Eating for the FutureResources: PERSONAL ACTION
What can you do? Each of us makes food choices everyday that impact our health and the environment. Use this guide to help you make food choices that promote good health and more sustainable food production systems.  Better Food: For the Health of People and the Planet
We know that the foods we eat affect our own health, but we may be less aware of how what we eat affects the planet’s health. A nutritional public health expert would advise you to eat less red meat and heavily processed foods -- so would an environmentalist! Eat less meat.
Visit the Meatless Monday website for recipes, health information and monthly promotions to learn how to reduce your intake of meat and saturated fat. The Produce for Better Health Foundation provides 5-a-day recipes and tips for getting your 5 to 9 daily servings of fruits and vegetables. The Center for Informed Food Choices (CIFC) advocates for a diet based on whole, unprocessed, local organically grown plant foods. CIFC believes that: placing these foods at the center of the plate is crucial for promoting public health, protecting the environment, and assuring the humane treatment of animals and food industry workers.
Choose foods that are healthy for you and the environment.
The Eat Well Guide is a free, national online directory for locating producers, grocery stores, restaurants and mail-order outlets that offer sustainable meat, including organic. The site is organized by methods of production (antibiotic-free, hormone-free etc.), third-party certification (such as organic) and source. The Sustainable Table campaign introduces the idea of sustainability and links food purchasing choices to health, protecting the environment, rural communities and animal welfare. The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch helps you determine which fish are healthier choices. Sustainable Table’s new Glossary of Meat Production methods The 2008 Green Living Guide is intended to assist students, faculty and staff at the Johns Hopkins University in reducing personal and community reliance on fossil fuels and non-renewable materials, and to provide information about how to live more sustainability in Baltimore. Build your diet around seasonal, locally produced foods. Foods can travel an average of 1,200 miles before reaching your plate, using up energy and causing more air pollution. Buying food that is produced locally and in season reduces the energy that is used to transport your food. Start your search for farmers markets in your area at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service has assembled an online database of local food directories, useful for producers and consumers alike. The Local Food Directory Resource includes national, regional, state and community directory resources for all 50 states, searchable by state. To learn what fruits and vegetables are in season in your area go to Field to Plate.
Know your labels to find more sustainable food choices.
Food labels can be misleading. Natural, Antibiotic-free, USDA-certified, organic, Free-farmed. Find out which labels actually mean something! Visit the Consumers Union Guide to Environmental Labels. | 
