To think 30 different plant based foods is hard to achieve?

[BigYellowTaxiT]

I am trying to overhaul my diet and generally create a healthier lifestyle for myself. I read that dieticians now recommend you should eat 30 portions of different plant based foods a week.

Does anyone actually do this? How do you achieve it? What are your weekly menus? Anyone got any tips?

A La Mauvaise femme -

Breakfast...Alpen 5 items wheat,oats,raisins,hazelnuts,almonds

Lunch.... Sandwich using Wharburtons loaf 8 items - 5 different seeds, barley,soya,rapeseed add tomato and lettuce - 10 items.

Evening meal - Lentil soup... ...6 items carrot,celery,onion,lentils, and herbs & spices which count as half an item each - bay,parsley,thyme,black pepper

Snacks- walnut whip - 1 item - the walnut . An apple 1 item.

Coffee and tea - count as half an item each..... this takes us up to 24 different items on day One. If during the course of the next six days you manage to force yourself to some peanut M & Ms ( chocolate and peanuts so = 2 plant based items), a banana,an orange, and a helping of Aldi 4 seasons frozen veg - broccoli,cauliflower peas... that takes you up to 31 different items.

It soon all adds up - the hard part is mixing it up and getting the diversity and not opting for the same things every week.

Cabbage
Carrots
Broccoli
Garlic
Ginger
Limes
Kale
Celery
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Cauliflower
Red, yellow, green peppers
Watermelon
Oranges
Red onions
Courgettes
Edamame
Red lentils
Black beans
Strawberries
Aubergines
Red currants
Mushrooms
Basil
Coriander
Blackberries
Spring onions
Leeks

The one thing people are missing is money - it costs a lot to be able to have all this food in the house.

I am vegan and find it very easy to hit my 30 per week. Tofu, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, fruit and veg quickly add up to more than that amount.
@fairylightsandwaxmelts the trick is probably to cut down on your meat/ fish consumption at the same tim as reducing processed foods. For two adults our weekly food shop is £40-45 per week, sometimes less, so it isn’t necessarily expensive

Do you mean 30 different plant ingredients? Just today: leeks, rocket, potato, tomato, chick peas, sugar snaps, leeks, red peppers, coriander, various ground spices; also (but less healthy) coffee, sugar, wheat, cacao, hazelnuts. Total 15, in just one day. Non-plant ingredients: 1, a small amount of chicken.

The trick is to treat plant foods as the main part of each meal, and any animal produce as a side, or garnish, or omit completely. So, for a stir-fry (a sauté), the main ingredients are the sauce, red pepper, broccoli. Then I might add some other veggies, or nuts, or rice, or a scattering of tofu or beef or fish. A committed carnivore would prioritise the ingredients rather differently.

If you can change the balance of plant to animal foods on the plate, and throw out ingrained ideas of what constitutes 'a meal', it becomes much easier. Also creative and fun!

How do you defrost the frozen berries and other fruit etc? Or do you eat them frozen?

I don't know about the PP but what I do is stew a portion of frozen berries with a splash of water and a drizzle of maple syrup. Then have it warm with greek yogurt for breakfast. It's delicious.

Today I had:

Fresh orange juice
Roasted tomatoes
Avocado
Grapes
Bread
Banana
Cashew nuts
Mushrooms
Mixed seeds
2 kinds of salad
Parsnips
Carrots
Broccoli
Potatoes
Butternut squash ( in puff pastry)
Frozen strawberries ( defrosted for 30 seconds in microwave)

So maybe would reach 30 in a week? I'm not vegetarian but do eat a lot of veggie foods as I don't like meat

Today I had the following. We had a big family lunch with lots of homemade dips so many of these are tiny portions and it's not a typical day. I am not a vegetarian but like my herbs and spices.

Raspberry
Blueberry
Cherries
Banana
Beetroot
Garlic
Lemon
Walnut
Sesame
Wheat
Coriander
Avocado
Parsley
Mint
Basil
Aubergine
Mustard
Rapeseed oil
Peppers
Courgettes
Tomato
Turmeric
Paprika
Grapes (wine)
Cornflour
Rice
Almond
Orange
Sugarcane
Vanilla
Olive
Cucumber
Lettuce
Cocoa

OP, another way of subverting old habits is to only create colourful plates, with lots of green, red, orange, yellow. So, a variety of fruit & vegetables. I only really eat foods that are multi-coloured, and I create dishes by colour as much as taste and texture. For me it's a bit of a quirk, but if your mind tends that way, it might help.

