Internationally, more and more research work goes on into the health and environmental benefits of eating a plant-based diet. Dr Tim Spector is a world respected medical research scientist who strongly advocates eating 30 plants per week. Sounds like a lot? Well, it does at first sight, until you realise that herbs count, herbal teas count, nuts, seeds and pulses (beans) count, bread (wheat, etc.) counts, pasta counts. The message is diversity or a good range of different plant food sources. Make plant foods the centre of your diet, and plan your meat, fish, dairy produce intake around these. But don't forget to think organic, wholefood are not talking here about a vegan or vegetarian diet (although if well thought-through these can be good), but rather simply starting with the vegetable, fruit and other plant food part of your diet, and building on this. The reason ORGANIC is important here is that living soils, with plenty of microbial activity favour the production of higher amounts of polyphenols in crops - these are the compounds found especially in plants which help promote our immune systems. These are essential sources of food (together with various fibres) which feed the microorganisms in our gut. Also living soils protect our soils against erosion, keep our water courses clean and reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
If you are interested to learn more, we recommend you listen to this podcast (English language) on how to eat 30 plants per week.
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