Eating 30 plants a week- what portion size is enough to count?

[CormorantStrikesBack]

Is it like 5 a day veg and it needs to be a handful or because it’s more about gut health is a smaller amount enough ?

I’ve just had a ready meal and figured I could count the brown rice. But what about all the smaller amounts of veg?

Doh!!!

It was lemon zest,,, come on!!!

Just follow through with G&T plus a slice and you'll be fine.

I think we will all have our own definition of taking the piss.

Carrot cake
lemon drizzle cake
coffee and walnut cake would surely count for two! 😄👍

Jam doughnut = raspberries

Wheat
Carrot
Lemon
Coffee
Walnut
You could call it five. That's why the number is high, it allows you to take the piss with five or so.

OK. Probably best look yourself, Soupfiend, as you know what you eat. I tried my best.

Blimey it wasnt a criticism and I gave thanks!

Not a dig Soupfiend. As I said, I tried to help out but ultimately you know what you are likely to eat - I don't know that. It was a best shot in the dark. You are unlikely to get a full list of all fruits and veg etc as there are so many.

😂

Really good idea! There's dedication Cormorant! :D

I got into having 30 plant based foods every week few months ago.
I started with a notepad with lists of plant based food we ate weekly. I've done it for a few weeks and it really helped me to improve our diet.

My new habits since are as follows:
1/ I have big jar of my own mix I make every 8 days or so. I crush 11-12 different types of seeds and nuts and use 1 tbsp every day.

2/ I aim to have 4-5 different veg/pulses every day. We average to around 12-15 veg/pulses a week. I always make sure I have some veg in my freezer (spinach, green beans, peas, sweetcorn, peppers, okra etx.). I count Red cabbage as a separate veg type, as well as Hispi or White cabbage.

3/ Fruit, spices and herbs make up the reminding 8 easily. Or more.

Really good idea with the seeds and nuts, talknomore. I think I will pinch that idea if you don't mind! :)

Have you tried sprouting seeds/lentils/mung beans etc? I found that helped too. Just toss a handful into a salad ...

I did the notebook thing too. I found the longer I did it, the more easily and automatically I reached the 30 plus target without having to try too hard, so now just occasionally write a list, just to make sure I'm still on track.

I forgot my nuts for today so if my meal plan goes to plan today, thats 21

Isn’t 30 a week pretty much just normal
food though? I mean that’s only 4 different veg/ fruit/ spices/ nuts/ seeds a day. Have a bowl of granola with some
nuts/ seeds/ fruit added for breakfast and your at your min in one meal.

Yesterday:
seeded rye bread, cashew butter, banana - that’s like 3
cheese and beetroot, watercress toastie. - 2
greek yogurt, cinnamon cooked apples, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds - 3-4
Pork and mushroom stroganoff, had several spices and herbs in like paprika, garlic, fresh parsley. - 2-4 (depends how you count)

=10-14 per day. that’s a fairly average day, without me ‘adding’ anything in particular or having large salads or separate veg also.

So 30 in a week must be only if people never usually use any spices or herbs, never eating fruit or adding seeds or nuts to normal food?

So 30 in a week must be only if people never usually use any spices or herbs, never eating fruit or adding seeds or nuts to normal food?

It's a lot easier to hit a high number in the first day or two, but people often eat the same types of foods day to day so it gets harder to add to the number as the days go on. Especially if eating seasonally.

I use Nutracheck which counts portions of fruit and veg, but not the wider 30 plants a week. You wouldn't get any counted for a ready meal usually, only food made from scratch, though obviously some ready meals are better than others.

Things that are easy to have a portion of:

• 2 sticks of celery
• 5 cherry tomatoes
• 1 carrot
• 2" cucumber
• 1/2 avocado
• 5 spears asparagus
• 1/2 pepper
• 1 apple
• 1 small pear

TBH life is difficult enough trying to cook something everyone likes, not be too boring with food but do what time and budget allow, and lose weight and find time for exercise, the 30 plant a week thing is on the "fuck off" pile for me.

I do it and find it very helpful to get out of my food rut, and I'm sure I'm getting a wider range of nutrients (and hopefully improving my gut health).

A lot of commentators here don't understand that herbs, spices, and garlic only count for 1/4 of a point.

I try to make sure I get at least two per week from each category. I did not often eat seeds, nuts or pulses, but now I do.

It's varied the type of fruit I eat. I live on my own and used to buy a couple of packs of fruit, say bananas and grapes. Now I'll buy 1 individual portion of, say, banana, orange, kiwi fruit, watermelon slices, red apple, green apple, tinned pineapple.

It's varied the veg too, like many people I'd eat plenty of the basics through the week but now have smaller amounts of a larger number.

It's not hard but means I put a bit more thought into what I eat.

For those saying, well I eat 10+ a day anyway, you are over-counting your herbs and spices - they aren't '1', and forgetting that you can't count the same things again that week. I probably eat 4 or 5 onions a week but only get to count them the first time. As you go through the week the daily totals tend to go down for this reason.

Ah when I did this I didn't know herbs counted!! Or rice!!

This is an interesting concept. Not something I've heard of before. I have just looked through my food diary at last week and can easily count 36 with "herbs" being 1 and "spices" being one. If they were broken down into their individual varieties, I could easily add another 10+ to that total. Also didn't include things like tofu = soya because does that count? Or individual things in pre bought items (there was a vegetable pie in there somewhere that I'm sure had things that hadn't been counted individually)

You don't count herbs and spices as 1, they are 1/4. And each thing can only be counted once in a week.

Not everyone is eating like that though
Some people might be

Cereal for breakfast
Ham sandwich for lunch on white bread, handful of crisps, an apple or banana or a yoghurt
Pasta for tea with a jar sauce

That's a great single day and adds up to 9 and 3/4. (Your herbs and spices are only 1/4 each). But you can't count any of those same foods again for the rest of the week. So presumably, for example, you didn't eat a whole pack of watercress in one go and will have the rest another day. Still great to eat but it doesn't count again.

I think this would be harder for seasonal eaters. I'd likely eat much more variety than the average person over the year, but in an average week in winter, maybe not. My winter salad does have several different leaves in it but veg are potatoes, carrots, onions, beetroot, squash and brussels in my veg box this week. Another week may include cabbage, leeks, celeriac, though sometimes I eat half one week half the next.

I find making big batches of veg soup, and freezing them in to portions quite helpful as I’m on my own for part of the week. I always add Herbs and spices into the mix, too.

Then I can defrost and eat different colour for lunch every day!