• Choose healthy food for your body and the planet.vegetables image by cherie from Fotolia.com
  
  A big step towards going green and creating a sustainable future is choosing what you eat wisely. Eating green is also important for your health. With a little planning, you can green your menu, no matter what your budget or lifestyle. Every change counts no matter how large or small.
  
  

Go Organic

• Organic food is grown without harmful pesticides and fertilizers. Industrial farming pollutes the environment far downstream of the actual farm, and it encourages the loss of valuable topsoil. Organic food is generally not subject to genetic modification. The more people buy organic, the less expensive and more widely available it will become.
  
  

Buy Local

• Buying all your food at chain grocery stores means your food has been transported many miles. When you buy local, whether at a smaller family grocer, farmers market, or directly from the farm, you get to appreciate where your food comes from. Community Supported Agriculture groups are growing and thriving. When you join a CSA, you partner directly with local food producers to share their costs and their healthy harvests.
  
  

Cook Less

• Cooking less means burning less energy and having more energy yourself. The less processed your food is, the more easily your body digests it. A diet based on raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds is healthy and requires less environmental resources than a typical diet.
  
  

Reconsider Animal Protein

• Animal protein, found in meat, fish, eggs and dairy products, isn't necessarily the most easy to digest, and it certainly isn't the best for the planet. Producing animal products takes considerably more land and water than producing plant based foods. Nuts, seeds and beans all contain high-quality protein; going meatless even one day a week can have a positive environmental and health impact.
  
  

Contain It

• How your food is packaged and carried matters. Choose food and drinks with less packaging. Since most juice is from concentrate anyway, it pays to buy frozen concentrates and use your own filtered tap water. At the store, use reusable grocery bags. When you're on the go, don't forget to pack your food and drinks in reusable containers.