Upping Plant points! - Increasing plant foods in the diet

[TheFutureMrsWolowitz]

The term 'plant points; was inspired by a post on this thread;
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4886269-whats-for-dinner?reply=128932197

Basically I am trying to consciously increase the variety of plant foods in my diet. I tend to stick to the same sorts of fruits/veg such as carrots; peas; sweetcorn; peppers; apples; strawberries etc and have gotten into a bit of a rut.

I also recently binge watched this series on netflix 'Live to 100- Secrets of the Blue Zones' which I found quite fascinating.

So far I have had;

toast with DH's homemade plum jam topped with almonds
fizzy water with juice of one lemon
1/2 pear

If anyone would like to join you would be most welcome!

Thanks for the thread @TheFutureMrsWolowitz good idea about the sweet potato I actually have some sweet potatoes languishing in the pantry I'm planning to make soup with them there's a lovely recipe I like for sweet potato coconut and chilli soup I'll try to post it later. I think possibly the coconut milk negates the health benefits of sweet potato though 😂

I found some simple things helped increase my numbers.

Instead of having a single fruit with the waffles I make, we have a fruit mix,
the waffle batter also has wheat, cornmeal and oats, which make a crisper waffle, and it's 3 different plant foods.

We have bean burrito's for breakfast, so instead of having the same all week, now I have half one half another. Or any recipe that calls for multiples of the same thing, like when I made refried beans, I used 3 different beans instead of all blackbeans.

I also batch cook and freeze my own all-veg sauce. I leave it pretty plain, so it can be pasta sauce if you add more herbs, or add paprika etc to make a sauce for roast veg and cous cous etc. I puree them all smooth, always tomatoes, but then I've added various things, celery, courgette, carrot, butternut, spinach, beetroot, onions, garlic, lettuce, corn, the reduced boxes of veg you can get in Lidl are ideal.

Another tip I got was to have a variety or grains - so freekeh, spelt, pearl barley, red rice, sorghum, amaranth, quinoa are all alternatives to (or can be mixed with) basmati or couscous, say.

And seeds - pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, black onion (nigella),

I got into the 30 plant points a week a few years ago and I find it really enjoyable. I feel great for it and I definitely eat a more diverse range of food than I used to

You could try adding in two new types (maybe one fruit, one veg) every week. Great advice about grains and seeds above. And keep a list every week to track your progress!

@Lottapianos I keep myself a spreadsheet, I started counting at the start of last year, barely had a week (illness etc) where I haven't hit 40 plant foods, sometimes even getting 50 which I feel earns me something!!

@WeirdPookah , that's seriously impressive. Amazing dedication!

Would you consider sharing some or all of your 40 examples on here? Some people might find it useful / inspiring, me included!

We do 30 varieties of plant foods a week and it's easy with a few tips and tweaks.

Have a seed mix of 5 seeds on your cereal or salad
Buy 5 different types of nuts for snacks
That's 10
A mixed leaf salad with tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, beetroot, onions etc can easily give 8-10
Soup - 5
Pasta sauce - 5

Then a piece of fruit every day. You can be done by Tuesday night if you make an effort! 😁

Oh i am loving these tips thank you all!

I do try and ensure I have 3 types of fruit / veg at every meal and I won't repeat for the day- so if I eat tomatoes at lunch I won't eat a tomato based sauce for dinner for example. I like the idea of making up a mix of nuts and seeds ... I'm not great at breakfast but cam imagine a mix of seeds / linseeds/ 3 types of nuts and some dried fruit as a natural yoghurt topper would go well for me.

I actively try and include legumes in my diet- although sometimes it is just peas and maybe the odd chickpea or two. The other day i made a spinach soup and dumped a can of green lentils in it. It was earthy and delicious.

@Lottapianos can you add spoiler boxes on here? Otherwise the list is rather large to scroll down if people are not interested. I'm happy to share, but don't want an epic huge long post in the way!

Oh and for lunch today i had a mexican couscous salad from M&S which had onions, cranberries and sultanas. And a M&S balsamic beetroot salad so that is 7 types already today- and things I don't usually have.

Just to say as well- I am considering types of plant food- not traditional serving sizes. More variety than quantity is my personal focus.

We aren't obsessive but I do try to do the 30 plant-based foods thing.

A few things I find help

Smoothies is a great way to get a variety of fruit. We usually do a mix of frozen and fresh fruit and some oats. When we're eating a lot of smoothies I start playing with adding a handful of spinach or a spoon of peanut butter or things like cucumber.

A more recent option (for DH and DS - I can't get past the cold oats thing) is overnight oats - I make them for them with oats, flaxseeds, flaked almonds and then some frozen berries in a mix.

Salads as a side/accompaniment can quickly help you to rack up your numbers. Yesterday's salad was lettuce (different types but I just counted it as one), spring onions, avocado, peppers, cucumber, pine nuts.

Add lentils, chickpeas or beans to things. eg I always add lentils to a bolognaise sauce and have started adding chickpeas to rice-based dishes.

If you eat in different "styles" you can increase the variety of herbs and spices and flavourings you use. Eg pasta one night, curry the next.

'A more recent option (for DH and DS - I can't get past the cold oats thing) is overnight oats'

I hate cold oats too, unless the weather is really warm, but I do overnight oats and give them a good blast in the microwave

I often add a handful of well-washed red lentils to anything that is basically a stew-type dish. They melt into it, & are unnoticeable.
Spiralise courgettes & add to spaghetti for the last minute of cooking.

I have oats as well as barley flakes, and pearl barley as well as rice.

Lots of herbs.

Mixed berries

3 veg most meals.

Mixed nuts

Olives and extra virgin olive oil