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 .

Ooh I heard this on R4 and was fascinated. He did say eg every nut counted so if you have seven different nuts crunched up on top of porridge that's seven of your 30 already covered

I think I do not eat enough fruit and veg but I'm fairly sure I get to 30 different types easily enough. Thinking about the past few days:

1. Chia
2. Peanut
3. Oats
4. Raspberries
5. Apple
6. Pumpkin
7. Onion
8. Cucumber
9. Lettuce
10. Avocado
11. Tomato
12. Coriander
13. Peppers
14. Spinach
15. Spring onion
16. Cumin
17. Coriander
18. Chili
19. Mango
20. Garlic
21. Cranberry
22. Quinoa
23. Banana

That's in the last four days without trying very hard to think about what I ate and what was included. I will add another couple this evening, depending on what goes into the stir fry.

So far today my plants count..….

breakfast - yogurt (kefir for fermented ✔️), golden kiwis, seeds = 2

lunch - soup (onion, garlic, leeks, kale, broccoli, spinach, nutmeg), apple, satsuma = 9

will likely have jacket spud and beans with coleslaw for another few this evening. Is doable and good to focus on variety, I get stuck in a rut v easily!

I've been logging my 30+ a day for a few weeks and this was last weeks list.

• tomatoes
• cucumber
• red onion
• green pepper
• lemon
• extra virgin olive oil
• coffee beans
• green beans
• cauliflower
• broccoli
• spinach
• tinned tomatoes
• garlic
• rocket
• radish
• green olives
• red pepper
• red lentils
• mushrooms
• white onion
• carrots
• parsnips
• baked beans
• coriander
• thyme
• oats
• cherries
• blueberries
• mango
• raspberries
• pumpkin seeds
• flax seeds
• sesame seeds
• sunflower seeds
• cashew nuts
• brazil nuts
• dark chocolate
• banana
• capers
• baby corn
• mangetout
• chickpeas
• quinoa
• almonds
• banana

I find soups for lunch packed with veg and herbs work really well to get the numbers up along with mixed nuts and seeds on everything!

Have our bodies really evolved to need so much variety? Why? No other animals are lilke this.

No-one would have all this stuff naturally around them, especially not in the UK and at this time of year.

I accept that a varied and plant based diet, plenty of green leafy veg, lots of colour, not too much highly processed food, cooking from scratch as much as possible are all good things, but to set a figure such as 30 plants is just arbitrary and bollocks, and I refuse to get into counting or worrying about how many plants I eat in a week.

@Catspyjamas17 The focus on 30 is great if it helps some people be more mindful about variety in their diet. No one saying you have to get involved.

I would imagine way back in evolutionary terms our ancestors did forage and eat a huge variety of food so I can totally appreciate the logic in this.

We had a vastly more varied diet than we do now that we have mono crop agriculture and wheat, corn and soy making up so much of the western diet. That’s the point.

We easily do; we love fruit and veg and have always regarded "five a day" as just the starting line.

Just one day:

Breakfast was porridge , then home made seedy rye sour-dough bread with marmalade.
Ordinary midweek lunch today, by me, had 6 veg. (not counting herbs, which were fresh rosemary and cumin seed). It was lamb neck fillet casseroled with banana shallotts, garlic, fennel ,carrots, aubergine. Served with mashed potato (fridge leftover) . Fresh fruit after.

Supper will be by DH, knowing him (and our fridge contents) it will be either cheese and salad ( 3 or 4 veg) , or courgetti spaghetti with parsley and crab.

@Getamoveon36 But the thread is in Chat, not a health of diet topic.

No-one is saying I have to do it, but I'm also entitled to comment that it's a load of faddy orthorexic bollocks. Same as clean eating, cutting out whole food groups from your diet when it's unnecessary, keto, superfoods, very low calorie diets, protein powders, fake meat and all the rest.

It makes the worried well feel bad about buying the same veg or making similar meals every week even though they are eating a metric ton of cruciferous veg, nuts, seeds and pulses, herbs and spices so they are permanently anxious and then overspending on whatever the ridiculous food fad is of the month. Oh, I simply must eat chia seeds even though chia pudding is about as appealing as frogspawn! Seriously, it really doesn't matter if you only have 20 or have 35 or eat the same ones. It is not worth worrying about.

