Eating greener and losing weight

I must admit that I’ve never been on a conventional “diet” – always hated the notion of regimenting and planning my food. I’d never been overweight and counting calories sounded just daft. Any time a friend or colleague told me about being in some weight loss group or expensive diet, I replied “Why?” or “You’re spending how much to have someone tell you cake is fattening?”

However, age and increasing inactivity had taken their toll on my waisteline. There was the tell-tale signs of a muffin top and I just didn’t feel fit and lean. I wanted to get back into shape and at the same time, to adhere to an ethical/greener eating plan. This was going to be interesting and informative.

I must also confess that I’ve never been a vegetarian (although I don’t ever complain or refuse a good vegetarian meal).

Let the common sense begin
There is some kind of craze about part-time veganism amongst diet-obsessed celebrities. But after trimming away the confusing pseudo-medical/scientific talk by its medical proponents you realise that this just means decreasing your meat and fish intake. Also, having spoken to strict raw vegans, I thought there was something worthwhile there. So I came up with a hybrid and modified version of an eating plan. The rules being:

• No pre-prepared foods
• Less meat, fish and eggs (and the animal products consumed must be free range, organic or ocean-friendly)
• No dairy products
• When it can be eaten raw, eat it raw

So a month ago, I stocked my fridge with more than the usual quantity of fruit and vegetable – did my best to purchase produce labelled “local” from the local grocers. I am trying everything to avoid the big supermarkets these days. The 100 mile radius is a very useful rule or guideline but I have to confess that it’s more guidelines than rules for me at the moment.

Organic is too expensive?
The prices of organic produce used to make my eyes pop but considering how the large operators make their money on volume and scale, it’s more a case of the supermarkets being cheap rather than the small scale organic producers being expensive. Also, I realise now that good food and cheap food are contradiction in terms. If you want to eat healthily and ethically, you have to consider the welfare of the environment, animals and the people who work to produce and deliver the food to our tables.

Even if I wanted to discard “green” eating principles, I still will want to eat the local and organic produce from the farmers’ markets for the simple reason of taste. Fresher local produce just taste better.

Bad food equals empty calories
There are no pre-prepared or quick snack foods in my home now. If I get hungry, it’s a carrot or fruit. It’s good to remind yourself that stuffing yourself silly (the feeling you get after a massive restaurant meal laden with meat, fat and starch) is neither natural nor good.

The reason for the effectiveness of this eating plan is I’ve cut out empty calories. It’s very easy to see why there are very few overweight vegans (and even fewer overweight raw vegans). When your sources of calories are limited, you make the most of them. So by default, I have avoided foods with added sugar and foods high in fat - easy when you make a concerted effort to eat raw produce.

By not consuming packaged and ready-to-eat items, I’ve taken control over what is done to my food. No food is worth being fat for and certainly, no bad food is worth being fat for. The shrinking waistline is a welcome by-product of eating greener. Honestly, it’s no gimmick but a lot of common sense.

The ethical carnivore; eating the entire animal

Maybe not THE ENTIRE animal but if you choose to eat meat, consuming most of the edible parts from the animal. What could be greener? This means eating the organs/offal, utilising the bones and other remnants. Put simply, the parts considered unpleasant in North America.

Travelling and eating in many developing countries has opened my eyes to the “waste not want not” principle. A walk through a food market in Asia will reveal some delicious gems from various parts of the animal (those euphemistically called “variety meat” in North America). Crunchy chicken gizzards charcoal roasted with spicy dips, beef tripe with salad and stewed ox tendons are just some of my highlights. Some not-so-memorable dishes include chicken rear ends on skewers and chewy pig entrails soup. In the Mediterranean, parts such as ox tail, pig trotters, brain and testicles are eaten regularly. Even the not-so-gastronomic British can pull off a good steak and kidney pie. Here is an article from the Bangkok Post – a Thai’s perspective on Westerners’ approach to offal.

Why is eating innards better for the environment?
We can’t deny that meat production takes its toll on the environment. It takes land, feed, water, transportation and production to get the meat to the consumer’s table. As it takes 10 kg of cereal to produce one kilo of beef, then we should not be wasting any part of the animal. Unless you deliberately avoid meat, eating offal is more environmentally friendly.

Is eating offal safe?
People are worried about contamination and organs being storage tanks for harmful pathogens. There’s probably some truths to this as we saw during the BSE/Mad Cow crisis in the UK during the 1990s. In order to reduce the probability of BSE contaminated meats entering the system, there was a ban on beef on the bone and certain types of offal. We are well aware that industrial farming methods gave rise to BSE. If the entire animal has been raised in factory conditions with low hygiene and upkeep, then the organs are bound to contain harmful substances in increased amounts. Therefore, if the animal is raised in humane conditions in an organic setting, the organs are bound to be safer – as well as the muscle meat. Also, a Swedish study conducted in 2003 claimed that raising organic beef on grass rather than feed, reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 40% and consumed 85% less energy.

Better late than never – join the glorious gut eating masses!
There may be a change amongst those who’d originally turned their noses up at offal. I’ve been seeing calves’ brains and various other organs at the more posh delis around town. Perhaps more people are asking themselves why it’s perfectly OK to eat one piece of an animal and not another. And essentially, that is what meat is – a piece of what was once a living animal, muscle and organs. It’s good to look at the animal and its parts and see our food for what it really is rather than as neatly trimmed pieces wrapped in plastic.

Chris Cosentino is a US-based chef who has given offal a central role in his cooking. His “head to tail” cooking approach is an eye-opener as he is a well-known high-end chef – with numerous appearances on popular television programmes. The sight of this man with a handful of entrails and organs may be strange – or even revolting – for some but the importance of such an approach can’t be missed.



A quick glance through google will yield a rich picking in offal recipes. They really are worth a try as there’s more to life than just pork chops and chicken breasts.