Dec 23

Dec 23 The Proof Is In The Plants: Part 2 The 40 Plant Per Week Challenge

Hi, I'm Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach.

Welcome to Part two of our discussion on The Proof Is in Plants. Simon Hill's informative book on how consuming more plants improves our health and the health of the planet.

Last week in Part One, I shared my four key takeaways from The Proof Is in The Plants:

1- What kind of research matters with expert opinions and case studies having the most bias and meta-analyses having the highest quality of evidence.

2- Research shows a diet comprised of 85% plants promotes the most increased health, and then do what you want with the rest, whether it's paleo, keto, or 100% vegan.

3- An LDL around 50-70 is where you want to be if you want to be close to a 0% risk of atherosclerosis.

And finally, 4- I asked you to join me in the 40 plants challenge this past week. We challenged ourselves to consume 30 different plants plus 10 different herbs and spices in one week.

Simon Hill's 40 plants (30 plants plus 10 spices) per week challenge derives from Professor Rob Knight's research comparing the gut microbiome of people who consume 10 or fewer plants per week with people who consume 30 or more plants.

The research participants who ate over 30 plants per week no matter what overall diet they prescribed to (vegetarian, vegan, or omnivore) had a more diverse gut microbiome and fascinatingly had fewer antibiotic resistance genes in their gut microbiomes. Knight and his fellow researchers aren’t exactly sure why this is the case. yet, they suppose it’s due to the antibiotics meat-eaters inadvertently consume because factory farming regularly gives antibiotics to the livestock before processing.

OK, so I have my list of plants and spices I ate last week, how about yours?

But, before my big reveal, I want to touch on the significance of spices and why they are such nutritional powerhouses. First, I want to take you on a trip back in time to my vlog about what I eat on a typical day. I mentioned Dr. Michael Gregor's suggested daily dozen categories of food from beans to veggies to grains and particularly his recommendation for a ¼ tsp of turmeric every morning.

In addition, about a month ago, in my blog Stand Up! I talked about Dr. Dean and Aisha Sherzai or team Sherzai, as they refer to themselves, and their research findings that spices are an integral part of their 5 part NEURO plan for combating dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Specifically, spices contain a storehouse of antioxidants. For instance, ¼ tsp of turmeric, which I consume daily, contains curcumin, a polyphenol responsible for its yellow color. It has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic, antithrombotic (or reduces the risk of blood clots), and cardiovascular protective effects.

Phew, that’s a lot of good packed into one spice!

One hundred grams of turmeric has 15.68 millimoles per liter of antioxidants. Compare that to another healthy powerhouse, blueberries, with 3.96 millimoles of antioxidants in 100 grams.

Check out the research article, which contains the detailed pdf of different foods and spices and their corresponding antioxidant levels. It’s a pretty fascinating read while keeping your favorite foods in mind.

OK, so we’ve established that spices and herbs are nutritional giants.

And now, without further ado. Here is my list of plants and spices I consumed this week:

Plants I ate last week:
1.       Oatmeal
2.       Flaxseed
3.       Chia seed
4.       Garden Of Eden Protein Powder (mostly pea protein)
5.       Kite Hill Almond Milk Yogurt
6.       Walnuts
7.       Apple
8.       Blueberries
9.       Broccoli
10.   Kohlrabi
11.   Purple and Orange Carrots
12.   Radishes
13.   Cauliflower
14.   Pea Pods
15.   Hummus- mostly garbanzo beans
16.   Kimchi- Napa Cabbage, onion, green onion
17.   Brown Rice – Thin stackers crackers
18.   Almond butter
19.   Nutritional yeast
20.   Olive Oil
21.   White balsamic vinegar
22.   Tomatoes
23.   Kale
24.   Spinach
25.   Arugula
26.   Cucumbers
27.   Red Onion
28.   Red Beats
29.   Yellow Beats
30.   Orange
31.   Quinoa
32.   Celery
33.   Pear
34.   Red Lentils
35.   Oatmeal
36.   White Onion
37.   Kidney Beans
38.   Black Beans
39.   Purple Sweet Potatoes

Spices Eaten This Week:
40.   Pepper ground
41.   Garlic
42.   Turmeric
43.   Birchbark tea: birchbark, licorice root, holy basil, spearmint, cinnamon, and vanilla
44.   Teas: echinacea blend, licorice, lemon balm, hibiscus
45.   Ginger
46.   Red Pepper Flakes
47.   Cumin
48.   Chili Powder
49.   Nutmeg
50.   Cinnamon
51.   Tarragon
52.   Chervil
53.   Curry
54.   Paprika

I have 39 plants listed and around 15 spices; what shocked me is that I hit 30 plants in one day and ate the remaining nine over a few more days. I eat many of the same foods, so I wasn't sure if I'd meet this challenge. With that in mind, I bought some fruit varieties, pears, and grapefruit instead of my usual: blueberries at breakfast, an apple for lunch, and an orange for dinner. I mixed it up a bit.

I also pulled out a serving of frozen red lentil soup I had prepared a while ago and threw that into a lunch, adding two more plants (red lentils and white onions) and two more spices (curry and cumin.)

Speaking of spices, I am a pepper and garlic person with some salt thrown in, although I've cut my salt back by ½. In addition, I take a ¼ tsp of turmeric every morning, but I consider that more of a supplement than adding spices to my food.

So, this week, I started adding cinnamon (which has 31.64 millimoles of antioxidants per 100 grams) and nutmeg (which has 20.32 millimoles of antioxidants per 100 grams) to my oatmeal. What took me so long?! It tastes phenomenal!

Other spices to add to oatmeal are ginger, cardamom, apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, or allspice. I experimented with adding different spices to my lunch hummus (paprika, curry, cumin) and dinner salad dressing - ginger which I love and now put in every night, and a veggie blend of spices with chervil, tarragon, and a few others. That was a fresh and pleasant change.

In addition, I like herb teas, mainly birchbark tea with birchbark, licorice root, holy basil, spearmint, cinnamon, and vanilla. Although this isn't spicing my food, I think herb and spiced teas count and should be on your spices/herbs consumed in a week list.

I also perused my cookbooks for recipes I've made and enjoyed spice blend ideas. For instance, a chipotle chili recipe I like has a combo of chopped chili peppers in adobo sauce, garlic, chili, cumin, and cinnamon. I’ve experimented with adding it to my hummus and salad dressing. Yum and yum!

I also added Chinese five-spice garlic, ginger, and lime juice to my salad dressing last night, and it was fantastic.

My takeaways this week: I eat more of a diversity of plants than I thought I did. Yay! That said, I can always experiment with new ones. For instance, why do I always reach for brown rice or quinoa how about millet or barley? And I’ve thoroughly enjoyed adding spices to my breakfast oatmeal, lunch, and dinner. This spicing it up not only adds to my overall health but it also supports my desire to cut back on my salt intake.

OK, now it's your turn. How did the 40 plants in one week challenge go for you? Do you already eat 30 plants and ten spices in a week, or did you have to get a little creative, as I did, to add more variety? What experiments in eating more plants and spices went well, and which experiments maybe aren’t worth repeating. Ha! Please send me a message. I want to know how it went for you 😊

I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and thank you for reading this blog about my takeaways from the 40 plants consumed during one week challenge. If you have any questions about this blog, health, wellness, or wellness coaching with me, please reach out via my website at lizmosercoaching.com.