, “Today, global food production is the single biggest driver of environmental degradation, climate instability, and violations of planetary boundaries. Unhealthy diets are now a major risk factor for the global burden of disease with increasing rates of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. ”
This diet can save around 11 million lives every year if this pattern is applied and will eventually be able to stop climate change and prevent damage to the surrounding environment.
How to do the Planetarian Diet?
Dieters are advised to eat up to 2,500 calories per day consisting of a variety of plant foods, unsaturated fats, and reduce animal foods, processed grains, processed foods, and added sugars. Basically, this diet cuts the amount of consumption of red meat and sugar in half, then increases the intake of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. It is also important to keep eating vegetables and fruits with half of each meal.
What can be consumed in the Planetarian Diet?
You are allowed to eat meat in moderation, but the guidelines state that diets should focus more on fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and vegetable protein. The diet also suggests cutting meat consumption because meat contributes to increasing economic and social costs from poor public health.
The advantage of this diet is that if it can be adopted globally, nearly 12 million early deaths can be avoided every year. It should be underlined that sodium reduction and increased consumption of grains, beans, vegetables, and fruits contribute the most to preventing death, according to a health report published in The Lancet.
As we know that unhealthy eating patterns are a major cause of bad health that is found throughout the world. Unhealthy diets such as consuming lots of meat are considered to have a greater risk of morbidity and mortality than a combination of unsafe sex, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
“Agricultural products in poor countries must be increased to create a sustainable and healthy world,” said Johan Rockström at the Stockholm Resilience Center, Sweden, who was one of the report’s authors. Another author is Walter Willett, MD., A professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health says a healthy planetary diet is not a diet to reduce weight but rather how to eat healthily. Although the purpose of this diet is to make the planet healthier, human health must be considered. That is why on a planetarian diet it is permissible to consume only small amounts of meat.
