“We need to stop criticizing and do”, says Daniel Cady on environmental issues

Daniel Cady is married to singer Ivete Sangalo and the general public may know his name because of his family, but anyone who follows him on social media knows that, in addition to being a nutritionist in favor of “real food”, he also has important work to protect the environment.

“My relationship with nature dates back to when I was a child. My grandfather sailed. So, he was either at sea or somewhere in the middle of the forest. We have a farm in the interior of Bahia and he really liked going there. There are about 40 years ago, he also started keeping bees”, says Daniel Cady, in an exclusive interview with Planetawhen contextualizing the origins of his passion for nature.

Cady says that, despite having grown up with an example and environmental awareness in the family, everything changed when he and Ivete had their first son, Marcelo, now 14 years old. “I thought ‘where am I going to take my children? To the mall, just to consume and spend money?'”, he recalls.

“Contact with nature was good for me and I began to understand that it was also important for children’s growth,” he says. The nutritionist says that the covid-19 pandemic was “an absurd catalyst to have this even greater perception”. It was at that moment that he began to study authors who talk about this importance.

Ivete’s husband recommends ten books for anyone who wants to learn about ecology

“The pandemic caught us in that apartment life. At first there was that anxious, heavy atmosphere. That’s when we decided to go to our house in Praia do Forte, on the north coast of Bahia”, says Cady, explaining that the family space is surrounded by nature. “I had a backyard to explore and I began to notice things that I hadn’t seen before. As before we only went there to spend the weekend, we didn’t know about the various animals that lived there: capybara, tamarin, anaconda, caninana, boa, toucan, opossum, lots of things.”

Living closer to nature, Cady then started to undo the landscaping of the land to plant an agroforestry bed. His interest in the subject grew and the nutritionist began taking courses on the subject online until he came to one on raising stingless bees. “That’s when I created a meliponary with native Brazilian bees. I went crazy, freaked out and started to have a lot of relationships with them.”

“Human beings get sick the more they move away from nature”

“I was already talking about healthy eating, but I felt the need to expand on the broader meaning of integral health, which starts in the soil”, says Cady, contextualizing that fertile soil will produce healthier and more nutritious food.

If before the nutritionist inspired people to eat well, now they also make them question the origin of the food they put on the table. “I started encouraging my students to have a little garden at home, a little pharmacy in a pot.”

“I went through a period of maturity and this was very linked to my purpose. Today I am completely sure that this is the path”, he reflects when remembering a phrase he often says in his lectures: “human beings become ill as they move away from nature”.

Cady comments enthusiastically about the scientific evidence that shows how our mental and physical health changes when we move away from or closer to nature. “I don’t think there is any other way.”

Putting together everything he has learned in recent years, the nutritionist is realizing his dream of producing almost everything he consumes. “Everything from produce, fruit… I even started raising chickens so I could eat organic eggs.”

Relationship with family

Since this change in perspective, family activities for Cady, Ivete and their three children are always in the woods or at sea. “I don’t even know the last time I went to the mall. I don’t feel the need to go. It’s a lifestyle. This subject started to give me a greater perception of how we consume things”, she says.

He says the family is all aligned. The singer shares the same vision and children love this lifestyle. “They also only go to the mall to go to the cinema. My son loves diving with me, fishing. We explore the sea and land”, she says.

Cady highlights that the couple has already gone on a five-day trail through Vale do Pati, in Chapada Diamantina (BA), considered one of the most beautiful in the world, and reflects on whether this taste for connection with nature is also a reflection on the lack of privacy they experience on a daily basis.

A thousand and one projects

There are so many projects related to ecology that Cady has difficulty remembering them all throughout the interview. “All my work, my business, my hobby, everything I do is related to nature,” she says.

The nutritionist bought land to set up an agroforest, which is now in its third year and bearing fruit. He is also very enthusiastic about his meliponary projects, which are the creation of stingless bees: “I have a space in Praia do Forte that is a space for healing, for ecological literacy, where children and tourists can get to know bees “. Furthermore, he participates in a startup, called Bee2Be, which works with environmental solutions for restoring biomes through bees, with pollination.

“I also created a sustainable fashion brand where, with each piece of clothing sold, a tree is planted,” he explains. The company is called Muri, it has also been in existence for three years and has already planted 20 thousand tree seedlings.

The nutritionist says that when he started the brand, he realized that he wouldn’t be able to plant everything himself. That’s when he arrived at the NGO SOS Mata Atlântica. “I took a plane and went to Itu (SP) to plant the first t-shirts we sold.” Today, plantings are carried out with several partners. “We even have it in the caatinga, in the southwest of Bahia. We also have it on the north coast, in Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul”, he comments saying that his desire is for the brand to sell more so that they can reach the goal of one million of planted trees.

And remember when, in 2020, there was a major oil spill on the Brazilian coast? Cady was part of a group called Guardians of the Coast, which visited the beaches making complaints. “It was something that influenced me a lot. We even received a medal from the navy”, she remembers.

School designed for children

One of her most recent projects comes from Ivete’s dream: a school. The space is entering its second year with around 100 students.

“It’s what we created with our children in mind. It won’t make money, but we thought ‘what school would we want for our children?'”, he says. According to Cady, the space is also the result of this environmental awareness that has emerged in her family in recent years.

It’s a “green school” concept, with plenty of green space, lots of fruit trees and outdoor space for children to explore. “To exchange the class inside the classroom for the class under a tree”, he comments when mentioning that the school has a mix of different streams and does not just focus on content.

There is also a focus on nutritional education, with a self-created menu. “There are no stores selling snacks or sweets,” he highlights.

“Just now there was the Easter party and what I noticed most were the children crying because they didn’t want to leave. Many leave there and return to their reality in the apartment”, says Cady, remembering that, currently, most children’s activities available events take place in closed spaces, whether in class, swimming or judo. “My daughters, on Saturdays and Sundays, sometimes wake up wanting to go to school”, she concludes.