30 Plants a Week

I first wrote a post in 2021 about this. The idea was quite new and came from Tim Spector speaking about the launch of Zoe. 4 years on and many people have heard of the 30 plants a week idea – in fact I would say it has become rapidly established in our UK cultural consciousness. It has been adopted by health professionals and companies in their health messaging as a good way to help easily improve the gut microbiome and the general dietary deficiencies we so frequently see in the UK … but many people still think that it will be hard to achieve or requires special knowledge, a real love of cooking and lots of time.

I do love cooking, it is true, but I want to encourage you that it is not hard to reach 30 plants a week (or more) on a regular basis. It sometimes just requires a bit of imagination – and the use of plenty of herbs and spices. (see my herbs and spices blog for more inspiration)  

Below I have listed the foods I ate for 4 days over the last week. Without wanting you to think I’m gloating I reached over 50 different plant foods in this time. I therefore want to encourage you that 30 is not as hard as you might think.  

... although maybe easier if you like herby / spicy food as I do, than if you stick to the traditional meat and boiled veg of a 1950's UK diet. I hope that my list below gives some ideas and inspiration for you.  

Saturday:

• Breakfast – chocolate pancake (containing Egg, Ground Almonds, potato starch, milk, 90% cocoa solid chocolate with no UPF ingredient), coffee, Pear, Banana

• Lunch - Apple, Radishes, Lettuce, Carrot sticks, Cheese, Mixed Nuts (almonds, hazel nuts, peanuts, cashews), (flavoured Houmous containing Lemon, Coriander, Chickpeas, garlic, sesame seeds)

• Dinner - (spiced Butternut curry containing Butternut squash, peas, chilli, ginger, cinnamon, butter, cumin) (Raita containing yoghurt, cucumber, mint) (Chicken tikka containing oregano, paprika, turmeric, cardamon, nutmeg, ginger, chilli, cumin, coriander seed, yoghurt) (Lime pickle containing Limes, chilli, ginger, mustard seeds and cider vinegar), Rice cooked with butter and Nigella Seeds

Sunday:

• Breakfast - toast, cheese, marmalade, tea

• Lunch - carrots, peppers, aubergine, courgette, sweet potatoes, all tossed in olive oil with black pepper, thyme, rosemary (as a traybake roast), potatoes tossed in paprika, cabbage, peas

• Tea – ham and cheese sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, kimchi (containing cabbage, carrots, spring onion, chilli, garlic, ginger) cucumber

Monday:

• Breakfast – Smoothie (containing Yoghurt, eggs, linseeds, brazil nuts, walnuts, almonds, sour cherries, sweet dark cherries, blueberries, raspberries, black currants, red currants, blackberries)

• Lunch - Cheese salad containing Lettuce, spinach, tomato, cucumber, peanuts, radishes, drizzled with olive oil and cider vinegar

• Dinner - leftovers from Sunday lunch with added eggs.

Tuesday:

• Breakfast - scrambled egg with crispy onion bits and spinach

• Lunch - cheese salad same as Monday plus some sourdough rosemary and seasalt crackers

• Dinner - (bean chilli - black beans, onions, tomato puree, garlic, cumin, paprika, peanut butter, cocoa powder), rice, cheese, (salsa - tomatoes, onions, cilantro, mint), smashed avocado with black pepper and lemon juice

I hope you are encouraged by this and maybe consider observing your intake in the next few weeks to see how close you are and how you might increase your plant intake variety if needed. Remember also that if you eat seasonally you will automatically increase your variety over the year.