The Wellness Scoop - The Extra Scoop: Should We Eat 30 Plants a Week?

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

The advice to eat 30 different plants a week is gaining huge momentum. You might have seen it on social media, heard it mentioned by health experts, or even spotted ‘Plant Points’ on food packagin...g, but what does it actually mean? And why is everyone talking about it? We’re joined by Dr. Federica Amati, a Registered Nutritionist and Nutrition Topic Lead at Imperial College London’s Faculty of Medicine, to unpack it. Dr. Amati explains what eating 30 plants actually means, how it works, and the biggest benefits of plant diversity in your diet. She also shares practical steps to help you start incorporating more plants into your meals. In This Episode, We Cover: What eating 30 plants a week actually means The difference between 5-a-day and 30 plants The benefits of plant diversity in your diet What 30 pants a week looks like Three simple steps to get started today Dr. Federica Amati is the author of Every Body Should Know This: The Science of Eating for a Lifetime of Health Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:50 See online for details. Welcome to the Extra Scoop, our expert-led bonus episodes giving you the need to know on the topics everybody is talking about. That's right, from gut health to sleep, hormones to skin, we are cutting through the noise with top experts, so there is no fluff, just facts. Exactly, it's all quick, practical, evidence-based advice to fit into your busy lives. So this is the Extra Scoop. Let's get started. get started. As so many of our listeners probably know by now, our Extra Scoop episodes are all about
Starting point is 00:01:31 taking those topics that everyone's talking about, you keep seeing everywhere and just quickly breaking them down for you so that you have got expert-led insights that leave you feeling very informed and most importantly empowered when it comes to your wellbeing. And this week, we are diving into the topic that has got so much momentum in the world of nutrition, and that is eating 30 plants. You might have seen on social media, heard it mentioned by various health experts or even spotted things like plant points on food packaging. But what does it actually mean?
Starting point is 00:01:58 So many of you have been asking, and that is why we're going to cover it today. And to help us understand the science behind this approach and why it matters, we are joined by Dr. Federica Amati, who is a registered nutritionist, nutrition topic lead at Imperial College London's Facility of Medicine and head of nutrition science at Well-Founded Health. She's also the author of recipes for better menopause and the Sunday Times bestseller, Everybody Should Know This.
Starting point is 00:02:22 With over a decade of experience in public health and personalized nutrition, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. It's so good to be here with both of you. Oh, we've been so excited to have you on. And I know there's so many topics circulating now that we could probably pick your brains on, Fethi, but let's start with the 30 plants. I think it's something you write about in your books. There's knowledge that spans across the lifespan even. So what exactly does 30 plants a week mean and how does it work? So it really starts with thinking about the wider literature where there's so much evidence
Starting point is 00:02:58 around the benefits of increasing plant intake and plant diversity. Now the 30 plants a week message comes from a study which Professor Tim Spector was part of that tried to understand what factors in our diet help to support the healthiest gut microbiome. So this is the American and British Gut Project. And within this population of thousands of adults,
Starting point is 00:03:22 they found that people who reported eating more than 30 plants a week had the most beneficial gut microbiome profile. So the 30 plants a week message came from this study and the excitement surrounding it because it helped us to explain what mediating factor, the microbiome, is working to improve health with increased plant intake. microbiome, is working to improve health with increased plant intake. Now, the study itself was an observational study, it wasn't an RCT, so it's not that it brought something brand new to light that we didn't understand before. It's more that the message of 30 plants a week helps us to
Starting point is 00:03:59 achieve what lots of other science has shown us, which is that increasing your plant intake, increasing the variety of whole foods and whole plants specifically, has a direct beneficial impact on health. And the American and British gut study just pointed to one of the mediators, which is the gut microbiome. We know a lot more now as to why the gut microbiome mediates this. We understand that just like a zoo, our gut microbes, each animal, each type of microbe likes different food. So if you only eat a small variety of fibers,
Starting point is 00:04:35 you're probably not feeding all the beneficial microbes because you need to have a really good variety of fiber-rich foods to feed all the good guys basically. So that's the science. So there's dozens and dozens and dozens of studies on why we should be increasing plant intake. We all know that the average UK adult gets about 18 grams of fiber per day, which is what we recommend for four-year-olds when the minimum dietary requirement is actually 30 grams a day. So we are living through a fiber deficiency crisis. And the 30 plant a week message helps people to engage in a way to increase their fiber intake and their plant intake,
Starting point is 00:05:14 which is actually quite fun and easy to understand. And I think that's why it's actually really powerful. I think that's why it's resonating so much with people, as you said. It feels like a shortcut to a complicated topic that's very it's almost gamifying it, isn as you said, it feels like a shortcut to a complicated topic that's very, it's almost gamifying it isn't it, but it feels very understandable. I was curious, do you feel like 30 plants a week should replace or is replacing the five a day message? Because as you said, the 30 plants is encouraging you to have that wide variety, as opposed to five a day where that's brilliant and obviously something that most people genuinely struggle to do.
