Introduction
A sustainable diet is the diet that has a good taste, and enjoyable to an individual such that an individual might not abandon it. The diet needs to be affordable and able to supply all the nutrients required for normal growth, reach and maintain good health at all times and also for the vitality. A sustainable diet can be continued over a long period. On the other hand, unsustainable diet is a diet that can make one feel too fat, fatigue or ill. Unsustainable diet leads to diseases if one follows it for a long period. In western countries, there is a concern over epidemic and chronic diseases and general ill-health due to unsustainable diet and poor choice of food diet. Currently, the western diet is insufficient with nutrients. The food normally taken in western countries is filled with too much meat, processed food, sugar, fat and insufficient vegetables and fruits (Lindeberg, 2010). These foods expose one to myriad of diseases, and the body goes down in terms of immunity. Therefore, the body is unable to fight diseases, and thus one becomes ill at all the time and the general health may deteriorate.
The western diet does not promote good health and ideal weight. The diet, therefore, does not provide a chance to prevent the chronic diseases such as cancer and hypertension. The western diet is also harmful to the health in general. The modern farming and way of producing crops is harmful. The farming systems are degrading the soil, adding greenhouse gases to the environment, polluting the air and thus contributing to the climate change (Harlan2012). This system generates dangers in the environment that in turn poses ill health to the human beings. The diseases such as skin cancer normally occur because the procedure of producing this western food emits gases which damage the ozone layer. The radiations from the sun, therefore, hit directly on the skin surface which damages the skin layer. The systems of producing western food thus, are unfriendly to the environment.
For a diet to be sustainable, it should be able to conserve and regenerate natural resources. The western diet does not sustain the natural resources but instead deplete the natural resources. This depletion of natural resources is harmful, and the environment might not be able to sustain the future generation. The production of food should ensure sustainable greenhouse gas emission. However, the western diet and food production do not take those issues into consideration. This poses great to the environment and the health of the living things.
For food and water to be health, the ecosystem should be health. All the livings should mutually benefit from each other. The ecosystem becomes health because of the biodiversity. However, the western farming and the diet are predominantly, threat to the ecosystem. An example is the widespread use of synthetic fertilizers that has posed the threat to the seas and oceans as they contribute to degraded soils and dead zones. Pesticides that are widely used in western acres of corn crops remains in the land surface, and some of it goes to waters (Harlan2012). Pesticides residue poses a great danger to the aquatic lives and the living things on the land surface as well. Thus, the western diet and food systems are not sustainable and pose great danger to the health of individuals. It has been found that the pesticide residue in crops is deposited in the human being tissues, and this culminates into cancer-related diseases which are incurable.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a rising ailment in the western countries. The disease is associated with the western diet. The research by the University of Chicago points the western diet as the main driver of the disease, though the disease can be associated to genetic factors (Lindeberg, 2010). The research revealed the high amounts of saturated fat in the food normally taken by the American people. In Europe, the diseases occur due to the disruption of ecosystem and the bacteria in the human bowel. This has dangerous consequences on the human health. The research also reveals that the diseases that were once rare have emerged due to the insufficient immunity in the human body. This study revealed that the western diet is not sustainable but instead were great contributors to the ill-health.
The sugary foods such as chips, concentrated milk fats, processed foods such as sweets; biscuits have great danger on the health of individuals. All these foods are all over the world. The people who normally take the food with a lot of sugar and fats have improper body shapes which are cylindrical, and an individual appears ugly (In Esnouf, 2013). Though most of the people associate these foods to the status quo of an individual but in the real sense, they are damaging their health. The obesity that is common in western countries is associated with these fatty and sugary foods. The people who take them make the situation even worse when they consume these foods and fail to do exercises. Hypertension and bone diseases are associated with these foods.
The western diet is unsustainable, and it poses great danger to both the health of individuals and the environment. The fertilizers and the pesticides used in the production of western food and diet pose a significant danger to the environment that in turn leads to ill-health. The western diet is inadequate in nutrients, and most of them have a lot of sugar and fats which lead to health concerns.
Reference
Harlan Symposium, H., Gepts, P. L., & University of California, D. (2012). Biodiversity in agriculture: Domestication, evolution, and sustainability. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
In Esnouf, C., In Russel, M., & In Bricas, N. (2013). Food system sustainability: Insights from duALIne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lindeberg, S. (2010). Food and western disease: Health and nutrition from an evolutionary perspective. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
