Eat greener, not too much and be active!

There are new dietary guidelines to Sweden, which include not only the health concerns, but also the environment.

It has a ‘Sustainable big picture’ stressing the need to focus not just on individual nutrients but to take a holistic view that also includes physical activity and environmental concerns.

And what do they say about fish consumption?
Eat fish and shellfish two to three times a week. 
Vary your intake of fatty and low-fat varieties, and choose ecolabelled seafood.

In summary, the advice is:

1. Eat fish and shellfish two to three times a week – vary the type of fish and look for products with sustainability labels 
2. Exercise at least 30 minutes every day 
3. Switch to whole grain for pasta, bread and cereals – all cereals have low carbon footprints and pesticide use is low 
4. Choose healthy fats like rape seed oil – butter has a higher carbon footprint than vegetable oil 
5. Choose low fat, un-sweetened dairy products fortified with vitamin D. Methane from cows affect the climate. Therefore do not consume too much cheese and other dairy products; 0.2-0.5 litres of milk (not including cheese) a day is enough for calcium. However, cows can contribute to biodiversity conservation through the grazing of pastures 
6. Eat less red and processed meat – a maximum of 500 g red and processed meat per week (no limitation on chicken or other white meat) – meat is the food product that affects the climate and the environment the most, and it is therefore important to consume less 
7. Choose foods with less salt Reduce intake of sweets, cake, ice cream and other sugary foods – these unnecessary food cause environmental impact without any nutritional gains
8. Try to find your energy balance by eating just enough

Portugal has the highest seafood consumption in Europe and on of the highest in the World.
It is almost double comparing to Sweden, with an annual average of 56.7 kg per capita against 31.3 kg per capita in Sweden. 

But Portugal has the same population than Sweden, around 10 million.

Why should we in Portugal care with sustainable dietary guidelines?

Here some justification:

Cynically, one could question all this fuss about dietary advice, since few eat according to these recommendations anyway. 

In terms of the Swedish eating patterns they have a very limited direct impact on global environmental issues, given Sweden’s population of only 10 million. 

A commonly voiced objection to any food policy in Sweden seeking to reduce consumption of animal products is “well, think about all the Chinese…” And in addition, “here in Sweden we have the most sustainable animal production systems in the world with higher requirements when it comes to environment and animal welfare than anywhere else – it does not make sense to reduce production here”.  

Regarding the first argument, most people quickly realize the absurdity of justifying the right to consume more than the ‘globally fair’ part of resources just because you happen to belong to a small group of people (Swedes). 

The second argument shows the importance of differentiating between production and consumption of food. 

If Sweden can produce ‘better’ (better needs to be defined broadly including also social aspects) than somewhere else in the world and these Swedish products really replace other worse production and don’t just add products to the market that are not really needed, then it does make sense to place production in Sweden. 

But production in Sweden cannot be sustained through high consumption in Sweden. It is like arguing for an increase in all electricity consumption so as to stimulate wind power expansion.