Starting point is 00:05:46 So it's not to do it down, but equally, you could have the same five fruit and veg every single day. And whilst that would be better than not doing it, you're not gonna get the same benefits, 30 plants a week. So I think that's a really good question. And I think the difference is the five a day was aimed to help people with portion size as well. Whereas the 30 a week is really
Starting point is 00:06:05 aimed at increasing diversity and recommending just a much wider repertoire in our diets of plants. I actually think that five a day just needs to be reimagined a bit. So instead of just saying five a day, any five a day, from the data we have looking at global dietary risk factors, the five a day I would five a day. From the data we have looking at global dietary risk factors, the five a day I would like people to focus on is actually increasing whole grains, increasing nuts and seeds, increasing omega-3 rich foods, so walnuts, chia, fatty fish if you eat fish, increasing the amount of fresh whole fruit that we eat and increasing pulses, lentils, beans.
Starting point is 00:06:47 Those are my five a day. Now, I think if everybody managed to eat like a handful of those every day, we'd be doing really well, but the two are kind of, they can live together. I do think though, Alaa, that 30 plants a week has seen much more engagement than the five a day sort of message has. We know that
Starting point is 00:07:05 people find it quite tricky to just like reach the five a day, whereas people are getting really creative with 30 plants a week, you know, spices are being reintroduced into people's cooking, people are using herbs, and even just simply chopping some garlic and onion into your recipes. So I think they serve different purposes, they were designed for different things, but they're not competing with each other. Both are good. I would just upgrade the five a day. It's a really good message, but could we talk about the portion sizes involved in that as well? Because I'm sure a lot of people, we've had it drummed into us over the years, calorie counting, weighing everything out. You know, when people are conducting this research, so when Professor Tim Spector and his team, you team, when you're looking at this and you say,
Starting point is 00:07:45 we'll just chuck in some garlic or chuck in some onion, I think people then automatically might go, but how much counts? Yeah, so we're actually doing a really big piece of work on this at ZOE, looking at what is the portions that we can recommend that have an impact, like a physiological impact. And a lot of it, there's again,
Starting point is 00:08:03 lots of science that people have done. So for example, the Singapore study used two teaspoons of mixed spice, curry spice, per day as an intervention. So I think when we're thinking about what portion sizes should people go for, well, I think just adding as much as you want at the beginning is a good start. And then when we think about each type of food,
Starting point is 00:08:24 a handful of berries, a palm sized portion of any kind of fruit or veg. And then when we talk about spices and herbs, it turns into pinches and teaspoons is a good way to think about how you might cook with it. We also published a paper just quite recently on the gut microbiome composition of people who are omnivorous, vegan, vegetarian, so different dietary patterns. And actually, again, that paper, which was very detailed, showed that the number of plants you eat per day, the amount of plant foods you have is the best predictor for gut microbiome diversity with a healthy profile. So gut microbes that support good health. So we're moving closer to understanding
Starting point is 00:09:08 the exact portions, but Rhi, you know this. I think it's important for people to stop obsessing over precise amounts and numbers. And actually it's about what can you add into your plate that's going to support your health, and then try and eat in a way that your body needs that day. Because I'm hungrier today than I will be tomorrow because maybe this today I'm more active. So it says about
