Environment, exercise and diet top New Zealanders’ New Year resolutions

Regular exercise, a balanced diet and greater care for the environment are among the top New Year’s resolutions for New Zealanders this coming year according to a new global study.

The results of the research commissioned by meal kit provider HelloFresh found increased environmental consciousness was a priority for more than a third (34%) of New Zealanders in 2020.

Living more sustainably by finding more environmentally friendly ways to travel or reducing food waste was more than twice as likely to be mentioned as an aspiration than reducing the intake of alcohol or smoking (15%).

More than half (53%) of New Zealanders in the international survey of 9,000 respondents said they are planning to increase the frequency of exercise this year while 40% said they wanted to have a more balanced diet including increasing their intake of vegetables.

The top resolutions were exercising more, more balanced eating and caring for the environment while ‘travelling greener’ was listed by nearly a third of respondents.

The research also found a fifth (20%) of the population expected their levels of food wastage lift significantly during the festive season.

According to the results, 83% of those who expect to waste more food say this could be as high as twice as much, while a further seventh (14%) say it could be as much as three times higher than other times of the year.

The most common reasons given for food wastage in general are an over-estimation of portion sizes (43%), buying more ingredients than needed (25%) and the need to prepare more food for fussy eaters in the household (25%).

Food waste has a major impact on global warming, generating around four gigatonnes of CO2 per year, which is nearly as high as global road transport emissions.

Tom Rutledge, Chief Executive of HelloFresh New Zealand, says planning is an essential element to managing portions and reducing food waste.

He advised “for those of us looking to adopt a more sustainable approach to managing the family’s dietary intake, planning ahead is essential and the use of meal kits help keep food waste at home to a minimum by delivering carefully-sourced pre-portioned ingredients.”