The Planetary Health Diet (PHD), from the prestigious EAT Lancet forum, is the gold standard for measuring which are the best foods to eat — for us and the planet. The PHD recommendations are based on two crucial factors: what is healthy and what is sustainable.
And we can see how we’re doing thanks to a new interactive tool from Carbon Brief that tracks how the eating habits of each major region stack up against what is ideal for our own health and the health of the planet. To use the tool click here and then choose the tab “How Does Meat and Dairy Consumption Vary Around the World.”
A few factoids from the food habit mapping tool:
Canadians and Americans eat 6x more meat than the PHD standard for health and sustainability.
They also eat more eggs, dairy and poultry than anywhere else globally.
Consumers in the EU and Central Asia eat 4x more red meat than the PHD recommends.
People in East Asia and the Pacific region consume the most fish and seafood -- and at an unsustainable level. But they also eat 3.5x more red meat than the PHD standard.
Global consumption of pulses, beans, whole grains and nuts are far below the recommendations for what is healthy for people and the planet.
And while your mother’s advice to “eat your vegetables” was right, only consumers in North Africa and the Middle East do this at a healthy and sustainable rate.
There’s more on the PHD in the newsletter showing how to eat healthier and more sustainably.