Health, Beauty and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara

The typical Irish dietary pattern is making many of us sick. A major new report out this week has called for a radical overhaul of Ireland’s dietary habits as part of an ambitious plan to protect public health and the environment.

The paper, Fixing Food Together: transitioning Ireland to a healthy and sustainable food system’, was launched at a conference organised by the Climate and Health Alliance. The lobby group wants a special Cabinet sub-committee to oversee a food revolution – and the farming industry to be a key part of the solution.

The Climate and Health Alliance says the current food system is fuelling premature death and disability due to diet-related chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type two diabetes and obesity.

It warns that a lack of policies to shape a healthy food environment has caused ultra-processed foods and excessive red and processed meat to dominate the Irish diet at the expense of fruit, vegetables, plant proteins, wholegrains and sustainable seafood.

“This is like a slow-motion disaster unfolding before our eyes,” said spokesman Tim Collins, Chief Executive of the Irish Heart Foundation, who is one of the lobby group’s founding members.

“The global food system we have created can feed the world but has also made us heavier and sicker, it destroys wildlife, pollutes our rivers and air and produces a third of our greenhouse gas emissions.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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