In his book “Food for Life”, Professor Tim Spector tells us many ways to improve our gut microbiome and one of the simplest things he says we can do is to eat 30 different plant foods each week.
Thirty!!! It sounds a lot, doesn’t it?
However, all plant foods are included so as well as fruit and veg you can include nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, grains etc. And different varieties of the same food also count as they will contain different nutrients.
Here are some quick and super easy tips to increase the number of plant foods in your regular diet:
• Sprinkle some seeds on your cereal, salad or soup. You can do individual ones or get a bag of mixed seeds and if it contains sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, flax and poppy then you’ve already added five plant foods to your week!
Add some extra herbs or spices into your cooking rather than sticking to your favourites. A additional teaspoonful of paprika, turmeric, tarragon or oregano adds extra flavour as well!
Choose packs of fruit and veg that contain different colours eg heritage tomatoes, red and green grapes, mixed peppers, mixed salad leaves – all the different colours count!
Brighten up your regular dishes by using different varieties of vegetables such as:
- Potatoes – new potatoes, white skin potatoes, red skin potatoes, sweet potatoes
- Onions – red skin, white skin, spring onion, shallots, leeks
- Brassicas – broccoli, tenderstem, purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflower, romanescu, Brussel sprouts, cabbage (drumhead, read, savoy, sweetheart), spring greens, kale, cavolo nero.
Try different types of rice – white, black, red, risotto, paella, basmati or wild rice are just some of the varieties that are easy to find in the supermarket.
Cooking – add a handful of lentils to soups or stews, or add some black beans or chickpeas as well as kidneys beans to chilli.
Good quality herbal and fruit teas count too so include a cup or two alongside your regular drinks. Or try some fresh mint tea if you have some in the garden.
Snack on some mixed nuts rather than a chocolate bar.
Notice how different additions taste and feel, experiment with what you like and try different things when they come into season. Try new stuff!!!
