30 Plant foods per week
How it works:
Research first conducted by the American Gut Project which found that if people eat at least 30 DIFFERENT whole-food plants over the course of the week, they are healthier than those who ate fewer. Specifically, their gut microbes are more diverse than people who ate less than 10.
It turns out the VARIETY of plant nutrients is needed to feed our healthy gut bacteria -- which we are learning affect our health in pretty dramatic ways.
While 30 sounds like a lot --it's over the course of a whole week. The key is it has to be 30 different plants, Of course you can eat the same thing twice but it doesn’t count twice towards the 30.
To get an idea of whether you're hitting the mark, look at how many you've eaten today. You might be pleasantly surprised!
So what counts?
fruit and veg
pulses/legumes (lentils, chickpeas etc)
Whole grains (brown rice, millet, wholewheat, barley, rye, quinoa etc) (refined varieties do not count!)
nuts and seeds
herbs and spices (1/4 point as portion sizes are so small)
I bet you found you ate quite a few! So now the challenge is, you can't count the same things twice -- so tomorrow can you eat enough new/different plant foods so that you are gradually adding up to 30 by the end of the week?
Share your plants for the day inthe voxer app!