Should you take the 30-plant challenge?

Posted by Justina on 08/08/24 in Recipes

Most of us are familiar with the NHS advice of eating five different fruit and vegetables a day, but how many of us could count thirty over the course of a week? VfL Roving Chef Justina reports about a shift in your diet that could improve your health and strengthen your resilience against disease.

After nutritionists reported that broadening your weekly intake of different plants improved the health of your gut microbiome and hence your resistance to disease, VfL chefs took up the challenge and tried to incorporate thirty into our weekly diet.

It's actually easier that you may imagine and yes, spoiler alert – we all managed it... some better than others.

The 30-plant challenge

It all started with a research project called the American Gut Project (now called The Microsetta Initiative). This citizen science project involved more than 10,000 participants, and aimed to discover the microbes and microbiomes in the human digestive system.

The study found the number of plant types in a person's diet related to the diversity of bacteria living within their gut microbiome. A report published by Science Daily stated: “No matter the diet they prescribed to (vegetarian, vegan, etc), participants who ate more than thirty different plant types per week had gut microbiomes that were more diverse than those who ate ten or fewer types of plants per week.”

Nutritionist and author Rhiannon Lambert commented in her new book, The Science of Plant-Based Nutrition, that people who eat a wider variety of plants have also been found to harbour a greater proportion of the bacteria that produce beneficial compounds called short chain fatty acids. These, she says, may reduce the risk of inflammatory diseases, type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and other conditions.

Which plants count in the challenge?

Don’t be put off by the number – it isn’t as scary as it sounds. This challenge encourages us to celebrate and increase plant-derived ingredients, rather than set an unachievable goal.

The plants included in the challenge are also called the 'super six'. Firstly, these include wholegrains such as oats, barley and quinoa – I'll tell you how to incorporate more of these in your diet lower down in this article. The super six also includes vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts and seeds.

Herbs and spices also count, as well as one of my favourites, tofu. Some of you will be happy to hear that the 30-plant challenge also includes coffee, dark chocolate and even air-popped popcorn! Unfortunately, each item only counts once; for example if you had chocolate every day of the week, it only would be worth only one point towards your weekly count.

Herbs and spices count as one-quarter of a point, which means that:

4 herbs = 1 point; and

4 spices = 1 point

Aiming for minimally processed ingredients such as brown rice, wholegrain pasta and bread also counts towards the challenge.

Top tip: Eat the rainbow

One easy way to get points towards your weekly thirty is that different colours of the same type of plant count separately. So if you make a salad or a ratatouille that contains both red and yellow peppers, you get 2 points. This means that a mixed box of heirloom tomatoes might score 6 points.

Summer is perfect time to experiment

Some of you may already incorporate thirty different plants a week into your diet and would not struggle with the challenge. However, for those people with a hectic lifestyle and eat on the go, or those of you who are planning a trip away from home, you may want to plan your meals and shopping lists ahead to make sure you have the right ingredients to reach your goal.

Summer and early autumn have such wide variety of in-season fruits and vegetables, you will be spoilt for choice. The best part is that most of them can be eaten straight away – no need to cook.

Five-a-day

I would like to emphasise that this challenge isn’t the same as eating five to ten fruit and vegetables a day. While this challenge doesn’t focus on specific quantity per serving, it is important to consume a daily quantity of fruit and vegetables of between 400g and 800g.

Although the NHS advises that we eat five-a-day, we derive more benefits if we aim for at least seven or even ten fruits or vegetables daily – five is a more achievable number for someone starting out. Research has also shown that a higher consumption of plant foods reduces the risk of stroke and heart disease and extends life expectancy.

Tips and tricks on how to meet the 30-plant challenge