Gut Health

Linda Bittle

Some good info here. We know them, but reminders are always good.

Chew slowly, keep moving and eat 30 plants a week: 12 rules for gut health | Nutrition | The Guardian

Torey

Good points in this article.

Taking time to eat is a big part of eating well. Slow down your chewing time but also focus on the time for the meal itself. Far too often, people are choking down something picked up at a drive-thru. So not even taking the time to perform the task of eating on its own; you are driving, too. Or maybe you are eating a nice homemade sandwich or salad, but you're eating it at your desk while working on other projects. Take time away from other things to eat.

I like the idea of eating 30 plants per week but I think I will try to do that with fruits, veggies and fresh herbs rather than including all plant sourced items. I eat a lot of spices and dried herbs anyway so I'm pretty sure I'm getting 30 plant sources per week if you follow the guidelines in the article. So I will try to add in enough fruits, veggies and herbs to get 30 per week and see how it goes.

Linda Bittle

I am guilty of wolfing down my food. It's just me and 2 cats, but I act like I'm afraid someone will steal my plate out from under my fork!

We were hungry a lot when we were kids. My sister and I both still hide food. Haven't asked my brother, but I think it's common. That's the big thing I got from the article. Slow down. Enjoy the meal!

VermontCathy

Eat plenty of fiber in your diet.

Include some fermented foods to aid in gut bacteria. Homemade sauerkraut or kimchi is a great choice.

marjstratton

I keep reminding my family members to slow down and chew their food. Not that they listen.

Hopefully we can get our garden going for this summer, because we fall way short on our varieties of vegetables.

Torey

I kept track and its pretty easy to get in 30 plants sources in a week, especially if you count all the herbs & spices that one would normally add to meals.

Something that a holistic nutritionist told me she had learned in school. The word salad has 5 letters so a salad should have a minimum of 5 ingredients. So if we add different greens (and other veggies) to our salads every day that should make it easier to include 30 plant sources per week. Don't forget all the other plant sources besides the standard greens. Add fresh or dried fruit to your salads. Add nuts & seeds; toasted pumpkin seeds are a great substitute for croutons.

This is a very old salad and very simple but pretty yummy. For some reason, I'd never made it for hubby until just recently (maybe his dislike for celery had discouraged me from making it). A Waldorf salad. Equal parts of diced apple, diced celery and chopped walnuts. Add lemon juice and stir in enough mayo to moisten. Serve on a bed of lettuce. Later variations include grapes but there are many recipes on the internet with different ingredients. Despite the celery, hubby loves it. And its quite filling. I've used pumpkin seeds instead of the walnuts but you could use whatever nuts or seeds you have on hand. I'm thinking that this would be good with meat added, too. Shrimp or maybe leftover cooked chicken.

vickeym

There are many interesting ways to add in a little fruit or veggies to a meal or snack.

The deli I used to work in added dried cherries to the chicken salad we made. It seemed strange at first but once I tried it, I found it a nice change from what I was used to.

I have also tried this with dried blueberries, raisins and other fruits.

And, in my own family we add diced tomatoes to our potato salad. After the first time my (now) husband tasted it, he always wants it that way.

water2world

My first thought.....30 plants a week??? But when you start to break it down as others suggested, it actually seems doable. I really like the idea of the salad---5 letters, minimum of 5 ingredient! Hmmm smoothie, 8 letters, 8 ingredients----this could be fun!!