When you think of which foods are worse for us you’d probably think of processed foods and you’d be right to. The more natural a food is the better it is for you and the fresher it is, the better it is for you. That’s not to say you can’t eat any processed foods just that a diet which consists primarily of them is going to do you a lot more harm than good. Natural foods don’t have to be all vegetable diets though; fresh meat and fish are just as natural and just as good or you.
What you might not think about so much is just how much of an impact what you’re eating is having on the environment. We all suffer under the delusion of our food being locally sourced even though we know it’s not. It can be really hard to picture that most of the food which we eat are better travelled than we will ever be. It’s easier to think of farms as little gardens just down the street than face the truth.
While it may be true that it takes more pollutions to rear animals than plants and that animals themselves create their own pollution, it’s been shown that vegetarian diets are just as bad for the environment as anyone else’s. The study, which took place in France not too long ago, gave an interesting reason as to why. Meat has a lot more energy in it than vegetables do. We have to eat a lot less of it to survive. So while it may be more damaging to produce, we have to produce much less of it. A good deal more vegetables are needed for a vegetarian to get enough energy to survive, meaning more are required which of course causes more pollution.
Overall they come to about the same amount. But the days where vegetarians could act superior are gone; they’re as damaging to the planet as your average meat eater is in terms of diet alone!
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