Nutritional environmentalism

More on synergy.

There is a growing awareness in our country of being energy-independent to address national security and environmental damage. There is also another national dialogue taking place on health care.

I believe that these issues are inter-related. The choices we make in our every day lives have profound and interdependent impacts on the world we live in. It starts very simply with the food we eat and the energy we use.

For instance, a diet high in red meat and other animal products uses tons more fossil fuels than a plant-based diet. Corn to feed the animal has to be grown; non-organic fertilizers are mostly petroleum based, need to be transported to the farm (sadly likely to be a factory-farm warehouse, not rural sprawling acreage). Corn fields and animal farms need to be irrigated—this all takes fuel. Cows and pigs aren’t made to digest corn, but grass. So they belch and fart a lot after eating all that corn and sorghum, releasing more methane into the air than all the automobiles in Europe. The animal then needs to be transported to slaughter and market. Additional processing—making into frozen entrees, etc. requires more steps. And once digested, this animal-based food product has not only belched greenhouse gasses into the air, but also increases your chances of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and a host of other health problems that are driving our health care costs wild.

You don’t need to be vegan or vegetarian, but becoming aware of the consequences of a plant-based versus meat-based diet can save more fossil fuels than the type of car you drive. This awareness can also help you to get more in touch with the food you are putting into your body, where it is grown, and how it gets to be on your plate. I am convinced that one of the most significant drains on our economy is the consequence of poor food choices, such as a diet high in meat-consumption or processed foods. Cooking a nutritious meal for yourself and your family can be the greenest thing you can do, probably even more important than the car you drive or who you vote for.

Use these simple steps to help you make lifestyle choices that can help your health, the environment, and the health issues you have or don't have in later life:

1) Try going vegetarian or vegan one day a week. If you can do more than that, great. You may be surprised at how easy it is. Simple menu ideas can be oatmeal for breakfast, split-pea soup for lunch, a handful of walnuts for a mid-afternoon snack, and whole-wheat pasta with pesto sauce with a side-salad for dinner. Notice how your body feels when you wake up the next morning.
2) When you have meat, make sure it’s the smallest portion on your plate. For instance, if you are eating a steak, try having a half-portion with a larger portion of side-vegetables. Drink a glass of water before you start eating.
3) Measure out the nutritional information you see on the labels of your processed foods. For instance, a serving of regular cola usually has as much sugar as nine packets of sugar. Would you ever add that to a cup of coffee or tea?
4) Processed foods have become great about lowering the fat in some of their foods, but too often make it up by adding astronomical amounts of sodium. Compare the serving size, portions, and percentage of recommended sodium on your food labels. No single meal should have more than 30% of your total sodium intake (assuming you are eating three meals a day and no salty snacks in between).

These simple steps can help you to get in touch with your body to make healthier choices. Our precious human bodies depend on our planet for sustenance; we can reciprocate by helping the planet with the choices we make in how we nourish ourselves.

Why Synergy?

My new book focuses on how mindfulness can step by step help us to overcome the tendency to worry, obsess, ruminate, and get lost in our thoughts. In researching different aspects of what makes people "happy", I became convinced that there is a common ground, a convergence, of what goes into wellness and well-being.

Although I don't believe that "happy"realistically is a permanent, unchanging condition, I do believe that being happier and having more happiness, meaning, and satisfaction with our lives-- wellness-- is within reach for all of us. Interestingly, what goes into sustained wellness is not only good for individuals, but also for society, and our planet.

First and foremost is the regular, sustained practice of meditation. Mindfulness is very well-researched, and very similar across traditions and practitioners, especially relative to the more subjective experiences of Tantric meditation. Mindfulness teaches us about the mechanics of the body, and how stress and distress can be regulated by awareness of the body, inner speech, and mind. Mindfulness, practiced for around 20 minutes twice a day, everyday, can help us to step back from our incessant chatter and into the immediacy of the unjudged here-and-now.

Second, regular exercise can help us to nurture this awareness of the body, and help us to feel connected to our body. Modern life has found so many ways to alienate us from our bodies, be it in the form of cosmetics or microwave meals. Our bodies all too often become viewed as hindrances whose aging, decay, and needs stand in the way of some of our most desired pleasures. But pleasure is not happiness. Happiness with the body is in having a healthier body that we feel connected to, not in opposition from. Exercise, at the dose of 20-30 minutes a day, 3-4 times a week, can help us to get re-connected to our bodies, and invigorate the circuits of well-being in our brains.

Third, good nutrition. Each step builds on the previous one. Mindfulness is the foundation for awareness; exercise is the activating principle. Now comes the energy-- food. For the past 10,000 years, when humans can be said with some certainty to have abandoned a predominantly scavenger lifestyle, a plant-based diet low in saturated fats has sustained us. This isn't an exclusively vegan or vegetarian diet, but one that relies on sustainable, renewable sources of food, with animal products added for variety. Because this is our earliest recorded diet, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the healthiest. However, it does seem that every week, a new danger from our convenience-based, red meat-centered diet comes out. This modern diet and its convenience is killing us. A return to balanced nutrition therefore seems reasonable. In general, what's good for the heart is good for the body-- whole grains, daily fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and meat that's not red (wild-caught sustainable seafood, grain-fed poultry, if you must eat meat).

The synergy now begins to emerge. Mindfulness increases the awareness of the body-- the awareness of the body increases respect for the body-- respect for the body increases the desire to sustain the body with better nutrition-- and eating better can actually help the planet. The production of red meat produces more greenhouse gases than all the cars on our planet. And, as the swine flu/H1N1 pandemic has shown, how we "grow" our meat can have unintended consequences.

When we sit down for regular mindfulness practice, we are given part of the antidote for the alienation of modern life-- awareness of body, awareness of our mental chatter driving our behavior, awareness of how our actions and interdependent with the well-being or suffering of countless beings around us. When we crave what is unhealthy for our bodies, not only do we suffer, but also the planet and society suffer.

The synergy of mindfulness is that in making healthy choices for ourselves, we contribute to the health of society, and of our planet. And it all begins with being aware of this precious, fleeting moment, connecting to the belly breath, and sitting through the inevitable itches and discomforts of regular meditation practice.