Planetary Health Diet
I wish I came up with that name…been calling it: cooking with equal emphasis on human and environmental health for years and whew is that a mouthful!
Now that a team of scientists have weighted in with feedback on how to eat as a society to preserve the integrity and quite frankly reality of eating in the future; they have composed a great diet to follow which was aptly named: The Planetary Health Diet. Focused on a better balance of animal proteins to vegetable based proteins and food sources. Something I have been living and preaching for years. The impact of all of us 327 million Americans alone just cutting back on, not even eliminating, animal proteins while amping up vegetable based proteins could genuinely change the course of our children and future. The Guardian writes about The Planetary Health Diet as “a “win-win”, according to the scientists, as it would save at least 11 million people a year from deaths caused by unhealthy food, while preventing the collapse of the natural world that humanity depends upon. With 10 billion people expected to live on Earth by 2050, a continuation of today’s unsustainable diets would inevitably mean even greater health problems and severe global warming.”
Below is one of our favorite waste reducing home kitchen tip. All it requires are: two bowls and a freezer.
You know how the first time you do anything it seems to take hours of your life, but then the more you do it it becomes second nature and eventually habits are so engrained you barely notice you’ve done it at all? Let’s aim to make this new trick a habit, just stick with it until it is second nature in your kitchen.
Next time you are doing food prep, set yourself up with two bowls. One for composting and one for stock scraps.
Into the compost bowl:
Egg shells
Fruit cores/skins/rinds
Fish Bones
Stale Breads
Coffee Grounds
Meat
Poultry
Seafood
Into the stock scraps bowl:
onion skins/ends
garlic skins/ends
unused fresh herbs/stems
cores, peels and ends of: fennel, peppers, zucchini, carrots, celery, greens, etc
You can keep meat/poultry bones in separate bowl if desired*
Place Compost materials in community or home compost. Place stock scraps in the freezer and each time you are doing food prep, pull the bowl out of the freezer and add to it until the bowl is brimming with beautiful (otherwise discarded) veggies.
Place frozen veggie scraps (and meat bones if reserved) in a stockpot filled with water about 3 inches above veggies. Add Kombu or sea salt and let boil about 30-45 minutes. Drain veggies through a colander, reserving the liquid. Store liquid in glass containers in your freezer up to 6 months (I use containers of various sizes so I can pull out the fresh stock for all different uses).
Homemade stock means you are spending less money, eating healthier, eating more delicious, reducing food waste and material waste (not buying store bought stock). It is a massive win for all of us and SO easy. Write below with questions or to share how you have used your homemade stock!
