Looking to act more sustainably for your New Year’s Resolution? One of the most effective ways to drastically reduce your carbon and water footprints is through diet.
Now before you roll your eyes at this post and think, “Yeah dieting has been on my resolution list every year for my entire life and look how that’s turned out for me…” I want you to pause and think hard about your motivation. For instance, when I was in high school and early college, I tried time and time again to eat vegetarian for a week, but every time I failed because my motivations were not good enough. I could only see vegetarianism as a way to deprive myself of foods I loved. Ultimately, it took seeing my environmental footprint to transform my mindset and to truly believe “I need to eat vegetarian for the sake of the planet, and for the first time, I actually want to.”
So how can you set yourself up to succeed at cutting out meat? Here are three tips to help you crush your goals and save the planet.
Step One: Take ten minutes to educate yourself on the carbon footprint and water footprint of your food.
If you want to change your values when it comes to food, educating yourself about "food sustainability" is a must. Here are two of my favorite resources that will take only 10 minutes of your time that I strongly recommend for you to check out as first steps.
Watch this Vox video to understand why omnivorous diets have a high carbon footprint (I love this video and I promise it’s not boring!).
Find out what your water footprint is with this calculator. The questionnaire takes under five minutes and it is crazy how much the diet page causes your water footprint to fluctuate.
Step Two: Destroy the myth that vegetarians only eat caesar salads.
I truly believe that so many people would love eating plant-based if they just found the right recipes to eat. News flash: consuming only salads is not going to work for you my friend, nor do you want it to. One of the most common misconceptions people have about plant-based eating is that they’ll always be hungry or feel weak without the animal protein, but nothing could be farther from the truth!
Here are links to five of my favorite vegetarian recipes that are filling, packed with flavor, and satisfying.
Pescetarian: Hawaiian Shrimp Poke bowl by Wholly Tasteful
Vegetarian: Guacamole stuffed sweet potatoes by Food with Feeling
Vegetarian: Vegetable Lasagna by Kristine's Kitchen Blog
Vegan: Fall Farro Grain Bowl by Feel Good Foodie
Vegan: Creamy Mushroom Gnocchi by I Heart Umami
Images borrowed from Food with Feeling, Wholly Tasteful, and Kristine's Kitchen Blogs.
The key to success is to make sure you're still incorporating all elements of a healthy plate -- a little protein, some whole grains, and a lot of plants. Below I've included a plant-based periodic table that shows how much protein you can get from plants. When you combine multiple options, the protein adds up fast!
In addition, if you have a Netflix subscription, go watch The Game Changers to learn how some of the most incredible athletes in the world are thriving on plant-based diets. It is a fascinating documentary that destroys myths that plants can't give you what you need.
Step Three: Work your way down in phases.
There are various plant-based diets out there and they all vary in specificity.
Flexitarian: You avoid meat sometimes. Let’s say you decide to not eat meat three days of the week. Or you order meat when you go out to restaurants, but you pretty much only cook plant proteins at home.
Cutting out red meat: You enjoy poultry and fish, but choose to eliminate beef, pork, etc. since red meats have the highest environmental footprint.
Pescetarian: You avoid red meat and poultry, but still enjoy fish.
Vegetarian: You enjoy eggs, but avoid fish and meat.
Vegan: You select proteins from plant-based sources and opt out of proteins that come from animal products such as dairy milk, cheeses, butter, eggs, etc.
Try not to bite off more than you can chew at first. I know you probably want to take the fast route to your goal, but it is essential not to be too hard on yourself. I began my journey with phasing out red-meat from my diet, and eventually I limited poultry to just once or twice a week. Over the span of a few months, I stopped craving animal proteins, and this made it really easy to become a pescetarian. Now, I indulge in fish occasionally at restaurants, but for the most part I stick to a simple vegetarian diet when I'm at home.
Summary: Start off with flexitarianism, and then decide later if you want to commit to the pescetarian, vegetarian, or even vegan lifestyle!
With these steps, you’re bound to crush your goals! Making the switch to this lifestyle will be as fun as you make it out to be!
A final note: people will question you, but be proud of your new sustainability habits! Sometimes the switch will be hard, but remember to do the best you can with the options you’ve got. Lastly, remember you’re not alone, our planet is home to 1.5 billion vegetarians! We’re here to support each other, and if you ever need community, you know you can always find it in the comments section here on The Green Tea. :)
Challenge: Comment below what your reaction was to seeing your water footprint from the calculator above.
Optional prompt: If you watched The Game Changers, what is one thing you learned from it that you wish everyone knew?
I always learn something from your posts. My water footprint was below the national average, but it was interesting thinking about all the water we use. I often think how lucky Americans are that we have clean available water, so I try not to waste it.