10 Simple Ways to Add More Plants to Your Plate

10 Simple Ways to Add More Plants to Your Plate

We all know that eating more fruits, veggies and other plant foods is good for our health but implementing this knowledge is where many of us fall short.

Here are my top 10 suggestions to help you add more plants to your plate with minimal fuss.

1. Stock your kitchen with plant-based staples

I like to keep my pantry, fridge and freezer well-stocked with basic plant-based ingredients so that I can whip up a healthy plant-based meal within a short space of time, even if I have limited fresh produce. If you surround yourself with an abundance of healthy plant-based options, you are less likely to reach for animal products and highly processed snack foods.

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• Stock your pantry with items including a variety of whole grains, canned beans and lentils, tomato passata, coconut milk, mustard, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, curry paste, dried herbs and spices, tamari, tahini, peanut butter, maple syrup, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, wholemeal flour, wholemeal and pulse pasta, noodles, wholegrain crackers, popcorn, taco shells etc.
• Fill the freezer with packets of frozen mixed vegetables, peas, corn, edamame, cauliflower rice, spinach, berries, mango, bananas, and pineapple. You can also store wholegrain, sourdough and pita bread here.
• Keep the fridge stocked with calcium fortified soy milk, plant-based yoghurt, and any opened jars of olives, pesto, curry paste, pickles, chutney, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso etc.
• Avoid purchasing processed meats (sausages, bacon, salami, ham), soft-drinks and highly processed snack foods. As Chef AJ, a well-known plant-based advocate likes to say, “if it’s in your house, it’s in your mouth!”

 

2. Swap animal protein for plant protein

Australians obtain most of their protein from animal-based foods, but the science suggests that shifting away from animal protein and towards plant-protein would benefit our health. Even just a small shift can have a positive benefit.

Unlike animal protein, plant protein is free of harmful compounds and comes packed with dietary fibre which our gut microbes love, these in turn producing short-chain fatty acids which exert their beneficial health effects within the gut and throughout the body.

Where possible, swap animal proteins like meat, dairy, and eggs for high protein plant-based sources including soy milk, tofu, tempeh, beans, lentils and split peas.

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• Add at least one serving of beans, lentils or tofu to your meals every day e.g., add a handful of butter beans to your salad, add a can of brown lentils to your Bolognese or taco mix, try chickpeas instead of chicken in your curry or make a tofu scramble instead of eggs, swap cows’ milk for calcium-fortified soy milk in your breakfast cereal and coffee or add hummus to your sandwich instead of cheese.
• Snack on cooked edamame beans or hummus and veggie sticks or crackers.

 

3. Swap refined grains for whole grain alternatives

Whole grain consumption is also where Australian diets fall short. Whilst refined grain products are indeed plant-based, they are heavily processed and lacking in fibre and protein, originally contained within the whole grain.

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• Swap refined grains and products like white bread, white rice, white pasta, commercially made cereals and crackers for whole grain alternatives like wholegrain bread, brown rice, wholemeal pasta, rolled oats, and multigrain crackers.
• Use wholemeal flour to make your own healthy baked goods at home.
• Experiment with a variety of different whole grains in dishes e.g., millet, quinoa, barley, freekeh, farro etc. Think buckwheat porridge, barley risotto or quinoa fried rice.

 

4. Add 2-3 extra pieces of fruit/day

Just about everyone loves fruit so adding an extra 2-3 pieces/day can be enjoyable and achievable and help crowd out less health promoting foods.

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• Top your overnight oats with kiwi fruit and strawberries, snack on a banana, top yoghurt with granola and blueberries, make a pineapple and mango smoothie, try a big bowl of chopped melon for dessert, add berries or chopped seasonal fruit to salads.
• Pre-chop larger fruits like melons and pineapple and store in an easily visible and accessible location in the fridge, ready for snacking.
• Locate fresh fruit in a prominent position in your kitchen so you can see it. If you can see it, you are more likely to eat it!
• Keep large bags of frozen fruit like mixed berries, mango, banana and pineapple in the freezer ready for use in smoothies, desserts and snacks. Frozen fruit is often more affordable than fresh and ensures you have access to a variety of fruits all year round.

5. Add extra vegetables and leafy greens to everything

Adding extra vegetables can really help crowd out less health promoting ingredients. For example, I rarely follow recipes and if I do, I always bulk up the vegetable and plant protein component.

For example, if I’m making a pasta sauce, I might add onion, garlic, carrot, celery, mushrooms, zucchini, lentils, chickpeas and leafy greens. That’s 9 different plant foods in one dish and when veggies are finely chopped or grated, the kids don’t notice!

