Eating more plants is one of the best way to improve your health. Eating a wide variety of plants regularly in your diet plays a role in enhancing the diversity of your gut microbiome - the number and types of bacteria living there. Research has shown that people who eat over 30 plants a week have greater gut microbiome diversity than those who only eat 10 a week.

If weight loss is a goal of yours, vegetables should NOT be overlooked in your nutrition strategy. I've even had one athlete I work with lose 6kg in less than a month because of this one change. How?

He was doing 15-20hours of training a week and had a huge appetite, so when I was looking at his food diaries I noticed that he had some massive portions of food - going for seconds or thirds some times because there wasn't much vegetables there to add volume and keep him feeling fuller for longer.

Adding 250-500g of vegetables to most meals meant that he could still eat that large volume of food, stay satisfied, but ensure he wasn't overconsuming energy at each time point in the day, leading to a significant body weight change that was sustainable to maintain.

Eating 30 plants a week is impossible, no?

When I encourage my clients to increase the amount of plants in their daily diet (aiming towards 1kg a day and 30 different plants a week) they sometimes look at me like I am crazy and say it is impossible.

One person even said that there isn’t even 30 vegetables…

There are indeed, much more than 30 vegetables my friend!

To help you on your journey of increasing the amount and types of plants in your diet I have shared 30 different vegetables, 30 different fruits and 30 different grains, legumes, nuts and seeds that you could consider adding into your diet.

If you include 5 different plants each day of the week - you’ll easily find yourself hitting 30 a week.

Over 30 Vegetables

I could easily think of 30 different vegetables to add more diversity to your diet - especially with all the different kinds of green leafy vege - they all count!

Carrots
Lettuce
Spinach
Rocket
Endive
Broccoli
Leeks
Shallots
Asparagus
Green beans
Edamame
Celery
Kale
Cucumber
Peas
Eggplant
Cauliflower
Sweet potato
Pumpkin
Capscum/peppers
Chillies
White potatoes
Corn
Avocado
Onions
Red cabbage
Artichoke
Mushrooms
Bok choy
Zucchini/ Courgette
Squash
Tomatoes
Garlic
Ginger
Beansprouts
Cress

Over 30 Fruits

Here’s over 30 different fruits that you could look at including:

blueberries
blackberies
pomegranate
sharon fruit
figs
plums
grapes
cranberries
raspberries
passionfruit
cherries
grapefruit
lychee
dragonfruit
pawpaw
mango
guava
rhubarb
pineapple
lemon
lime
orange
mandarin
watermelon
rockmelon/canteloupe
pear
peach
nectarine
apricot
strawberries
kiwifruit
apples
banana

Over 30 Grains, Legumes, Nuts and Seeds

This category was the hardest, I’ll admit, but I could still think of 30 different kinds of grains, legumes, nuts and seeds that you can eat

Barley
Quinoa
Soybeans
Lima beans
Fava beans
Canelloni beans
Red lentils
Green lentils
Mung beans
Chickpeas
Kidney beans
Black eyed beans
Black beans
Cashews
Brazil nuts
Pecans
Hazelnuts
Pistachios
Almonds
Buckwheat
Peanuts
Macadamias
Walnuts
Sacha Inchi
Pinenuts
Chia seeds
Hemp seeds
Sesame seeds
Poppy seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Linseeds/flaxseeds

Add an extra serve to each meal

Every additional serve of fruit or vege or other plant-based food you eat makes a difference.

It might be adding a serve of fruit to your breakfast, an extra vegetable into your salad

Salads are a great way to add plenty of plants

This salad of mine contains 12 different plants! Rocket, endive, kale, red cabbage, red capsicum, cucumber, coriander, tomatoes, pomegranate seeds, roast pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds

Adding more plants isn’t about being perfect every day

It’s not about perfection, but consistency. There will be days where you don’t eat the optimal amount. What counts is that overall on a daily, weekly, monthly, annual basis that you consistently eat a more diverse diet.

How many plants do you eat each day and week?

Why not count how many plants you are eating each day and across the week and see where you can make a change.

Remember, fresh, frozen, dried fruits and vegetables… it all counts!

Gemma

References

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/msystems.00031-18