Plant based eating list

Cauliflower
Potatoes
Bananes
Oranges
Chicken peas
Onions
🍍 Stunt Pineapple
Fresh herbs
Leeks
Tomatoes 🍅
Chocolate
Tea
Coffee
Raisins
Peanuts
Fruit juice
Courgettes in ratatouille
Carrots
Apples/apple pie
Fruit cocktail
Beetroot
Coleslaw
Jam/mango chutney
Fruit compot & yoghurt
Sweet Potatoes
Assorted beans
Red lentils
Very fresh lettuce out of the garden
Home grown strawberries 🍓
Soup
Lemons
Pumpkin
Butternut squash
Melon 🍈🍉
Fresh mint
Swede
Parsnip
Dragon Fruit if I can find one
🫒 olives
Passion Fruit
Multi colour peppers
🌶 Fresh chili
Fresh coriander
Maltesers in a box

@EssexLioness

I am vegan and find it very easy to hit my 30 per week. Tofu, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, fruit and veg quickly add up to more than that amount. *@fairylightsandwaxmelts* the trick is probably to cut down on your meat/ fish consumption at the same tim as reducing processed foods. For two adults our weekly food shop is £40-45 per week, sometimes less, so it isn’t necessarily expensive

I suppose you also need the storage for it all, and to be able to eat it all without it going off, lol.

I just look at the size of our kitchen and I can't imagine being able to store 30+ different types of plant based foods in there at once

Forgot
Hummous
Rice
Couscous

I've been doing this for a few months now and it's doable but takes some better meal planning. I realised I often ate veg in a curry and then used similar in 2 other meals in the same week. I've had to think a bit more about the mix of meals. I make my own bread which has whole meal flour and 5 types of seeds which helps. I buy fruit pots in the cupboard/baking section of Sainsburys for a quick boost (4 different shelf stable types of fruit so I'm not trying to get through a big bag of oranges/ box of grapes. Rather than eat a bag of almonds until it's gone, I alternate between a few different bags of nuts and just seal them carefully so they don't go stale.

I have a smoothie each morning to up my plant intake, today's was frozen red berries, blueberries, avocado, kale, pineapple, wheatgrass, beetroot & spinach blended with almond milk. So that's 9 plant based things before I've even started the day :) So I don't think it's that hard to have 30 per week.

@fairylightsandwaxmelts my kitchen is tiny however my freezer and fridge are stuffed full. We also don’t buy many pre packaged foods eg cereal so we our cupboards are mainly full of nuts, seeds, pulses, along with grains and some pasta, rice etc. if we had a cereal or crisp habit then half our cupboard space would be gone. I suppose it helps that there is just the two of us so even a tiny kitchen can handle food for two people. I think it depends on the sorts of things you enjoy eating. 10 years ago our diet (and cupboards) looked very different!

it's very easy, I once counted from Monday morning and hit 30 after a couple of days. it doesn't have to be very much - seed mix in your granola, mixed berries (I buy frozen and defrost the amount I need) etc

a lot easier if you are veggie probably .

it doesn't cost that much either - I do most of our shopping at lidl and aldi.

Homemade warm 🍿popcorn

@Bogofballs

I’m on a low income and I made a note one week and I hit 30. Veg doesn’t have to be expensive.

Carrots
Onions
Cabbage
Celery
Cauliflower
Courgettes
Oats
Brown rice
Lentils
Broccoli
etc
are all really cheap.

And yes, it’s about gut diversity, so it doesn’t have to be a full portion of each thing. It’s just the more variety you can manage the better.

Op I eat frozen berries, grapes, mango, pineapple with Greek yogurt or mashed banana. I don’t defrost the fruit first. It’s a bit like healthy ice cream. The berries are frozen fresh so more nutritious then refrigerated berries.

@BigYellowTaxiT

I am trying to overhaul my diet and generally create a healthier lifestyle for myself. I read that dieticians now recommend you should eat 30 portions of different plant based foods a week.

Does anyone actually do this? How do you achieve it? What are your weekly menus? Anyone got any tips?

in the past week I've eaten oats,wheat (bread, cake and pasta)_rice tomatoes aubergines shallots onions garlic courgettes celery cabbage baked beans green beans potatoes blueberries mango oranges apple figs nuts spinach carrots peas parsnips broadbeans cauliflower brocolli bananas lemons parsley lentils olives chickpeas leeks.

34, and I'm not a vegetarian.

Rosemary
Thyme
Onion
Leeks
Tomato
Lettuce
Spinach
Butternut squash
Sprouts
Asparagus
Brazil nuts
Pecans
Cashew nuts
Mixed seeds
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Beetroot
Potatoes
Red cabbage
Carrots
Chickpeas
Garlic
Green beans
Stringless beans
Celery
Olives
Rocket
Watercress
Lambs lettuce
Peas

Also
Raspberries
Blueberries
Plums
Apple
Tangerine
Banana
Pomegranate seeds

I work in this sector. It includes herbs, oats, wheat etc.

Should be easy with that definition.

Tim Spector's work on the gut microbiome lists 30 fruit and veg to include garlic, herbs, seeds, nuts and mushrooms. Carbs and grains aren't part of the 30, but they are good for you.