Food sustainability

My relationship with food is awkward, because although I am a fat woman, I actually don’t eat all that much.

I like the idea of sustainability and eating locally grown produce etc. and I even like the idea of a predominantly plant based diet, though not entirely a plant based one.  But I can’t ever go full vegan even if I wanted to because of my health issues and that’s not a cop out!  I have a protein metabolism and I have intolerances to soy and mustard as it makes my spleen swell and become painful. I also cannot stomach a high fat or sugar diet.

I have heard this puts me potentially into the “Flexitarian” bracket if I could afford the diet change, but I really don’t know! I know right now, my finances could not support my body on a flexitarian diet as we’re struggling to eat full-stop right now.

My health has improved vastly since I have started to eat a minimum of 75g of protein per day, any less than this and the following day I have problems with pain and lethargy.

I understand that other than vitamin B12 there are many foods out there for vegans which will give me a high protein diet, I am very aware of what is available.  However, my other problem is, I am a person who cannot eat big meals and I cannot eat too frequently.  

What I am saying is, I struggle to eat in quantities, I can’t eat more than a sandwich in one sitting and I need to stay immobile twenty minutes after eating, so the idea of having seven meals per day to make up for it is not ideal – because I will spend half my day on my bum!

What is frustrating is, I love a lot of veg and salads – really I love it a lot!  But, if I eat that, I won’t be getting enough protein.  Because I can’t make it up with the soy, especially on my budget!

Because I love sustainability etc. and I have been working hard for the past ten years to get abundant knowledge about how to have a sustainable life, I have learned a lot.  Some people really believe veganism will save the world, I am not going to say anything against that other than this one thing…

The thing that is killing the world is a farming system known as “monoculture.”

What is that?

It is where farms only grow one to three crops on several acres of land without including anything beneficial to the local environment and its wildlife, whilst stripping the land bare at the end of the year.

Veganism will work in regards to the fact that there will be less pasture for the meat industry, but it doesn’t solve the fact of monoculture being used to grow vegetables and fruits, does it?      

Now, I am supporting you guys, believe me!

But a lot of people have a huge oversight on this matter.

What people need to do is make more farming suggestions along the lines of polyculture farming or most ideally, food forest farming – where at least you can still have meat in your diet if you are so inclined.  Because chickens and other poultry, like ducks, geese, and turkeys can live in a food forest and will help with pest control whilst maintaining natural biodiversity.

We were never meant to create monoculture farming, it is not natural and as you can see, it is very damaging to our environment. 

What we need are food forests. 

Because vitamin B12 is virtually impossible to get in a vegan diet outside of fortified cereals and without it can cause a lot of damage to people’s health in the long run – the idea of having a food forest where you have poultry is ideal.  You can just eat the free range eggs and don’t need to worry about the meat factor if you really are anti-meat.

Orchards can have certain other creatures in them; in fact in ancient farming we always did, it has only really been since the Victorian period that people moved further and further into monocultural design.

Polyculture is where you have a multitude of different plants and flowers in the area; only thing is you need to get rid of the social mind-set of perfect food.  Food is food; it doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t have to conform to a standard, just be edible!

It’s not our diets that have to change its our mind-set and our food industry that has to change, it has to be designed better, going back to basics, going back to polyculture and food forestry and becoming organic. 

Biodiversity is key to our survival and you are not going to do that with modern monocultural farming.

Another thing that is destroying our world is the idea of digging – I am a no dig gardener and that means I am a gentle gardener who understands that it’s not just what grows above the soil we need to care for, but what happens beneath it too!

The microorganisms that are in the ground are key to our soils health and the health of our soil will also improve the fertility of our land and our crops, making our food industry produce on average 10% more yields than those farms and gardens that dig.  Sometimes as much as 20% has been recorded!

I have learned all of this with the years of research I have been doing and through books written by various people, but most notably Charles Dowding. 

Another factor to our climate crisis is the trade industry – though it’s great for our economy it is not environmentally sustainable.  Though our diets need to be very diverse, it is nonetheless killing our planet.  You need to eat locally grown foods and I know I don’t practise what I preach here, because I am a huge lover of exotic fruits, vegetables and spices.  I eat a banana a day and they certainly don’t grow in the UK.

So with that being said – I can cope with a largely plant based diet as long as I can still eat in small quantities and still maintain a minimal protein intake of 75g per day – but I can’t go full on vegan.  I believe chickens can actually save the world!

Thanks for reading!