What is the best diet for sustainable living? That depends. It depends on whether or not you consider yourself to be “sustainable.” You can be if you choose to be.
In other words, what would it take for you to accept a life that eschews high-calorie greasy foods, animal products, processed foods, heavily carbonated drinks, trans-fat fats, and salt in favor of whole, natural foods? It may not be the kind of diet for sustainable living that you might have expected.
Let’s look at a diet for sustainable living that emphasizes healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, roots, nuts, and seeds. In the tropics, this food is typically all edible, including fruit, nuts, root crops, peppers, tomatoes, leafy greens, and other vegetables.
This diet is called “LCBO” or Local sustainable Business. The local sustainable business is a term that refers to members of a village or community who agree to buy and consume only goods produced from locally held resources. These are generally smallholder, family farms, and or forest-based businesses.
A healthy diet for sustainable living is not all about eating healthy though. There is an emphasis on eating minimally processed foods as well as eating more raw foods. Often the focus of a healthy diet is eating whole foods that are not processed by industrial means.
An example of an entire food product in this category could be an organic apple. Yes, there is an organic meaning to the term, but an apple is still an apple! Another hallmark of healthy living is raw food consumption. Raw foodists often use a mantra of “raw is best.”
They say that food cooked in boiling water loses all the valuable nutrients that can be found in the food. Some vendors of raw food diets also advocate eating sprouted grains and seeds like teff.
Raw nuts are another staple of a raw vegan diet. Not all nuts are created equal. In fact, there is such a variety of nuts that it would be impossible to name all of them. However, the two most common nuts, almonds, and cashews have relatively high-level nutritional value and are low in fat.
To eat a diet that is primarily raw food, you must adopt a specific routine. First of all, you will want to avoid eating cooked foods as much as possible. This includes your favorite meats like beef, chicken, turkey, bison, salmon, trout, salmon, duck, etc.
Even organically raised chickens and eggs are no longer considered “raw food” because they have been altered with hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, and other chemicals that destroy their nutritional value. Instead, you should eat at least 70% raw-food food. In addition, you will want to avoid eating cooked foods as much as possible.
Another way to say you’re following a raw veganism diet is if you don’t eat any cooked foods at all. Even “natural” cheeses and side dishes should be avoided, as they contain unnatural chemicals and preservatives.
Eating raw nuts and seeds is an important part of a diet for sustainable living, so you should focus on eating the most natural foods possible. Unfortunately, most people don’t know where to get good quality nuts and seeds, and instead, end up buying a box of mixed nuts at the grocery store.
Finally, dairy products should also be avoided, as they are full of chemicals that can harm your body over time. Instead, you should focus on eating only a few kinds of dairy: one kind that comes from grass, another kind that comes from grain, and one that comes from a milk substitute.
There are many kinds of millet and grain. If you’re not sure which kind you prefer, you can start out with one of those two and see how it goes. As for nuts and seeds, they provide protein, fiber, iron, and lots of other nutrients. So, there’s no reason to avoid them altogether.