Eat 30 plants a week ….. #30AWEEK
We are reading with interest the recent press coverage of the recommendation to incorporate 30 different plants into our weekly diet.
The magic “30” is a result of the American Gut Project a study published in 2018 which compared the gut microbiome of 10,000 volunteers. It showed that people who consume more than 30 different plant foods every week have a more varied gut bacteria than those who ate fewer than 10 and as we are becoming increasingly aware, more gut bacteria means a healthier gut microbiome and in turn means better overall health.
When we think about plant-based foods we include all foods that originate from plants .. so as well as fruit and vegetables think wholegrains, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices and of course …pulses (beans, peas and lentils). Foods can be fresh, dried, frozen and tinned but they must be the “whole food” and not refined which strips the food of essential nutritional benefits and fibre which is so important for a healthy gut.
We know that our chilled meal pots are packed with chunky veg, pulses, herbs and spices so out of interest we thought that we would add up just how many different plants goes into each of our recipes. In just one pot we counted a minimum of 11 different plant ingredients and our top scoring pot had a whopping 17 different plants!!
Since starting our Easy Bean journey back in 2008 our mission has always been to create food that is as delicious as it is healthy with the knowledge that eating a balanced diet of wholesome, natural food made perfect sense. Our meal pots are definitely an easy and delicious way to EAT MORE PLANTS.
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