During this time of year, we all tend to reflect on what we’ve learned and how we want to take those learnings into the new year. This year, and ongoing, we focus on our wellness and find ways to take care of ourselves. Our Naturopathic Doctor scientific advisory board member, Dr. Bryant Esquejo, ND, has shared some incredible insight on nutritional health on his socials and with the team. One thing we found to be particularly interesting was the benefits of eating 30 different plants per week.
We asked Dr. Esquejo, ND to elaborate and challenge you to a fun wellness practice — can you eat 30 different plants in a single week?
The inspiration, the benefits, the rationale
“The inspiration behind eating 30 different plants is from scientific literature showing that eating 30 different plants a week supports healthy and diverse gut bacteria populations (sources below). When looking at gut bacteria populations, there’s also literature that speaks about how gut bacteria imbalance (also called gut dysbiosis) is linked to skin issues, gut issues, and the development of food sensitivities.”
How to easily eat 30 plants a week, according to Dr. Esquejo:
“The easiest way for me to get 30 different plants a week is through smoothies. I make a smoothie every morning with fiber dense-foods and other plants. So, I usually put in oatmeal, chia seeds, flaxseeds, wild blueberries, cacao nibs, banana, nut butter, and culinary herbs. And, I’ve found that I can get up to 20 different plants in one smoothie. I also like to make bowls for lunch and dinner with different plants in them to help reach my 30 plants quota.”
Nutritional Benefits:
“When choosing what 30 different plants I want to consume, I also think about prebiotics and postbiotics. Prebiotics are basically nutrients that feed our gut bacteria. And, I focus on fiber and antioxidants as prebiotics. And from these prebiotics, our gut bacteria make products called postbiotics, which can exert beneficial effects on the gastrointestinal tract. When bacteria consume fiber, they make a postbiotic called short-chain fatty acids. One short chain fatty acid, called butyrate, can exert beneficial effects on the gut and other organ systems in the body!”
If you’re interested to learn more about the 30 plants per week challenge, feel free to check out more sources here and here on Dr. Bryant’s Instagram.
Source: McDonald D, Hyde E, Debelius JW, Morton JT, Gonzalez A, Ackermann G, Aksenov AA, Behsaz B, Brennan C, Chen Y, DeRight Goldasich L, Dorrestein PC, Dunn RR, Fahimipour AK, Gaffney J, Gilbert JA, Gogul G, Green JL, Hugenholtz P, Humphrey G, Huttenhower C, Jackson MA, Janssen S, Jeste DV, Jiang L, Kelley ST, Knights D, Kosciolek T, Ladau J, Leach J, Marotz C, Meleshko D, Melnik AV, Metcalf JL, Mohimani H, Montassier E, Navas-Molina J, Nguyen TT, Peddada S, Pevzner P, Pollard KS, Rahnavard G, Robbins-Pianka A, Sangwan N, Shorenstein J, Smarr L, Song SJ, Spector T, Swafford AD, Thackray VG, Thompson LR, Tripathi A, Vázquez-Baeza Y, Vrbanac A, Wischmeyer P, Wolfe E, Zhu Q; American Gut Consortium, Knight R. American Gut: an Open Platform for Citizen Science Microbiome Research. mSystems. 2018 May 15;3(3):e00031-18. doi: 10.1128/mSystems.00031-18. PMID: 29795809; PMCID: PMC5954204.
DISCLAIMER: THIS POST DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AS MEDICAL ADVICE. THIS POST IS NOT MEANT TO TREAT, CURE, PREVENT, OR DIAGNOSE CONDITIONS OR DISEASES; AND IS MEANT FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. AS ALWAYS, PLEASE CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE TRYING ANY NEW TREATMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS.