After finding out through an article by Riverford and a podcast by The Guardian, regarding gut health and the Food Diversity Challenge (AKA The 30 Plus Pledge), Grant and myself, Lewis, decided to audit our food consumption over the course of a week.
The suggestion is that people should eat a minimum of 30 unique legumes, grains, vegetables, fruit and other plant-based products, such as tea and coffee, over a week. Each serving of these each counts towards a singular ‘plant point,’ while herbs and spices (they count too) count as a ¼ of a point.
Scientists and dietitians state that eating a diverse range of fruit and vegetables promotes a healthier and more diverse gut microbiome. Gut microbiomes are an essential part of the human body, from reinforcing immune responses and preventing disease. The health of our microbiome has been directly linked to the health of other organs, such as our brains, heart, and skin – even reducing the likelihood of medical conditions such as strokes and Alzheimer’s.
Gut biodiversity is currently at threat from the frequent use of antibiotic drugs and medicines. The bacteria we encounter throughout our lives helps to populate our unique and personal microbiome in our gut and bodies. As well as antibiotics giving your microbiome a kicking, ultra processed foods are reported to be highly detrimental to it too.
Both Grant and I took part in this challenge and recorded the points in which we gained at each meal, as well as any snacks that we had during the week.
As I have an omnivorous diet, I had to start to introduce new sources of plant-based products into my diet in order to reach the required 30+ items. While already quite heavy with vegetables and fruit, I decided to take the opportunity to introduce different types of grains, seeds and legumes into my diet which are sold at Smaller Footprints. Grant says he didn’t do anything differently than he would were we not conducting this audit.
Breakdown of our points
Italic = A new item contributing towards the challenge
Bold = Sold at Smaller Footprints
DP = Daily Points
| Grant | Lewis | |||
| Meal type | Ingredients | Tally | Ingredients | Tally |
| Breakfast | Weetabix, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, goji berries, malted wheat flakes, milled linseed, oat milk, hemp seed. | +7 | Crumpets*, butter, blackcurrant jam, tea *wheat | +3 |
| Lunch | Sweet potato, courgette, mushrooms, vegan sausages, green pepper | +4 | Ham and Lentil soup: Ham, Green lentils, celery, carrot, onion, garlic (whole), black pepper, rosemary; coffee, pear | +7.5 |
| Dinner | Jacket potato, baked beans, crackers (yellow split pea flour, chickpea flour, rapeseed oil, maize flour, coconut oil, oatmeal, sunflower seed, chia seed) | +2 | Jasmine rice, red pepper, spring onion, mushroom, carrot, soy sauce, haddock, chilli, broccoli, corn kernels (popcorn) | +7 |
| Snack* | Porridge Bomb: Oats, Brazil nuts, cashews, walnuts, pistachio nuts, linseeds, sesame, sunflower seeds, dried raspberries, chia seeds, date nectar, agave syrup, coconut oil. Banana, pecans, cashews, chocolate plums *This was one of the scrumptious porridge bombs that had been delivered by our chocolatier, Greg, but had been dropped by Grant so he took advantage of his mistake! | +10 | Chocolate Raisins, green tea | +3 |
| Total for Day 1 (Wednesday) | DP: 23 | 23 | DP: 20.5 | 20.5 |
| Breakfast | Weetabix, pistachios, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds | +0 | Porridge oats, nutmeg, golden syrup, walnuts, cardamon, tea | +2.5 |
| Lunch | Foliage mezze: avocado, tomato, corn, quinoa, red onion, salad leaves (two varieties), chickpeas, beetroot, wheat, pine nuts, basil, lettuce | +11.25 | Giant cous cous, spinach, radish, cucumber, soy sauce, chilli oil, halloumi | +3 |
| Dinner | Wild rice mix (long grain brown, carma red rice, wild rice) mushroom, haricot beans, garlic, cherry tomatoes, courgette, red pepper, paprika, veg stock, olive oil Almonds, apricots and cranberries | +11.5 | Mung beans, tomatoes, garlic, cumin seeds, ginger, ground coriander, chilli, coconut milk, lime, coriander, buckwheat. | +6.75 |
| Snack | Vegan Yoghurt (oatly), desiccated coconut, quinoa, pecans, cacao nibs, kimchi (chinese leaf cabbage, carrot, mooli, pear, spring onion, ginger, garlic, chilli) | +9 | Cashews | +1 |
| Total for Day 2(Thursday) | DP: 31.75 | 54.75 | DP: 13.25 | 33.25 |
| Breakfast | Weetabix, pistachios, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, | 0 | Porridge oats, cardamon, golden syrup, tea | 0 |
| Lunch | Wild rice mix (long grain brown, carma red rice, wild rice) mushroom, haricot, garlic, cherry tomatoes, courgette, red pepper, paprika, veg stock, olive oil | 0 | Couscous, dried mushrooms, cucumber, radish, spring onion, chilli, spinach, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame seeds, chilli, lime, pear | +2 |
