The 40 Plant Foods Challenge Recap

I’m happy to report that the #40plantfoodschallenge was a huge success! I loved not only the challenge of getting enough variety to reach the goal of 40 different plant foods in the week, but also seeing how well many of you did.  Here’s a little recap of how the week went down for me.

I ended the week with 57 different plant foods.  My lists say 55, but looking back I realized I didn’t put avocado or banana on the list.  Duh.  I most definitely ate avocado and banana last week.  I’m pretty sure a week doesn’t ever go by that I don’t.

I was happy with my number. Do I think I get that large of a variety every week? Probably not. I was conscious of the challenge and made an effort to add more variety in each day. I really pushed the first day to get a ton of variety since I knew I was going to be traveling at the end of the week to visit friends and family and what I ate was largely going to be out of my control. Turns out my friends and family eat lots of different plant foods, too, so I was easily able to keep the challenge going!

Here’s the breakdown of categories of plant foods I ate last week:

Vegetables:

1. beet greens

2. red bell pepper

3. celery

4. carrot

5. zucchini

6. green leaf lettuce

7. arugula

8. beets

9. romaine lettuce

10. red onion

11. red oak leaf lettuce

12. green oak leaf lettuce

13. rolla rosa lettuce

14. tango lettuce

15. mizuna

16. chard

17. raddichio

18. garlic

19. potato

20. pumpkin

21. cucumber

Fruits

1. avocado

2. banana

3. raspberry

4. blueberry

5. apple

6. prunes

7. strawberries

8. coconut

9. dates

10. watermelon

11. nectarine

Grains

1. oats

2. farro

3. brown rice

4. corn

5. quinoa

Legumes

1. black beans

2. white beans

3. chickpeas

4. pinto beans

5. snap peas

6. peanuts

Nuts and Seeds

1. almonds

2. sunflower seeds

3. cashews

4. walnuts

5. flax seeds

6. sesame seeds

Other

1. cinnamon

2. ground cardamon

3. ground turmeric

4. ground cumin

5. cilantro

6. mushrooms

7. parsley

I was happy that my longest list was the vegetable list. Of all the plant foods, vegetables are the ones you really want to be getting a large variety of in your diet.

By doing this challenge, I became aware of ways that you can easily get more variety in your diet.  I want to share some of my tips with you.  Judging from the lists I saw around social media, you all need to share your tips, too!

5 Ways to get More Variety in your Diet

1.  Buy smaller quantities of more foods.

One reason many of us eat the same fresh produce during one given week is we need to eat it up. When possible, buy smaller quantities of more foods instead of a lot of a few kinds. 

2.  Rely on leftovers less.

A tough one!  Leftovers are so convenient, prevent waste, and I love them as much as you.  I learned that they are one thing that restricts me from eating a bigger variety of foods, though.  One alternative is to freeze leftovers instead of eating them the next day.  Then you can get that variety in, yet not waste the food.  

3.  Have a well-stocked pantry of healthy foods.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are one thing, but having a well-stocked pantry of a variety of beans, grains, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit helped me get a wider variety of foods in last week.  

4.  Eat as many whole foods as possible. 

Not relying on processed foods for snacks or meals really helps you get a bigger variety of the good stuff!

5.  Eat a mixed green salad.

Whether you make your own mixed greens salad or buy a pre-packaged one, eating a mixed green salad can really help you get a wider variety of the ever-important greens.  I had a mixed green salad on Day 5 and it was a big help in the challenge.  

I’ve had a few of you ask if I’m doing the challenge again this week and I’ve noticed that there are a few of you who already started doing it again. I’m not going to be doing it this week, but if you are, keep using the hashtag #40plantfoodschallenge to post your results and we will cheer you on! I will be doing the challenge one more time this summer, so look out for the announcement and you can do it again or join in if you missed the first round.

How did your #40plantfoodschallenge go? Did you learn anything new?  Was it hard or easy for you?