What is a healthy sustainable human diet?

[!Kaggen]

To follow from the Organic food is no healthier, study finds thread and the How much would vegetarianism benefit humanity? thread.

I am asking the question what diet is the most appropriate for maximizing human health as well as being sustainable?

By sustainable I mean this

To start off the discussion I am linking this article and ensuing comments .

This article specifically mentions the Mediterranean diet .

I would like to add the Okinawan diet as another example of a healthy sustainable diet.

Though these diets have some basic tenants in common (lots vegetables) I think the most obvious commonality is that the food is locally sourced and the food is fresh. This also makes these diets sustainable.

 

[Mojo]

I am asking the question what diet is the most appropriate for maximizing human health as well as being sustainable?

Eat mostly vegetables, and not too much.

As far a "sustainability" goes, you also have to consider population size and distribution.

 

[Darat]

The "Mediterranean diet" is not a sustainable diet, or ta least not for Mediterranean countries.

 

[!Kaggen]

Eat mostly vegetables, and not too much.

As far a "sustainability" goes, you also have to consider population size and distribution.

Yes, so what would be a sustainable diet with these factors (pop. size and distribution) in consideration?

 

[!Kaggen]

The "Mediterranean diet" is not a sustainable diet, or ta least not for Mediterranean countries.

Do you mean not sustainable to non-Mediterranean countries or not sustainable for Mediterranean countries, sorry its not very clear?

 

[Herzblut]

I am asking the question what diet is the most appropriate for maximizing human health as well as being sustainable?

A difficult question since it couples individual and global aspects.

I'm confident that a cereal-free, sugar-free diet is extremely healthy, but not globally applicable ("sustainable").

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

How is "sustainable" being used here? To sustain a person's health or sustainable in having no long lasting environmental impact?

If it's the latter, given our population, I don't think there is any food that can feed all of us that doesn't rely on using unsustainable resources and/or practices (fossil fuels, depleting water tables, etc.)

If it's the former, I think variety is the key.

 

[Cuddles]

How is "sustainable" being used here? To sustain a person's health or sustainable in having no long lasting environmental impact?

If it's the latter, given our population, I don't think there is any food that can feed all of us that doesn't rely on using unsustainable resources and/or practices (fossil fuels, depleting water tables, etc.)

If it's the former, I think variety is the key.

Pretty much what I was going to say. If you mean sustainable for humanity as a whole, there's simply no such thing. As long as the population continues to increase, there will inevitably come a point where no diet is possible that will provide for everyone.

On the other hand, if you just mean capable of sustaining an individual, there are a huge number of different diets that are perfectly healthy.

 

[mhaze]

To follow from the Organic food is no healthier, study finds thread and the How much would vegetarianism benefit humanity? thread.

I am asking the question what diet is the most appropriate for maximizing human health as well as being sustainable?

By sustainable I mean this

To start off the discussion I am linking this article and ensuing comments .

This article specifically mentions the Mediterranean diet .

I would like to add the Okinawan diet as another example of a healthy sustainable diet.

Though these diets have some basic tenants in common (lots vegetables) I think the most obvious commonality is that the food is locally sourced and the food is fresh. This also makes these diets sustainable.

A very, very interesting question.

This has been studied quite a bit.

Here is your answer.

 

[Darat]

Do you mean not sustainable to non-Mediterranean countries or not sustainable for Mediterranean countries, sorry its not very clear?

It is not sustainable for Mediterranean countries.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

As far as the Inuit are concerned: fish; seal, whale, polar bear, walrus, and caribou meat; and a occasional handful of fireweed.

Why do you ask?

 

[!Kaggen]

It is not sustainable for Mediterranean countries.

So what diet is sustainable in Med. countries?

 

[Mojo]

Yes, so what would be a sustainable diet with these factors (pop. size and distribution) in consideration?

Eat no more than the environment can support.

 

[!Kaggen]

How is "sustainable" being used here? To sustain a person's health or sustainable in having no long lasting environmental impact?

If it's the latter, given our population, I don't think there is any food that can feed all of us that doesn't rely on using unsustainable resources and/or practices (fossil fuels, depleting water tables, etc.)

If it's the former, I think variety is the key.

From wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable

"Since the 1980s, human sustainability has implied the integration of economic, social and environmental spheres to: “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Why should we accept a trade-off between health, environment and preventing starvation?

I think the Med. and Okinawan diets give us a good starting point to start investigating how to solve this problem.
I also believe the common factor in these diets are that the ingredients are locally sourced and therefore fresh.

 

[Darat]

So what diet is sustainable in Med. countries?

Nothing.

 

[!Kaggen]

Pretty much what I was going to say. If you mean sustainable for humanity as a whole, there's simply no such thing. As long as the population continues to increase, there will inevitably come a point where no diet is possible that will provide for everyone.

On the other hand, if you just mean capable of sustaining an individual, there are a huge number of different diets that are perfectly healthy.

The population question is also part of the sustainability equation.
If the population is not maintained within a sustainable limit then questions of sustainable healthy food are meaningless.
Sustainability is not an object like a tree. It is purely a concept, like democracy, towards which we hope humanity wants to move.
The question in the OP is asked in this context.
If we do not ask ourselves what kind of world do we want to live in, we will never find ways of making it that way.
By investigating current and historical diets and there ability to maintain health and at the same time be economically, socially and environmentally sustainable we can deduce what concepts are worth testing and which aren't.
Of course historically, diets have been limited to geography compared to relatively recently with almost limitless access to food from all over the globe (at least in rich western countries). However this has been at an environmental cost which will only becoming apparent in the future. This needs to be taken into account in the analysis.
I still think it is relevant to use historical diets as starting points for further analysis. Especially the diets which stand out above the others.

 

[!Kaggen]

Nothing.

Planning on moving this thread to the philosophy?

 

[Herzblut]

Planning on moving this thread to the philosophy?

It just looks like Darat got some food poisoning while on vacation in Italy or Spain.

 

[JJM]

Eat mostly vegetables, and not too much. ...

That seems right.

The Okinawa diet described in Wiki is fictional. Sorry, I no longer have my references on it; but it is high in grease and pork. The diet advocated in the article may be good; but it is not typical of Okinawa.

 

[!Kaggen]

It just looks like Darat got some food poisoning while on vacation in Italy or Spain.

Hmm, probably from eating at a fish and chip shop for British tourists