Green Health

Celebrate 1 Ingredient Foods.

Beans. Fruit. Fish. Nuts. You get the idea—buy these as the mainstay of a healthy diet. They are some of the cleanest type of foods you can eat, at a winning price.

Invest in the Best.

Choose the USDA Certified Organic label for your meat and poultry purchases, choose grass-fed over corn-fed beef, and try to purchase from a local farmer if possible. This will ensure your meat is the highest quality, healthiest choice, and has had the smallest impact on the planet.

Snack Sustainably

to help slim your waistline as well as your waste line. Ditch the processed snack foods and choose whole, minimally processed, foods instead.

Kick the Plastic Habit.

On average, we use a plastic bag for 12 minutes—before it heads to a landfill where it takes up to 1,000 years to break down. About 99% of all plastic bags Americans use to shop are polyethylene based and go straight to the landfill.

Join a CSA

(at www.localharvest.org). Connect with local food! Community supported agriculture is one of the pillars of healthier and more sustainable eating.

Buy Barramundi.

And Catfish. And Tilapia. US raised, plant-eating fish are lean and green superfoods, and much more sustainable then air-flown salmon or tuna.

Choose Local Artisan Cheese.

Now more than ever there are amazing artisan cheeses being made around the country. Save food miles and choose these over international ones.

Be Label Conscious.

For eco-minded shoppers, 3rd party certification is one of the strongest indicators of environmental stewardship. USDA organic, Food Alliance Certified, Marine Stewardship Council (for seafood), Rainforest Alliance Certified and Fair Trade Certified are much stronger indicators of green practices than any feel-good claims made by manufacturers.

Get the Dish on Sustainable Fish.

At the fish counter, and in res- taurants, buy fish that's Marine Stewardship Certified Sustainable, or "green light" on a pocket seafood guide http://bit.ly/cJkO7D

Pass By the Palm Oil.

Did you know that after China and the U.S., Indonesia is the planet's 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gases? That's because of all the deforestation happening there to plant palm oil plantations—much of which ends up in cheap processed food here in the US. To-boot, palm oil is loaded with artery clogging saturated fat. Read your labels and try to avoid anything that contains palm oil. At the very least, choose brands with Sustainable Certified Palm oil.

1. Locavore for your local and green food shopping needs.
2. Find Green for finding nearby green businesses.
3. Dirty Produce for pesticide- free produce shopping.
4. Seafood Watch for finding sustainable and local seafood.
5. GoodGuide for assessing how green your food purchases are.

Go Green When You Dine Out.

Choose from over 600 Green Certified Restaurants in the US at www.dinegreen.com.

Avoid Being Supersized.

It’s easy to eat way more than we need, so avoid large portions or being "supersized" at restaurants and movies in the name of saving a buck or two.

Text FISHPHONE.

Whether your at a fish counter or a sushi bar, text the Blue Ocean Institute’s FishPhone at 30644 and enter FISH, followed by the type of fish you are considering. You’ll get a text back telling you if your catch is green or not.

Get Dirty.

The greenest food is something you grow yourself. Plant an herb pot, a windowsill of lettuce, a garden, or whatever you can manage. Check out http:// www.almanac.com/content/beginners-vegetable-garden for some great beginner’s gardening tips.

Choose Energy Star Rated Appliances.

Your fridge is one of the most energy-hungry appliances in your home-make sure it’s working as efficiently as possible. When it’s time for e new purchase, invest in energy star rated appliances to trim the carbon footprint of your food further. Visit www.EnergyStar.gov to get started.

Say Goodbye to the Bottle.

Bottled water is 2,000 times more energy intense than tap water. And experts estimate the annual petroleum used to make plastic bottles for thirsty U.S. consumers could fuel 100,000 cars annually. Tap your tap instead-invest in a good filter at home.

Compost Your Food Waste.

Food scraps are about 12% of a family’s household waste, and emit powerful warming gasses in landfill-regenerate them into nutrient-rich soil instead! Visit www.CleanAirGardening.com to find chic compost pails for your countertop.

