Whether you are a competitive golfer, play casually on the weekends, or take regular golf travel vacations, you need to appropriately fuel your body to play your best. While many golfers are searching for just the right packaged snack foods, protein bars, and electrolyte mixes to take out on the course, some are also focusing on sustainable ways to purchase, consume, and discard food. Here are some tips for choosing foods that are good for you, good for your game, and good for the environment.

Eat Locally: Buying locally sourced food supports the local economy and helps reduce your carbon footprint. Food that travels long distances has a larger environmental impact. Purchasing locally grown fruits and vegetables at a farm stand or farmer’s market, locally made bread from a bakery, and locally sourced meat and fish are not only nutritious but provide the nutrients and energy you need to fuel your game.

Eat Seasonally: Eating nutrient packed fruits and vegetables that are in season can help provide the daily required vitamins and minerals your body needs. If you are craving something that is out of season in your area, consider frozen or canned product instead of an imported fresh version. Fresh produce that travels long distances has a significant transportation-related carbon footprint. While frozen and canned foods require energy to process, their transportation usually has a reduced carbon footprint from transportation. Additionally, frozen and canned produce are equally or only slightly less nutritious than their fresh picked counterparts since they are canned or frozen very soon after being harvested which helps preserve their nutrients.

Waste Less Food: Plan out your meals and snacks for the week so you only purchase what you need. This not only reduces waste, but also ensures you have snacks on hand ready to take to the golf course, so you don’t have to rely on what the course snack shack sells. Freeze foods that will not be used right away, use all the parts of plant foods when cooking, including edible stems and leaves, and compost any unused portions such as peels, seeds, and woody stems.

Avoid Highly Processed Food: Protein bars, energy drinks, powdered smoothie supplements, and highly processed snack foods that have a long list of ingredients and require much manufacturing, packaging, transportation, and distribution. Instead of purchasing these sports products, you could make your own or choose some less processed items. Try swapping dried fruit for fruit snacks, homemade iced coffee for canned energy drinks, homemade energy bites for a protein bar, and nuts for a bag of chips.

Include More Plant-Based Protein: Plant-based diets can help reduce the environmental impact of food production while also helping to provide you with adequate amounts of protein to support your muscles and overall health. Plant-based protein sources also contain fiber, vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates not found in animal proteins. They are also naturally lower in saturated fat. Some sources of plant proteins to consider adding to your diet include edamame, tofu, chickpeas, beans, peas, quinoa, lentils, nuts, seeds, and peanut butter.

Note: This content is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to be medical advice. Please contact a licensed physician or other qualified health provider for direct advice, diagnosis, and treatment regarding all medical conditions.