You’re probably quite familiar with the 5-a-day message but plant points offer a new take on how we can support good health through our diet.

What are plant points?

Whilst the 5-a-day message focuses purely on fruits and vegetables (and remains an important mantra for supporting good health), plant points include not only fruits and vegetables but also whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices.

With plant points, the focus is on variety rather than quantity. So, unlike 5-a-day, where a portion of fruit or veg should be 80g for adults or 40g for children to count, when it comes to plant points it doesn’t matter how much of each ingredient you consume – the goal is to include as many different plant points as possible in your diet each week.

Each plant ingredient counts once, so if you eat broccoli every day with dinner, it will only count as one plant point for the week. However, varying your vegetable choice each day to include broccoli, cauliflower, peas, red pepper, carrots, green beans, and yellow pepper across the week will give you an impressive seven plant points!

What do plant points mean for health?

The benefit of plant points is linked to improved gut health. Research conducted by the American Gut Project demonstrated that people who ate 30 or more unique plant points a week have a more diverse gut microbiome than those who ate 10 or less a week. This is where the target of 30 plant points per week comes from, but the truth is that if 30 plant points feels unachievable for you right now, gradually increasing the variety of different plants in your diet by any amount can still have a positive impact on your gut.

This is because plants contain something called prebiotics which feed the healthy bacteria in our gut. The more these healthy bacteria are fed, by plant ingredients, the more they can grow and diversify which results in trillions of healthy bacteria thriving in our gut and supporting our overall health.

Here’s a quick guide to what counts as a plant point and some top tips about how to increase your intake…

How to increase the plant points in your diet

Fruits and vegetables = 1 plant point:

All fruits and vegetables whether they are fresh, tinned, dried or frozen count as one plant point. For tinned vegetables aim to go for those tinned in plain water and not salted water and for tinned fruit go for those tinned in juice and not syrup.

What’s more is that the colour also matters so, a green apple and a red apple count as one point each – variety in colours means variety in nutrition and more prebiotic fuel for those hungry gut bacteria!

Whole grains = 1 plant point:

Whole grains include

• Wholemeal bread, pitta, wraps, or other breads or products made from wholemeal flour
• Wholewheat pasta
• Oats
• Brown rice
• Quinoa
• Rye
• Buckwheat
• Millet
• Breakfast cereals if they are based on any of the grains listed above. Aim to go for low-sugar and salt versions of breakfast cereals, especially for children.

Legumes = a plant point:

All beans, pulses, lentils and other legumes count as one plant point. Again, think about colour variation. Combining both red and green lentils gives you two plant points.

Nuts and Seeds = 1 plant point:

All nuts and seeds count as one plant point regardless of quantity. Sprinkling milled mixed seeds on porridge, yoghurt, soups or salads is a great way to boost your plant point total. With nut butters try to go for minimally processed options with no added sugar or salt.

Herbs and spices = ¼ point:

Black pepper, basil, chives, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, dill, ginger, garlic, mint, nutmeg, oregano, paprika, parsley, turmeric not only add flavour and colour to dishes, but they all count as ¼ plant point.

Get started with some Nursery Kitchen recipes!

Great for the entire family, Nursery Kitchen recipes are packed full of plant points. We are super proud that our menu contains 40 plus plant points each week, which means children at nursery are receiving tasty meals with awesome nutrition.

View our recipes, HERE.