Starting point is 00:09:30 precise, for science it's important to understand the dosing but I think for people in their cooking and their eating it's just add in more plants, add in the variety. If writing them down and getting to 30 per week makes you engage with that in a good way then great. And also I think thinking about 30 plants a week helps people to think okay so it's not just your banana, your orange, your lettuce, your carrot and your cucumber, what else can you have? What fresh herbs can you add? What dried spices can you add? What lentils or beans or mixed seeds? You know I think what's really cool is that the mixed seeds and the mixed lentils and the mixed beans also tend to be more affordable in stores. They actually cost less than if you're
Starting point is 00:10:11 buying the walnut, the cashew nut, the almond or whatever. So that's like a very quick way to actually increase your diversity and save some money, which is great. I love it. And also, but I think what's, as you said, it's not about obsessing about exactly what you're doing, but equally, I think it is reassuring knowing that teaspoon or that two teaspoons of turmeric you've added to your curry, that counts as one. Because actually, I think that's been one of the confusions certainly I've seen from people. Because with five a day, it was X grams was required to tick it off your five. And so I think certainly from what I've seen, people have been nervous to say, oh yes, adding,
Starting point is 00:10:45 you know, making a curry paste and packing it with turmeric and cumin and ginger and garlic, et cetera, that those would all count towards your 30. And so I think it's actually a really positive message to 30 plants because I think when you start looking at that, getting there feels that bit more achievable. I was curious, is there a kind of exponential benefit of going over 30?
Starting point is 00:11:04 So if you get to 60 plants a week, have you got double the benefit? Yeah, that's a really good question. So in the same study of the American and British gut project, there was like a plateauing after like 35-ish. So there was this real, from sort of 10 plants per week, which is actually the average in the UK. So we're really quite low.
Starting point is 00:11:22 As you increase plant intake, there's this exponential benefit for every plant you add. You get to low. As you increase plant intake, this is exponential benefit for every plant you add. You get to 30 and it's like, wow, this is great. And then about 35, it starts to plateau. So obviously this is just in one population, but we think that there's never going to be too many plants. But after about 30, 35, this really obvious benefit in the increase starts to plateau. And I find that such a helpful message, that adding in, not taking out approach. And as we know in this country, we seem to be protein obsessed and not as obsessed with 30 plants as I'd like.
Starting point is 00:11:59 And before we jumped on this chat, Fedi, what was the stat you had? Basically, people are becoming more and more keen on buying high protein foods. The stat that I found today, which I didn't know, was that there's an increase in search and sales for chicken breast since last year. So 20% increase in actual sales and 43% increase in search. And the other thing I find really sort of worrying
Starting point is 00:12:27 is the wrong word, but I find it sad, I guess, is that shoppers are willing to spend an extra 20% on products that have a high protein claim on front of pack, even if that's like a high protein ice cream, which is, what are we doing with? Why are we making high protein ice creams? Ice cream should not be where you're getting your best quality protein from. I think let's make that clear. Yeah, there's this real focus on protein. And a lot of people actually don't know that plants contain all of the amino
Starting point is 00:12:53 acids, including all of the essential amino acids in different amounts. So there's no need to have to massively increase your animal protein to get complete proteins. If you have a variety of plants in your diet, you will be getting more protein. So the more plants you eat, the more amino acids you get. And actually by focusing on increasing and improving the quality of the diet and the variety, you'll also be supporting your protein intake. And let's be super clear, the majority of adults in the UK and the US are getting enough protein if they're eating enough food. So it's not really something to worry about.
