5 ways to eat healthier and more sustainably

Diet is a crucial part of a healthy lifestyle. Food systems are also major climate change contributors.

Luckily, these five choices can have a positive impact on both. >>

Climate experts are clear: Replacing meat with lentils, beans, and nuts is way better for the environment.

Nutritionists call for the same choices to benefit human health.

Eating local means you're getting fresher foods with fewer chemicals.

It also means your dinner traveled a shorter distance to reach you, releasing fewer emissions.

Producing notoriously unhealthy foods like cookies, cake, and chips is surprisingly damaging to the environment, research shows.

These foods are water-intensive. Many of them also contain palm oil — so they're linked to clear-cutting rainforests.

Like meat, dairy products require land, crops, and emissions involved with raising animals.

Cutting dairy also means reducing saturated fat — which can contribute to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease.

It doesn't get more local than your own backyard or windowsill garden.

Gardening can also boost mental health; studies show spending time in nature improves mood, self-esteem, and physical health.