🥕 30 plants a week—can you do it? Discover the benefits for your gut, immunity, and wellbeing.
As the days get longer and we move into spring, it’s a perfect time to refresh our health routines. My sincere hope is that you exercise for your health—to keep your body strong, fit, and resilient and not to burn whatever treats you have eaten. Sometimes exercise includes losing weight, but even if the scales don’t budge, your body still benefits enormously from movement.
So much of our energy gets spent worrying about how we look, what the scales say, and what that says about us. I do it too—catching fat rolls under my own butt in the mirror. But it’s time to stop beating ourselves up. That energy can be put to better use, focusing on positive, nourishing habits instead. One simple but powerful way to do this is to think about how many plants we eat.
3 Cups of Vegetables per Day 🥦🥕
Eating more vegetables has only benefits:
Packed with nutrients essential for our body
Wide variety so you don’t get bored—and each plant offers something unique
Full of fibre
Low in calories
Helps you feel full and satisfied
Better for our planet—growing plants uses far fewer resources than meat
30 Different Plants a Week for Your Gut Biome 🌿
Here’s a new twist on the “3 cups per day” habit: the American Gut Project (www.americangut.org) shows that eating 30 different plants each week significantly benefits your gut biome—the bacteria living in your digestive system.
A healthy gut biome influences your immune system, brain function, and overall wellbeing. Having flourishing gut bacteria helps your body and mind work at their best.
It may sound tricky, but I promise it’s doable. Try counting the number of different plants you eat in a week—this includes fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, nuts, herbs, and garlic (as long as it’s a significant amount, like ¼ cup).
For example, this week I’ve eaten: onion, tomato, cabbage, beetroot, carrot, sultanas, sunflower seeds, rice, peanuts, potato, kumara, lettuce, feijoas, mandarins, apples, red pepper, corn, mesclun (different lettuce types), iceberg, spring onion. That’s already 20+!
Aim for the freshest, most local sources you can, but dried fruits and frozen vegetables also count.
Take the Challenge: Count Your Plants!
For the next four weeks, why not take the Count Your Plants Challenge? Track the variety of plants you eat each day and see if you can reach 30 different plants in a week. Every extra plant is a win for your body, your gut, and the planet.
Here’s to a healthy, vibrant October!
Gill 🌿