Starting point is 00:13:31 Whereas, as I said at the beginning, nine out of 10 of us are completely fiber deficient, like getting nowhere near the minimum recommended daily amount of 30 grams a day. It's so important. And the health benefits, if we go back to the Magic 30 number, what are the biggest benefits, I guess, of increasing this diversity? So is it the link of our brain, our heart? Yeah, so the evidence on increasing plant intake
Starting point is 00:13:55 generally covers cardiovascular health is a big one, right? So we know that you can reduce your risk of heart disease. You can reduce the risk of having high blood cholesterol, of having high blood pressure by eating more plants and more fiber with those plants. So there's so much, I won't even bore you with the evidence of it, but the way the mechanism by which it works is really interesting because essentially as we more plants and more fiber, that helps to clear cholesterol out of our system because our liver actually feeds cholesterol back into the gut when it clears it from our circulation.
Starting point is 00:14:28 So it's really important that we eat enough fiber to essentially capture that excess cholesterol and poo it out. Now, if we don't do that, it will be reabsorbed later down in the colon, and this is where we then see elevated cholesterol. So lowering cholesterol is one of the biggest and most well-researched benefits of having a higher plant intake, a higher fiber diet. We also know that
Starting point is 00:14:50 it improves blood pressure. Now there's dual mechanism there. In part, it's to do with its role with a gut microbiome, which mediates metabolites that actually help with our blood pressure, but also plants are really high in potassium, which basically balances out sodium. So if you remember back in the day when we did the iron balance and having a high potassium diet, which comes from plants, helps to reduce the negative impacts of sodium on blood pressure. So increasing the variety of plants you eat is straight away going to help with improving your blood pressure.
Starting point is 00:15:25 And there's loads of clinical trials and loads of data to show that. It also helps with preventing and managing type 2 diabetes. So if you have a metabolic condition, increasing your fiber intake, increasing the variety of plants that you eat will help you to manage that. And it's important to note the variety there because as well as fiber, each different plant contains a different profile of bioactive compounds. Now, bioactive compounds include things like polyphenols, but there's lots of classes of them. And there's hundreds of bioactive compounds in plants. And
Starting point is 00:15:56 some bioactives are only found in that combination in different plants. So if you expand your repertoire, again, you're introducing these bioactives that have direct impact on your blood vessel function, on your brain health, on reducing systemic inflammation. So it's the colors and the variety, like eat the rainbow, 30 plants a week helps you to capture as many of these bioactives as possible in your diet.
Starting point is 00:16:22 And we also, of course, very importantly, know that increasing fiber intake, increasing plant diversity and number of plants in the diet helps with cancer reduction of risk and recurrence. So it's important for patients who have survived cancer as well to remember that there's a real power in increasing their plant intake once they've gone through treatment and recovered under the care of their clinical team. So you can reduce the risk of our biggest killers. And it can also help, of course, with weight management.
Starting point is 00:16:55 And we've talked about the impact it has on the gut microbiome. So the gut microbiome absolutely thrives off a variety of different plants to eat. So to support it and its functions with the gut-brain axis, the gut-heart axis, all the different axes that it directly influences, we need to feed it a variety of plants.
Starting point is 00:17:14 And then to finish, I think, when we look at the longest living populations in the world and when we look at specific tribes that actually have this really high plant diversity and fiber intake. They're the ones that tend to have the least diet related chronic diseases. They're the ones that tend to die, not die prematurely. So these are all diets that are based on a variety of plants are very high in fiber. Yeah. So hopefully this, this is a good recap of why we should eat more plants.
