NewBlood wrote: ↑Tue Nov 29, 2022 11:07 am
I'd be interested in a typical weekly list of your 30-40 different plant-based foods to get more ideas for meals. I know I'm way far from that number...
I'll post my response here as the reason I started targeting this number was to support a healthy microbiome. I learned about this from a Rich Roll podcast earlier this year and started paying attention to variety in my diet. This has led me to loosening the purse string in the grocery store a bit. For example, I might pay 2-3x for a large bag of deluxe mixed nuts instead of buying the same quantity of peanuts.
I've found focusing on "topping" dishes such as oatmeal or salads is an easy way to add a variety of plant-based foods into my diet. I used to top my oatmeal with one type of fruit and possibly some nuts. Now I'll add a few different kinds of nuts, chia seeds, raw pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and a few different kinds of berries or fruit - all in smaller quantities. I take a similar approach with salads - a few different kinds of nuts and seeds, a mix of greens, radish, green onion, bell pepper, carrot, tomato, and a couple fresh herbs such as basil from my windowsill. Also, eating dishes like soups/stews, stir fry, curry, fried rice, kimchi, and veggie breakfast scrambles add anywhere from 5-10 different plant varieties in one meal.
Here is a list of many of the plant-based foods in our diet over the course of a month:
-Green cabbage, purple cabbage, Napa cabbage (in Kimchi)
-Garlic
-Yellow onion, red onion, Walla Walla sweet onion, green onion
-Ginger
-Carrot
-Celery
-Radish and radish greens (in veggie scrambles)
-Tofu
-Edamame (frozen)
-Peas, green beans, corn (frozen)
-Russet Potato, red potato (sometimes Yukon Gold)
-Sweet potato and yams
-Cucumber
-Bell peppers
-Cauliflower
-Broccoli
-Eggplant
-Salsa (contains a variety of plants but we use jalapeño when making from scratch)
-Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries (frozen)
-Grapes (frozen from the garden)
-Plums/prunes and peaches/nectarines (dehydrated and frozen from the garden)
-A variety of apples
-Oats
-Rice (White and Brown)
-Quinoa
-White Flour
-Wheat Flour
-Olive Oil
-Avocado
-Avocado/coconut/safflower oil
-Nutritional yeast
-Honey
-Salt
-Pepper
-Popcorn (air popped)
-Roasted sesame
-Seaweed (Furikake)
-Chia seeds
-Cashews, almonds, pecans, pistachios, peanuts, walnuts
-Raw pumpkin seeds
-Zucchini and yellow squash
-Lettuce/Greens/Spinach/Kale (I started buying Earthbound Farms Spring Mix to increase the variety of greens)
Then there are the fresh and dried herbs. Herbs are a really easy way to add more variety and flavor. Some of the heartier herbs grow pretty easily inside as well. We grow a few varieties of oregano, basil, and mint right now. I buy a large amount of dill during pickling season in the fall and freeze it. I usually have either curly or Italian parsley on hand. We have a well stocked pantry of dried herbs. We also have plenty of different kinds of herbal teas that include different plants.
I also consume organic, vegan protein shakes after resistance training. This has a bunch of different plants, but I don't really count that when I'm trying to hit that target.
I'm sure there are plenty that I'm missing.
*ETA - I almost forgot lentils
. Red, green, brown yellow. I recently started adding dried split peas to some of my lentil soups. I should probably add beans. We don't eat a lot in our household, but garbanzo, black, and kidney beans are always in the pantry.