Scientists claim that all of the energy put into food production (raising livestock, fishing, growing plants, etc.) is responsible for 20%-30% of the greenhouse gases currently in our atmosphere. Additionally, 33% of the available land, or land that isn’t covered in ice, is being used to grow food. Surprisingly, altering your diet can change that.

The next time you think of digging into a large portion of fries or eating a glazed donut for breakfast, think twice: you could reduce your carbon footprint by switching to a healthier option. A new study, lead by Paul Behrens and published in PNAS (link here: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/11/28/1711889114) in Nov., shows that if citizens of high-income nations, including the United States, follow the dietary recommendations of their government, then greenhouse gases would fall by 13% to 25%, and the amount of land it takes to product food could reduce by 17%.

Behrens, an environmental scientist at Leiden University in the Netherlands, gathered data from 39 different countries: he found the average diet for the average individual in each country, and he also gathered the dietary restrictions of those countries. During the study, he looked at the three different ways that the environment affects our food: greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and eutrophication, where a water source becomes rich in dissolved nutrients (this can lead to toxic algae blooms and lack of oxygen in the water). Behrens found that wealthier countries lower their negative impact on the environment by following the recommended diet. Behrens also claimed that meat, even though it is protein-packed, is worse energy-wise than other types of food because every time we eat another animal, we get a loss of energy.

The negative environmental impact will go up in some poorer countries such as India and Indonesia because the recommended diets for those countries are higher in calories than in other countries. Despite the fact that some countries, including China, Great Britain, and Switzerland, have acknowledged that obeying these dietary restrictions will help lessen the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and create a healthier Earth, the message is rarely passed on to its citizens. And in some countries, the message is passed on to its citizens, but no one obeys the recommendations.

The next time you’re at the grocery store or ordering food at a restaurant, make sure to order something healthy. The environment will thank you.