Do you know how to get your 30 plants a week?

As a nation, we’re obsessed with talking about the foods we shouldn’t eat.

Too often we’re told that an easy ‘fix’ to our daily diets is to simply cut out entire food groups, but this can get in the way of foods that we should be eating.

Cutting things out completely is often unsustainable over time and doesn’t always give us a healthy outlook on how to correctly fuel our bodies, or an idea of what a good diet looks like.

So, rather than seeing certain foods negatively, how about thinking about all the foods that you can add to your diet? Especially given all the press coverage and social media posts telling us that the ‘magic number’ of plant-based ingredients we should aim to consume in a week is 30.

But you may be wondering where all this is coming from? Is it really that good for us? And – most importantly – how achievable is it?

Trust your gut

The first mention of 30-a-week was in a 2018 research paper undertaken by The American Gut Project1. The project sought to better understand the gut microbiome’s role in health and disease, using more than 15,000 microbiome samples from people in the US, UK and Australia.

One of the major findings was the relationship between diversity in our diet and a healthy microbiome – and the rest is history, as they say.

For clarity, the term microbiome refers to the entire community of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes) that live in a specific environment. Even our skin, mouth and airways have their own microbiome too.

Watch our gut-healthy plant-based recipe below:

Here comes the science...

Eating a wide range of plant foods helps improve gut health because of the variety of the fibres and phytonutrients each plant type provides. Fibre can be soluble, insoluble and resistant starches but importantly each type will feed and support specific bacterial species.

Reaching this threshold of 30 different plants was also found to be associated with reduced abundance of antibiotic resistance genes and a great production of important short-chain fatty acids (SCFA).

SCFAs are important energy sources for gut bacteria, help reduce inflammation in the gut and play a role in modulating immune responses.

Is 30 the new 5-a-day?

‘Hang on a minute, first it was five a day, then it was 10, now it’s 30?’ I hear you cry. But don’t dismay just yet.

Getting your 30 plants a week doesn’t just refer to the fruit and veg you eat. There are a range of foods that contribute to your 30 a week, everything from extra virgin olive oil on your salad to the garlic in your tomato sauce.

You can also take guidance from the ‘Super 6’ list – a range of food categories that contribute to your 30 plants a week.

1. Wholegrains – oats, buckwheat, quinoa, pearl barley, spelt or freekeh, and multigrain breads. Experts recommend approximately three servings per day. One serving is around 25g of porridge oats.
2. Legumes (beans and pulses) – chickpeas, black beans, butter beans, kidney beans, and lentils. Half a cup of cooked beans or lentils.
3. Vegetables – highlight variety of colour by including beetroot, rocket, sweet potato, carrots, red onions, kale, spinach, courgettes, mushrooms… the list goes on. As serving of 80g is often used.
4. Fruits – berries such as strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, kiwis, oranges, whole apples, pears, peaches and cherries. A serving of 80g is standard.
5. Nuts & Seeds – milled flax, chia, pumpkin and hemp seeds add texture and flavour. Walnuts, almonds, cashews, Brazil nuts and pistachios can all be found alone or in mixed selections in supermarkets. A small handful or approximately 30g is generally considered a portion.
6. Herbs & Spices – parsley, coriander, rosemary are very versatile and spices such as black pepper, cumin, paprika, turmeric and chilli are used across many cultures to pack in flavour. Rather than portion size, think about including plenty of different flavours again to drive variety.

Creating powerful plates

Hopefully now you’re convinced. So, what are some of the ways that we can increase our intake and get closer to the big 30?

If you’re including wholegrains, such as oats or multigrain bread, at breakfast rather than processed cereals that’s a good place to start.

Then we can think about adding some berry fruits; these can be fresh or frozen to make them more economical. What about some nut butter too? Whole nuts or milled seeds to bring your morning breakfast bowl to life.

Main meals on-the-go can be challenging but packs of cooked grains have a variety of bulgur wheat, quinoa and spelt, together with wholegrain rice and can be added to salad bowls easily.

Again, adding some herbs to further enhance this and raw veg such as peppers, red onion and tomato can up your plant intake without the need for cooking. Even popcorn counts.

Evening meals can quickly be made more powerful with cooked lentils added to a Bolognese, more beans to a chilli and chickpeas to your chicken curry – yes, it’s that simple. Wherever you’re starting from, be positive in your choices. It’s not about what we cut out of our diets. There is so much power in the things that we can add too.

More importantly, enjoy the foods that you are eating and be sure in the knowledge that more plant-based foods in your diet will make a resoundingly positive difference to your health.

Don't take my word for it... try it for yourself and see if you notice a difference.

Related: Summer fibre feast! 3 recipes to keep you feeling great