We produce and eat unhealthy food, killing ourselves and the planet in the process. Food production systems are the single biggest cause of environmental change to the planet. And the food we are producing is killing us - more than a quarter of the world's population is overweight or obese, and deaths from stroke, heart attack, cancer, diabetes etc are at epidemic levels. It's easy to feel helpless.
In 2019 a seminal piece of research was published which, for the first time, made clear recommendations for a way to produce food and to eat that would save both the planet's resources and our own health. The Planetary Health Diet was the culmination of years of research by 37 eminent scientists of various backgrounds into this question - can we provide a growing population with a healthy diet from sustainable food systems? The answer is yes.
Enough is a practical explanation of the Planetary Health Diet's research, allowing everyone to understand the science and to adopt its recommendations in our daily lives. The PHD specifies the food groups we should be eating. But what does a diet composed of, for example, 30% carbohydrates really look like? Which carbs, exactly? The diet is largely plant-based but does encompass meat and fish - but how many servings? It also explains what the nine 'planetary boundaries' are, that our food production systems must not exceed - from the quantities of nitrogen and phosphorus in the ecosystem to freshwater use.
As a scientist and journalist Dr Cassandra Coburn is brilliantly placed to provide this clear, ultimately hopeful and hugely important roadmap for own future health, and that of the planet.
(p) 2021 Octopus Publishing Group
