Wednesday Rant, 4/9 /25:Eating for Energy AND the Planet

Introduction: Design your Dietstyle: Sustainable nutrition that supports personal and planetary health.

These past few weeks, I’ve felt it in the background—like a low hum under everything. The headlines, the budget cuts, the uncertainty. From health agency layoffs, to tariffs, to environmental deregulations, the world feels like it’s speeding up and slowing down at the same time.

Eating for energy and the planet might seem like two different goals—but they don’t have to be. Both are possible when we nourish ourselves thoughtfully.

In moments like these, it’s tempting to power through, to just get through the day. But lately, I’ve been asking a quieter question:

What if the way I nourish myself could also be how I do my part to care for the world?

Eating for Energy and the Planet: Why It Matters

When your energy is low, reaching for something fast and familiar is human nature. But even small choices—what we eat, how we eat, where our food comes from—carry ripple effects.

This isn’t about perfection. It’s about presence. And presence is power.

Whole Foods: A Path to Eating for Energy and the Planet

The simplest meals—grains, seasonal vegetables, legumes, herbs—tend to give us sustained energy. And they tend to be gentler on the planet. Research shows that sustainable eating doesn’t have to mean cutting things out—it can also mean choosing more consciously within the life you already live (source).

This overlap isn’t a coincidence. It’s a clue.

If you tune in, it is easy to feel the tension between what your body needs and what the planet needs. And research confirms that while many of us care about environmental and ethical food decisions, we often feel uncertain about how to act on those in our daily life (source).

It reminds me that what fuels my body can also reflect my values.

Dietstyle: A Sustainable Solution

When systems feel unstable, the impulse is often to tighten control or let everything slide. But there's a middle path. I call it your Dietstyle—a flexible, evolving approach to nourishment that honors your body and the world around you.

It’s not a plan. It’s a practice.
It doesn’t demand rules.

It asks for relationship.

Here are two of my recent blog posts that explain this further: Designing a Nutrition Plan That Lasts and Build a Dietstyle That Evolves with You.

Simple Shifts for Eating for Energy and the Planet

One of the most healing shifts I made wasn’t dramatic. It was simply asking before a meal:

“What would support me and honor something bigger right now?”

Sometimes the answer is local vegetables in my stew. Sometimes it’s eating the almost forgotten leftovers in the fridge before they go bad and I have to compost them or throw them out.. Either way, I’m eating with intention—and that changes everything.

Redefining Nourishment: One Plate at a Time

To nourish yourself is to say:

”I am willing to briefly pause and check in with my inner wisdom to learn what my body really needs - and follow the guidance.”

Choosing foods that nourish your body and align with the planet’s needs is the essence of eating for energy and the planet.

When your plate becomes a place of alignment, not pressure or guilt, you begin to rebuild your strength from the inside out. And yes—you begin to quietly nourish the world, too.

Even professional dietetics organizations are now weaving sustainability into nutrition standards, reinforcing the value of this interconnected approach (source).