What counts as a plant ingredient?

We all know that eating plants is good for us.

However, it seems that eating a large variety of plant foods is even better. Eating many different plant foods improves our gut health by encouraging the growth of different species of bacteria that live there, especially the healthy, beneficial (good) bacteria.

The recommendation by the Zoe project is to eat at least 30 different plant-based foods per week.

But it's not as daunting as it sounds - a wide range of foods count as plant-based including grains, nuts, seeds, herbs, and spices.

Portion size doesn't really matter; it's the variety of different plant-based foods in your diet, that matters. A pinch of dried herbs counts the same as a plateful of salad.

The Zoe project website has more details on the foods that count towards your 30 plants per week target.