What is the Earthy30 Challenge?
The premise of Earthy30 is to build a habit around nutritional health. Eat 30 different plant-based foods each week… Most of the time. (Or maybe for all time!)
Why should I eat 30-different plant-based foods each week?
Eating 30-a-week is all about diversity, in particular getting all the fibre and micronutrients you need to optimize your health. Gut experts like Dr Megan Rossi and Dr Tim Spector (King’s College London) advocate 30-week—Earthy30 is here to help you stick to it.
With a diverse foundation of plant based foods in your diet, and a goal of 30-a-week, you’ll set yourself up to:
Get all the micronutrients you need, including vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals
Get loads of fibre to feed your gut microbiome
Choose whole foods over processed foods
Avoid cheating, or you’ll miss the 30 target
Why turn 30-a-week into a challenge?
Funny as it seems, some of the best things in life require a bit of will power. Early mornings at the gym, not binging on Netflix and sticking to a healthy diet. Even though we know these habits are good for us, paradoxically, they can all take extra effort.
We also know there are ways to focus your efforts. For example, if you would like to do more running, you could sign up for a marathon.
A great way to complete a challenge is to hold yourself accountable—that’s where Earthy30 comes in. We have a scorecard, you can join us on Instagram and we’re working on an app.
Earthy30 has three levels:
Level 1: Diet
Level 2: Performance
Level 3: Detox
Foundational to it all is diet. But, we’re not blind to the fact that ‘health’ has many more facets. That’s why in Levels 2 and 3, Earthy30 looks to build healthy sleep/wake cycles and exercise habits on top of a healthy eating foundation.
To get started, download the Earthy30 scorecard from our challenge page.
Earthy30 Level 1: Diet
Eat 30 different plant based foods each week. At first glance, you might think that is easier than 5-a-day as 30 divided by 7 is about 4.3-a-day.
No no no my friend, this is 30 different plant-based foods each week. So 4.3 new plant-based foods each day!
Of course you can repeat foods, but it won’t help build your average.
Can you eat meat? Sure you can—high quality meat is best.
Can you have milk and eggs? Sure thing—you don’t have to be a vegan to do Earthy30.
Will it challenge you? I would say so. Prior to starting Earthy30, I was eating only 15 different plant-based foods a week, and a lot more junk meals to boot
How to start
Step 1:
Download the scorecard and print it out
Step 2:
Pick a day to start and leave the scorecard somewhere visible, like on the dining table
Step 3:
After each meal, record each new plant-based food you ate and tick the box
Write what you ate under the box
One ‘serving’ counts as one tick. So I wouldn’t count 1 grape as a serving, more like 5 grapes makes a serving of grapes
Step 4:
Repeat your scoring at the next meal
If you eat more of the same food, you don’t get to make more new ticks, but you can keep a tally in the original box for ‘grapes’ or whatever food you ate historically
Step 5:
Over the course of 7 days try and get to 30, or beyond
If you do, print a new scorecard and start week 2
You’ll get a social post by email that you can download and use to show off your progress
Tag @earthy30challenge on IG to share the love
Step 6:
You can claim victory over Earthy30 Level 1 if you manage this habit for a month
Step 7:
Take it to the next level… Level 2 that is.
More information on Level 2 is coming soon.
