In celebration of Earth Day2025, we explore what food choices we can make now to reduce climate change and protect the planet as we seek to lose weight. Joanie was on a Keto diet when she called me for help with weight loss. She kept her carbohydrates to a minimum by eating vegetables like cauliflower, kale, and celery, and snack foods and desserts like tortilla chips, ice cream sundaes, and candy. Her diet was high in protein and fat, especially saturated fats. Most of the fat and protein she ate came from animal-based foods like sausage, steak, pizza, chicken wings, butter, cheese, eggs, and bacon. She had previous success with this diet and was confident it would work again to help her lose weight and keep it off. As a client, she was unwilling to transition from the Keto diet to a flexible lifestyle weight loss plan. During the first six months of her program, she lost twenty-five pounds. Eventually, she was unable to sustain the Keto diet and began regaining weight.
Then her doctor began to comment that her blood lipid values had become too high. She learned that she was at risk for heart disease. Unfortunately, the extremely popular Keto diet is both hard to sustain and comes with serious risks. Only short-term results have been studied and nothing is known for sure about whether it’s safe in the long term. What is the Keto diet? Keto is one of several weight loss diets that are low in carbohydrates and high in protein, along with the Paleo, Atkins, and South Beach diets. What makes Keto different is that most of the calories come from fat and protein. Carbohydrates are restricted to 5 percent of calories.
The other dimension that Joanie hadn’t considered was the impact of the animal products she was eating and their contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change. Joanie’s example brings up three problems with the Keto (and other low carbohydrate) diets. The problems with these diets are that:
- They are high in animal products and aren’t usually sustainable in the long run for weight loss.
- They can result in an increased risk for health conditions like heart disease.
- These diets also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
Food and Climate Change
The types and amounts of food we eat contribute to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions. Luckily, many of the changes we can make to eat healthier and manage our weight will help slow climate change. When we act together, we can create a tipping point. We have within our grasp the collective power to use sustainable practices that will help manage our weight and protect the Earth at the same time.
What Is the Impact of Food on the Environment?
How and to what extent does our food system contribute to climate change? The food system is one of our planet’s major users of carbon-rich sources of energy based on this analysis.
It’s estimated that a third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are linked to food. This number came from an assessment of global system GHG emissions that included food production, consumption, processing, transport, and packaging from the EDGAR-Food database, which estimated GHG emission for 1990-2015.
Five Tips for Eating Green and Losing Weight
My top five tips for eating green and losing weight, based primarily on my review of the research related to food system contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, are:
- Shift to eating a more plant-based diet with smaller amounts of animal foods, especially red meat and dairy. For protein options: eat red meat less often and reduce portions to three to four ounces a serving. Replace these proteins where possible with legumes (beans), tofu, chicken, and eggs, which are more energy efficient. Eat meatless and dairy-free meals for dinner at least once a week.
- Buy and eat more fruit and vegetables.
- Eat more whole grains.
- Reduce food waste.
- Adjust food portion sizes and reduce your calories from food and beverages to help you lose weight and keep it off.
Quick Life Hack
What is one easy change you could make to eat a more plant-based diet to contribute to reduced greenhouse gas emissions and climate change?
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Source:
Loughrey, Kay. Happy Life at a Healthy Weight, Creating a Shame Free, Healthy Relationship with Food and Life. Authentic Wellness Publishing Company, LLC. 2024. p 47.
Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN Transformational Speaker, Breakthrough Coach, Nutritionist-Dietitian
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Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN is a licensed Nutritionist-Dietitian and a weight loss coach with 30+ years of experience in helping people lose weight and develop healthier relationships with food. She coaches her clients nationwide providing weight loss planning, video check-ins, and more. Schedule your free consultation.