Climate Friendly Diet

Plant-based foods with high iron content include dried figs and apricots, firm tofu, quinoa, cashews, kale, peas, lentils, kidney beans, hemp seeds, oats, chickpeas, and pumpkin seeds.

Plant-based protein sources are abundant, healthy, delicious, and more often than not, inexpensive. There are plenty of tasty new and traditional recipes that are packed with protein and contain no meat at all.

Foods with high amounts of protein include:
• Seitan — 25g of protein per 100g
• Soybean (ie Tofu, Tempeh, Edamame) — 12–20g of protein per 100g
• Lentils — 17.9g of protein per cup
• Green Peas — 8.58g of protein per cup
• Chickpeas – 21.3g of protein per cup
• Quinoa – 8g of protein per cup
• Beans
  - Pinto Beans — 15.4g of protein per cup
  - Mung Beans — 14.2g of protein per cup
  - Fava Beans — 12.9g of protein per cup
  - Lima Beans — 11.6g of protein per cup
• Brussel Sprouts — 5.64g of protein per cup
• Pistachios & Almonds — 5.31g of protein per cup
• Avocado — 4g of protein per medium avocado
• Hemp Seeds — 3g of protein per tablespoon
• Broccoli — 4–5g of protein per stock

Eating more plant protein is important—but not just because of protein alone. Although this nutrient is essential for overall health, "the vast majority of Americans meet and exceed their protein intake requirement and there are only rare cases of protein deficiency in the general population—even among vegetarians and vegans."

Plant sources of protein also contain plenty of other nutrients such as magnesium, copper, manganese, selenium, riboflavin, and vitamins A, C, K, and E—vitamins and minerals that are often missing from animal proteins.

Vitamin B12 is concentrated in meat but in many cases animals get B12 supplements because modern farming reduces animal uptake of soil bacteria.

People often get B12 from meat, fish and dairy products, from fortified cereals and from supplements. B12 supplements are recommended for vegetarians and vegans, pregnant and breastfeeding women, people that have low absorption due to digestive conditions, people on certain medications (e.g. metformin) and sometimes elderly people.

While it varies by region, data shows that consumers can save 16–40% on groceries with whole-food plant-based diets and that vegetarians tend to spend $11–19 less each week than meat-eaters on average.

The perception that plant-based diets are more expensive is only true if the diet contains large quantities of alt-dairy and alt-meat products. When people hear ‘plant-based’ they tend to compare a $7 plant-based burger with $5 ground beef instead of $1.50 cans of beans or $2 bags of lentils.

According to data from Statistics Canada, the price of meat and dairy have gone up significantly more in the past decade compared to plant-based foods.

Both Vegan and vegetarian diets provide sufficient calcium when they include calcium-rich foods.

Reducing your meat consumption in any way — whether you're eating one or two plant-based meals per week, cutting back on the amount of animal-based products you consume, or sticking to Meatless Mondays — is a sustainable act.

Research suggests that even if you change your diet in small ways and eat just a little less meat, you can contribute to large-scale environmental benefits.

Beef is the biggest contributor to carbon pollution so swapping beef for poultry, pork or fish can have an significant impact as well.