The world of Tzu Chi April 2021 (Vol.133)

2021 • 04 58 ellness Translated by Chang Yii Yong Your Diet Choices Decide the Future Every day when it comes to meal-time, most people are indecisive on the choice between meat and beans—it seems more difficult than deciding whether to go skiing in Japan or Europe. J ust like this, 2020 is coming to an end. People around me are all having the same thought: time flows away in vain like water in the river. Reflecting on the few hundred days when I was forced to stay at home and cut down on outings due to the pandemic, I finished authoring my book Eat With Your Brain , and hand wrote letters to my old friends whom I had not seen in a decade. I also managed to read some 50 books this year. Among them, The Duty of Genius by Ludwig Wittgenstein and Reza Aslan’s God: A Human History are two books that I read repeatedly. They reminded me to self-reflect on the days gone by. I had also reviewed my own diet plan and identified areas for improvement. You might be thinking: “What dietary habits would a nutritionist need to further improve?” I had been trying to balance my dietary habits between being eco-friendly, nutritious and consideration for personal preferences. I know dairy products are one of the high-carbon emission foods, and I am also aware that reducing the intake of dairy products can help alleviate the negative impact on the environment. Nevertheless, I still found myself allowing dairy products in my diet this year. Benjamin Franklin’s quote: “So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do,” reminded me and brought me to reflect: “Am I also looking for reasons to justify my actions?” Once when I was in a taxi, I casually chatted with the driver on the concept of “adopting a plant-based diet to save the Earth”. Whenever I tried to share with others that our dietary habits had an effect on climate change, I realized most people were unaware that excessive intake of meat and processed food can harm our health and cause negative impact to the environment. Benefits of diverse plant-based food Food choices have varying effects on health and the environment. For example, meat is a source of protein but so are legumes like chickpeas and lentils. The difference is that plant-based food consumes less water than meat during the cultivation process. Studies have shown that to produce 1 kg of protein from beef requires ten times more water in comparison to producing 1 kg of protein from kidney beans. The taxi driver who sent me home, together with the majority of people, shared the same response upon hearing this fact: “Really?”, “Unbelievable! How is this possible?” The answer lies in the water consumption in feeding livestock, production of feed, and so on. This fact is shocking. Those who scrutinize the information will find it hard not to reconsider their daily eating habits as the choice they make would have a direct impact on the environment—dietary choices will influence the future environment