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ZOE Science & Nutrition

How to eat 30 plants this week | Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Prof. Tim Spector

ZOE Science & Nutrition

ZOE

Nutrition, Health & Fitness, Education, Science

4.64.9K Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2024

⏱️ 68 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Thirty plants this week, think you could do it? It might sound a lot, but it’s easier than you think. Fruit, veg, nuts, seeds, even coffee all count as plants. Legendary chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall joins us to share tips on eating more plants. Hugh’s new book ‘How to Eat 30 Plants a Week’ explores the wild world of legumes, grains, herbs and beyond. He explains that getting your thirty plants each week can be simple, fun and delicious. Joining Hugh is Tim Spector - professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London and ZOE’s scientific co-founder. Tim explains why our gut microbiome loves plants, highlighting the importance of polyphenols, healthy fats and fiber. You’ll finish this episode inspired, empowered and likely... hungry. 🥑 Learn how your body responds to food 👉 zoe.com/podcast for 10% off 🌱 Try our new plant based wholefood supplement - Daily 30 *Naturally high in copper which contributes to normal energy yielding metabolism and the normal function of the immune system Follow ZOE on Instagram. Timecodes 00:00 Thirty plants every week? 01:57 Quickfire questions 05:04 What happens when we digest plants? 08:43 Why are plants so different? 11:28 Why eating the rainbow is important 18:42 Why 30 plants? 22:13 How much fiber should you eat a day? 25:53 The science that proves the power of plants 32:00 How to get more plants in your diet 34:45 How to get more plants on-the-go 38:36 Plant-based cooking made simple 46:45 Are dried and frozen plants just as nutritious? 47:51 How does cooking affect plants 48:56 What to do with your leftovers 49:44 Do mushrooms count as plants? 51:06 How important is organic food? 55:40 Hugh’s showstopper dish 57:16 Surprise taste-test from Hugh’s garden Books Hugh’s book How To Eat 30 Plants a Week Tim’s book Food For Life Mentioned in today's episode American Gut: an Open Platform for Citizen Science Microbiome Research (2018), published in mSystems from American Society of Microbiology Could you eat 30 plant-based foods a week? (2021), published by World Cancer Research Fund Adults Meeting Fruit and Vegetable Intake Recommendations — United States (2019), published by Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Why 5 A Day? (2022), published by NHS Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption to reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases (2023), published by WHO Fruit and vegetable consumption and incident breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies (2021) published by British Journal of Cancer Consumption of Plant Seeds and Cardiovascular Health: Epidemiological and Clinical Trial Evidence (2013), published by Circulation Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here. Episode transcripts are available here.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to Zoe, science and nutrition, where world-leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health. Eat more plants. That's the message echoed by our two guests today.

0:19.8

Legendary Chef Hugh Fonly Wittonstall and leading scientists Professor Tim Specter.

0:26.2

To be more specific, the message that Hugh and Tim are shouting from the rooftops is

0:30.6

eat 30 plants a week. Now a diversity of plants every week can boost the

0:36.9

diversity and health of your gut microbiome. Plants contain prebiotics which

0:41.8

fuel your good gut bacteria and they're jam-packed

0:45.4

with substances called polyphenols which can have anti-inflammatory properties. Many

0:51.8

scientists believe that 30 plants a week could lower cancer risk and help you stay

0:56.3

healthier as you age. But this sounds like a lot of plants. Surely it's hard to achieve. And why 30? What's the science behind this number?

1:10.0

Today you'll learn how, armed with the right strategies, you can eat 30 plants per week.

1:15.0

Hugh Folly Whittingstall is a chef who champions seasonal local ingredients.

1:21.0

In the UK, he's a household household name known for his TV show River

1:25.2

Cottage and recently his best-selling book How to Eat 30 Plants a Week.

1:29.4

Tim is one of the world's top 100 most cited scientists, a professor at King's College London

1:35.4

and my scientific co-founder here at Zoe. He was part of the team responsible for the

1:40.0

large-scale scientific study that led to the 30 plants recommendation.

1:47.0

Hugh and Tim thank you for joining me today.

1:49.2

Great to be here.

1:50.4

Likewise.

1:51.4

So Hugh, we have a tradition here at Zoe where we always start with a quick-fire round of questions that come from our listeners.

1:58.0

We have very strict rules. You can say yes or no or if you absolutely have to give us a sentence.

2:05.0

Are you up for it? Of course I'm up for it.

...

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