Many Ways to Adopt Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Eating Habits

Why Eat Local?
First, eating local helps reduce the distance food travels from farm to table. Did you know that at room temperature, fruits and vegetables can lose up to 50% of their valuable nutrients per day ? Imagine how many vitamins a fruit from overseas might lose on its journey. Besides that, from a global perspective, transportation is the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions. Buying local food also supports our economy and small local producers. Local producers often use more sustainable farming techniques than large agricultural infrastructures. Shopping at your local farmers’ market is a great way to consume fresh, local, and organic products.


Find a Market Near you – France

Why Eat Seasonal Food?
It’s not just about eating local, but also eating seasonally to be more eco-friendly. In France, an out-of-season tomato generates four times more CO2 than one produced in season (between June and September). Out-of-season produce can be particularly energy-intensive when grown in heated greenhouses or imported from elsewhere. Seasonality respects the natural cycles, so seasonal fruits and vegetables are more likely to be fully ripe and often tastier than those that ripen during transport.


Explore Seasonal Fruits & Vegetables in Europe

Why Eat Organic?
Organic farming respects, restores, and maintains biological balances. It doesn’t pollute with pesticides, fungicides, and other synthetic fertilizers. Agricultural pesticides affect all living organisms and the environments they inhabit. In the European Union, 24.5% of vulnerable or endangered species are threatened by agricultural effluents (including pesticides and fertilizers), notably bees.

The Benefits of Producing Your Own Ingredients
Growing your own food allows you to become independent from a system that sometimes relies on social injustice and accelerated degradation of natural resources. Whether on a small or large scale, a garden provides fresher, more nutritious, organic products that involve no transport. Having your own chickens is another great and simple way to get fresh food. Eggs are very nutritious, especially if the chickens are well-fed. Chickens are known for eating all kinds of kitchen scraps, significantly reducing food waste. As omnivores, they enjoy peels, greens, and vegetable leftovers, as well as rice, pasta, and bread. However, it’s important not to forget their nutritional needs.

Reducing Meat Consumption
Eating less meat is good for the planet, animals, and your health. It’s not an all-or-nothing approach. You can adopt a vegan or vegetarian diet, but it might not be possible for everyone. Fortunately, you can have a positive impact simply by eating fewer animal products (meat, eggs, dairy). The high demand for animal products poses a risk to our planet. Industrial agriculture fuels climate change, pollutes natural spaces and waterways, and wastes precious resources.

Mindful Eating
Mindful eating and ecology are closely linked. Mindful eating involves being present at each meal, savoring every bite, listening to your body’s hunger and fullness signals, and choosing healthy, nourishing foods. Making conscious choices about the food you eat can reduce your ecological footprint and improve your health. Reducing food waste is also essential to minimizing environmental impact, and this concept aligns with mindful eating.

More on Mindful Eating – Harvard

Ways we Adopt Eco-Friendly Eating Habits at la Belle Eco
At La Belle Eco, our team embraces several key principles to minimize our ecological footprint. We prioritize cooking with organic, locally sourced ingredients, many of which are grown in our own gardens. To reduce our overall consumption, meals for employees and guests feature less meat. The stars of our plates are the fresh vegetables from our garden, eggs from our hens, and produce from local farmers.