Sustainable Eating Habits For People in their Middle Age: A Realistic Diet Resolution for the New Year

Blogs26 Sep 2024

In today’s world of rapid changes, pollution and global warming, it's more important than ever to make sustainable choices in our lives. This is true for the food we consume! That’s right. There are ways in which we can change our eating habits to ensure that they have little environmental impact and don’t hamper future generations! In this article, we’ll discuss sustainable and healthy eating habits and how older adults can use them to make realistic diet resolutions and changes in the new year!

What is a sustainable diet?

A sustainable diet is one where you choose healthy foods to eat every day that create minimal environmental impact. For example, eating local produce instead of imported goods, choosing plant-based proteins over lean meats, and so on. By choosing sustainability, not only are you choosing a healthier diet but also an eco-friendly diet that won’t mess with future generations.

How to make sustainable choices?

Here are the main pointers that make up a sustainable diet:

1. Eating fruits and vegetables:

Not only are fruits and vegetables highly nutritious, but they also have a low impact on the environment, making them perfect for this diet. You can choose fruits and veggies that require fewer resources such as refrigeration, transportation etc to keep your choices sustainable.

2. Choosing local produce:

Growing foods in seasons outside natural seasons, shipping costs and storage can be huge issues to ponder about. That’s why it’s easier and more sustainable to choose local produce for your meals!

3. Avoid overeating:

Excessive consumption increases the demand for food, hence it’s not only healthy to avoid overeating, but sustainable too.

4. Plant protein over meat:

While meat can be delicious to have and gives us our much-needed protein intake, you can also adapt to plant protein as a conscious choice.

5. Whole grains:

Whole grains are a big source of essential nutrients and fibre and they require minimal effort to grow. They also have a low impact on the environment which makes them a great choice for your diet.

Challenges Faced By Middle-aged Adults To Maintain a Sustainable Diet

In the quest for healthy ageing, older adults can choose a sustainable diet which is balanced in nature to take control of their ageing process. However, a few challenges may arise:

• Since sustainable diets replace meat with plant protein, it might be hard to satisfy their protein requirement. This might be an issue as with age, muscle mass may reduce.
• It may be a little hard to find sustainable products all the time, especially when you’re meal planning in a rush or have a hectic lifestyle.
• Older people are more prone to nutritional deficiencies, hence they might find it difficult to find the right ingredients to help prevent them while on a sustainable diet.

Benefits of eating a sustainable diet

1. Might positively impact the environment by promoting safe agricultural practices, reducing greenhouse gas emissions
2. May boost conscious and healthy food choices
3. Promotes the usage of local ingredients
4. May support overall health due to the consumption of a plant-based diet

Conclusion

Sustainable and healthy eating habits are a great way to be more conscious about our food choices and make more wholesome and nutritious inclusions. Sustainable eating involves careful consideration of your current eating habits and changing them to improve the environment. This means adding more fruits and vegetables, choosing plant protein over lean meat, snacking on nuts and seeds instead of processed foods etc.

Sustainable eating can be an effective way of cutting down bad habits for the body and the world as a whole. However, it may pose a risk for older adults as they require more protein due to muscle loss post-40. So if you are looking to switch to a sustainable diet, make sure to have realistic goals and changes, without compromising on protein and other important nutrients. Consult a qualified nutritionist to get it right!

We at Right Shift can help you figure out healthy eating plans with ease. Simply head to our website, fill out your details and health goals, and you will have a tailor-made meal plan ready for you! We also offer expert recommendations so that you can understand your health issues more and take action accordingly. Moreover, we also have a variety of nutritious product suggestions for you to keep your good eating habits on track while making it more delicious and wholesome!