Who wants to take this challenge with me? In the month of August, try to eat more plants. I'm talking about fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs. The goal is to eat more fiber filled foods to support a healthy gut. You can do this challenge for one week or the entire month. Here it is:
One Week Gut Health Challenge
This month's assignment challenges you to take small steps to help support a healthy gut. Research shows that eating 30 or more different plant foods each week leads to a more diverse gut microbiome, aka healthier, compared to eating fewer plant foods.
Write down each and every plant food you eat every day for the next week. For example, if you have oatmeal for breakfast and top it with chia seeds, peanut butter, unsweetened shredded coconut, blueberries, and strawberries, that's 6 different plant foods at one meal!
At the end of the week, give yourself a score. You get 1 point for every different plant food you eat each day. The goal is 30. Having a food more than once doesn't count, so keep the variety up!
** PLEASE READ**
It is NOT an exhaustive, totally complete list of all plant foods. It is just a short list of the foods that are higher/highest in fiber (aka prebiotics).
Fiber is the beneficial part of the plant that we are trying to consume a little more of to help support our gut health. This list just helps you get more "bang for your buck" in terms of fiber.
This does not mean you can't eat any plant food not listed on the list. You CAN! Please do. Especially if there are some not on the list that you love and want to eat.
| Vegetables | Fruits | Carbs | Healthy Fats |
| Kale | Blueberries | Lentils (black, red, green, yellow, brown) | Avocado |
| Watercress | Strawberries | Kidney beans | Almonds |
| Bok choy | Pears | Black beans | Pecans |
| Asparagus | Apples | Cannellini beans | Cashews |
| Broccoli | Kiwifruits | Chickpeas | Pistachios |
| Beets | Apricots | Green peas | Walnuts |
| Brussels sprouts | Oranges | Sweet potato | Hazelnuts |
| Green beans | Blackberries | Quinoa | Chia seeds |
| Cauliflower | Bananas | Brown rice | Pumpkin seeds |
| Onions | Figs | Oats (steel-cut or rolled) | Flaxseeds |
| Mushrooms | Grapes | Edamama | Sunflower seeds |
| Spinach | Plums | Sunchokes | Sesame seeds |
| Artichokes | Peaches | Buckwheat | Hemp seeds |
| Turnips | Mango | Bulgur | Pine nuts |
| Cabbage | Pasta (whole-grain) | Nut butter (all-natural, no sugar added) | |
| Radishes | Potatoes (russet, redbliss, Yukon gold) | ||
| Squash | |||
| Kimchi | |||
| Celery | |||
| Sprouts |