‘Seriously, it really doesn't matter if you only have 20 or have 35 or eat the same ones. It is not worth worrying about.’

@Catspyjamas17 this is missing the whole science behind it but you do you ✌️

I think talking about what our ancestors did and “mono crop agriculture” to be very strange. Just because our ancestors survived for long enough to reproduce does NOT mean that diet is optimal. It just means they might have lived until 25 whereafter they swiftly died of a cold or tooth decay.

Realistically, the first humans would have eaten whatever they could get their hands on!

Information about diet should be scientifically tested and recommended to the public based on a wide body of evidence.

@Roundaboot thanks for the link . It’s helping me feel much more positive about my diet .

Strikes me that it would be extremely difficult for single people to get this sort of variety without very careful planning (frozen veg, variety packs etc.) because of large packets in supermarkets.

I usually consume 2 Geraniums, a Petunia, several Pansies and a Cyclamen every morning

Does he include his red wine in that?

2 apples and 2 oranges a day?! That's a hell of a lot of sugar, your poor teeth!

Gin and tonic has more plants in it than red wine anyway.

G&T : Juniper, lemon, quinine (cinchona).

Wine: Er, grapes.

Yes, best off sticking with Iceland chicken nuggets.

It's 30 across a week though. I live alone and so stuff like
Frozen veg
Herbs and spices last ages
Bags of dried mixed fruit and nuts
Tinned fruit
Long lasting fruit like apples/bananas etc
Different grains store for ages

I shop so at the start of the week I eat the salad leaves, soft berries, mushrooms etc, then the end of the week is more apples/pears, carrots, onions etc

And batch cooking as well which I do most weeks so my freezer has beef stew, pasta bake, cottage pie, chicken and leek bake...

I wouldn't go as far as calling it a load of bollocks, but some posters do seem to overcomplicate this. I believe in variety, but keeping it simple. You know: "Eat food. Not too much.. mostly plants".

This week we've already had Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern dishes for dinner. Tonight is Italian. All include a fair bit of vegetables - carrots, parsnips, ginger, onions, garlic, celery, broccoli, bell peppers, mushrooms, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber..... etc.; plus fruit, and some nuts and seeds. And grains too.

I think im doing fine. I'm not going to worry about gut microbes and counting to 30.

mango, raspberry, papaya, ginger (breakfast: pre-prepared frozen fruit 'smoothie mix' from Sainsburys and added fresh ginger)
easy peeler (snack)
lentils, cucumber, red onion, mint (lunch: honey chilli chicken, lentil salad, tzatziki, focaccia)
tomato, carrot, white onion, chilli, red pepper, basil, mushroom, red onion, oregano, tomato puree (dinner: sausage pasta bake, I just roast all the veg then blend it and add to sauce because I hate the texture)
19.

I've just seen that he suggests the 30 plants thing because "Diversity cultivates a healthy microbiome" which I hadn't considered before but that's a good goal to have. Can you just add more fruit and veg to the meals you already like?

Do spices really count? I am forever adding spoonfuls of cumin, coriander, paprika etc.. to my cooking.

Start adding small amounts of mixed seaweed to stews, egg mayo, whatever. Doesn't take much to feel a difference - and that could be 5 different plants with that alone.

Oats
Soya yoghurt & milk
Blueberries
Banana

Bread
Cucumber
Lettuce
Tomato

Chickpeas
Tahini (sesame seeds)
Lemon juice (yes hummus basically)
Olive oil

Chocolate
Pistachio nuts
Coffee
Raisins

That's just today and that's 16 things I've ingested which came from 16 different plants.

If the 30 plants really includes herbs and spices, coffee, tea, chocolate, nuts, plant milks and yoghurts, vegetable oils, and grains via bread, pasta and cereals as some posters seem to be saying, then it actually sounds pretty easy, more so than trying to get five a day for many people.