Page 95 - How to Be a Conscious Eater - Making Food Choices That Are Good for You

and environmental health, though issues still abound regard-
ing animal welfare. For a better planet and better health, we
should look for delicious, satisfying ways to cut our red meat
intake. Experts recommend aiming for a little under 4 ounces
at most per week, or about one hamburger per week or two
servings of steak per month, and at most 7 ounces of poultry
per week, or approximately one large chicken breast.
It bears repeating: If each of us Americans ate less red
meat, we’d make a meaningful difference in reducing global
warming. Stunningly, our current average beef intake is the
equivalent of three hamburgers per week, so cutting that out
of our diets would remove the equivalent greenhouse gas
emissions of all the SUVs in the United States. That’s the calcu-
lation offered by author Mark Bittman in his book Food Matters.
Or, to put it another way, I’ll paraphrase a great quote I heard
once: “You’re better off driving your Hummer to go get a salad
than driving your Prius to a barbecue.”
Dairy has a big impact, too. We’re encouraged to keep dairy
to 250 grams per day, which is about a cup of yogurt or roughly
eight slices of cheese—and increase our consumption of plant
proteins like nuts and legumes to more than 4 ounces per day,
or about four handfuls of almonds per day. In terms of daily
habits, this translates to, for instance, replacing your standard
weekday lunch of a deli sandwich stacked with cold cuts to
options like power bowls or wraps that might feature farro,
avocado, chickpeas, and roasted veggies. For a full list of the
target intakes that align optimal nutrition with environmental
sustainability, visit eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission.

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