Good for You, Good for the Planet: Sue’s Radd’s Green Kitchen

New Year’s resolutions
If your New Year’s resolution is to ‘get back into shape’, don’t forget to spare a thought for mother earth. Leading a greener lifestyle can start in the kitchen in some very simple ways that will be good for you (and your budget) and good for the planet.

Sue Radd

1. Save time and money and buy dry goods and non-perishables in bulk, say, on a monthly basis rather than driving to the store for these each week.
2. Pick up perishables, like fresh fruits and vegetables, as you need them to reduce wastage by trip chaining –combining more than one purpose for a trip in the car. For example, you could pick up some fresh salad ingredients on the way home from work rather than by making a separate trip to the supermarket.
3. Clock up some steps and try to visit your local farmers market to source the freshest produce. You will also find organic options, which are not only better for the environment – some recent studies are showing they provide higher levels of phytonutrients, such as antioxidants.
4. Choose one day of each week to go ‘meat free’. Meat is one of the most expensive foods, environmentally speaking, using massive amounts of water and agricultural resources to produce (especially if it is intensively farmed). While grains, legumes and vegetables are not completely off the hook, their production requires far less natural resources in comparison. This idea is also one of the 10 steps in David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge. Check out: www.davidsuzuki.org/NatureChallenge/
5. Give those leftovers new life. Don’t throw them out, store them immediately into individual portion controlled glass bowls with plastic lids (e.g. Pyrex) and freeze for a rainy day. This will reduce waste, prevent overeating and create much- appreciated healthy ‘tucker’ (as they say in Australia), for lunch at work or when you just can’t be bothered to cook dinner and are tempted to pick up some fast food.

Dietitian Sue Radd is the author of The Breakfast Book and co-author of Eat to Live, which showins how savvy eating can combat cancer and heart disease and improve wellbeing. Check out: www.sueradd.com