30 different plants a week

[FurForksSake]

Is anyone doing this? I’ll try and find a link that explains it….https://zoe.com/learn/30-plants-per-week?srsltid=AfmBOooWb_hMM8qGzv1IGCYS6Qr1bLGaoEpoMo_mpMvzacNt14Rdx2Uq apologies they are probably trying to sell something, but jt at least explains.

DH and I and the kids almost certainly don’t manage 30 a week, a lot of that is to do with budget and wastage. Fruit in particular is expensive and in fairly big packs. Grapes, bananas, apples, a bag of frozen berries is our standard. Vegetables, salad, tomatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, peas, sweetcorn, broccoli, parsnips are probably the limit. I buy granary bread which is seeded, so that counts for something.

is it just changing my mindset and getting a bigger variety and accepting the higher cost? I see Zoe sell a product; I wouldn’t buy something like that as we just wouldn’t consume it.

Quite a few common things not on your list:

Grapefruit, oranges, lemons, limes, satsumas, clementines, honeydew melon, red onions, leeks, spring onions, garlic, mushrooms, celery, beetroot, cucumber, radishes, runner beans, cauliflower, spinach, a variety of cabbages, sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli, courgettes, mange tout, dwarf green beans, pineapple.

I saw something similar, and herbs count !
So a ragu with onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes + basil is 5.
Nonsense, IMO.

And there's peaches, plums, nectarines, rhubarb, cherries, endless herbs like @oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends says, even things like flaked almonds, walnuts, raisins, glace cherries & dessiccated coconut that you get in cakes will all count.

And pears. Forgot pears.

This book is great https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/how-to-eat-30-plants-a-week-book-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall-9781526672520?sku=GOR013712111&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17416830390&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5JXFBhCrARIsAL1ckPuMWW7Bw0m_nf5-KfHsBuASq_K9OJHT4jhNiySdEzP6_ucxpnuqVWkaAt9XEALw_wcB

I put a seed mix on salads and make my own granola that has 12 different nuts/seeds in it. Put on top of a bowl of mixed berries and that's 15 just in one meal. Add in the rest of the spices/beans/veg/grains you eat in a week and you hit 30 very easily.

Don't forget seeds - chia, linseed, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame. Put them on breakfast, in salads, chuck them on top of any main meal, a teaspoon or so at a time. Nuts also count and are really nutritious

You mention waste - I would recommend planning your meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) a week or a few days at a time and shop accordingly. Ideally that means that you have a plan for everything in the cupboard / fridge and don't end up with veg, salad etc hanging round and going in the bin

I very much do meal plan and so will buy a bag of onions, a bag of carrots etc and use those for several meals.

seeds and herbs I believe count as a 1/4.

i do wonder if our diet is very boring! We tend to eat the same fruits and vegetables every day, the kids have grapes, cucumber and an apple or banana in their lunch box daily. That I know will be consumed and isn’t expensive. One child will eat quite a range of fruit and vegetable and the other is much more challenging.

Hugh Cooks and eats them all (as he is known in our house), I love his books! I’ll look for a cheaper outlet, but looks like a good resource.

Hugh Cooks and eats them all (as he is known in our house), I love his books! I’ll look for a cheaper outlet, but looks like a good resource.

I have six different types of nut in a week - does that count as six or one?

Also, do coffee and tea count? What about chocolate?

Lentils and barley in stews. Raisins and prunes on my porridge.

It's harder with children who don't like to branch out, of course.

Six different types of nuts count as six plant varieties

Yes, tea and coffee count - the Zoe folks are huge fans of coffee in moderation. Not sure how much you need to consume to rack up one plant point for the week

Chocolate sadly not ☺️

Chocolate is made from beans, so one of your 5-a-day !

cabbage which you can grate with carrots and onions for a basic coleslaw and throw in apple and walnuts for a lunch

porridge for breakfast - oats with a handful of mixed seeds Or dried fruit

dony forget most British people have wheat rice potatoes every day

garlic and celery
frozen spinach goes in anything, frozen or tinned beans cheaper than fresh

beans and lentils in curries and stews is cheaper than all meat

herbs and spices

I’ve eaten 16 today alone and I’ll have eaten at least another 7 by tonight.
I have a lot for breakfast and I had a big salad for lunch with homemade hummus.
I’m not sure my teenagers eat as much but I try.

I remember reading this a couple of years ago, and every now and again I'll audit our diet to see how we're doing. Most weeks we hit 30, for the adults at least. Unfortunately the DCs are fussy shits and for the time being I have to concede that broccoli three times a week is a better diet than leafy greens, peppers and herbs zero times a week.

If you get into the mindset that places a value on variety, it's surprisingly easy to make minor adjustments to help. So - different color peppers rather than just red. A salad will have spinach, rocket, and two different varieties of lettuce rather than just iceberg. A bean casserole will have pinto, cannelini, black beans and chick peas rather than just one type. A lentil ragu will have green, brown and red all together. Something like tabbouleh will add mint, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, black pepper and tomato to wheat as a carb side dish. Different varieties of melon rather than just honeydew, and so on.

Different varieties/colour of fruit and vegetables can't possibly count as different. That's absurd. You could easily eat 5 different types of apple, but they are still "apple". Same applies to colours of peppers, or types of melon.

They did have chilli from the freezer on Monday (the last bag of my batch) which had
tomatoes
onions
carrots
celery
garlic
peppers
kidney beans
cannelini beans
black beans
black eye beans
spices in.

And they eat that most weeks, that’s a third of the work. DS1 has then eaten at least five different fruits, cucumber, lettuce, carrots, broccoli, peas, sweetcorn. So it’s maybe not as bad as I think.

Variety is great in all sorts of ways but I wouldn’t get too hung up about it. The important thing is to eat lots of plants of some kind - I’d say at half to 2/3 of food intake should be plants.

Why not add just one or two fruits or vegetables that you might not ordinarily consider to your weekly shop each week and see how you get on.

'Different varieties/colour of fruit and vegetables can't possibly count as different'

They do in the Zoe approach. Different coloured fruits / veg contain different types of polyphenols, so eating green, yellow and red peppers in a week would give you 3 plant points, not one

According to Tim Spector they do. The biochemical composition of a red pepper is self-evidently different to that of a green one.

The purpose of it all is to provide variety to support your gut biome. It's not something that scientists completely understand, but the empirical research so far suggests that populations (in Africa, if I recall) which have more than 30 varieties a week have better gut health.

@Lottapianos

Cross-posted, sorry. Great minds and all that.

We’ve had nectarines, passion fruit and kiwi this week, I’ll just keep doing my best to try and increase the range.

I have horrendous ibs/d and one of my kids has severe reflux. Two of us have hyper mobility and i take way too many painkillers. Anything I can do to improve our gut health is probably worth doing.

I’ve ordered a copy of the hugh book for some inspiration and for the kids to try and involve them.

There is no actual science behind the number 30 - it’s just something to aim for to get a variety so don’t get too hung up on the exact number or what does/doesn’t count. Maybe try adding one different fruit or veg each week plus a different nut or seed. There are also whole grains like quinoa and then oats if you have them for breakfast. And potatoes were missing from your list, don’t you have them?

We do have potatoes, we just had jacket potatoes for dinner, with salad and chilli. But I’ve never counted potatoes as a vegetable!

During term time porridge is the normal breakfast. I might see if I can encourage more nuts and seeds.