40 Plant Foods Challenge

I decided to take it on!

The 40 Plant Foods Challenge was hosted by happyhealthymama, which is a bog I regularly read. In THIS post she talked about how we all need variety in our diets to "cover all the bases" of nutrition. According to happyhealthymama's research (which I trust), anything above 30 different plant foods in a week is considered excellent variety. So if one could get to 40 they would be doing beyond excellent! 

The reason that this challenge is focused on plant foods is because, though animal products play an important nutritional role as well, plant foods are very nutrient dense and are crucial for getting all of the nutrients are bodies need in order to thrive. 

My plan with taking part in this challenge was to eat as normal as possible. I didn't want to squeeze things in that I wouldn't have eaten otherwise, because I wanted to see if I was on track already or if I needed to change something.

Here is my list

There were definitely some exceptions in this week though. Such as beets. I wish I could say I ate more beets, but it really isn't something I regularly have. Heike (the woman I nanny for) made me a juice with beets in it! Speaking of work, I do have a little advantage because Heike often has some different produce than I have. So I don't have to buy little bits of this and little bits of  that in order to get a wide variety. I've also never had a white apricot until this past week (I got them at Trader Joes!), and jalapenos are extremely rare for me. So there were a few things that I wouldn't have on almost any other week, but there are also foods, such as other beans/lentils, melons, and other berries, that I didn't have this past week that I do have other weeks. So I figure it balances out for the most part. 

You also may have noticed that I put "Spring mix" on the list, which is a variety of greens. This was something prepared for me at work and I didn't feel like digging the package out of the garbage to list all of the specific greens. Are you disappointed with my lack of dedication?

I was definitely happy with the end result, and I hope that this is a good representation of my regular diet. The fruits and veggies I eat change according to what's in season, but I think it just changes what is included in my variety and doesn't change the fact that I have variety. Maybe I'll have to do this again in the Winter to be sure!

I hope you're encouraged to eat as many plants as possible, and if you're interested in taking on the challenge you can check out the links I put in the beginning of the post for more information about "rules", or you can also ask me questions, or ask me to join you : )