What counts as a plant?
Dr Haya Al Khatib avatar
Written by Dr Haya Al Khatib
Updated over a week ago

Why should I eat plants?

There's no question that eating more plants is associated with better health outcomes. Not only are plants great sources of vitamins and minerals, but they are packed with hundreds of types of fibers and thousands of compounds that are biologically active, called polyphenols.

Adding more plants to your diet can help you boost your gut health, lower inflammation, and reduce risks of heart disease, diabetes, and other metabolic conditions. Here’s how:

  • Plants have a very important role in gut health. The fiber and polyphenols in plants help improve your gut by feeding your good bugs, and keeping your microbiome diverse. As plant-based food contains hundreds of different types of fibers and thousands of polyphenols, it can feed many specific types of gut bacteria, helping you grow your garden of good bugs. Each of your bugs have specialized roles – breaking down foods, fighting infections, or creating specific chemicals that your body needs to function at its best. The greater the diversity in your gut, the larger the variety and breadth of skills your team of bugs have! A healthy gut helps you fight inflammation, and our science shows it can also help with blood fat and sugar control.

  • The fiber and polyphenols in plants can help lower inflammation by preventing blood sugar spikes, as well as lower cholesterol levels.

  • Fiber also helps keep your bowel habits regular, warding off unpleasant effects on the gut such as constipation.

  • Plants are also densely packed with essential vitamins and minerals which we need for our optimum health and wellbeing.

Aim for at least five portions of plants a day

Many of us struggle to get enough gut-boosting fiber in our diet. General guidelines recommend 30g of fiber per day but diversifying your sources is very important. So aim to get your fiber from at least 5 different plant groups per day. If you are able to incorporate more, feel free to do so! You may need to build up your intake to allow your gut to adjust to larger doses of fiber.

What does the app count as a plant?

You may have noticed that there is a plant counter in the app once you have received your results. This is out of 5 per day. There are a few reasons why an item you have logged might not count towards your plant target. You can see more information below on how we calculate your plant count:

Category of food

  • The food is in one of the following categories: vegetables, fruits, nuts/seeds, beans, mushrooms, pulses, spices, herbs, or plant-containing meat substitutes. It’s worth noting that white potatoes don’t contribute to your plant count at this time.

Variety

  • One type of plant does not count twice toward your plant count. For instance, if you had broccoli twice, your plant count would be one, not two. We do this to encourage greater diversity.

Whole grains do not currently count toward your plant count. But this is something we’re looking into for the future based on our science. We understand that this isn’t the clearest way to count your plant intake, so we intend to improve this in future app updates. In the meantime, try to reach your count where you can but please rest assured that every portion of plants you eat (no matter the size), will be something that your gut bugs thank you for.

If you have any questions about this, please reach out to our nutrition coaches via your in-app chat.

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