Build a healthy meal

Proper food choices, healthy cooking methods, good meal rhythm and appropriate portion sizes promote our health. Increasing the use of vegetables, berries, whole grains and fish and reducing the use of salt, sugar, hard fats and red meat and meat products contribute to well-being.

Protein is essential for your health, but consuming more than the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of protein is useless, since our bodies are unable to take advantage of excess amounts. Any excess protein ends up polluting the water, requiring additional wastewater treatment. By following a balanced and a varied diet, we get the recommended amount of protein. When we consume such things as domestic fish and seasonal vegetables, berries and grains, we are doing ourselves and the water system a favor.

In the human body, protein first breaks down into essential amino acids. After that, any unused protein is converted into nitrogen and ends up in the urine and feces, polluting the water. If you eat more protein than you need, any excess protein will be stored as fat. In this case, the body’s need to remove nitrogen increases, and this puts a strain on the kidneys, as well as ultimately polluting the water. In wastewater treatment plants, the nitrogen content in wastewater has been increasing in recent years. This is thought to be due to increased protein consumption.

The Plate Model and the Food Pyramid

By favoring a balanced and varied diet and by following nutritional recommendations, there is very little risk of consuming excessive amounts of protein. The Plate Model and the Food Pyramid are good guiding principles for the basic elements of a recommended diet. Even in a vegan diet, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds are usually enough to ensure an adequate intake of protein.