Lose Weight and Help the Environment at the Same Time

A soon to be released diet book will tell its readers how to lose weight while reducing their carbon foot print at the same time. American chef Laura Stec will explain how this is possible in her new book "Global Warming Diet."

Chef Laura will team with climate change expert Eugene Cordero in detailing how her diet will not only be healthful to you, but to mother Earth as well.

"One of the most positive effects you can have on the environment begins on your dinner plate" -- particularly in reducing one's carbon footprint, the authors maintain in promotional literature plugging their book.

Chef Laura and environmental guru Cordero state that it is not enough to have a meal that looks and taste good, but this meal should also be friendly to the environment. This book is set to be released sometime next year, and it will advise people to eat more organic, locally grown food on a seasonal basis because this food requires less packaging. Ms. Stec will also advise readers to buy food in bulk in addition to growing your own food. These authors said Al Gore's award winning documentary,"An Inconvenient Truth", left out a key component in the fight against global warming and climate change. Stec and Cordero say Mr. Gore should also have addressed the issue of food consumption choices and how these choices effect the environment. These authors claim it takes 12 pounds of grain 2,500 gallons of water just to produce a one pound hamburger. Mr. Cordero said it takes food and water when growing meat. He said cows in the U.S. are fed a corn based diet, and that corn is a very carbon intense crop because corn fields use a lot of fertilizer because these fields are basically given no time to recover. The Union of Concerned Scientists did a study in 1999, and this group found that eating lots of beef, poultry, non-organic fruits and vegetables were the most environmentally harmful foods a consumer could purchase. This study found the only thing more harmful than these foods was the driving of a gasoline-powered car. The Earth friendly diet book will advocate the use of sustainable agriculture and local family farming. This book will also advocate the eating of plant based food, reducing waste by using composts, limiting bulky packaging, and a reduction in the use of pesticides. Stec and Cordero will also blast the use of plastic and paper shopping bags. These authors note roughly 30 million plastic shopping bags are used by consumers each year, and that it also takes some 14 million trees to make the roughly 10 million paper shopping bags used each year. Stec and Cordero note that only about 1 percent of American consumers bring their own bags to use when they do their shopping.

And the environmentally conscious dieter also will buy foods in season, Stec said. "If you want to eat cherries in December, or tomatoes, they will be flown over from Australia," she said.

Chef Laura went on to say she and Mr. Cordero are not asking anyone to do anything crazy. Instead, these authors feel that a return to our 'roots' when buying, preparing, and eating foods will not only make for a more healthy America, but a more healthy Earth as well.