1. Eggs
Eggs are many people’s go-to ‘clean’ food, especially among protein hungry or lean dreaming gym goers. However, this is at the top of the list for a reason. Eggs may be one of the unhealthiest foods you can eat.
Health
Cholesterol
Eggs contain an astronomical amount of fat and cholesterol and their health damaging effects have even been compared to cigarette smoking. Eating just 1 egg a day may exceed your safe upper limit for cholesterol! 1
Prostate Cancer
Not Even Safe
Salmonella
Environment
Resources
1 lb of eggs takes twice as much water compared to 1 lb of soy, and 3 times as much compared to 1lb of wheat. Keeping chickens to lay eggs uses more resources, and compared to plant-based protein sources such as lentils and chickpeas, egg production emits more than six times the carbon dioxide equivalents per kg.
Free Range
If you were thinking free range eggs might be a better choice for the environment, think again. Battery hens need 2 kilograms of feed to produce 1 kilogram of eggs and free range chickens need 20% more than that, therefore more water, land and emissions are needed for free range eggs.
Manure Emissions & Water Contamination
2. Fish
Fish is another food that is widely thought of as a clean health-food. Fish closely follows eggs as one of the dirtiest foods you can eat for both the environment and your health.
Health
Toxic Chemicals
Brain Function
To protect brain function, look to plant-based sources of omega 3 such as chia seeds, walnuts and flaxseeds.
Diabetes
Cancer
Environment
By-Catch
Bio-Diversity Loss
Photo credit: Ocean Oculus
3. Chicken Breast
Chicken breast is very much thought of as a clean health-food that is good for weight loss, muscle gain and overall health. White meat is also generally thought of as a sustainable food choice. Studies show that the opposite is in fact true for all of the above.
Health
Cancer
Weight Gain
Contamination
Environment
Resource Depletion
Photo Credit: The Guardian
If every American dropped one serving of chicken per week from their diet, it would save the same amount of CO2 emissions as taking 500,000 cars off the road.14
Manure Emissions & Water Contamination
4. Whey Protein Shakes
Many people consume protein shakes as a weight loss or muscle gaining food. Whey protein powder is the most popular protein powder and is widely regarded as a healthy, clean food. This couldn’t be further from the truth…
Health
Risk Of Disease
With many single serves of protein powder containing a large portion of your protein requirements for the entire day, you should steer clear of these protein dense foods to avoid potential disease risks.
Toxic Chemicals
Skin
Environment
Footprint
5. Yogurt & Other Dairy Products
Dairy products such as yogurt are widely thought of as a ‘clean’ foods that many people eat for weight loss. The only problem is, dairy actually aids weight gain, wreaks havoc with your skin, shortens your life and is contaminated with a bunch of nasty things and are bad for your health and the environment.
Health
Skin
Weight Gain
Dairy is specifically designed to increase body weight. Dairy milk is designed by nature to enable a newborn calf to gain about 1kg of body weight per day and grow into a big, strong 700-1,100kg cow in 18 months or less. This is thanks to the natural hormones found in dairy including IGF1 and estrone which promote an increase in body weight.
Osteoporosis
Dairy has been marketed as a health product that is good for bone health because of its high calcium content. But what many people don’t know is that dairy can actually be damaging to your bones.
Cancer
Early Death
Pus, Blood And … Poop!
Environment
Footprint
Image Credit: New York Times
Save The Planet & Be Healthy - Eat Plants
1 https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/eggs/
2 https://nutritionfacts.org/video/who-says-eggs-arent-healthy-or-safe/
3 https://nutritionfacts.org/video/foster-farms-responds-to-chicken-salmonella-outbreaks/
4 https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/salmonella/
5https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/takeextinctionoffyourplate/pdfs/ChickenFactsheet.pdf
6 https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/fish/
7 https://nutritionfacts.org/video/fish-brain-food-older-adults/
8 https://nutritionfacts.org/video/fish-and-diabetes/
9 https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/chicken/
10 https://oceana.org/sites/default/files/reports/Bycatch_Report_FINAL.pdf
11 https://animalequality.org/blog/2019/09/30/fishing-industry-destroying-environment/
12 https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/chicken/
13 https://www.statista.com/statistics/263962
14 https://inhabitat.com/veganism-and-the-environment-infographic-shows-the-environmental-impact-of-raising-animals-for-food/
15 https://www.takeextinctionoffyourplate.com/extinction_facts/pdfs/ChickenFactsheet.pdf
16 https://nutritionfacts.org/2019/04/11/changing-protein-requirements/
17 https://nutritionfacts.org/video/heavy-metals-in-protein-powder-supplements/
18 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3900340/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5350548/
19 https://theconversation.com/which-milk-is-best-for-the-environment-we-compared-dairy-nut-soy-hemp-and-grain-milks-147660
20 https://www.unece.org/energywelcome/areas-of-work/methane-management/the-challenge/Methane%20is%20a%20powerful%20greenhouses,are%20due%20to%20human%20activities.
21 https://nutritionfacts.org/video/dairy-acne-2/
22 https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/dairy/
23 https://nutritionfacts.org/video/dairy-and-cancer/
24 https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/dairy/
25 https://www.alv.org.au/cow-truth/17-reasons-to-wean-yourself-from-milk-today/#:~:text=That’s%20not%20all%20you%20have,in%20every%20litre%20of%20milk.