Starting point is 00:17:46 It is a seriously good recap. And not to kind of open Pandora's box, because I think we're trying to keep this episode short, we could probably be here for about four hours on the back of this question, but I can't not ask it. In your opinion, obviously being so deeply embedded in the world of health, wellbeing, nutrition, science, I'm very curious your take on why we cannot get this message through to the kind of collective population, to the government, to the way that we have access to food, to the way that kind of schools, hospitals, prisons,
Starting point is 00:18:19 like to the general food system that we have in this country, but again, across most of the Western world, when the data is so unequivocal that we desperately need your 30 plants a week, you know, your high intake of plants, infinitely more fibre, and a very, very plant rich diet, why do you think it is that we just, I mean, it's great, there's more people engaging in this, but it's a bigger and bigger echo chamber. Why do you think that it's not public health message number one? Yeah, I actually think public health message is to increase your plant intake, but no one's listening. So I would say that the public health message is clear. You need to have
Starting point is 00:19:02 a variety of plants, eat whole grains. It's actually all on the Eat Well plate as well. Eat Well plate can do with an update, but it's in there. Eat whole fruits, five a day. All these things have been put out by public health bodies and you don't have to look far. It's not new evidence. It's not new science. But if the problem is the engagement with it, so people aren't really engaging with public health messaging, and I think there's lots of reasons for it. First of all, misinformation is rife. So there is a loud, loud, loud voice of people who fly in the face of public health recommendations and use very good marketing tactics to make that very appealing. So there's unfortunately this growth in people who will say, they're lying to you, I'm right, broccoli is killing you.
Starting point is 00:19:52 I've literally, there is literally, I'm not gonna name who it is, but there's literally a crypt that's like, broccoli is actually killing you. And I'm like, what? So there's this rise in this very anti-science, like I'll tell you the truth, they're all lying to you. And you know, the irony is, is that people who work in public health are very mission driven and they're really trying to make a difference. It doesn't pay well, like, you
Starting point is 00:20:13 have to study for years and years and then this happens, which is, which is quite demoralizing. So it's the public health message isn't cutting through. There's a lot of misinformation. Also we know that, you know that nutrition education has only just made it onto the medical curriculum in the past five years. So, I think one of the biggest problems is that healthcare providers don't feel well equipped or educated enough to actually give advice. And most often, the public comes into contact with their GP, like A&E doctors, if they have to go to A&E, and their dentists. They're actually the health care professionals
Starting point is 00:20:47 that they see the most. Then there's teachers that have a huge role to play, nurses. So I think there's education. Public health messaging needs to compete with misinformation at this point. We need to figure out a way to make our message as marketingly compelling without being wrong, without being incorrect. And I think that there is obviously a
Starting point is 00:21:09 big, big part to play for policy. So our government needs to step in. Until this point, the priority has been economic growth and encouraging industry to grow here. And whilst obviously that has benefits for the economy, there's got to be a balance. So now we need more policy that's there to protect public health. Because at the moment you can supermarkets have no cap on how many unhealthy processed foods are allowed to sell. There's no policy to say that actually you
Starting point is 00:21:40 can't put a fast food outlet across the road from a primary or secondary school. So we're not protecting public health with the laws that are in place, because there aren't any. So even the 9 PM watershed ban for adverts on television. Children don't see adverts on television. They see them on social media, on streaming platforms. It's like, yeah, first step, but it's about 10 years too late.
Starting point is 00:22:04 Nowadays, the way that these companies and that food advertising is targeting young people is through other means. So it's just, we just need to be much quicker with taking really decisive action. And it's not something that's not been done. So I always encourage people to look to other countries that are doing better than us, where they have nutritionists in schools designing the actual school meals, where they have a ban on how many unhealthy foods can be sold on shelves in supermarkets, where they actually subsidize healthy foods and encourage
Starting point is 00:22:36 the sales of healthy foods. So you get the two for one on veg and chickpeas instead of two for one on crisps and biscuits. You can do it, but we? So that you can do it. But we need the political will to do it. And we also need to make sure that public health messaging is compelling, and people can engage with it. I mean, I teach medical students, Ella, and I say to them, Why do you think the Eat Well plate hasn't worked? And so many reasons. You can't really tell what you're supposed to eat by looking at it. So it's not actually easy to
Starting point is 00:23:06 interpret, okay, what does that mean in terms of actual meals? What does it mean in terms of my shopping list? So creating different ways for people to adapt this information into their lives. It's not very culturally relevant for a lot of people. We live in a really diverse, amazing society, right? So you have to try and make sure that it's culturally relevant to everyone. Include foods for all populations.
