More and more nutrition experts emphasize the importance of a plant-based diet for good health. What does a plant-based diet involve? For me, it means eating lots of wholesome foods from the plant kingdom and minimizing most foods from the animal kingdom. Wholesome plant-based foods include fruits, veggies, lentils, grains, nuts and seeds. I emphasize “wholesome” because highly processed foods such as sugar, refined flour, and many extracts are not good for health as a rule, even though they come from plants. Many of them seriously undermine health over the years.
How much wholesome plant-based food should a person eat every day? My answer for most people is the more, the better. Wow! Not many diet guides tell you to eat more food, but most whole plant-based foods are so valuable for health that you can eat all you want. Six to ten servings of fruit and/or veggies a day are recommended. I aim for at least ten servings a day and usually enjoy more than that. Statistically speaking, the average American only eats two to three servings a day – far below ideal! You can judge for yourself where you fall on this spectrum, and where you want to go. The higher you go, the better!
Vital Insight: The more wholesome veggies and fruit you eat daily, the better your health picture is likely to be!
