Eating 30 Plants each week

We’ve all heard that we should be eating a variety of fruits and vegetables for good health. Looking down at the shopping trolley or at your plate, and making sure that there is a rainbow of coloured vegetables and fruits (green, red, yellow, blue, orange) is one way to improve diversity. Eating 30 different plants (or plant points) is another method. Increasing diversity of plant foods eaten aims to:

• improve the diversity of the bacteria in the gut

• provide a wide range of different fibre sources, to help with bowel health

• lower inflammation and improve immune regulation

• stabilise blood sugar, blood cholesterol and fats

• provide a wide range of nutrients (polyphenols, minerals and phytonutrients)

• from a Chinese Medicine perspective, this is a great way to support the whole body. Particularly diversity helps the digestion (ie the Spleen-Pancreas) to transform the nutrition from food and transport it to where it’s needed. It also improves the circulation of Liver Qi (the green leafy vegetables and herbs are key to the free-flow of Liver Qi)

It’s not about quantity but an encouragement to eat a wide diversity of plants.

HOW IT WORKS

Each time you eat a plant food, you get 1 point. You can only count that plant once each week. It doesn’t matter how much or how little of the food you eat, the emphasis is on diversity. The six main categories of plant foods are:

1. Vegetables:

   Spinach, Rainbow Chard, Silverbeet, Kale, Broccoli, Carrot, Cabbage, Capsicum, Zucchini, Beetroot, Onion, Garlic, Sweet Potato etc.

2. Fruits:

   Apple, Banana, Berries, Orange, Kiwi, Grapes, Pear, Lemon juice etc

   Avocado, tomato

3. Legumes

   Chickpeas, lentils, black beans, kidney beans, peas, green beans, peanuts

4. Whole grains

   Oats, Brown rice, Quinoa, Buckwheat, Spelt, Wholemeal wheat etc

   Generally ‘white’ grains (rice, white bread etc) don’t count

5. Nuts & Seeds

   Almonds, Walnuts, Chia, Flax, Pumpkin/Pepitas, Sesame, Sunflower

   Olive oil

6. Herbs & Spices (sometimes these are counted as ½ a point each)

   Cinnamon, Turmeric, Ginger, Basil, Parsley, Coriander, Sage, Bayleaf, Marjoram, Thyme etc.

7. Miscellaneous

   Tea, coffee and cocoa/chocolate also count!

   Juice and alcohol don’t count

It’s important that you listen to your body when making changes. Many find that they hit 30 faster than they expected to. If you have struggled with digestive symptoms, you may instinctively know which plants are off the list. Approach this with curiosity rather than feeling pressure to be perfect - how many plants am I eating? Then if it feels comfortable for you, introduce a couple of extra things here and there. If you have been eating a fibre restricted diet, increase plant diversity slowly. There is no rush.