Can You Eat 30 Different Plants Per Week?

Quick Win

Upping the variety of fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds in your meals helps nourish your gut microbiome — which may support brain health.

Try This Today

First things first: Download this handy checklist to keep track of the diversity of plants you eat. Here are some starter ideas to get you to 30 different plants a week:

• Make a produce-packed smoothie. Start the day off right with a Strawberry-Banana Protein Smoothie or a Pineapple Green Smoothie. Both get you five plants. Already have a smoothie recipe you love? Up your plant count by tossing in some chia seeds or a handful of baby spinach — or both!
• Snack on mixed nuts. If your usual is a handful of cashews, go for a mix that contains cashews, almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts and pecans. Your plant count for that snack jumps from one to five, says Stephen Perrine, author of The Full-Body Fat Fix.
• Modify your go-to meals. You can make easy substitutions to your favorite dishes to reach the 30-plant goal. For example, if you eat yogurt topped with granola for breakfast most days, try sprinkling in pumpkin seeds and cacao nibs one day, pistachios and dried cranberries another. At dinner, use Swiss chard or kale instead of the usual spinach in your pasta bake. 

Why

Why 30? This number stems from a 2018 report that found more diverse microbiomes in people who ate 30 or more different plants weekly compared with people who ate fewer than 10. The number is just a guideline. The important thing is to add plant variety to your diet. The beneficial microbes in your gut thrive when you eat an assortment of fiber-rich plant foods. Some emerging research suggests that a more diverse gut microbiome is linked to lower risk for type 2 diabetes and hypertension, two conditions that put you at increased risk for cognitive decline.