Dr Tim Spectre - aim to eat 30 plants a week

[Footgoose]

Other than maybe the obvious , please share with me your list of what plants you would include in your weekly diet . Maybe even a suggestion of how you would prep them .

anyone who has followed him for a long time , what would you / he not include .

He includes spices & herbs in that.

paprika, chili, ginger, cinnamon, thyme, oregano, mint

pistachios, hazelnuts, cashews, macadamia

oats, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, chia seeds

apples, bananas, lemons, lime, oranges, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, pears, mango, grapes

30 without including a single vegetable. I buy frozen mixed berries (cheaper than fresh).

Why no vegetables LizziesTwin?

It includes spices, seeds, nuts and whole grains so it's not too hard to achieve, IMHO. If you make something like a veggie curry or chili and serve with brown rice you could easily hit 8 or 10 with one meal. I've just had a bowl of porridge with a spoon of milled seed mix (4 different types) stirred in and raspberries on top so that's 6 items in one bowl.

It's really all about variety and decreasing the amount of animal based products you eat.
this article has some useful tips

It also includes things like rice, oats, quinoa, barley - basically the whole principle is getting more variety rather than just eating wheat and the same few vegetables.

Some problems with 5-a-day are a) 5 is too low, b) people do sometimes just repeat every day and c) people eat a shit base diet then have a bit of fruit on the side.

I am trying to think what I have eaten recently - for example I had a crumble and that had pears, raisins, oats - I could have expanded it by adding a seed plus some red fruit from the freezer.

So the way I would approach this is to make what I usually make and add something extra. If you always have broccoli, perhaps have cauli + broccoli + peas.

Breakfast: omelette with mushrooms, onion, pepper & spinach (4)

Lunch: salad of leaves (2 kinds) herbs (chives, coriander, parsley) tomatoes, cucumber, baby corn, olives, beetroot (10)

Dinner: chicken with oven roasted veg: carrots, parsnip, courgette, pepper, red onion, potatoes with rosemary herb (7)

That's 20 different veg in one day.

You can include seeds, nuts & legumes.

I have porridge in the morning with 7 seeds & 6 nuts & berries. That’s 15.

A vegetable stew with beans & legumes for lunch, another 13.

Omlette & salad for dinner, another 10.

You need to think about it but easily done.

Could also sprinkle seeds over salad at lunch.

Add in a piece of fruit at lunch and dinner

It’s all micribiomes isn’t it? Not just veg. I eat
chia /sesame/linseeds/ sunflower seeds every day.
dried fruits and fresh fruit
garlic
chillies
fresh peppers
fresh ginger
fresh herbs
fresh veg.

it’s actually easily achievable.

Is that 30 different plants a week?

Yes it's 30 different plants a week.

The 30 plants thing is actually really easy because it includes grains, seeds, pulses,herbs and spices.

Yesterday I ate

Breakfast: blueberries with quinoa, seeds and kefir.

Lunch: quinoa with bean and vegetable stew

Dinner: tiny slice of everyone else's pizza, plus a big salad with chickpeas.

Snacks: kale crisps, chocolate-coated, peanut-butter stuffed medjool date,

That came to more than 30 plants in a single day:

1. quinoa
2. blueberries
3. sunflower seeds
4. pumpkin seeds
5. flax seeds
6. black beans
7. pinto beans
8. mushrooms
9. courgettes
10. carrots
11. celery
12. onions
13. garlic
14. tomatoes
15. cabbage
16. cavolo Nero
17. peanuts
18. date
19. paprika
20. cumin
21. coriander
22. oregano
23. red pepper
24. olives
25. spinach
26. rocket
27. watercress
28. wheat
29. mustard
30. chickpeas
31. avocado.

I've probably forgotten some.

Yesterday no breakfast.
lunch - omelette with onion, chilli, garam masala and coriander (4)
snack - banana
evening meal : dhal. Lentils, onion, garlic, tumeric, ginger, tomato, fenugreek, cumin, garam masala, black pepper, brown rice, chilli flakes, fresh coriander side salad of tomato and onion.

that’s about 20 in a day

@Transferwaiting I was just being lazy; I’d reached 30 before thinking about vegetables.

I'm not sure what is meant by 'a plant'.
Is it the whole thing including the flowers and roots?
Does it include Deadly Nightshade?
If everyone eats 30 plants a week surely we are going to run out of plants pretty quickly, as they generally take longer than a week to grow.
Does a lawn count as one plant? If so I don't think I could eat our whole lawn in one week - and it's not that big.

I have just had 8 for breakfast. It will be about 25 or 30 by the end of the day.

It would have to be a very restricted or unhealthy diet (for a range of reasons) not to achieve 30 in a week.

Do portion sizes not matter then? I do eat 4 different vegetables in a meal sometimes but I wouldn't say it was a portion of each.

I’ve made myself a 10 veg soup quite easily. Actually I’ve made too much so will have to eat on repeat 🤣.

if you include herbs, spices and whole grains, and apply a little bit of thought, it’s not that hard. Prof. Spectre also suggests as many colours as possible, too. So keep chucking in carrots, beetroot, aubergines and peppers.

The portion size does matter and dried herbs and spices count as half a point. Generally the idea is aiming for progress not perfection though but I wouldn't count all the spices in a curry for example... I have porridge with mixed seeds most mornings so would count those seeds as it adds up over the week.

I’ve started doing things like added some toasted seeds to side veg, grating an apple into porridge and adding a few nuts, an extra spice or herb when roasting veg…

having a mythical mumsnet huge salad with herbs in the dressing…easier in the summer as I grow a lot.

You've heard the term "plant-based diet"? Vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes. It doesn't mean flowers and grass.

This is all about your gut no one, the good bacteria in your intestines. It's mostly about variety.
This is coming up on Ch4 on 17 Jan 8pm www.tvzoneuk.com/post/pr-knowyourst-c4s1
As a Dietitian this is a fascinating topic.

Thanks for the heads up about that programme😊

I do it, it's a good varied way to eat. Grazing on raw radishes is my thing haha

in my general day-to-day rotation of the handful of recipes I make regularly I will eat most of the following (though a few may be missed out some weeks)

carrots
onions
sweet peppers
olives
butternut squash
black beans
kidney beans
chickpeas
sweetcorn
lettuce

bamboo shoots
bean sprouts
aubergine
courgette
cabbage
mushrooms
broccoli
kale (not sure if broccoli and kale count as two different things as they are two cultivars of the same species, like a Jack Russell vs a Collie in dogs)
spinach
tomatoes

fennel
wheat
rice
potato
oats
sweet potato/yam
buckwheat (not the same as wheat, it's a part of the rhubarb family)
apples
bananas
pears

grapes
limes
lemons

Dr Tim also says says you can include herbs etc so add:

garlic
chilli
chives
parsley
basil
coriander
all of which I have fresh in quite large quantities. dozens of other seasonings in small amounts

That's 39 so I am pretty sure I would make the 30 target even in a week where eg I didn't happen to do a stir fry.

I totted mine up on Monday and it was 27. Mostly from a mixed salad for lunch, a seed mix (I make seed crackers with it) and a green smoothy I have instead of breakfast. The quantities of most of them are pretty small, but over a week they add up.