30+ PLANTS FOR BETTER HEALTH
Dr. Krista Coombs
April 9, 2025
This week in INSIGHTS for Healing by Design, learn how many plants you need to eat each week to become your healthiest!
I’ve long coached patients to eat a variety of plants in their daily diet not only for their micronutrients and fiber, but also because of the microbes they host and their impact on our physiology. If you aren’t increasing variety in your diet yet or if you are and want to know some reasons why it’s actually healthy for most people, then please keep reading.
The American Gut Project (AGP) is the largest microbiome study ever to be published and researchers verified that the number of plants in a person’s diet is a factor in the diversity of their gut microbiome.
Results from 11,336 participants in this study suggested 3 big things you may find interesting:
Eating 30 or more types of plants each week was found to be associated with an increase of the short chain fatty acid (SCFA)-fermenting type bacteria which are known to positively impact much of our physiology, especially immune regulation.
A higher abundance of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), indicating fermentation of undigested plant material in the gut leading to more microbial diversity, was associated with people who were consuming 30 types of plant or more and in those who consumed more fruits and vegetables overall.
The bacterial community in the gut was less diverse in participants who reported that they received antibiotics in the past month compared with those who reported received antibiotics in the past year. And a significant reduction in antibiotic resistance genes was noticed in people who consumed more than 30 types of plants per week compared with people who consumed 10 or less plants per week.
I’ve got you covered if you’d like to learn a food-forward approach to supporting your own personal gut microbiome in my mini-course, The Gutsy Gals Starter Kit – Gut Microbiome for only $33 CAD! In 4 short, informative videos, in under 60 minutes, you’ll be armed with some EASY ways to increase your microbial diversity and therefore, have better health, which is what we all want.
Now, get eating 30+ plants this next week and see how you feel! I promise the effort is worth it!
Hugs,
Dr. Krista Coombs xx
DrAc, IFMCP
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