Your Awesome Power of Choice

By Lekshmi Radhakrishnan, Certified in Plant-Based Nutrition, Mercer Island Parent and ACES Member

When you talk about making sustainable choices, some are definitely easier than others. It’s hard to imagine a life where you never get on an airplane or you never purchase anything in plastic. These are things we all know would help our planet, but it takes a lot of thought and effort. However, when you are at a restaurant, looking over a huge menu at a place like the Cheesecake Factory or your favorite Italian eatery, it is VERY easy to pick plant-based items or even easier to pick vegetarian. Eating less meat is the most impactful change you can make. Between Seattle and Bellevue alone, you can find endless plant based eateries from ice cream, to pizza, Vietnamese, Mexican and more. Restaurants from Q’Doba to Burger King now serve plant based meals. It takes no effort at all, other than uttering a few words, to use your power of choice to help our planet.

Every day a choice you make has the awesome power to save 1100 gallons of water, 35 lbs of grains, 30 sq ft of forest and 20 lbs of CO2. That choice is eating a Plant-Based diet! Every time we choose to fill our plates with plant-based foods we are not only helping the environment but also our own health.

How is plant based eating a healthier option?

A plant based diet is rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes and beans, and they are loaded with fiber, vitamins and minerals, has zero cholesterol, and they are low in calories and saturated fat. Pound-for-pound, plant based meals pack more nutrients into fewer calories. Multiple research shows that plant-based eaters have lower cholesterol and blood-pressure levels, a reduced risk of coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, lower cancer rates and live an average of 10yrs longer than people who consume animal products.

How does eating a plant based diet affect the environment?

Livestock production, the process of artificially introducing hundreds of billions of animals into our already fragile biosphere is extremely energy intensive, water intensive, land intensive and is one of the leading causes of deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, species extinction, air and water pollution, loss of biodiversity and climate change. Producing meat for human consumption produces more emissions than all the trains, ships, planes and road transportation in the world combined.

There are now 10 times more farm animals than there are people on Earth, that’s over 70 Billion animals that we artificially introduced, who are competing with us for finite resources. This number is bound to rise if we do not change our eating habits.

How can I start?

To begin, substitute a plant protein in one meal a day, or try out a new vegetable or fruit every week. Some people are hopping on Oprah’s OMD train, which promotes trying to eat one meal a day that has no animal products. Breakfast is an easy one to start with! Instead of eggs and bacon, give oatmeal and fruit a try. For lunch, try having a veggie loaded salad and soup or a plant-based burger. If you can’t part with your daily staples don’t worry, there is a delicious plant-based alternative for almost every type of food you can think up. You don’t have to miss out on any of your favorite foods. Try not to overwhelm yourself – start small and add onto your plant based diet slowly. Every effort each of us puts into incorporating plant-based foods in our lives will help tremendously in bettering our health, and ensure that we leave a livable planet for future generations. Don’t forfeit your awesome power of choice!

We recommend the following for more information:

Videos: Forks Over Knives, The Game Changer (NetFlix)
Books: Eat for the Planet by Nil Zacharias and Gene Stone, How Not To Die by Michael Greger, MD
Health related information: Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (https://www.pcrm.org/ ), Nutrition Facts (https://nutritionfacts.org/)

Give it a try – Cookbooks:

For Everyone: Vegan for Everybody by America’s Test Kitchen,
More: Oh She Glows Every Day by Angela Liddon (book and her site)
Meat Lovers: Thug Kitchen
Healthy: Forks Over Knives
Weeknights: Isa Does It
Comfort Food: Sweet Potato Soul at Amazon
Instant Pot: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook for Your Instant Pot
Basics: The Homemade Vegan Pantry
Dessert: Chloe’s Vegan Desserts