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Planetary Health Diet: This Diet Saves the Earth

Alarming climate values, diseases of civilization, and famine do not leave science untouched either. With the Planetary Health Diet, researchers have now presented the optimal meal plan that takes equal account of the health of people and our planet.

Can our diet positively influence not only our own health but also that of our planet? An international research team has dealt with this question and developed the “Planetary Health Diet”.

What is the goal of the Planetary Health Diet?

The Planetary Health Diet is the result of a large-scale research effort, the results of which have just been published (1). A team of researchers from 16 countries and from a wide range of areas from politics to agriculture, health, and environmental protection designed the optimal menu that should not only help prevent diseases such as heart attacks and diabetes, but also the limits and resources of our planet taken into account.

According to the research committee, the Planetary Health Diet should continue to ensure nutrition for the world population in 2050, which is forecast to grow to 10 billion. The report also shows that not only eating habits need to change, but also agriculture. Among other things, this should become more sustainable and do without fossil fuels in order to stop the loss of biodiversity. According to scientists, food waste must also be reduced by 15 percent.

What ends up on the plate with the Planetary Health Diet?

“What we eat and how we produce it determines the health of people and the planet. And we are making a serious mistake right now,” says Tim Lang, one of the study’s authors from the University of London. Because especially the consumption of red meat and sugar must be reduced by half. The proportion of vegetables in our food, on the other hand, should be increased. Fruit, nuts, and legumes should also be consumed in large quantities. How suitable is the Planetary Health Diet for everyday use?

With the values ​​of perfect nutrition determined by the scientists, one should of course take into account that these are daily average values. After all, 13 grams of the egg cannot be used to cook a filling meal. However, extrapolated to a week, the information can serve as an orientation for the weekly menu – then nothing stands in the way of an omelet once a week.

The main concern of the research team with the Planetary Health Diet was that it could be implemented in as many countries and culinary cultures as possible. “There is no one answer, there is one diet,” explains Tim Lang. It does not make sense, for example, to idealize the Mediterranean diet or to generally recommend eating fish to everyone in the world. Jessica Fanzo, one of the study’s authors, explains that it’s more about providing a reference meal plan that can and should be adapted for any diet around the world.

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Lifestyle

Heat Water With a Saucepan or Kettle? This Saves You Energy and Costs in The Household

When boiling water, everyone uses a different variant. It is interesting whether you save more energy and costs if you use the kettle or if the saucepan is more economical.

Where does the water boil faster and more energy-efficiently?

Water is traditionally boiled either in a kettle or in a saucepan. But the question of what actually saves more energy and thus costs can usually be answered off the bat.

If you take a look at the time aspect, you might think: If you heat the water in a saucepan, it will take a lot more time. With the kettle, on the other hand, the water is usually heated in just a few minutes. A fallacy would now be that it is more economical to use the kettle. Because the bill was often made without modern induction cookers. Induction cookers heat water just as quickly as the kettle.

According to Stiftung Warentest, the kettle is the best choice when you compare the time, energy requirements and energy costs. The basic prices of 0.27 euros/kWh for electricity and around 0.07 for gas were used. The differences to the induction hob are minimal: while the kettle took an average of 3 minutes and 18 seconds to boil the water, the induction hob needed 4 minutes and 36 seconds. The energy requirement of the kettle was 115 Wh, that of the induction cooker 123 Wh; the corresponding energy costs amounted to 3.1 cents per liter for the kettle and 3.3 cents per liter for the induction hob. The differences seem minimal at first, but add up over time, so that you can save money with the kettle in the long run.

The relevance of the amount of water

If you only want to boil a small amount of water, for example for tea, it is advisable to use the kettle. The Öko-Institut points out other advantages of the kettle compared to the saucepan: it saves time, is easy to use, does not have to be monitored and is therefore safer. In addition, kettles are very cheap to buy. You should not use a metal kettle: These are not particularly energy-efficient, as they store the energy and therefore more is needed to boil the water. It is also important to descale the kettle regularly; this saves you time and energy.

If you have an induction cooker with a boost function at home, the water can usually be heated just as quickly as with a kettle. However, the stove is usually very expensive to buy; Although you can save energy by cooking on an induction stove, the initial costs are usually not covered by using it to boil water.

It is important that you do not use the kettle before boiling large quantities of water, for example for pasta or other food: If you first boil the water in the kettle and then tip it into the saucepan, you suffer a double loss of energy.

Conclusion

To save time and energy, the kettle is worth it; especially in small amounts. If you are dealing with larger quantities, you should not pour them out, but heat the water in the saucepan right away.

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