Dr. Will Bulsiewicz

We could add mushrooms. Those are broad categories. We can get more specific if we want to, but to me, it's about getting that variety. This is not just an idea or a concept. This is actually scientifically proven. In a study called the American Gut Project, which, by the way, was international, but it was run out of UC San Diego, what they found is that

At the end of the day, when they did their analysis, above everything else, there was this one rule. The diversity of plants in your diet was the number one factor in predicting who had the healthiest gut. And the number is 30. 30 per week. 30 different plants per week. Now, all fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seeds, nuts, and legumes. Include those 30. They count. Okay. All of them, right?

At the end of the day, when they did their analysis, above everything else, there was this one rule. The diversity of plants in your diet was the number one factor in predicting who had the healthiest gut. And the number is 30. 30 per week. 30 different plants per week. Now, all fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seeds, nuts, and legumes. Include those 30. They count. Okay. All of them, right?

You start to take a smoothie. It could be Monday morning. Take a smoothie, bananas, blueberries. Greens of your choice, whatever ones you like. Chia seeds, hemp seeds. Chia seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds. We're already up to six. Okay. Right? You want to add in some raspberries or some other kinds of berries. We could easily get this up to 10. Gotcha. Gotcha. You're making pasta sauce. Oh.

You start to take a smoothie. It could be Monday morning. Take a smoothie, bananas, blueberries. Greens of your choice, whatever ones you like. Chia seeds, hemp seeds. Chia seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds. We're already up to six. Okay. Right? You want to add in some raspberries or some other kinds of berries. We could easily get this up to 10. Gotcha. Gotcha. You're making pasta sauce. Oh.

Why would you just do pasta sauce? Why not throw some plants in there? Oh, there you go. Right? Onions, garlic, basil, oregano. Those count too.

Why would you just do pasta sauce? Why not throw some plants in there? Oh, there you go. Right? Onions, garlic, basil, oregano. Those count too.

Adding more and more of the diversity as possible as opposed to just broccoli and spinach by itself. The average person in the United States, 10% of their calories comes from actual plants. The number one plant is the potato, right? We're not talking about optimal nutrition here.

Adding more and more of the diversity as possible as opposed to just broccoli and spinach by itself. The average person in the United States, 10% of their calories comes from actual plants. The number one plant is the potato, right? We're not talking about optimal nutrition here.

There's a reason why people in the United States are suffering through the health-related issues that they currently have. We need to make changes. If we simply added more fiber to our diet, we would radically transform the health of this country. Really? Yes. And that person who's not necessarily eating a lot of variety but is eating a lot of plants, number one, I give them a standing ovation.

There's a reason why people in the United States are suffering through the health-related issues that they currently have. We need to make changes. If we simply added more fiber to our diet, we would radically transform the health of this country. Really? Yes. And that person who's not necessarily eating a lot of variety but is eating a lot of plants, number one, I give them a standing ovation.

Their diet's great starting point. They're way better off than the average American is right now, right? We all, though, should be looking to optimize. We all have opportunities to do better. So if you take that diet and you add more variety to it, they will reap the rewards of that.

Their diet's great starting point. They're way better off than the average American is right now, right? We all, though, should be looking to optimize. We all have opportunities to do better. So if you take that diet and you add more variety to it, they will reap the rewards of that.

And the reason why is because every single one of these plants has unique properties that are, number one, going to affect our microbiome, right? So these microbes, they're kind of like us in many ways, Lewis. They have personalities, right? Some of them are not nice. They have cliques. They have certain ones that they tend to hang out with and they work together. They also have taste buds.

And the reason why is because every single one of these plants has unique properties that are, number one, going to affect our microbiome, right? So these microbes, they're kind of like us in many ways, Lewis. They have personalities, right? Some of them are not nice. They have cliques. They have certain ones that they tend to hang out with and they work together. They also have taste buds.

They have different food preferences. Not every microbe, believe it or not, likes kale.

They have different food preferences. Not every microbe, believe it or not, likes kale.

You can trade it to like kale but there's going to be a lot of microbes that are going to be hungry if the only thing that you eat was kale. Interesting. Right? So, every single plant is feeding certain families of microbes.

You can trade it to like kale but there's going to be a lot of microbes that are going to be hungry if the only thing that you eat was kale. Interesting. Right? So, every single plant is feeding certain families of microbes.

Yeah. So, satiation, like feeling full, is an important concept these days, right? We have all seen the rollout of Ozempic and these other GLP-1 type agonists. What is this GLP-1 that we're talking about here? This is a hormone. It's a gut hormone already produced by your body, right? And makes you feel full.