Our obesogenic environment We Americans live in an obesogenic environment. Omnipresent ultra-processed food promotes overeating. In his latest provocative book, Animal, Vegetable, Junk, author Mark Bitmann chronicles the history of food and explains that the food industry created foods so tasty and pleasurable that we eat more than we need. As products of our evolution,…
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Reducing the Environmental Impacts of Diet
Food production and greenhouse gas emissions Researchers at the University of Minnesota labeled the convergence of 1) diets increasing in calories and animal products, 2) increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, and 3) increasing environmental deterioration as a global trilemma. These three trends bode ill for people and the planet. Global food demand (measured as that…
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Veggie Burgers, Beef Burgers, Sustainable Food Production
More plants, less meat? Evidence supports the contention that diets high in processed meat predict greater risk of adverse health outcomes including cardiovascular disease and premature death. Interestingly, high-quality omnivorous diets (including lots of plant foods) do not show the typical associations between red meat consumption and adverse health outcomes. The food industry has developed…
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Environmentally Sustainable Healthy Food Production
Healthy foods have less environmental impact than unhealthy foods We’ll need to change what we eat to have a livable planet Nine of the top 15 risk factors for illness globally arise from poor quality diets. Diseases linked to poor diets account for 40 percent of deaths globally. Food production creates about 30 percent of…
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