Starting point is 00:23:30 There's lots of ways we can improve this. So, you know, I think the work that, you know, people like you guys are doing, making media that is mainstream, but is evidence-based, is super important, and we just need to keep doing it and help people to be able to critically appraise what they're seeing online, giving them an understanding of some of these
Starting point is 00:23:49 marketing tactics that people use to make them seem like the answer can really help people to discern like, is this person actually worth following or like, is their advice sound? Or is it something I should maybe question, which I think is a really important tool. It's so hard. And what you've just said, that last point, because we've discussed this previously, but it's almost the psychology again of the nutrition in this country. It's the culture in this country. It's the occasions that are linked to the type of food that's consumed.
Starting point is 00:24:21 And it's breaking down all of these normal stereotypes that we have. We discussed before in another episode that every school trip will have a ham sandwich in it. There's no other option of, oh, let's take a hummus pot. It's just no. There doesn't seem to be any of this type of action. But for people to decipher when someone is so convincing, Fedi, we know who we're talking about and they can waltz down a supermarket aisle or sell their own powders and potions, because they sometimes the people themselves delivering these messages truly believe in what they're saying. So the conviction that comes across when they deliver these statements around food
Starting point is 00:25:03 is huge. But for people listening, before we go off on a tangent, because we're all very passionate about this area completely, what about somebody that's starting from scratch? Okay, so you're listening and you're thinking, okay, I'm going to give 30 plants a go. Do you have any top tips? Yes, I think start off by, there's lots of resources online. You can find some lists.
Starting point is 00:25:26 Of course, we've written a cookbook, which is the Food for Life cookbook, which has loads of ideas of really, really plant diverse recipes. And we share a lot of those on our social as well. But start by just listing out what you're currently using or eating. So like just maybe in your phone, open a new notes or whatever or text it to your best mate or someone you know, someone you love and just write down what you're eating at the moment and you'll see like the list of plants come up. And some people might be surprised, actually I'm eating more plants than I thought that's really cool. But once you have that baseline list, you can then start to think, okay, what else could I add? If I'm eating carrots at the moment,
Starting point is 00:26:05 could I introduce some different types of peppers? Red peppers, orange peppers, yellow peppers, or if I'm having cucumber in my sandwich, could I add some spring onions? So like start gradually, just start by looking at where you could add in. I think one of the simplest things to do is to switch from buying single beans to mixed beans,
Starting point is 00:26:24 mixed lentils and the mixed whole grain pouches, you know, the ones that you just whack in, boil them up in about 12 minutes and they're ready to go and they have three or four grains in them. So just start also buying products that make it easier to do that. So these mixed products and then keep a list. If you, if you then find yourself hitting 30 or getting close to 30, I think really important here to say that 24, 25, 26, 27 is still great. Just seeing that increase, you don't have to hit 30 every week. And then look around and see what plants have you never tried.
Starting point is 00:26:57 Do you want to maybe try and cook an aubergine dish or have you thought about introducing sorrel into your dishes? There's so many. Also, we're going into spring now, so there's way more variety of plants even that are native to the UK that you can get. Go to the farmer's market, buy something you've never bought before, or just the supermarket and find something you haven't bought before and give it a go. So just be adventurous, explore. As I said, a lot of people like keeping a list just to visualize it, or you can buy pre-made tick box lists, which lots of people on the internet have created because they've
Starting point is 00:27:31 engaged so well with the message. So yeah, I think start one step at a time and one day at a time and make this a fun experiment. It's not there to feel like another target you have to hit. It's more there to help guide us to increasing the variety of plants that we're eating. It's just a reminder, like, what can I add actually that I haven't tried? Or I love using seasonality as a super easy way to increase diversity. So I will look at the seasonality lists or I'll go on the seasonal, I shop online, so I always go to seasonal produce
Starting point is 00:28:05 and see what's come up, what's new, and then add that in and eat that. So, celeriac is a good example for winter. Just add that back in when it's in season. At the moment, there's artichokes. Obsessed, I love artichokes. So there's lots of things you can just add back in seasonally as well.