Leafy greens are a nutritional powerhouse so including them in your meals every day can provide a real boost to energy levels and overall health. They are particularly beneficial for supporting artery, brain and eye health and contain an array of nutrients to support optimal cell functioning.

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• If a recipe calls for 3-4 different vegetables, think about what other veggies you have on hand that might go well and add these as well. Stir-fry or pasta sauce are easy dishes to add more veggies to.
• Buy a big bag a your favourite leafy green (I like baby spinach) and add it to all your meals where possible. Add a handful to your morning smoothie, a cup to your salad at lunch, several handfuls (chopped) to your soup, curry or pasta sauce at dinner.

 

6. Eat one plant-based meal/day

Instead of thinking you need to overhaul your entire diet, aim for one plant-based meal that you love and can stick to each day. Breakfast and lunch are easy options given you might often eat these alone hence don’t need to cater to different family food preferences.

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• Breakfast ideas could include oat porridge with soy milk and berries, a green smoothie or baked beans on toast.
• Lunch options could include a hummus and salad wrap, a bean burrito or a mixed salad with cannellini beans and roasted sweet potato.

7. Make one plant-based dinner per week

There are a multitude of recipes available online catering to all dietary needs. The library is also a wonderful resource for plant-based cookbooks. Plant-based cooking doesn’t have to be complicated and involve a lengthy list of hard-to-find ingredients.

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• Choose a simple plant-based recipe and shop for ingredients if required. If you have a family, ask the kids to help select and prepare the meal so they are more likely to try it.
• Start with a dish that is a plant-based version of a family favourite like a pasta or curry, so it feels familiar. Now is not the time to try something elaborate.

 

8. Try 1-2 new plant foods/week

Findings from the American Gut Project suggest that for optimal gut microbiome diversity, resilience and overall health, we need to be consuming at least 30 different plant foods per week.

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• Each week, purchase 1-2 seasonal fruits or vegetables that you have never tried before or haven’t eaten for a while. I recently tried custard apple for the first time and have been adding rocket, radicchio and kohlrabi to meals.
• Choose different varieties of your favourites e.g., yellow cherry tomatoes vs red, cos or butter lettuce vs iceberg, Swiss chard vs spinach, purple sweet potato vs orange, red grapes vs white, honeydew vs cantaloupe, walnuts vs cashews, pumpkin seeds vs sunflower seeds, tricolour quinoa vs white etc.
• Add fresh herbs and spices to all your meals as these also count towards your 30 plants/week e.g., add cinnamon or nutmeg to your porridge, fresh parsley or coriander to your salad, mixed spices to your curry.

 

9. Eat the rainbow

This is a simple way to think about healthy eating – the more colourful the foods on your plate, the better. Consuming a range of different colourful plant foods ensures you are obtaining a wide range of nutrients, each colour providing unique disease fighting phytochemicals.

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• Make a huge rainbow salad for lunch or dinner e.g., lettuce, cucumber, avocado, kale, purple cabbage, red onion, carrot, red capsicum, tomato, chickpeas, olives and dry roasted almonds.
• Add at least two different coloured fruits and vegetables to meals e.g., blueberries and kiwi to breakfast, carrot and capsicum to lunch, sweet potato and broccoli to dinner.

 

10. Embrace juices and smoothies

If you are struggling to enjoy the taste of vegetables or obtain adequate nutrition, juices and smoothies can be a gamechanger.

Juicing allows you to consume a much larger volume of fruits and vegetables in one go. The bulky fibre is removed, providing vitamins and minerals in an easy to digest format. Sweetened with a small amount of fruit, even vegetables like bitter leafy greens taste great!

Smoothies contain less volume but all the fibre which our gut microbes love and with a good balance of ingredients can be a meal replacement, perfect for those of us with digestive diseases like Crohn’s and Colitis.

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• Make freshly squeezed orange juice with 4-5 oranges or different citrus fruits every morning to provide a hit of vitamin C and support immune system and skin health.
• Make more complicated juices on weekends when you have more time. One of my favourite combinations is apple, cucumber, celery, kale, ginger, lemon, pineapple and mint. A mix of carrot, beetroot, apple and ginger is also delicious.
• Experiment with different smoothie combinations to discover your favourite. I like banana, date, frozen berries, flax seeds and calcium fortified soy or almond milk.
• Green smoothies are also great and save hours of munching on salad! Think banana, mango, pineapple, hemp seeds, baby spinach, kale and calcium fortified soy or almond milk.

I hope some of these suggestions resonate with you and please let me know if you try them. Plant-based eating should be delicious, joyful and achievable, not boring, overwhelming or restrictive so have fun with it and challenge yourself to add as many different plant foods to your plate as possible!