The root of good nutrition comes down to eating fresh, plant based whole foods, daily. This includes fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices. If you want an easy way to assess your own nutrition and challenge yourself to get more nutrients in your diet, try out my food variety challenge for balanced nutrition. Details below.

What is the Food Variety Challenge?

The Food Variety Challenge is simple. For one week, track how many different whole foods foods you consume from the list below, over the course of one week. Your goal should be to eat at least 30 different foods from the list in a week. This ensures you have a balanced diet with all kinds of nutrients in it each week. You can follow the food variety checklist below to keep track and get ideas of other foods you might want to incorporate into your weekly diet.

Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get 30 right away

If you realize you’re getting less than 30, here’s what you can do. Slowly start to increase your food variety consumption over a few weeks. Do this until you naturally get around 30 different foods in your diet each week. Don’t be discouraged if you realize you get less than 30, most people do, and the good news is that you’re aware of it and can now make changes in your diet. My favorite foods to start with is: include a few types of seeds: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds. Put the seeds on a salad. Berries: Get a mix of blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. That’s six right there, only 24 more to go for the week 🙂

Why should I eat 30 different plant foods each week?

Many health and nutrition professionals agree that when you eat at least 30 different plant based whole foods each week, you unlock many health benefits. Researchers at the American Gut Project found that people who ate more than 30 different plant foods each week had a more diverse gut microbiome compared to those who ate 10 or less. You know I love good gut health! This is because of the wide variety of nutrients you naturally gain from eating such a variety. Obviously you should avoid foods you are allergic to or that don’t sit well in your stomach. But there are plenty of options to choose from. Here is a list of some of my favorite books about health and wellness, specifically “Good Energy” by Dr. Casey Means. She talks about getting a variety of at least 30 foods each week as well.

Happy eating, my friends!