Starting point is 00:28:22 And if not, really, let's not forget, Ella, we all grew up with eat the rainbow, didn't we? What a simple way to do it. Like, just if you love colours and you're more inclined to do that, just try and get a colour, like a different colour of everything as much as you can. It's such good advice, honestly. And as you said, it makes it sound so simple. It's about adding in, not taking out, starting with the recipes or the foods, the meals you're already really comfortable with and just adding one extra thing to that. I think it's in the world that we live in and the kind of food culture, the diet industry, I think the temptation is to change
Starting point is 00:28:54 everything overnight to make these sweeping gestures, which is so difficult when life feels overwhelming. Whereas if you look at what you have and you do, you add in some sunflower seeds to something you're already eating or you add in some berries to your breakfast, I think you'd be amazed at how quickly something would add up. Yeah, I mean, the mixed frozen berries are such a flex. I use them all the time. And also like mixed spices. So if you're not someone who's comfortable with using spices
Starting point is 00:29:21 and you don't really know when to use cumin or when to use oregano, you know, just buy the pre-mixed, the sort of mixed, you know, Italian mix, the curry mix spice, buy those and just add them to your food and see how it improves flavour, like basically almost inevitably does. Yeah, it like transforms a whole meal. And Fedi, I just love what you've said. And I think your kind of nutritionist geeky thing is to look at the seasonality of the produce. I thought that was brilliant because actually it is there, guys. Everyone listening, when you shop online, Ocado has that section, doesn't it? I think. It's so
Starting point is 00:29:56 cool because it might be something you've never heard of. Often, general rule of thumb from someone who is not a chef here, if you just peel and blitz anything, you can shove it in a frying pan with some olive oil. Generally, you can try something new. Yeah, yeah. And it's often such simple that it's not hard to make, right? So any type of leafy green, you can apply the same. I'm not a chef either, Ria. I think it's really important that people realize I am a 10-minute meal person. Like I am not. I think we're all
Starting point is 00:30:25 actually very similar on this. Ella is too, aren't you babe? Yeah, 100%. I've seen your recipes, they are right up my street. I'm like, yes, this is my kind of cooking. And it's all about if you're making a leafy green that you've never made before, maybe you've got some turnip greens. Great. Same principle, like bit of garlic, extra virgin olive oil, throw them in, just a little, like a drop of water, cover them. A bit of salt, if you like chilli, add some chilli. And you've got some wilted delicious greens with a bit of garlic within about seven minutes. I love that.
Starting point is 00:30:56 And before we finish, olive oil is also a plant point, isn't it? This is a really good question. So it depends if you're looking at the bioactive compounds or if you're looking at fibre as well. So I actually, I'm a extra virgin olive oil is something we should all try to incorporate into our diet. And it's beneficial in ways that lots of other foods can't claim to be. But I actually, when I talk about plant points, I try to focus on fiber plus bioactives. So I would say extra virgin olive oil wins a star of its own. But in terms of plant points, we're looking for having the bioactives. So I would say extra virgin olive oil wins a star of
Starting point is 00:31:25 its own, but in terms of plant points, we're looking for having the bioactives and the fibre. I love that. Thank you. Yeah. Fedi, amazing. Thank you so, so much for coming on the podcast today and we'll drop all the information about you and your books in the show notes below. And it's a big topic. We can chat about it another time. Yeah. Always here to talk about more fibre, more plants, always. Thank you. Thank you guys so much for listening and yeah, get counting your plants. We can't
Starting point is 00:31:51 wait to hear how you get on. Thank you guys so much for listening to us on the Extra Scoop. We are a community based podcast. We want this to be helpful for you. So any requests, we want to hear it. Absolutely. Let us know which experts that you want on the Extra Scoop, and we will see you on Monday. Can't wait!

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