Eat More Plants to Save Money & Feel Better

Eating more plants doesn’t mean you have to be a vegetarian or vegan. Simply, incorporate more roots, fruits, veggies, grains, nuts, seeds, seaweed, herbs, spices, and fungi (technically not a plant) into every meal. Truly, why do we still not understand that plants are SO good for us? The Average American eats 1 fruit and 1-2 veggies per day, with only 10-12% of Americans meeting the 5+ per day recommendation. As many of us struggle with health challenges and making ends meet in this economy, increasing plant nutrients affordably into our meals is a vital – and viable – goal.

My clients are affected by a variety of diseases, dietary needs and symptoms, and almost always one of the first recommendations I suggest is, “Eat more plants.” Sometimes it’s complicated, like an onion, with many layers such as legit daily challenges – getting kids to eat more greens, not having a palate for mushy veggies on which a person was raised, or not believing that plant-derived foods make a big difference in one’s wellbeing.  

And yet, every nutrition conference or continuing education class I attend – whether focused on mental health, anti-aging, autoimmune disease, detoxification – offers research indicating this simple shift to improve various health conditions: eat more plants. What about improving digestion, lowering cholesterol, increasing energy, sleeping better, improving mood and cognition, reducing anxiety, offsetting risk of cancer, reversing diabetes, balancing hormones? Eat more plants.

Often, resistance to eating plants is simply not knowing what to do with them. How to: cook them? Alter favorite meals? Shift eating habits? Afford them? Modern agriculture subsidizes many foods, making them cheap to obtain, yet many whole plant foods remain more affordable than ultra-processed, packaged, preserved foods. Some “super foods” and even nuts can cost more than, say, meat or dairy.

Eating more plants also can feel overwhelming, with questions like, “Are there certain plants I should be eating for XYZ condition or XYZ outcome?” Yes, we can lean on “functional” foods to enhance a specific purpose in the mind-body. Eating seeds or nuts to balance hormones, purple/red foods to support the liver, or botanicals to calm the nervous system.

But specificity is not necessary to start feeling better. First, keep it simple and affordable, so change is easy, enticing – key factors in habit change. As we increase plant foods, which tend to be more filling (fiber!), we often want less “other stuff” – chips, bread, crackers, and similarly processed foods (often made from plants, yet often preserved with “other stuff”).

Easy ways to buy affordable plant-derived foods, plus how to eat more of them:

1.     Buy in bulk: whole grains, pseudo-grains, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes

2.     Buy in-season fruits and veggies

3.     Buy frozen fruits and veggies

4.     Buy fresh, canned and frozen plant-foods on sale, then create meals around them

5.     Soak dried beans and legumes to improve digestive function and gut health

6.     Soak grains, too, to improve digestive function and gut health

7.     Eat the rainbow of fruits & veggies every day. Please, just do it.

8.     Make1-2 meals per day with plant-derived proteins: nuts, seeds, beans, legumes

9.     Add herbs and spices to everything.

10.  Add nuts and seeds to everything.

11.  Replace 1 processed food daily with a plant food

12.  Eat fresh, frozen & dried fruits for dessert

Inspired to eat more plants? Want more guidance, accountability, simple meal plans, and personalized habit tricks to eat more plants? Join our “21-Day Plant Therapy Reset” - a program by yours truly and intentionally designed to fit into busy lives.

Visit this LINK for more info. Our fall 2024 program begins on Sunday, October 6th - space is limited!

References:

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7101a1.htm

https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/sites/default/files/2019-05/Using%20Food%20Guide.pdf