But what does this “simple decision” look like? Well, each and every one of us gets to choose several times a day. Three times a day, the decision for a healthier planet, greater biodiversity and against rainforest deforestation is in our hands. When we choose what we eat.

Every day, we consumers have the choice between, for example, a beef fillet or a peas dish. Both foods contain proteins, but on average, 1 kilogram of beef causes emissions of 60 kg of CO₂ equivalents across the entire supply chain. That’s over 66 times more than 1 kilogram of peas with an average of 0.9 kg CO₂ equivalents according to the figures of Our World in Data. Incidentally, the greenhouse gas emissions from transportation are only a small fraction of the total CO₂ emissions for both foods.

The more environmentally friendly choice

Meat and dairy products in general have a very high CO₂ footprint. If you want to consciously choose environmentally friendly foods, you should preference fruit, vegetables, legumes (beans, lentils, peas), wholegrain foods, nuts and seeds.

Therefore, opting for a vegan meal is the better choice for our planet (and therefore also the better choice for us earthlings 😊). But is it also the healthier choice for our bodies?

The healthier choice

Plant-based foods have many benefits for example they contain fiber which are important for a healthy digestion and they contain no cholesterol. However, vegan doesn’t necessarily mean healthy. That’s why we at Keller’s Kitchen go one step further. We show you how to eat a healthy vegan diet. It’s called whole food plant-based. This fancy term means vegan (plant-based) and unprocessed (whole food). By ‘unprocessed’, we mean food from which nothing healthy has been removed or unhealthy added in a processing step.

Whole-wheat flour, for example, is a plant-based whole food, whereas white flour is not. Most of the fiber, vitamins and minerals have been removed in processing steps, leaving starch with a low nutritional value. Both flours are vegan, but they are different for the health of our body. Whole wheat flakes or whole grains are even healthier.

The impact of food on our health

Does our choice of food really have such a big impact on our health? Many scientific studies have shown that we can cure or prevent chronic diseases with a whole food plant-based diet. We are talking about high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, for example. This does not require pills with unpleasant, sometimes even painful side effects. Diet alone can have the power to give us our health back! Side effects include feeling fitter and losing weight, to name just a few.

Our goal is to make the world healthier. That’s why we’ve written our first cookbook. It contains more than 100 recipes, many of which can be prepared in less than 30 minutes. Eating healthily can be very easy.

Every meal can help

Everyone can decide for themselves whether they want to eat a whole food plant-based diet every day or just enjoy a delicious plant-based meal every now and then. The great thing is that every single meal helps to make our planet and ourselves a little healthier. The decision is entirely up to us.

Start with a healthy, delicious dish right away with our low-in-CO₂ -emissions Yellow Peas Meal recipe. As we say in Switzerland: En Guetä!

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