What is a healthy diet?
As reported by the EAT-Lancet study, a healthy diet is not limited to preventing the onset of disease, but should promote the fullest possible state of physical, mental and social wellbeing.
Reaching a consensus on what a global diet should be is not easy. It involves taking into account many factors, related to global health and also to production that is sustainable and accessible for all citizens, regardless of their economic level.
In general, the conclusion is that an optimal caloric intake should be made up of a diversity of plant-based foods, low amounts of foods of animal origin (prioritising, where possible, the consumption of those that contain unsaturated fats) and more limited amounts of refined grains, highly processed foods and added sugars.
As Ujué Fresán points out, it is about “adopting diets fundamentally based on plants and reducing foods of animal origin, and doing so as soon as possible in order to improve global health and sustainability indicators”. In view of this, many people may feel that certain everyday pleasures, such as enjoying meat, fish or dairy products, are under threat, but it is not a question of eliminating them drastically, but of appreciating them to an extent that is fair for individual health and for the planet.
What is important is – in Fresán’s words – “to recover a taste for many traditional foods, increasing the proportion of those that are less common in our homes, such as whole grains or nuts”.
The positive impact of switching to the planetary diet
La Comisión de EAT-Lancet analizó de qué modo repercutiría este cambio de dieta sobre la mortalidad, siguiendo tres enfoques distintos:
The Commission’s scientific targets for a planetary health diet, with possible ranges, for an intake of 2,500 kcal/day
Although the planetary health diet, which is based on health considerations, is consistent with many traditional eating patterns, it does not mean that the world’s population must eat exactly the same foods. It does not prescribe an exact diet either.
Instead, the planetary health diet outlines empirical food groups and ranges of food intake that, when combined in a diet, would optimise human health. Local interpretation and adaptation of the universally applicable planetary health diet is necessary and must reflect the culture, geography and demography of the population and of individuals.
