Edward Mather, head nutritionist at FuelHub, revealed an effective way to ensure you’re maintaining a healthy diet
‘Eat your five-a-day’ is a mantra we’ve been told throughout our lives. But one nutritionist claims there is a far better way to get all your essential vitamins and minerals.
Albeit drastic, this involves feasting on 30 different plants each week, encompassing not just fruits and veggies, but also whole grains, nuts, seeds, and even herbs and spices. It may sound almost impossible, but Edward Mather, the lead nutritionist at FuelHub, believes it’s well within grasp with a few clever tweaks to your diet.
“Thirty plants a week is definitely achievable if you take the necessary steps,” he said previously, according to the Mirror. “Each plant food counts as ‘one plant’ or ‘one point’…You can mix up your meals by adding different vegetables to salads and stir-fries, choose plant-based snacks such as nuts, seeds and fruit, and also use herbs and spices like basil and turmeric as this can also count.
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“Having a number of vegetables with each meal, fruit with breakfast and plant-based snacks in between can significantly improve your plant uptake.”
Edward’s insights align with findings from the 2018 American Gut Project, a massive study involving over 10,000 citizen-scientists who investigated gut health.
Results showed that people who consumed more than 30 different plant foods per week had more ‘diverse gut microbiomes’ than others who ate less than 10. Microbiome diversity is generally considered a crucial marker of good health.
Meanwhile, Professor Tim Spector also favoured the ’30-per-week’ strategy on the ZOE podcast last year. At the time, he said: “This 30, you know, it may have been plucked out of the ether somewhat, but as well as the public loving it and it’s being achievable, as Hugh said, for many people.
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“…Many people are already doing it. And now we now have a randomised controlled trial to say that diversity of plants put together have a very rapid effect on transforming many people’s gut microbes.”
In a similar light, Edward continued: “This concept comes from gut health research, so should be differentiated from a typical fad trend. As great as eating 30 plants a week is, it’s more difficult to track which may seem a rigid challenge to some people, but with given the robust evidence of plant diversity, it could be a good addition to the broader dietary advice.”
For those eager to embrace the 30-a-week approach, Edward has a couple of savvy tips. First and foremost, he recommends batch cooking at the start of every week, using a variety of vegetables.
This way, you can ensure you’re getting a good number of plants in every serving. Secondly, he added: “Use plant-based foods as toppings by adding nuts, seeds or herbs to your meals. This is an easy way to boost intake without much effort.
“A good example is adding chia seeds to your yoghurt or oats. Other meal ideas include smoothie bowls and rainbow salads.”
These dietary choices should be included in a generally balanced diet. The NHS advises that men should consume around 2,500 calories a day, while women should consume around 2,000 calories a day.
Despite this, most adults in the UK consume more calories than necessary and should reduce their intake.