Eating with a purpose, not a punishment.

It is Earth Day after all.

What if the choices we made were more about our values than our vanity?

I guess this could work in pretty much any context of our lives, but in this particular newsletter, I wanted to focus on the choices we make around food. What we buy, how we cook it, what we eat. All of it can be a practice in living out our values and the truest forms of who we are, instead of trying to chase after something that we are not.

For the longest time, my food choices were all about looking a certain way. To be a certain size on the scale or in my jeans. To look like the models I see on billboards and magazines and Pinterest and Instagram.

And then, in 2017, I was struck by the idea that I could actually make choices based on reasons far greater than just my own selfish ambition. It was around the time that I was introduced to this idea of “zero waste” living, where I could make choices that would impact the environment in a positive way.

No, I’m not 100% zero waste. But since 2017 I have made a lot of changes in my everyday life to reduce waste. In our apartment, we prioritize reusable items as much as possible. We compost our food scraps at the local farmer’s market in Brooklyn. We choose our clothes with purpose, knowing that we want them to last a long time instead of simply giving in to fashion trends that are wasteful and in many cases, demoralizing to the workers that aren’t getting paid to make them. And even though these little changes seem small, the fact that we downgraded our trash can from a 15-gallon to a 7-gallon can in 2020 feels like a big deal to me.

Waste is a massive problem in the kitchen. According to Feeding America, the United States wastes 119 billion pounds of food every year (nearly 40% of food produced), which is like throwing $408 billion down the toilet. To put this in perspective, that could make 130 million meals. Yet food is so easily wasted, whether it be due to cosmetic grocery store standards or elusive expiration dates or simply letting a bag of spinach rot in the back of your fridge.

As many of you know, I am a massive fan of Imperfect Foods. This company is dedicated to saving produce and grocery items that aren’t deemed worthy to the grocery store. This could happen for a variety of reasons, like a bell pepper that isn’t perfectly shaped, strawberries that are too small, or even a pasta box that had a label printed incorrectly. So far this year, Imperfect has saved over 166 million pounds of food from landfill, and counting. Personally, I’ve saved 562 pounds of food, almost 22,000 gallons of water, and 1,500 pounds of CO2.

(It would be rude to not give you a coupon for them, right?)

Numbers like that give me a purpose. It feels empowering to make choices for what I eat based on what I believe, which is to take care of the planet that I call my home.

Surprisingly enough, a sustainable way of eating is typically a healthy one.

Funny how it all seems to be interconnected…isn’t it?

This is the thought I had when I was writing a piece this week on the Climatarian Diet. No, I’m not exactly on board with this style of eating. While it does promote following a diet for the environment instead of weight loss, it does still condone restriction (essentially no beef, pork, or processed meats are allowed).

Here’s a link to the article if you want to learn more.

However, what the diet does point out is how eating a meat-heavy diet can increase a person’s disease risk—particularly cardiovascular disease, as well as many types of cancer. The foods it promotes to eat instead are the foods that—wouldn’t you know it—are the foods we generally see in the Mediterranean diet. Whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and sustainably grown proteins like poultry, fish, dairy, and eggs.

I laughed as I typed out these words in my article. How so unoriginal! When it all comes down to it, the foods that are taking care of our health are also the foods taking care of our planet. We don’t have to choose one or the other, they work side-by-side. Which, if we’re being honest, gives me a lot more purpose and motivation to eat in this way knowing that it’s doing a whole lot of good in multiple facets of my life.

Again, I’m not the kind of person that is going to tell you to stop eating something…you know this. I will absolutely still enjoy meat products in my diet; life is just a little better after biting into a juicy cheeseburger. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make smart, sustainable choices around it. Instead of eating it at every meal, I’m eating less of it week after week. And when I do eat it, I look to buy high-quality meat that has been sustainably produced. It’s good for me, good for the planet…and it honestly just tastes better.

Making the choice to eat with a purpose. For my health. For my planet.

Punishment never worked for me. Telling myself I couldn’t eat something because I needed to be punished for my actions (i.e. not working out, or eating horribly the night before) may have felt like a motivator at the moment. But long-term, it destroyed my relationship with food and ruined my mental health.

But eating with a purpose? Eating for the sake of taking care of my health, and taking care of the planet I inhabit? Now that feels motivating. Because both of these reasons are long-term. And even if my actions don’t seem like they make much of a difference now, when you take a step back and notice you’ve saved over 500 pounds of food going to landfill, or only empty your tiny-ass trash can once every two or three weeks, you realize you are making a difference.

What if you chose to eat with a purpose? Not in the way I do of course (hence why I don’t lay out any kind of plan for you to follow, because #toxicdietculture), but in a way that actually feels core to who you are and what you value.

Here’s a great place to get started for Earth Day: This week I’ve been cooking out of Max La Manna’s You Can Eat This! and I am absolutely obsessed. His big mission is about using all of the food you have and not letting any of it go to waste, and getting crafty with your food scraps. Every recipe is easy to follow, made with simple ingredients that aren’t hard to grab, and they taste absolutely incredible. The entire cookbook is vegan, but he offers options to make it vegetarian (like using dairy), which I appreciate.

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Weekend reads

For more reads over your morning cup of coffee, check out my latest published work!

• How To Eat a Climatarian Diet To Save the Planet (Clean Plates)

• Yes, Your Olive Oil Could Be Expired. Here’s How To Find Out. (Clean Plates)

• 12 Books Every Woman in Her 30s Should Read (The Everygirl)

• Here’s How Long Your Shower Should Really Take, According to a Doctor on Aging (The Healthy)

• 7 Mediterranean Diet Lunch Ideas We Love Right Now (Clean Plates)

• Canine Parvovirus Is on the Rise—Here’s What You Need to Know (Reader’s Digest)

• Here’s What Happens If You Don’t Wash Your Feet, Says a Medical Doctor (The Healthy)

• 9 Healthy Quinoa Recipes for Nutritious Meals in a Pinch (Clean Plates)

• The 3 Best Drinks To Help You Sleep Better at Night (Clean Plates)