How a small diet changecan have a big impact on the globe

In preparation to and throughout our first BEevent, we heard consistently that most of us have to change our diets. It is much easier said than done but it is possible!

Summary

Chris, the initator of the Nutritional Paradox tells his story from becoming a flexitarian (no meat during the week) in 2018. Losing 11 kg in weight, saving 56 kg of meat and roughly 500.000 litres of water by just changing his diet a bit. Enjoy the full story on how you can make a big impact on the globe.

The road to a different diet

My personal diet change journey started about 2 years ago. Then, after coming through a nasty infection that put me on heavy antibiotics for 6 weeks, I found the courage and strategy needed to pull it off. For one, I promised myself that, one day, I will die healthy and not sick!

Logically, I need to exercise to help my mind and body to become healthy. I downloaded a fitness app (runkeeper), bought jogging shoes and got started. Initially, I found it easier to jog on treadmills because one can watch a movie, or YouTube news. The others at the gym help too. They motivated me to come back and keep going. Not very long into regular exercise, I discovered another insight that helped massively. I noticed that certain foods before a workout don’t do me any good and I quickly got to understand what works and what does not.

As a carnivore, who once believed that there is no joy in food if it comes without meats, I needed to find another way before I publicly commit to changing my diet. I tried to eat vegetarian foods for a view weeks. Surprisingly, it was not that hard! After a such a short testing period, I found it easy to commit myself to a flexitarian way of eating – I committed to no meats from Monday to Friday and to eat only good meats on weekends. One thing lead to another and today I enjoy a meat free, plant based diet every day of the week. Did it impact my life? Oh yes it did and much more happened on the go!

Throughout 2018, I got to run about 1,500 km. I took me more than 150,000 kcals worth of energy to do so and a quick ‘back of an envelope’ calculation says that these 150,000 kcals are equal to the energy stored in approximately 21 kg of fat. In return, I worked out that I must have converted about 10 kg of bodyfat to muscles because I lost about 11 kg of body weight. I had a massive smile on my face, joy in my heart and my family joined a hearty celebration. I found these stats so fascinating and they got my investigative mind started. I had a look at how much meat I had not eaten and how that translates to my personal eco-footprint.

Here are the numbers

Throughout 2018:

I reduced my meat consumption by about 56 kg – a gigantic 760% reduction.
The meats I did not consume equal the CO 2 footprint of more than 1,000 litre of petrol! Enough fuel a car needs to travel from London to Brisbane.
It would take about 500,000 litres of water to produce these 56 kg of meat which is enough water to produce 5 daily portions of fruits and veggies for 2 additional people. Crazy how big the leavers are!

I am on my way and I am keen to help change the world one meal at the time.

Chris

Initiator of the Nutritional Paradox, CEO of NamZ