Choosing to eat eco-friendly does not mean giving up all your favorite foods or adopting some strange diet. It means being aware of where your food comes from and putting thought into the foods you eat.

Less Packaging

Whether you buy foods at grocery stores, connected vending machines or the corner bodega, choose foods that are wrapped with the least amount of packaging or packaging that is recyclable. Is it necessary to buy eggs in a Styrofoam carton or is there another brand that uses cardboard? Can you select five apples on your own without buying the ones in a plastic bag? Bringing your own reusable bags to the grocery store means there are fewer plastic bags going into landfills and clogging up waterways.

Eat Seasonally

Many fruits and vegetables have a specific growing season. When you purchase them out of season, extra energy has gone into ripening them. For example, peaches ripen to perfection in the summer. They are delicious and juicy and often available from small, local roadside sellers.  If you find fresh peaches at your grocery store during other times of the year, they were probably force-grown out of the country and shipped to your town in atmosphere-polluting trucks.

Eat Locally

If you’ve ever wondered what foods are grown locally, go to a nearby farmers market and take a look. Venders generally do not travel more than an hour to get to each venue, so you can be assured that what they are selling is fresh. Local farmers also often have great tips on how to prepare their fruits and vegetables if they happen to be a type that you are unfamiliar with. It's a great opportunity to expand your palate. 

Choose Low-Impact Protein

Did you know that most beef cattle are fattened on corn and soy and never allowed to graze? If you have the option to eat grass fed beef, take it. Cattle naturally eat grass, so this is a much more humane treatment than forcing them to eat grains to fatten them up as quickly as possible.  A grass-fed lifestyle is healthier for both man and beast.

If you live near the coast, choose fish that is in season and caught recently, preferably by a local fisherman. If you order fish in a restaurant, be sure to ascertain its source. Fish that had to be flown halfway around the world uses a ridiculous amount of energy for one meal. If you want to try a very low-impact, high protein seafood, try mussels. Mussels filter water as they grow and can easily be harvested on collector ropes without creating environmental waste.

Lentils, part of the legume family, are a great protein alternative to those who don’t want to eat meat. Because they are so easy to grow, they have a very small environmental impact. In fact, the soil is actually richer after the legumes have been harvested. Beans are also excellent sources of protein that are delicious, inexpensive and conservation friendly.

Drink Fairly

There is so much that can go wrong between planting coffee seeds and drinking that delicious cup of Joe. Coffee plantations are all around the globe in “the bean belt” an Equatorial ring with perfect growing conditions. Unfortunately, these plantations are often linked to poor labor conditions of the workers, clear cutting and pesticide use.  Look for coffee with the fair-trade logo to be sure that particular bean was harvested with economically sustainable oversight by the Fairtrade Labelling Organization. This governing body insures just treatment of the laborer and harvesting practices that support long-term sustainability.

Eating eco-friendly isn’t about going without. Instead it’s about making responsible choices when you can to support businesses that support our great blue planet Earth.