Why 30 a week is the new 5 a day!

A while ago I came across a post online about the 30 a week challenge, in which it suggested it is better to eat 30 a week over 5 a day. How can this be I hear you cry, surely 5 a day is more than 30 a week. Alas no! With 5 a day you can eat the same 5 fruits or vegetables a day; everyday and you have met your goal. In the 30 a week challenge you have to eat 30 different whole plant foods in a week. Each different food you eat scores you a point. The nice thing about this is it isn’t just fruits and vegetables that count, you can include grains, nuts, seeds and legumes as well as herbs and spices as long as they are the whole food and are not refined in any way, such as wholegrain rice or pasta as opposed to the white refined varieties. Olives would count but you couldn’t count olive oil as that has been through the refining process.

The reason behind this is that 30 different plant-based foods a week is good for our gut microbiome and it is believed that this degree of variety is  the amount we need for optimum microbiome and nutritional health. Those with a healthy gut microbiome tend to have all round better health. Remember the saying eat the rainbow. The good thing about this is that this is about adding in and not taking away so you don’t have to be wholefood plant based to take up the 30 a week challenge. Below are some links if you are interested in finding out more. One is to an article on BBC Good food site about this subject. The others are to some posts on my Instagram site so you can see how I got on with this challenge. There’s also a link to Viva’s A-Z of plant foods if you need inspiration as to what to include.

BBC Good Food- 30 a week

My 30 a week challenge

30 a week, how did I do?

Marinaded Tofu Picture

Viva’s A to Z of plant foods

Why don’t you give it a go. Let me know how you got on.

Catch up soon.

Sharon

The Lady Eats Plants