Over 20 Offaly people discover how food choices impact on health and the planet’s health

Nutritionist and Offaly Climate and Biodiversity Action Group member Helene Rouget recently presented a talk in Tullamore Library.

It was well attended with over 20 people finding out more information about how our food choices have an impact on our health and the planet’s health.

Bernadette Keeshan who attended said felt she got sound advice on eating well and that Helene exposed the myths around food trends and fads which are often used as marketing strategies to sell products. Bernadette continued to say what struck her was that "food choices which are really good for our health appear to be naturally good for the planet too. As always living in harmony with nature is the sensible way to live."

Notik Oshodi, another member of the audience commented “the presentation was very informative and interactive with lots of questions welcomed by Helene”. He continued to add that he felt the discussion regarding palm oil to be quite positive.

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The presenter took the example of palm oil, which is in a very large amount of food items, and she discussed how important it is to choose products containing sustainably sourced palm oil. Helene stated: "For various reasons we can't avoid it completely, but making sure it is sustainable makes a big difference to our health, our planet’s health and supporting farmers who greatly depend on the crop for income”.

Chairperson of the group Gaelan Elliffe, said “going forward I intend to look at food labels with a keen eye while keeping our planet’s biodiversity and climate in mind." He thanked Helene for delivering "an informative and well received talk" and he stated: "With good information we can make more informed choices as consumers".

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