Make Your Brew at Home.

It takes over 200 liters to make your daily, on-the-go latte, and just think of all the packaging it takes! Make your coffee at home and save money as well as the environment.

Eat Less Red Meat.

The amount of beef in your diet is one of the single biggest factors in your global impact. Try swapping vegetables for red meat 2 days a week (even more if you can).

Pack in the Plants.

Plant rich diets are the fastest and easiest way to immediately start eating in a way that’s healthier for you and the planet. Think Mediterranean: pack your plate with plant foods (fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds), and serve smaller portions of animal products.

Become a Locavore.

Eat locally (or regionally) and seasonally to the extent that you can. The average food travels 1,500 miles to make it your plate—making one huge dent of a carbon footprint.

Rediscover That Beautiful Kitchen!

Use it more, and get take out less. Dining out significantly increases a food’s carbon footprint, especially if there’s packaging, and you drove to get it.

Enjoy a Grass-fed Bison Burger

Instead of beef. Grass-fed bison provide a healthy dose of Omega 3 fats and less saturated fat per bite-plus they emit much fewer green house gases than animals corn fed on a feedlot.

Pack a PB&J for Lunch.

Make your own lunch and bring it to work in reusable containers—and if it’s PB&J, or almond butter, with local jam on whole grain bread, it’s fast, easy, healthy and green, and it saves you green too.

Eat the Greens, and Peels Too.

Beet greens are super nutritious and often are sent to the landfill. Make sweet potato fries without peeling the potatoes, and enjoy produce with the skin on for added fiber and nutrition (scrub first). For many fruits and veggies, the most powerful phytochemicals are concentrated in the peels.

Practice Hara Hachi Bu.

This literally translates in Okinowan as "eat until you are 8 parts full." Eat less. Take less. The added bonus? It will give your brain time to catch up with your stomach. And avoid feeling sluggish after a meal.

• USDA Green Nutrition Center
• Seasonal Eating
• Slow Food Movement
• Chefs Collaborative
• Eating Fresh Guides
• Sustainable Table
• Seasonal Recipes and easy video cooking techniques
• The Food Alliance
• The Chez Panisse Foundation

• What do the labels actually mean

• Find a CSA
• Find Local Dairy and Meat
• State by State Produce Guide
• Find Sustainable Seafood in Your Region
• Edible Schoolyard
• Heritage and Heirloom Foods
• Eat Local Challange
• NRDC Eat Local
• Eat Seasonally

• Carbon Calculator from the Bon Appetit Management Company
• CSPI Eating Green Calculator

• Food Climate Research Network
• Field to Plate
• Hunger and Environmental Dietetic Practice Group
• Rodale Institute
• The Organic Center
• Environmental Nutrition

Switching to eco-friendly versions of your foods can significantly lessen the impact of your current diet. Look for labels such as Certified Organic, Rainforest Alliance Certified, Bird Friendly, Marine Stewardship Council, Food Alliance, Fair Trade Certified, Grass-Fed, Certified Humane Raised and Handled, and r-BGH free.

Here’s the truth: most of us are eating way more than we need. Slow your carbon and calorie burn by serving less food, using smaller plates, cups and snack bags. And by all means AVOID being supersized at restaurants and movies in the name of “saving a buck”...

Eliminate your food waste. A UK study found consumers on average throw away 1/3 of the food they buy (from spoilage, plate waste, etc.) This not only wastes money and resources, but food emits methane from landfills, which is 23x as powerful as carbon in warming our atmosphere. Save leftovers. Buy frozen naked fruits and veggies if your produce bin tends to spoil.

Energy Star Rated appliances, smarter cooking methods, and composting your waste are just a few easy ways you can trim one of the biggest pieces of your “food footprint”-home storage and preparation (which can be up to 30% of a food’s total footprint).

Concentrated juices are greener because they have smaller, lighter packages that use less fossil fuel to make and ship. The same goes for tea bags instead of bottled tea and bouillon cubes instead of broths.