🌎 Let’s Veg Out! 🌱

To celebrate Earth Day, we’re pausing and reflecting on humanity, and our relationship to this blue-green jewel 🌎 that’s home for us all, spinning in the vastness of space.

We humans are now so impactful on the planet, affecting so many ecosystems everywhere, that scientists have proposed a new geological age for our times: The Anthropocene.

“We’re the first species that’s become a planet-scale influence and is aware of that reality. That’s what distinguishes us.” — Andrew Revkin

But just as we’ve become widely aware of our impact, so too do we realize the power of our daily choices.

Your Plate 🍽️, Your Planet 🍃

Did you know that the single biggest daily eco-impact we make, is our choice of foods?

It’s a well-predicted, well-studied truth. The largest studies include:

• The landmark Oxford University research article, Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers which was well summarized in the media.
• The thorough review of reviews, Which Diet Has the Least Environmental Impact on Our Planet? A Systematic Review of Vegan, Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diets
• The 3 year, 16 country collaboration, Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems

“A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use. It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car (as these only cut greenhouse gas emissions).” — Joseph Poore, lead author of the Oxford U study above

Put in a nerdy science way, as physics predicts, eating plants directly is far lighter on the Earth, than feeding plants to livestock — which is always and everywhere, very inefficient on land, water, soil, air quality, and other natural treasures.

So, How big of a difference does it make?

Compared to plant-based eating, diets that include meat 🐷 require, at minimum:

💧💧💧
3x More Water

💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩
13x More Fertilizer

⚡️⚡️
2x More Energy

☣️ ☣️ ☣️ ☣️
40% More Pesticides

In particular, a plant-based diet rich in whole foods can reduce agricultural greenhouse-gas emissions by up to 80%, while also improving your overall health and preventing chronic diseases. ✅ (Read More: Envisioning a Healthier Planet: The Transformative Impact of a Global Vegan Diet 🌏)

In other words, eating more plants, and cutting animal products, empowers us to solve both the human health and climate crises simultaneously. 🤯

🤔 Want to watch a short summary of the above? See this 5 minute overview by Dr. Greger to learn more about which diets have the lowest carbon footprint. 👇

Earth Is Good For Us Too

Nature plays a major role in our well-being, and it’s our responsibility to protect it. 🌳

Studies have shown that exposure to nature promotes health-enhancing behavior and people living in greener areas report fewer symptoms of illness and better perceived general and mental health. 🧘‍♀️

Indeed, just walking in a forest can measurably boost our immunity too!

LeafSide Makes Healthy Eating Easy & Quick — while being kind to the planet! 🌿

With LeafSide, following a super-healthy, complete plant-based diet is a breeze! 🍃

LeafSide meals are also shelf-stable — so unlike that “new” avocado from the store, your meal won’t go bad before you get to it. 🥑

So this Earth Day, choose health for you and the planet! 💪🌿 We’re here to make it easy and enjoyable, and LeafSide’s plant-based meals can fit your busy life anytime, anywhere.

p.s. While finding the best eco-packaging is still an ongoing project at LeafSide, we are thrilled that LeafSiders appreciate our minimal packaging, and are finding new and creative ways to reduce their impact — even outside of enjoying delicious plant-based meals. ♻️

“How do you like my LeafSide garden?! 👩‍🌾

These seeds self-sprouted from compost, so they are squash AND melon! 🍉” — Lisa B.

See ways to reuse LeafSide packaging. ♻️

“I’m very impressed with my first meal, tasty and filling. 😋

Plus, I appreciate that the packaging is simple and lightweight. 📦

I’ve tried other meal services and all the packages and frozen blocks are hard to dispose of and not very environmentally friendly.

Keep up the good work! 💪🌿” — Sue C.

Delicious Meals, Value & Quality