Know Your Food Source for Healthy Eating [Step 1 of 8]

Welcome to part 4 of our mini series on Conscious Buying Decisions to Help Climate Change. Last time we covered ‘The 6 Principles of Regenerative Agriculture’. This time we’re looking at ‘Knowing Your Food Source for Healthy Eating’, which is also part of our series on Eating Sustainably.

You can find all content in this mini series at Mini Series: Conscious Buying Decisions to Help Climate Change.

If you already know that you have the power to help climate change and improve your health and happiness, here are the options to make conscious decisions when buying food and drink for healthy eating:

If you want some more facts before making any decisions about healthy eating, let’s get into the details:

Before we get started, it’s worth saying that this mini series is based on the Kiss the Ground Purchasing Guide. Many of the facts come from the book called Drawdown.

Find the Book Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed To Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken That You Can Find Here on Amazon*

There are 8 Steps To Eat for Your Health and the Climate:

Knowing Your Food Source
Growing Your Own
Composting
Choosing Meat That’s Regenerating Land
Choosing Dairy That’s Regenerating Land
Buying Seafood to Help Revitalise the Ocean and Ecosystems
Knowing Your Annuals and Perennials
Going Beyond the Healthiest Foods

In this piece we’re looking at step 1, Knowing Your Food Source for healthy eating.

In order to create food systems that help to keep people and planet healthy, it’s important to buy local. When you purchase from local sources, you can ask how your food was grown, or even visit the farm to see it for yourself.

Read the Mini Series: Conscious Buying Decisions to Help Climate Change

One option is buying food from a local farm or ordering a weekly veg and fruit box that gets delivered to your home.

Buying from a Farm or Veg Box Scheme for Healthy Eating

We buy a weekly veg and fruit box delivery from Oxton Organics.

You can find your local veg and fruit box deliveries at Find an Organic Veg Box Scheme.

Alternatively, and this is what we do in winter when Oxton Organics aren’t delivering, you can buy organic veg boxes from Abel & Cole with an option to get veg from British farms. You can:

Find Abel & Cole here
You can also Get a special offer from Abel & Cole here*

If You Do Get To Buy From Your Local Farm, You Can Ask Your Farmer:

How do you keep your soil healthy?
How do you improve your soil?
Do you use compost (do you make it on your farm)?
Do you practice no-dig?
Do you use cover crops?
Do you use artificial fertilisers
Do you use pesticides?
Do you rotate your crops?
Who works on your farm?

Re artificial fertilisers and pesticides: It’s worth considering that the use of these inputs can destroy soil life and end up in the food we eat and the water we drink. If a farmer has very limited use or they’re transitioning away from ‘conventional’ to ‘regenerative’ then that’s a good sign for healthy eating.

Re cover crops: It’s good to ask about cover crops because different crops have different nutrient requirements. By regularly growing cover crops in different locations, the farmer can make sure that the soil doesn’t become deficient in nutrients, and use this as another way to control pests and disease.

Re farm workers: It’s good to know if the farmer sees the farm workers as vital to the team or cheap labour to exploit.

Local doesn’t immediately mean good, you still need to know your food source. Local gives you the opportunity to ask the right questions.

Eat Food That’s in Season

Eating local food, from farms that look after their soil, is a great way to eat food that’s in season. It’s also a great way to eat nutrient dense food, because if the soil is thriving with life then the microorganisms can help the plants consume more nutrients that get eaten by us and by the animals that we eat.

Eating local is also the perfect way to cut down on pollution from transport, storage, and refrigeration.

Preserving Foods for Healthy Eating All Year

Preserving food for healthy eating is a fun thing to do. It gives you tasty foods, whenever you want to eat them. It can give you foods that help to improve your health, such as by fermenting.

My go-to recipe book for preserving food is The Farmhouse Kitchen.

Find the Farmhouse Kitchen Book Here on Amazon*

My go to recipe book for fermenting is the River Cottage Fermentation Handbook.

Find the River Cottage Fermentation Handbook Here on Amazon*

Eat Whole Foods

Processed foods are less healthy for people and planet. Processed foods means more factory production, more chemicals, more sugar, more preservatives, more transport. Processed foods can also be more addictive.

We’ve all heard of the recommendation 5-a-day for healthy eating and that relates directly to eating whole vegetables and whole fruit. If you then eat as many whole foods based on these 8 steps to eat for your health and climate then you’ll be doing an amazing job.

If You Do Have To Buy Foods With Ingredients You Can:

Read the list of ingredients
Avoid products with chemicals
Avoid products with ingredients you can’t pronounce or don’t recognise

If you regularly eat whole foods, your taste buds will get used to the amazing taste. Your taste buds are also an excellent nutrient detector. Often, if whole vegetables and fruits taste great, they’ll be the most nutrient-dense.

Check Out This Video on Taste and Nutrition with Dan Kittredge:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnCl45yAVkI

Farmer Dan Kittredge on healthy foods – Kiss The Ground (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnCl45yAVkI)

Eat at Restaurants That Support Healthy Soils

A quick check of a restaurant website and a chat with their staff is a great way to know if they work with farmers and producers that follow the 6 principles of regenerative agriculture.

You Can Ask Some Questions Like:

Do you buy from local farms?
Do the farmers invest in healthy soils?
Does any of your menu use organic ingredients?
Does any of your menu include perennial fruits or grains?
Are any of your meats pasture-fed / grass-fed or organic?
Are your dairy products from animals that are pasture-fed / grass-fed or organic?
Do you have any products that are Fair Trade, such as coffee?
Is your fish from a sustainable source?

That’s it for this piece on healthy eating. You can find the next piece ‘Grow Your Own for a Healthy Diet’ as well as all articles in this 10-part mini series at Conscious Buying Decisions to Help Climate Change.

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Here Is What You Can Do

Use this mini series to help you buy products that help people and planet
Check out #VoteWithOurMoney with 6 Steps to Help Stop Climate Change
Try the Sustainability Roadmap with 40+ Solutions to Climate Change
Use the Company Directory to Help You Grow, Eat, and Live Sustainably
Be inspired. We can help climate change if we do something about it
Talk to your friends and colleagues
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Where Next?

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Sources Used to Create This Mini Series

Production Notes

This was produced by me, James Walters, as a personal project to help stop climate change by inspiring others to grow, eat, and live sustainably.

Any advice given is the opinion of those involved and does not constitute medical, financial, or legal advice.

* We include links we think you will find useful. If you buy through those links, we may earn a small commission. It’s one way to support our work and to inspire as many people as possible.