FIBER FUELED: What I Eat in a Day Counting Plant Points

Written by on in Blog, Recipes

Today I have another “What I Eat in a Day” video following different plant-based doctors’ methods. Today we’re using Dr. Bulsiewicz’s “plant points” to see how many different types of plants I can eat in the day.

Check out the video on YouTube and find the “recipes” below. Remember, my recipes are simply guides. Use them as a template, but mix and match to include your favorite ingredients and have some fun in the kitchen!

Breakfast: Oats and Smoothie

A quart sized and a pint sized mason jars full of green smoothie. And a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, and flaxseed.

Oatmeal Ingredients

  • ½ cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup wild blueberries
  • 1 medjool date, chopped
  • ½ teaspoon oatmeal spice
  • 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

Directions

Mix everything except the flaxseeds in a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave 2 to 3 minutes. Top with flaxseeds and enjoy!

Smoothie Ingredients

  • 2 to 3 packed cups spinach or other greens
  • 1 celery rib, roughly chopped
  • ¼ english cucumber, roughly chopped
  • ⅓ cup navy beans
  • 1 frozen banana
  • ½ to 1 cup frozen mango
  • ¼ teaspoon amla powder
  • ¼ teaspoon ginger powder
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric
  • pinch black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon dulse flakes
  • Enough water to blend

Directions

Add ingredients to the blender in the order they are listed. Add enough water to blend, at least halfway up the greens, but I usually go almost to the top of the greens. Blend for 30 to 45 seconds if using a high powered blender. You may need to blend a couple of minutes in a standard blender. Enjoy!

Lunch: Grain Bowl and Salad

Bowl half full of a salad of lettuce, radishes, and raisins. Other half full of a salad of mixed whole grains, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and hummus. With sauerkraut in the middle and pumpkin seeds all over.

Grain Bowl Ingredients

  • 1 cup cooked whole grains (I used rye berries and sorghum)
  • ½ yellow bell pepper, chopped
  • 6 grape tomatoes, halved
  • ¼ red onion, chopped
  • ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
  • ¼ cup hummus
  • 2 tablespoons sauerkraut
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds

Salad Ingredients

  • 1 cup lettuce, chopped
  • 2 radishes, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons raisins
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Directions

  1. Mix together all of the grain bowl ingredients except for the sauerkraut and pumpkin seeds. Add these on top.
  2. Toss all the salad ingredients together.
  3. Enjoy!

Easy Cherry Sweet Potato Dessert

Bowl of mashed jersey sweet potato topped with chopped dates and cherries and chia seeds.

Ingredients

  • ½ to 1 cup cooked jersey sweet potato
  • 1 cup frozen cherries, quartered
  • 1 medjool date, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds

Directions

  1. Mash the cooked sweet potato in a microwave-safe bowl and reheat (if using leftovers like me).
  2. Top the warm potato with frozen cherries, dates, and chia seeds.
  3. Enjoy!

Dinner: Vegan Breakfast Pizza

Large plate with two slices of breakfast pizza in the foreground. In the back are a saucer with a sliced apple and a date, and a small bowl with a side salad.

This is a recipe I’ve shared previously on the blog. Find the full Vegan Breakfast Pizza recipe here.

Plant Points Recap

For the full explanation of plant points, watch the beginning of the YouTube video linked above. But basically the idea is to count one point for each unique plant you eat. Dr. B recommends working up to 30 in a week, as people who eat the greatest diversity of plants tend to have the healthiest gut microbiome.

Today I managed to eat a whopping 29 plant points! Don’t feel like you need to get all that in one day. But I hope this shows how a plant-based diet can easily help you increase the diversity of healthy foods in your diet.

If you’ve been struggling to switch to a plant-based diet, I hope you’ll give plant points a try! There’s no pressure to eat any particular foods or not eat others. The point is simply to eat more plants! Do what you can, and try to eat one more plant tomorrow than you did today.