“I’ve been eating 30 plant foods a week for a year. Here’s why it’s easier than 5-a-day”

What’s the difference between 5-a-day and 30-a-week?

The five-a-day rule is simple: eat at least five portions of fruit and veg each day, which is around 80g of fresh, canned or frozen fruit or veg. But there are still restrictions. Beans and pulses only count once no matter how many different kinds you eat, and the same with fruit juice. A big potato fan? Sorry, only sweet potatoes count in the five-a-day world.

The 30-a-week method takes a different approach. Instead of focusing on portion sizes, it’s all about the variety of what you’re eating, aiming to consume 30 different plant foods every week. And we’re not just talking fruit and veg – the breadth of what counts is far greater, too.

30-plants-a-week checklist:

• All vegetables including root veg, salad, brassicas and alliums like onion and garlic. And potatoes count, too.
• All fruit including fresh, frozen, dried and tinned all count. Plus, different coloured fruit counts, for example, if you eat a green and a red apple, they count as two different plant portions.
• Legumes including beans, pulses and peas (e.g. chickpeas, lentils and edamame).
• Some grains like barley, different coloured rice, wheat, rye, oats, bulgur wheat and quinoa.
• Nuts like almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, pistachios – and even peanut butter!
• Seeds including chia, hemp, flax, pumpkin and sesame.
• Herbs and spices (which count as a ¼), including both fresh and dried.
• Other unexpected plant portions include coffee, dark chocolate, tea, honey, tofu and popcorn.

5 reasons why eating 30 plant foods a week is a breeze

1. More is more

As mentioned already, the range of food choices included is far greater than your five-a-day. Take my on-the-go overnight oats. I batch make it with multi-seed oats that contain sunflower, flax, pumpkin and hemp seeds, with Greek yoghurt, blueberries, a drizzle of honey, a spoonful of peanut butter, and a cup of coffee alongside it. Under the five-a-day rule I have one portion there in the blueberries, but in the 30 plants world I have a whopping nine plant portions!

2. Variety is the spice of life

Within the five-a-day rule, all beans and pulses are lumped together as one portion, but in the world of 30-a-week you get a big, fat tick for every variety. So, if you use a jar of mixed beans in your cooking that contains chickpeas, lentils, black peans, pinto beans and white beans, that counts as five different plant varieties.

3. Size doesn’t matter

When it comes to succeeding in the five-a-day game, it’s all about portion sizes, around 80g. To put that into perspective, that’s equivalent to one apple, seven strawberries, one slice of melon or three heaped tablespoons of cooked vegetables. But 30-plants-a-week doesn’t care if you eat one almond or a handful, it all still counts. That means tiny additions can make a big impact to your overall count. A sprinkling of chia and flaxseed on your morning porridge counts as two more plants, swapping brown rice for wild rice containing brown, red and wild takes you from one plant portion to three.

4. It's a lazy cook’s dream

If, like me, you’re not a huge fan of complicated meal prep, 30-plants-a-week makes it a little easier. Instead of planning elaborate meal ideas ensuring I’m getting a good amount of veg and fruit in there, I just throw in little extras wherever I can. When I'm having yogurt and honey as a snack, I toss in some fruit and some seeds; when I make myself a salad, I mix in some roasted chickpeas, fresh herbs, and whatever else I have to hand.

5. You don’t have to make 30 different meals

A big misconception about 30-plants is that you need to have 30 separate dishes – or that you’re following a plant-based, vegan diet. Instead, you just need 30 different plant ingredients over the course of the week. For example, a rustic vegetable soup that contains onion, carrots, celery, lentils, leek, cauliflower, courgette, garlic, cabbage, basil and thyme is 9-and-a-half plant portions. If you make a chicken fajita rice bowl, that contains two different coloured peppers, red onions, baby corn, lime, black beans, coriander, brown rice, salsa and three different spices, that’s NINE plant portions in one chicken-based dinner.

