Happy Healthy Wealthy Productive Sustainable
Chapter 3: Diet and Nutrition
Believe it or not, a diet can be healthy, tasty, practical, affordable, and sustainable all at the same time!
The biggest health challenge of our time is that we’re badly overfed and undernourished. Society surrounds us with empty calories designed for overeating, causing obesity, disease, and environmental destruction.
Chapter 3 of the HHWPS project presents a fundamental solution to this problem. We start with the following summary article that shares ten steps for building a lifelong healthy diet in a world of unhealthy temptations:
All other articles in this chapter are listed below in order of publication.
A New Dose of Motivation for Building Your Lifelong Healthy Diet
We can accomplish any “how” if we have a big enough “why.” That why this chapter kicks off with a close look at how your healthy diet can promote social justice, address climate change and other environmental problems, improve animal welfare, safeguard our social welfare systems, and improve the lives of your loved ones.
The Ethically Conscious Meat Lover’s Dilemma and How to Solve It
Meat is delicious (and quite healthy in moderation). Unfortunately, it also has serious environmental and animal welfare implications. Luckily for all the meat lovers out there, the “meat as a vegetable dressing” philosophy can make a little bit of meat go a long way.
3 Delicious Recipes That Make a Little Meat Go a Long Way
Here are some simple and practical recipes that put the “meat as a vegetable dressing” philosophy into practice:
Low-Fat, Low-Carb, Vegan, Carnivore — The Unnecessary Extremes of Dieting
The global obesity epidemic has spawned a huge array of extreme diets that do more harm than good. In this article, we take a look at some examples of diet extremism and more sensible alternatives.
How Food Became Capitalism’s Greatest Failure
There are few things as good for profits as addiction. Thus, it should come as no surprise that capitalism has created a host of sugary, fatty, and salty foods that send out primitive food cravings into overdrive. This market failure costs society trillions every year, dwarfing climate change.
Give Karma a Helping Hand: How to Leverage Your Charitable Donations to Build Better Habits
Fixing capitalism's greatest failure is laughably simple in theory: include the full societal cost in the price of unhealthy food. Unfortunately, this is not going to happen any time soon, but the good news is that we can do it for ourselves. This article shows how this idea can be put into action.
What 10 Years of Green Smoothies Taught Me About the Art of Healthy Eating
Maintaining a healthy diet in this world full of hyper-palatable empty calories is an art. But the good news is that this art can be mastered in two simple steps: make it delicious and make it practical. I learned this art from a decade of spinach, kale, celery, and cucumber.
How to Eat as Much as You Want and Never Get Fat
Behind the global obesity epidemic stands a legion of empty-calorie addictions designed to circumvent our body’s natural satiety response. With these foods, excessive calorie intake is guaranteed. Without them, obesity might even be impossible.
How Many Different Types of Whole Food Did You Enjoy Today?
If you’re curious about your long-term health prospects, simply answer this question. A wide variety of whole foods directly addresses society’s greatest health challenge: that we are overfed and undernourished. Putting a large number behind this question will safeguard you against this threat.
The 7 Ideas That Cured My Sugar Addiction Once and For All
If there is one element that embodies capitalism’s greatest failure, it’s sugar. I was deep in the clutches of this soft drug but managed to escape. And you know what? This escape was much easier and way more fun than I imagined.
The Social Cost of Empty Calories
This article estimates the true costs of your favorite indulgences in terms of healthcare costs, lost productivity, and mental health problems. The final number comes to $7 per 1000 calories. So, next time you buy a $1 pack of Oreos, keep in mind that the true cost to society is actually $6.
The 5 Levels of Empty-Calorie Detox
Detoxing from empty calories is one of the best things you can ever do for yourself and those around you. But it’s not easy. This article presents a gradual empty-calorie detox plan to make this transition easier.
You Never Need to Worry About Your Weight Again
Society exerts a lot of pressure on us to be slim and athletic. Ironically, this pressure only leads to more comfort-food consumption. Luckily, you can take all that pressure off yourself with a big focus on health instead of society’s unrealistic beauty standards. You never need to apologize for the body that arises from a healthy, whole-food diet.
The Hedonic Case for Healthy Living
Healthy living is still seen as a sacrifice we need to make to look good and avoid serious diseases. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Many of life’s greatest pleasures are reserved only for the healthy. Once you experience life through a truly healthy body, you’ll never go back!
The 12 Foods That Gave Me 12 Consecutive Years of Perfect Health
My biggest health achievement to date is going 12 years (and counting) without ever getting sick. This article tells the stories behind the 12 foods that made this streak possible.
Effortless Health: The Power of Healing Your Brain’s Broken Reward System
Did you know? A healthy diet can be even more enjoyable than an unhealthy diet full of refined sugar, saturated fat, and salt. If you manage to heal your brain’s corrupted reward system and practice some mindful eating, healthy food becomes a pure joy!
How Mastering My Diet Gave Me a Life of Genuine Freedom
The final article in this chapter shares the profound positive impact my decade-long quest for healthy eating had on my life. Indeed, the benefits of a healthy diet extend far beyond health.
