Seasonal Shopping: The Hidden Environmental Impact of Your Gluten-Free Staples
By Beth Rush, Managing Editor at Body+Mind
Seasonal recipes are some of the most fun foods you can make. Whether you’re looking forward to gluten-free pumpkin bread or garlic mashed potatoes, your first thought might not be about the environmental impact of your holiday plans. Learning how to reduce your food’s carbon footprint without changing your dietary choices will ensure each delicious bite aligns with your values.
How Gluten-Free Foods Still Affect the Environment
You might think gluten-free meals are better for the planet because they don’t need flour, but that’s not entirely true. They still impact it in multiple ways.
Grains Require Extra Farmland
Rice and quinoa are crucial ingredients for replacing wheat in daily recipes. Corporate agricultural manufacturers often build new farms to expand their businesses and meet consumer demand for those ingredients.
These require tree removal, fertilizers and chemicals. When heavy rains occur, the products pollute local biomes by washing into waterways.
Corn Is a Primary Ingredient
Food manufacturers may also sometimes use corn as a substitute for flour. Ingredients like cornstarch might be essential for making gravy to top your roast pork loin, but the plant itself isn’t great for the environment. Corn needs additional land like rice and quinoa, but it also needs extra water. A single bushel requires about 2,300 gallons of water, which drains a significant amount of the natural resource for gluten-free products.
They May Lack Essential Nutrients
Research shows that gluten-restricted food products often have poorer nutritional values due to gluten replacement ingredients. You might make up those nutrients with vitamin supplements, but those also affect the planet.
The vitamin industry uses petrochemical-derived ingredients like acetone to manufacture and package supplements. Buying monthly containers to support your well-being may work against your sustainable values without realizing it.
How to Reduce Your Food’s Carbon Footprint Throughout the Year
You don’t need to sacrifice your gluten-free preferences or experience allergic reactions to support the planet. Shopping for specialty diet ingredients from your hometown can make a big difference, especially during holiday cooking.
1. Get Local Produce
Local farms use much less land than large-scale agricultural manufacturers. They’re also closer to home. Buying locally grown food reduces your diet’s transportation emissions by minimizing the shipping distance transport trucks cover. So, getting your seasonal ingredients from nearby farms will reduce your food’s carbon footprint.
You could also gain access to fresher produce than what’s at your grocery store. The transportation timeline reduces each vegetable’s freshness before the shipment appears on shelves. Farms down the road don’t have that challenge. Your favorite holiday recipes could have twice the flavor with fresher produce grown on local farms.
2. Research Your Preferred Brands
Check your pantry and fridge for brand labels. Which ones do you buy from most often? Research each one to see if they have sustainable practices, like using biodegradable fertilizers.
If the companies in your house aren’t good for the planet, you can always get gluten-free products from others with eco-friendly values. Look up labels in the grocery store aisle to double-check that your seasonal shopping aligns with your environmental standards.
3. Compost Food Scraps
The oranges you eat earlier in the year to help you recover from head colds faster during the winter flu season create rind scraps that rot in landfills. Your holiday cooking activities could also create excess food waste that would otherwise biodegrade in a compost bin.
Composting creates all-natural fertilizer. You’ll keep waste out of landfills and support your plants by composting during the holidays. You can contact local organizations if you don’t have a yard or garden. They might use your compost materials for community gardens or donate them to nearby farms.
4. Recycle Packaging Products
Review the packing on your counters when you unload your next round of groceries. See if anything has specific recycling instructions, like rinsing cans. You’ll reduce your household waste after seasonal shopping trips by recycling what you can. If you can’t, think about reusing the packaging to store leftovers.
5. Make Batch Meals
Seasonal cooking makes every meal a celebration. Your culinary plans might also require more cooking than usual. The average American uses 10,500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually throughout their homes, which might ramp up during the holidays. Reduce your diet’s carbon footprint by finding new ways to use less electricity.
Try making batch meals whenever possible. You’ll use less energy in the kitchen without cutting out your favorite seasonal foods. When it’s time to make those traditional recipes, you won’t worry about how your kitchen appliances affect the environment.
Improve Your Seasonal Environmental Impact
Eating a gluten-free diet doesn’t have to contradict your sustainable values. Enjoy your seasonal recipes by learning how to reduce your food’s carbon footprint. After you make changes like shopping locally and reducing food waste, you’ll help the planet while maintaining your dietary preferences.
About the Author
Beth Rush is the Managing Editor at Body+Mind and a lover of all things health and wellness. She is a well-respected writer in the personal wellness space and shares knowledge on a variety of topics related to nutrition, fitness, holistic health and disease prevention. In her spare time, Beth enjoys cooking healthy recipes and trying out new fitness trends.