And 5 reasons why I enjoy it more than following 5-a-day

As mentioned already, I’ve been following the 30-plants-a-week diet rule for around a year, even more so since I read Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall ‘s How to Eat 30 Plants a Week cookbook last May. And I feel it has not only improved my gut health but made me consider what I’m eating more than ever before. Here’s just a few reasons why I’m a big advocate:

1. It’s made me more adventurous

It’s easy to get stuck in a shopping rut, buying and cooking the same things every week – which isn’t an issue. However, I do find I need variety to keep myself satiated and enjoying healthy eating. I found myself immediately experimenting more when I felt like I wasn’t going to hit my weekly 30 plants goal. For example, I swapped my speedy peanut butter noodles for tahini miso noodles instead; I mixed up my convenient microwaveable brown rice for seven-grain pouches; and began picking up vegetables I wouldn’t usually cook with in the week, like fennel, Chinese leaf and swede.

2. It encouraged me to eat more (in a good way!)

Most diets are about what to cut out, but 30-plants-a-week is all about adding more. And any diet that encourages that gets a thumbs-up in my book. Instead of thinking, “I should really eat less,” I was instead thinking about what else I could throw in. This simple mindset shift made me feel more satisfied, satiated and above all happy!

3. My meals are so much tastier

I’m by no means a bad cook, but adding more plant varieties immediately made my food taste better. Especially so during the week, when simplicity and ease after a long day at work is my primary goal. Salads became instantly elevated by throwing in lots of fresh herbs and nuts; lemon and lime started becoming my flavour BFFs, and stews and casseroles became heartier and healthier with the addition of more veg, beans and pulses.

4. It's cheaper!

Aside from meat, fresh fruit and vegetables is what costs the most in my weekly shopping budget, especially when we’re a household that seems to be obsessed with raspberries. But after giving it a real go, I found that ticking off plants is cheaper than sticking to five-a-day where I was stuck in a rut of grabbing an apple on the way out the door or chomping on cucumber as snack. Now, I find that what I eat is more flexible, I rely more on pantry staples and I’m more inclined to not let anything go to waste in the veg drawer. I rely much more on jarred and dried ingredients and mixed bags of frozen veggies and fruit. If I get to the end of the week and I have lots of veggies on the turn, I’ll blitz them into a soup (and freeze), or I’ll make a huge roasted veg traybake that we’ll then eat as a side with a good portion of protein, or mixed into pasta.

5. I feel better in myself

Most importantly, whether it’s placebo or not, I feel a lot better in myself. A lot of this is down to nourishing my body and thinking more about what I’m putting into it. I always used a busy lifestyle as an excuse – breakfasts were often on-the-go chocolate croissants or rushed slices of toast and butter. Now, I pre-make overnight oats packed with seeds, nuts and fruit. If I’m working from home, lunches and dinners become more considered as opposed to chucking a few frozen fish fingers in the air fryer for a sandwich.

Which method is right for you?

Look, there’s no right or wrong approach here. Both five-a-day and 30-plants-a-week encourage you to pack your diet with more fruit, vegetables, beans and pulses which is great. But they go about it in different ways and it’s completely dependent on what works for you. Five-a-day is certainly simpler, familiar and easier-to-track, making it great for people who just want clear portion sizes and a no-fuss approach. However, it can feel repetitive, and the focus on fresh produce can be on the pricier side.

On the other hand, 30-plants-a-week prioritises variety over volume, which is not only linked to better gut health, but makes your eating more adventurous. However, before you get into the groove of it, it requires more tracking and planning which isn’t for everyone. Now that I’ve done it for a long time, I don’t even have to think about it, but for a short while at the start I was keeping track in my notes app on my phone and getting disappointed when I just missed the mark.

Plus, if 30-plants-a-week just feels too much, stick to five-a-day with the ambition to increase your variety throughout the week. Just using different coloured vegetables, swapping rice for mixed grains or incorporating more herbs and spices into your food are all movements in the right direction. At the end of the day, the more diverse your diet, the happier your gut, the more satisfying your meals are and hopefully the better your overall health is.

Further reading

30 plant food recipes
Gut-friendly recipes
Gut health: what does it really mean?
Tim Spector on why eat 30 plants a week
10 recipes to help hit your 30 plant foods in winter

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