Plant Power: How Eating 30 Plants a Week Can Boost Your Gut Health

Boosting gut health is a hot topic these days and for good reason. Having a healthy gut can improve your immune system, regulate hormones, and even boost your mood. But how can you achieve optimal gut health amid all the noise around the topic? The answer is simple: eat a diverse range of plants through an abundance mindset. According to Dr. Megan Rossi, a practicing dietitian and nutritionist, diversifying your plant intake is the key predictor of a healthy gut microbiome. The more plant variety you eat, the better.

Source: Physicians Committee/Youtube

While it may sound like an ambitious goal, Rossi recommends aiming for 30 different plants a week from the super six categories: whole grains, nuts and seeds, vegetables, fruits, legumes, and herbs and spices. In her book, How To Eat More Plants, Rossi describes her approach as “enriching, not restricting; inclusive, not exclusive. More plants, more variety, more fiber, more flavor. I call it the Diversity Diet.”

The gut microbiome is composed of trillions of bacteria, and having a balance of bacteria in the gut can help regulate blood sugar, Support digestion, and strengthen the immune system. To properly feed the gut, it needs to receive “an abundant and diverse range of fiber” because fiber is metabolized slower and, therefore, travels to the gut microbiome where it’s digested. Fiber has been associated with reducing the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and obesity and is most commonly found in whole plants.

Research shows that the more diverse people’s diets are, the stronger their gut microbiome becomes. Dr. Richard Day, vice president of medical affairs and clinical development at ADM, a food processing company, explains that consuming a large number of different plant fibers gives the building blocks for the emergence of diverse bacterial populations.

Renowned food expert Michael Pollan, known for coining the phrase “eat food, not too much, mostly plants,” believes that learning to love a diverse range of food serves another purpose beyond gut strength: it can make people love the art of cooking. Discovering a love for a wide range of plants can make food a source of enjoyment and cooking a time for creativity.

To step up your plant game, Rossi suggests the 28-day plant point challenge. One plant food gives you one plant point, while one herb or spice gives you one-fourth of a plant point. Even coffee counts as a plant. The goal is to aim for 30 plant points per week. For those who love meat, you don’t need to go vegan and eliminate other protein sources from your diet completely. Instead, focus on a plant-based diet that prioritizes plants at the center of your meals.

Being mindful of the diversity mindset can look like a couple of easy adjustments, like making chili with mixed beans instead of just one kind of bean or having a cup of mixed berries instead of a bowl of only strawberries. Grab crackers that contain many types of seeds or a handful of nuts as a snack.

In her book, Rossi lays out how to diversify your plants in every meal, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sweets. Eating a diverse range of plants isn’t just good for your gut; it can also make food more enjoyable and cooking more creative. So, challenge yourself to try new plant-based foods and enjoy the benefits of a healthy gut.

Related Content:

• Lizzo Says She Isn’t Vegan to Lose Weight, She Just Feels Better Eating Plants, Go Queen!
• Eating Plants and Pumping Iron: 3 Tips for Bodybuilding on a Vegan Diet
• 8 Plants That Are Good for Treating Bumps, Bruises, and Cuts
• 7 Ways to Use Garlic Plants
• Edible and Medicinal Plants in The Daisy Family

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that raise awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade over and over again.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!