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Maintaining a healthy diet in quarantine is not an easy task. The anxiety generated by being permanently close to food can motivate, on the one hand, excessive consumption of food and, on the other, eat products that are not necessarily the healthiest and that cannot be so friendly to the environment.
Given this reality, experts say, it is important to plan to establish a diet that is healthy and varied, but is also sustainable.
The World Health Organization has insisted on the need to eat well, since nutritional deficiencies are the cause of weak immune systems and, therefore, increase the risk of contracting diseases and at times when the world is facing this pandemic it is important to have good eating habits.
According to a report published in the scientific journal The Lancet, it is decisive not only to preserve human but planetary health And for this reason, through the same publication, a group of scientists urges a change in food and agriculture to avoid millions of premature deaths in the world and, incidentally, to avoid the environmental catastrophe that bad habits can generate.
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One of the big problems is the generation of waste and for this reason the call in this time of confinement is to acquire only what is necessary. It is not required to store large volumes of product that can later end up in the garbage. Only in Colombia, for example, según According to data from the National Planning Department, 9.76 million tons of food are lost or wasted annually, which is equivalent to 34 percent of total production.
In the world, according to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), it is calculated that a third of all the food produced on the planet each year, that is to say, some 1,300 million tons are discarded. This amounts, according to the multi-agency body, to a trillion dollars in economic costs, close to 700,000 million dollars in environmental costs and around 900,000 million dollars in social costs.
It is important to be clear that with wasted food scraps, the value of labor, water, energy and everything that is used in its production or processing is also lost.
Given this reality, the recommendations aim not only to consume what is healthy and friendly to the planet, but to buy in the appropriate volumes in order to avoid the amount of waste. So for this quarantine season, keep these tips in mind.
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1. Moderate the consumption of meat and sugar. Meat is the food group with the greatest environmental impact, as well as being one of the largest with a water footprint. Sugar, meanwhile, is a product that can have many negative impacts on the body.
2. Eat fish and avoid endangered species. It is important to be very careful to fully preserve marine populations that are at risk. Time at home can help enlighten you on the subject and make the best decisions when shopping.
3. Increase the consumption of cereals and derivatives. This food group has a significantly lower environmental impact than meat and fish, like a smaller water footprint. These are healthy and suitable foods for the whole family to eat.
4. Cook with vegetable oils and not with butter. Vegetable and derived oils have less impact than animal fats like butter. In this confined season and when the volume of food produced at home increases, it is important to follow this recommendation.
5. Encourage the consumption of fruits and vegetables in adequate amounts. Each type of fruit, vegetable or legume has a different environmental impact, but what is clear is that this will always be less than that of food of animal origin.
Also read: Food safety, a priority for the planet
6. Eat fewer processed foods. For the preparation of this type of food, more resources are required and, therefore, they have a greater environmental impact when using packaging for their bulk distribution. Additionally, for health the impact is also negative as it contains higher levels of salt, fat, preservatives and elements that end up affecting the body.
7. Reduce the use of water in the kitchen. It is important to make adequate use of water when preparing food. Saving this precious liquid is key in protecting the environment.
8. Buy only what is necessary. Stores and supermarkets are not quarantined, so purchase only what is necessary. Make a list of the urgent and lean towards natural products. No need to buy large volumes of processed food.
