Have you thought of having a more sustainable protein sources other than meat?

As we are living in the era where population are growing rapidly and the food demand will be increasing. More and more natural resource will be consumed till there is no more left.The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) have announced that no more than 40 years we will be facing food and water shortages all over the world.
They stated if we continue the current eating habits, and not reduce our animal based foods consumption like meat, eggs and dairy products. There will not be enough water for food production in 2050 for the future 9 billion population. Moreover, meat production (beef, lamb, chicken, pork, seafood) uses up a large amount of energy and largely relies on the natural resources on earth.

I admits that I am a meat lovers personally. But when I understand that when I started to consume less meat, I actually made a small difference to the planet. I started to find ways to consume less meat but more vegetables and nuts. My parents was concerned on my diet may not have enough protein, but I showed them the following research to proof that we can have a healthy and balanced diet while eating less meat, which eventually our planets will benefit from it and we will be benefit from it.

  

The government of Netherlands' Nutrition Centre has announced their latest dietary advice and launched a national healthy eating campaign.

Their recommendation of the weekly meat intake is 500g, which included up to 300g of red meat. This is because red meat contains higher saturated fat and have high environmental impact.

The current weekly meat intake of the Dutch is around 930g which is double of the recommended amount. The nutrition centre advised the consumers should be replacing meat with more sustainable protein sources: fish, nuts, eggs and vegetables.

Not only Netherlands support  replacing the protein source from meat to fish and plants. The UK's new Eatwell dietary guidelines also suggests plant-based proteins gives more prominence over meat and dairy for sustainability reason. The link between sustainability and health is very close. As the population is growing quickly, in order to maintain the food resilience and security, we should start to think about how to develop a eating habits that is both healthy and sustainable.

I highly recommend this website for recipes that can help everyone who wants to develop a health and sustainable dietary, it contains a lot of different recipes that contains plant-based protein. Plan your dinner tonight with this new healthier and environmental friendly diet!
http://jessicalaurendebry.com/10-powerful-sources-of-plant-based-protein/





Reference:

 "Meat Free Week." Meat Free Week. Accessed March 17, 2016. https://meatfreeweek.org/content/food-water-scarcity#. 

"A Sustainable Breakthrough? Dutch Dietary Advice Cuts Meat by Almost Half." FoodNavigator.com. Accessed March 17, 2016. http://www.foodnavigator.com/Policy/A-sustainable-breakthrough-Dutch-dietary-advice-cuts-meat-by-almost-half.

"10 Powerful Sources of Plant-Based Protein." Jessica Lauren DeBry. Accessed March 17, 2016. http://jessicalaurendebry.com/10-powerful-sources-of-plant-based-protein/.