At Teffie, we believe that the snacks we enjoy should not only be delicious but also support a sustainable, healthy lifestyle. We believe that small consistent habits make sustainable long term change. And something we all do every day is eat! The foods that we eat have a huge impact not only on our individual health but also on the health of the planet and communities around the world.
Knowing where to start with eating for health and the planet can be overwhelming, so we recently sat down with Ryan D. Andrews, a dietitian and expert on sustainable food systems, to discuss the future of healthy, sustainable snacking and how we can make better food choices to help the environment. Ryan is also the author of Swole Planet: Building a Better Body and a Better Earth, a book that explores how our food choices impact the planet.
In this interview, Ryan shares practical tips for sustainable snacking, the role of plant-based foods like teff in sustainable diets, and how we can all be part of the movement toward a more eco-friendly food system.
Bella Bryant (Teffie):
Hi Ryan, thanks so much for joining us today! We’re excited to talk to you about sustainable snacking. To kick things off, could you share a bit about your journey from bodybuilding to becoming an advocate for sustainable food systems?
Ryan D. Andrews:
Thanks for having me, Bella! My journey started in bodybuilding, where I first learned how food impacts personal health and performance. But after competing for several years and diving deeper into food systems, I realised the broader impact of our food choices—on both the environment and society. I went on to study nutrition, worked on farms, and began advocating for sustainable food systems. Over time, I came to understand that food choices, including snacks, can either support or harm the planet.
Now, my work focuses on how we can eat to nourish our bodies while making more sustainable, planet-friendly food choices. Sustainable snacking is one important piece of that puzzle.
Bella:
That’s such an interesting evolution! We're going to take a closer look at your book which is full of actionable tips for eating more sustainably. But, it would be great to first understand, why food? Could you give us an idea of what life would look like if we continued eating as we are?
Ryan:
Yeah, the interesting thing about food is it's really at the epicenter of humanity's greatest crises. So when you pick any topic that is affecting our species right now, there's a very good chance that you can trace it back to the food system. Thinking about just a handful of these - chronic diseases, food insecurity, climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater use, biodiversity loss food waste in and of itself labor exploitation, animal welfare issues, antibiotic resistance these are all critical things in the world right now that can be improved if we do it right.
So whenever whenever I'm talking to a class or talking to a group about what the potential is for if we do change, it's not only a better food system. It's a better world. It's a safer world. It's a healthier world. And a dramatically better quality of life.
Bella:
So, it's hard to overstate the benefits of eating more sustainably. To give us a better idea of what exactly that looks like, could you go over the five guidelines you give in your book, Swole Planet?
Ryan:
Yes, absolutely. We could talk about these for hours and hours, but just briefly. They are:
1. Find your minimal effective dose of animal products. Kind of a mouthful, but I like that phrasing because it allows for some nuance. When it comes to animal agriculture, the number of animals used in animal agriculture globally is staggering. Around 90 billion land animals are killed for food each year globally, which is a number that's difficult to really comprehend. Think about the number of humans on the planet- just over 8 billion. So it puts it in perspective. And when you have 90 billion land animals, you need to feed those animals and they have to have a place to live and they need water and other resources. So they're very resource intensive. Animal products can be really useful for certain populations. Animal products are prominent in certain cultural food situations, they are nutrient dense. Depending on geography, it might make sense to raise animals in certain ecosystems, so it's definitely a place for animal products. However, in developed countries like the United States, for example, the amount of animal products that we consume is beyond an amount that can be produced in a sustainable, healthy way. Just to give an example, in the US, we eat about 190 pounds of meat per person per year, whereas we only eat about 10 pounds of beans per person per year. That kind of ratio is completely off.
2. Minimize wasted food. Out of all the food we produce on planet Earth, about one third is lost or wasted. It might be lost on the farm due to a pest infestation, it might be lost in your refrigerator at home or at the grocery store. There's all sorts of different points along the food supply chain where food can be wasted. When you're losing that much food, you're wasting all the resources that went into producing that food. And then when you send food to a landfill, it breaks down and creates methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas. So that's a double environmental whammy.
