Post from guest blogger, Jenny Arthur BA (Hons) MSc RNutr, Nutrition and Marketing Consultant.
It’s time to call it a day for the mince pies, Yule log, just one more chocolate and another glass of wine, as that waistband has miraculously got smaller….sound familiar! As the recent storms have whipped up a frenzy of fallen trees and power lines, come the start of January the fad diet frenzy will commence.
There are plenty of research papers that have proved that fad diet don’t work; in mid Jan I will be blogging about the latest diet crazes. For now my focus is on my theme for 2014 – sustainability. Sustainability of the food we eat by making conscious decisions about what foods we buy and where the food comes from; and also making small but sustainable changes to the way we eat to ensure we maintain healthier eating habits.
The amount of food in our house this Christmas and the number of times I emptied the food recycling bin made me realise just how much food I throw away, multiply that the world over and it is a terrifying thought. Sustainability is rising up the food industry’s agenda, back in October Tesco announced they would be focusing on reducing the amount of waste they produce and more recently looking at reducing the number of their multi-buy promotions.
Another consideration is how and what food is grown. There are sustainability issues surrounding 3 major sources of nutrients, meat and meat products, fish and milk. In 25 years many of the fish stocks will be depleted and the world has become reliant on 20 species for over 90% of its food. These statistics provided by the World Wildlife Fund are definitely food for thought, to value our food more and choose nutrient dense, higher quality foods rather than quantity.
With the arrival of the New Year comes the New Year’s resolutions… where to start? Making a few small changes that can be sustained throughout the year are the most effective way to achieving a healthier lifestyle. Making changes that can be easily encorporated into people’s daily routine are much more likely to be successful.
A thought I had while peeling the umteenth satuma which were on a buy one get one free promotion, which I am desperately trying to get through before they go mouldy. If you peel it its more likely to be healthier than if you unwrap it… let me know what you think?
Happy New Year!
Visit Jenny Arthur's website for information on nutrition and market trends, nutrition and health strategy, product and recipe development, and consumer communications.
