How I (just about) manage to eat 30 different plants a week – and why you should too

The message is loud and clear: eat more plants and less ultra-processed foods. But is it really that easy? Maria Lally says yes the 30-a-week goal is totally doable, while food author Rob Hobson explains why it could save your life

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be a chore – all it takes is a little bit of creative thinking and you’ll never have a boring meal again (Getty)

Despite being a health editor, shamefully I don’t follow many of the most popular health rules. On a work-heavy day, I rarely take 10,000 steps, I don’t drink enough water and drink a little too much wine in the evenings, and I eat something sweet most nights after dinner.

But one area where I do well is in eating 30 different types of plants per week. Eating as wide a range of plants as possible is said to increase the diversity of the good microbes in your gut, which is the community of bacteria that lives within it. 

In a recent study, those who ate 30 different types of plants per week had a reduced risk of obesity, diabetes and depression. Meanwhile, the very latest research from a Harvard University study which tracked 115,000 adults over three decades has found people who eat around seven servings of ultra-processed foods (UPF) per day have an increased risk of early death.