3. Support sustainable farms and farmers. If we can find and support farmers who are approaching things with a sustainable and equitable mindset, that goes a long way. Supporting farmers who are reducing their use of pesticides and fertilisers, and treating their workers well can make a really big difference. T And the fourth is eat a wider variety of minimally processed foods. Eating a variety of foods is so beneficial for not only soil health, because a variety of plants means a variety of life in the soil.
4. Eat a wider variety of minimally-processed foods. A variety of plants is good for supporting a variety of pollinators. And when we eat a variety of plants, it tends to be a pretty good thing for our gastrointestinal health too. Currently, we really only rely on about a handful of foods, especially in more developed countries. Introducing new foods into our diets, like teff, can really help improve the health of both our planet and our own bodies.
5. Minimise single-use plastics. Plastics have really taken off in the past 50 years. It's hard to imagine a world without plastics, if you really take a minute and sit back and try to think of it, but that world existed about 50 or 60 years ago. The direct relationship to the food system is that when you look at any kind of research plastic pollution and bodies of water, usually the top 3 to 5 items are related to foods and beverages. So it's food the plastic bags around foods or bottle caps or beverage bottles, things like that. There's a direct connection between the plastic that we use and produce and the food and beverages that we're consuming.
Bella:
Thank you for breaking those down, it's great to understand how these factors relate in a holistic way. I'd love to dive a bit deeper into point 4, about eating a variety of plant-based foods. Obviously, this is something we're particularly interested in at Teffie, using teff as our main ingredient. There's a statistic from the UN about our global diet- 75% of our food comes from 12 plant and 5 animal sources. Can you share why adding more diversity to our diets is so important?
Ryan:
Yeah, that's remarkable to think about. We're using acres and acres of land to produce just a handful of foods. And you may think, eh, big deal- who cares? Well, when you are taking over wide landscapes with just a single crop, that can lead to problems with the soil that the crop has grown in, it tends to be more of an extractive way of farming; you have a lot of acreage with one crop and there's nothing happening to bring nutrients back into the soil- there's no kind of reciprocal relationship happening. If soil isn't healthy, we're very likely not going to be healthy. So first off, it's soil health. I mentioned pollinators, so a variety of plants tends to be a good thing to support a variety of pollinators.
Pollinators are absolutely essential. critical for the food supply. If we had a magic wand and they were all gone tomorrow, we'd be in serious trouble with our food supply. Soil health, pollinators, and then the third, a little bit more specific to our plates and what we're eating, is new research points to the idea of consuming at least 30 different plant foods each week being optimal to support overall gastrointestinal health, just to support that variety of the variety of microorganisms in our body.
It's interesting, a lot of these things when you're looking at what you're doing with soil. sometimes can mimic what's happening in the human body. So we want a variety of soil microbes. We want a variety of healthy microbes in our GI tract. So those are the big three things that come to mind when I'm thinking about food variety, soil health, pollinator health, and our health specifically, our GI health.
Bella:
That reminds me of a really beautiful quote on your website from HEAL Food Alliance that says "food is our most intimate and powerful connection to each other, to our cultures, and to the earth. And to transform our food system is to take one, one giant step towards healing our bodies, our economy and our environment." It's amazing to think that what is going on inside our bodies is mirrored in the soil. To wrap up, what’s your top piece of advice for someone looking to embrace a more sustainable way of eating?
Ryan:
I would say try to do what you can but don't try to develop a perfect diet plan. There's no such thing as the perfect plan. There's going to be a downside to whatever dietary pattern you follow, so try not to get too wrapped up in like everything has to be perfect. Hitting on some of those foundational areas and making some adjustments on what's doable for you and your lifestyle, given your budget, culture, preferences, health conditions, things like that, that can go a long way.
Bella:
That’s such great advice, Ryan. Thank you so much for your time and insights today!
Ryan:
Thank you, Bella! It’s been a pleasure chatting with you.
About Ryan D. Andrews
Ryan D. Andrews is a dietitian, sustainable food systems expert, and the author of Swole Planet: Building a Better Body and a Better Earth. Ryan advocates for plant-based nutrition, sustainability, and improving food systems to promote health and environmental stewardship. His work helps individuals and organizations create healthier diets and more sustainable food systems for the future.