Working out what the healthiest options are when you’re shopping for food is often quite a difficult process, particularly when today’s supermarkets offer such an overwhelming amount of choice. Of course, people want to save as much money as they can, but as well as looking at price and nutritional info, people also have to decide whether to buy organic or fair trade items.
As education improves, people are increasingly thinking about health issues and environmental concerns. Sometimes there’s too much information to deal with, and this can make food shopping a confusing process where every purchase has to be agonised over. However, scientists at the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health at Aberdeen University have developed a blueprint for eating cheaply, healthily and eco-consciously. They call it the ‘Livewell Plate’.
The researchers took a scientific approach to determining how the needs of people and the planet can both be satisfied. They hope that their model will have been adopted by the masses as soon as 2020. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is backing the Livewell Plate, and has contributed to a shopping list and proposed weekly menus that people can follow.
The Livewell Plate recommends that processed foods and meat should be eaten less, and replaced with bread, rice, potato, pasta and fresh fruit and vegetables. By 2020, the researchers hope this will be how most people get the energy they need. There’s no reason to wait though – if you want to look after your body as well as the planet, you can start changing your diet now.
Often, there is an assumption that eating healthily means spending more money. However, the Livewell Plate is not an expensive diet. By eating a little less meat and dairy and making sure you eat more vegetables and wholegrains, you can bring down the cost of your food shopping. At current prices, a week’s shopping for one would cost 29.
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