Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
HAVE YOU TRIED THE NEW WILDEVORE DIET?
A new eating approach aims to educate all about their food sources, so that they make ecofriendly choices
We have all heard of the vegetarian, vegan and flexitarian diets, but have you heard of the wildevore diet?
This diet seeks to harmonise the need to eat for good health and the urgency of making eco-friendly choices. It incorporates some of the philosophies of veganism, vegetarianism, flexitarianism, ethical omnivorism, and clean eating, but it looks more closely at the pressures on the environment and the impact that has on human health, according to The Ecologist.
The new eating approach aims at educating people about where their food originates from.
HEALTH IMPACT
Caroline Grindrod, an environmental conservationist and Wildevore coach, and Georgia WinfieldHayes, a nutritionist, are promoting this diet. They feel the diet is not for the “fainthearted” and requires some “serious homework and a desire to change habits”. The system can work for vegans and meat-eaters, but there is an underlying need to understand the consequences of food choices. The meat reared on regenerative farms and fed on natural diets is allowed.
Winfield-Hayes says that a vegan diet does not ‘always’ provide the best results. She says, “From a health perspective, a vegan diet, in the short term, is an amazing way to cleanse the body. However, in the long-term, it can create serious health problems. Soya, the main protein source for many vegans, is a hormonedisrupting food and can cause our own reproductive systems to stop working correctly.”
SUSTAINABLE CHOICES
“Other issues with not eating animals are the omega-3 deficiency, and certain vitamin and mineral deficiencies... all combined with the problems created by soya can cause premature degradation of bone tissue. Relying on our supermarket staples has led to a decrease in nutrition levels. The minerals in food have reduced by up to 60%. These deficiencies compound our craving for the taste of nutrient-dense foods. But if we don’t understand this we end up eating all the wrong things,” adds Winfield-Hayes.
Grindrod believes that breaking down categorisation is the key. “We want everyone to realise they eat life forms from a cycle of birth, life, death and decay. You can make local and sustainable choices when eating meat or plants – we all need to take responsibility for doing better,” says Grindrod.
The conservationist adds, “We can take steps to build healthy ecosystems in all the land that grows food for humans. This is the only sustainable way we can live on this planet.”