What’s the next diet trend?

staticsplit wrote: »

I think it would be good if that caught on, for the environment's sake. I remember reading somewhere that the best WOE for the environment was essentially not all that different from DASH/Mediterranean. Buying local fruit + veg, not a lot of red meat, mostly poultry and some fish, but largely plant-based.

I actually live on the Med! I wish I got brownie points for that but yesterday I bought some mangetout grown in Kenya (no doubt, flown in). I just couldn’t face another meal including tomato, onion, courgettes, peppers and aubergines and wanted a change.

However, I felt guilty all evening. 😐

Re: the “buying local” rule - generally I agree. However, something that sometimes surprises me is that some goods which might seem AWFUL at first (for example - picking up a bottle of Australian Chardonnay when you live in Europe) actually isn’t THAT bad because it is transported (slowly) by boat rather than by air. Conversely, when I lived in the UK, I assumed that buying British tomatoes would be fine, but actually, it would be a lot more energy efficient to grow them somewhere hot (like the Med) rather than a heated greenhouse, and then transport them to the UK.

SO CONFUSING!!!

The relative harm our food production has on our environment is a real minefield. I definitely need to inform myself better. I hope that in 10 years, we’ll all find this stuff second nature and make our food choices accordingly.

GrizzledSquirrel wrote: »

staticsplit wrote: »

I think it would be good if that caught on, for the environment's sake. I remember reading somewhere that the best WOE for the environment was essentially not all that different from DASH/Mediterranean. Buying local fruit + veg, not a lot of red meat, mostly poultry and some fish, but largely plant-based.

I actually live on the Med! I wish I got brownie points for that but yesterday I bought some mangetout grown in Kenya (no doubt, flown in). I just couldn’t face another meal including tomato, onion, courgettes, peppers and aubergines and wanted a change.

However, I felt guilty all evening. 😐

Re: the “buying local” rule - generally I agree. However, something that sometimes surprises me is that some goods which might seem AWFUL at first (for example - picking up a bottle of Australian Chardonnay when you live in Europe) actually isn’t THAT bad because it is transported (slowly) by boat rather than by air. Conversely, when I lived in the UK, I assumed that buying British tomatoes would be fine, but actually, it would be a lot more energy efficient to grow them somewhere hot (like the Med) rather than a heated greenhouse, and then transport them to the UK.

SO CONFUSING!!!

The relative harm our food production has on our environment is a real minefield. I definitely need to inform myself better. I hope that in 10 years, we’ll all find this stuff second nature and make our food choices accordingly.

I think you're an optimist. In 10 years, we may know more, but our food systems are changing dynamically all the time, in ways that affect their nutrition, environmental profile, social impact (child labor, virtual or literal slave labor, and more), and other matters of humanitarian concern. I've lived through a bunch of decades now; whatever our best intentions, I'm pretty sure the next decade won't change more slowly, so we won't be able to keep up with a goal of understanding it all, and doing truly minimum harm.

Sadly, I think most of us well-off (in global/historical terms) people in the developed world are now unavoidably each little moving bundles of constant global harm. IMO, decent people do what we can to mitigate the harm we cause, starting with the things that are easiest for us personally . . . then simply feel gratitude for what we have through undeserved good fortune, and act generously as we're able with its fruits. Agonizing beyond capability to understand and correct: It reduces harm not at all, so is pointless.

Kalex1975 wrote: »

My guess on the next big trend will be genotype diets (matching your DNA to a specific diet plan).

We already know this is woo. But, hasn't stopped anyone before....

Billy Connolly does the blood type diet, the sort of thing I'd thought he'd mock. I'm waiting hopefully for the next shock scientific twist, that sugar's actually good for you, and vegetables are bad.