Image courtesy destina / Dollar Photo Club 

By Giulia Simolo, The Flaming Vegan, 7 April 2016

Being vegan is good for your health. But even if you're not vegan, the climatarian diet could help save more animals, reduce your carbon footprint, and make you healthy. Here is what you need to know about this trendy new lifestyle choice.  

• What is the Climatarian Diet? 

The climatarian diet was founded by Climates, which is a social networking site for people who try to fight climate change in their lives. A climatarian is someone who cares for the planet and ensures that their diet reduces their carbon footprint. It has been said that following the climatarian diet could save up to a ton of CO2 every year per person - and yes, this will be the case even if you’re not 100% ready to go full vegan. The diet is based on lowering your meat consumption while also trying to make food choices that don’t notch up lots of carbon miles to reach you, such as choosing fresh and seasonal produce instead of imported foods. It’s also good to know what consequences your food has on the planet, such as how much CO2 was released during its production as well as how many resources were used. These are important considerations for climatarians. For instance, knowing that giving up burgers, nuggets and bacon would save 162,486 gallons of water every year and would fulfil the water requirements for 445 people is important for climatarians, who will be swayed from eating such meat products. 

• Vegan and Climatarian? Sounds Like a Plan! 

Becoming a climatarian is about increasing the knowledge you have about your food - where does it come from? How does the planet suffer in the production of your food? - and then using this information to make more eco-friendly choices. You can be vegan on the climatarian diet - combining the two is a great way to choose healthy eating plans that are also good for the planet! And, as a vegan, you’re already most of the way to becoming a great climatarian as you have no animal-derived ingredients in your diet. 

Will the climatarian diet stick around? Here's hoping it does! 

Read the full article here.