| Dinner | Smoked tofu, cornflour, sunflower oil, nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, wholewheat spaghetti | +6 | Potatoes, leeks, chicken, cheese, cream, mushroom, apple cider vinegar, wholegrain mustard, soy sauce, smoked paprika | +4.25 |
| Snack | Vegan yogurt, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds, coconut chips | +0 | +0 | |
| Total for Day 3(Friday) | DP: 6 | 60.75 | DP: 6.25 | 39.5 |
| Breakfast | Usual + oatmeal and wheat bran | +0 | Crumpets, jam, tea, kiwi fruit | +1 |
| Lunch | Leftovers from day before, spinach, mixed salad leaves*, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, olive oil, balsamic glaze *multiple leaves in bag (at least three varieties) | +4 | Tortilla wraps, pepper, sweetcorn, onion | +1 |
| Dinner | Rice, avocado, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, carrot, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, bread, olive oil, vegan chocolate, banana | +1 | Mung beans, pinto beans, butter beans, black-eyed beans, adzuki beans, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, rosemary, thyme, greens, vegetable stock, | +6.5 |
| Snack | Crisps | +0.25 | Cashews | +0 |
| Total for Day 4(Saturday) | DP: 5.25 | 66 | DP: 8.5 | 48 |
| Breakfast | Weetabix, pistachios, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds | +0 | Crumpets, jam, tea, kiwi fruit | |
| Lunch | Vegan pie, potatoes, broccoli, onion, carrots | +1 | Rice noodle, bok choi, cabbage, beef, broth | +2 |
| Dinner | Chickpeas, borlotti beans, red kidney beans, cannellini beans, avocado | +3 | Peanut butter, soy sauce, chilli oil, carrot, coriander, lime, rice noodles, peanuts, sesame oil | +1.25 |
| Snack | Kombucha | +1 | +0 | |
| Total for Day 5(Sunday) | DP: 5 | 70 | DP: 3.25 | 51.25 |
| Breakfast | Weetabix | +0 | Crumpets, scrambled egg, tea | +0 |
| Lunch | Samosa, banana | +2 | Bean stew (leftovers), blueberry pastry, coffee, apple | +2 |
| Dinner | KFC Vegan burger (soy), bread and oil (later) | +1 | Beef pudding, potatoes, greens, carrot, onion | +0 |
| Snack | Apricots and peanuts, pear | +0 | +0 | |
| Total for Day 6(Monday) | DP: 3 | 73 | DP: 2 | 53.25 |
| Breakfast | Potato and spinach pasty, classic muesli (hazelnuts and raisins), branflakes, granola, oat milk, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds | +2 | Crumpets, honey, tea | +0 |
| Lunch | Leftovers from Sunday, Roasted cauliflower, Jalapeno, Hummus, Tomato, Gherkin, Red cabbage, Cucumber, Bulghur, Coriander, Carrot, Green chilli sauce | +6.25 | Leftovers, from dinner | +0 |
| Dinner | Wild rice, mushrooms, red and green peppers, chickpeas, purple carrot, tomatoes, sunflower mince. | +2 | Aborio rice, butternut squash, pumpkin seeds | +4 |
| Snack | Chocolate, crisps | +0 | Dates, dried mango, sultanas, dried cranberries | +4 |
| Total for Day 7 (Tuesday) | DP: 10.25 | 83.25 | DP:8 | 61.25 |
End Discussion
After completing a week of the challenge, Grant and I had accumulated a large number of points surpassing the 30 point target after two days of starting from our normal diets. We both raided the fantastic produce sold at Smaller Footprints to contribute towards our totals. For example, I used the adzuki and mung beans that I had not cooked with before in a couple of my meals.
Top graph shows accumulative points over the week. Bottom graph shows the proportion and source of point intake.
While we perhaps didn’t find it that challenging, as we already had large amounts of diversity in our diets. We both did, however, find it very interesting to see and record the diversity within our diversity, including the proportions and which meals contributed more, etc.
On reflection, while we did not necessarily stuff our faces with new plant-based products each day, from my perspective I perhaps made some positive choices to increase my total. These included choosing to have more fruit as part of my diet including to have more plant-focussed meals (as shown).
Looking ahead, I think I will continue this challenge (although not as thoroughly!) and aspire to diversify my diet to help benefit my gut microbiome. If I were to do it as a proper challenge I would push to reach a hundred points. At the time of writing this it seems like this challenge has taken off and with supermarkets, such as Waitrose advertising the challenge.
I would also encourage others to do so, while you don’t have to be as meticulous with the graphs and spreadsheets, but simply making note of the points you have gained as a signifier as to how diverse your diet is could be a positive step forward!
