The Carbon Diet Calculator: Check Your Sustainable Food Waistline

There are so many diets out there, and so many diet calculators. But one for sustainable food? No, this isn't South Beach or Atkins, and it has nothing to do with a tape measure around the waste, fat, or calories. It is possible that you could become healthier on this diet, since it features local produce and lacks many of the trans-fats and processed foods that the standard American diet likes to feature so prominently. This is the Low Carbon Diet, and it's already in a community near you.

The Bon Appetit Management Company has a nifty little web site that shows the carbon impact of eating meat and other animal-based food. It also takes a look at products that have flown in from far away versus the carbon impact of local produce. Everything else being equal, these foods tend to be more energy-intensive and less sustainable than homegrown and vegetable-based food. There's cooking time in there as well, and you can create a raw food versus a cooked and meat-heavy diet. Click on Make Your Own Meal to get a better picture of the sustainable and less-than-sustainable foods that might actually be in your diet.

The graphics are wonderful and the little thermometer on the right hand side of the page goes up and down with a little noise every time you add or subtract something from the plate. Of course, everything else is never equal. It's doubtful whether the web site knows where you're from. If you're from a coffee-producing area, coffee is local and therefore more sustainable. A lot is missing too. The way that meat is raised is not there, nor do we know if the meat is local. However, it is a start and the graphics and the thermometer do help transmit a basic message: less animal-based meals and more plant-based meals are a step in a sustainable direction. Less imported food and more local food are also sustainable steps. It would be a good tool for young students, a starting point for a discussion about sustainable food.

While the Low Carbon Diet has received some acclaim due to the popularity of the Low Carb Diet, the food aspect of a lower carbon footprint has only been one part of larger calculators. Large carbon calculators often focus on transportation impacts, perhaps rightly so. They may contain crude estimates of how much meat you consume and how local you eat. However, for those who are interested in a visual representation of food and its carbon impact, a food-specific calculator does help.