Green Eating

biggreencookbook During the Atkins era, pork rinds and bunless burgers were immortalized. But low carb has been kicked aside for low carbon. These days, the buzz is grass-fed beef, sustainable seafood and locally grown produce. Devoted carnivores are now locavores. The carb conscious are now climate conscious. The intense focus on “net carbs” and “glycemic index” has shifted to carbon footprint and food miles.

Today, food is being viewed through a new lens: how it impacts the environment. The “greening” of our cuisine was the topic of my article today in the Chicago Tribune. I interviewed registered dietitian and chef Jackie Newgent and featured tips from her new book the Big Green Cookbook. This excellent eco-friendly cookbook includes hundreds of planet-pleasing recipes and clever tips to green your cooking routine. A few examples:

Cut down the size. The finer food is diced, the faster it will cook. That translates to reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that enter the atmosphere. Try cutting vegetables into smaller pieces for stir-fries and pounding boneless chicken breasts into super-thin fillets to shave off cooking times.

Do double duty. Aim to prepare, cook and serve in the same pans or bowls when possible so you’ll have less washing to do. For example, when making a salad, use one bowl to whisk the dressing, toss the salad and serve.

Put a lid on it. When food on the stove is being simmered, sauteed or boiled, finish the cooking by covering it with a tight-fitting lid and turn off the burner to let the trapped heat do some of the work.

Get to know your microwave. Because the microwave oven can reduce energy use by about two-thirds compared with a conventional oven, use it to do more than make popcorn or reheat leftovers.

Skimp on water. When boiling beans or other vegetables, use just enough water to cover the food. That means you’ll waste less water and you’ll be able to bring it to a boil faster — two ways to help save resources.

Another excellent book that I mention briefly in my article is Go Green, Get Lean: Trim Your Waistline with the Ultimate, Low-Carbon Footprint Diet by registered dietitian Kate Geagan, “America’s Green Nutritionist.” This book maps out img_book an eating plan to help you lose weight and step gently on the Earth. Fortunately, the same diet will do double duty. Primarily it comes down to eating more plant-based foods — fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and nuts. She makes a convincing case that our SUV-style diet is warming the planet and making us fat. She motivates readers to enhance their health, trim their waistline and save the planet one bite at a time.

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Tagged as: Big Green Cookbook, carbon foot print, environment, Go Green Get Lean, green cuisine, green eating, Jackie Newgent, Kate Geagan, low carbon, sustainability

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“Natural” keeps gaining steam, even if people aren’t quite sure what it means.

A new survey found Amercian shoppers believe a “natural” label claim is a better indicator of an eco-friendly product than “organic.” The Shelton Group conducted a survey of 1,006 U.S. consumers and found that nearly two-thirds were looking for greener products. Yet many consumers have become more skeptical of companies’ green credentials, accusing them of “greenwashing.” They also don’t seem to understand green terminology.

When asked “How do you know a product is green?” the top response was “don’t know/not sure,” at 22%. The second most popular response, at 20%, was “says so on the package/label.” And what influenced them the most on the label? The most persuasive was ”100% natural,” at 31%. The term “organic” was less trusted, at 14%.

Despite federal certification standards, consumers thought ”organic” was an unregulated marketing buzzword that means the product is more expensive. “Natural” carried more weight.

This comes at time when the purity of the “organic” label is being questioned. This Washington Post article reviews the issue and the growing concern that trust in the USDA Organic label is eroding.

“Relaxation of the federal standards, and an explosion of consumer demand, have helped push the organics market into a $23 billion-a-year business, the fastest growing segment of the food industry….But the USDA program’s shortcomings mean that consumers, who at times must pay twice as much for organic products, are not always getting what they expect: foods without pesticides and other chemicals, produced in a way that is gentle to the environment.

The market’s expansion is fueling tension over whether the federal program should be governed by a strict interpretation of “organic” or broadened to include more products by allowing trace elements of non-organic substances. The argument is not over whether the non-organics pose a health threat, but whether they weaken the integrity of the federal organic label. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has pledged to protect the label, even as he acknowledged the pressure to lower standards to let more products in.”

Is organic food worth the extra cost? That’s the question recently posed by WebMD is this slide show.

Update: Since my original post on the subject of “natural” vs. “organic,” the topic was featured in a front-page article in the Chicago Tribune by Monica Eng. It really hits home the current state of consumer confusion and how the lines between natural and organic are being blurred.