Need some extra motivation to shed those excess kilos? The Eco Diet is the greenie's way to save the world whilst you trim down and tone up.
From Atkins to Weight Watchers, South Beach and Cabbage Soup, dieting has become a constant feature of modern life. So why not be environmentally friendly while you keep mentally and physically fit? The eco-diet is the greenie’s way to save the world whilst you save yourself.
With the constant stream of low-cal, zero-cal, low-carb, low-fat, fat free, sugar free, gluten free, light, lite, low-GI, heart healthy products, it’s no wonder that over 60% of Australian adults are overweight. The labels are simple too confusing, misleading and even contradictory to make any real sense.
So rather than counting calories, why not try calculating your environmental impact instead. Saving the world is, after all, a pretty massive incentive to shed those extra ten kilos.
The typical eco-friendly regime is particularly successful if dropping a dress size is on the top of your agenda. While this doesn’t mean eating tofu and carrot sticks for every meal, it does involve cutting down on some of those cheap fattening snacks, fast foods and processed meals. Such products are typically processed using massive amounts of energy. In fact, in an average Western diet, it takes 10 calories of fossil-fuel energy to dispense just one calorie of food energy on to your plate. That’s a whopping 3000 calories worth of fossil-fuel energy for an average sized chocolate bar!
Like any typical diet plan, the most environmentally sound regime does exclude those particularly sinful treats of wine, spirits, cheese, ice cream and chocolate – all of which have massive environmental footprints. Most meat products are also banned on the eco-diet due to the energy wastage involved in feeding livestock. Consider that steak from a grain-fed cow requires a massive 35 calories of fossil fuel for every one calorie of meat – that’s more than three times that of average processed foods.
But before you think the worst of this plan, consider the fact that bread, cakes, biscuits, eggs, pork, ham, bacon and milk are all environmentally acceptable foods. Quite a range in comparison to the limits employed by Atkins, and a true rainbow of taste sensations comparative to the one-meal wonder that is the ‘cabbage soup’ regime.
Still need some extra motivation? Bear in mind that an extra 50kgs of weight in your car results in a 2% decrease in fuel economy. Even Richard Branson recently signed a pledge to lose at least 6kgs in weight before taking a flight in one of his exclusive new fuel-efficient aircrafts.
So, whilst changing the contents of your fridge won't solve global warming, it will allow you to redress the current imbalance in your diet – and shed some kilos in the meantime.
