- Eating a variety of plants supports a diverse gut microbiome, which is beneficial for overall health.
- Gastro dietitian Gabrielle Morse buys 10 types of vegetables and lots of whole grains each week.
- She combines them in different ways to create meals packed with fiber.
Gut health is a buzzy topic right now, and for good reason: Tending to it is thought to be linked to good overall health, from smooth digestion to a reduced colon cancer risk.
That’s why Gabrielle Morse, a gut health specialist and registered dietitian at The Gut Health Clinic, aims to eat 30 plants a week. It’s an approach that a large-scale study found to be the most beneficial for maintaining a diverse gut microbiome, which is the trillions of bacteria and other bugs that live in our digestive system.
“The more diverse your diet is, the more you are feeding the favorable gut bacteria,” Morse told Business Insider. The “good” bugs protect the lining of your colon, which reduces the risk of colon cancer and IBS, she said, and have been linked to good general health.
Plant foods include fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, but also herbs, spices, nuts, seeds, and even dark chocolate.
Morse also eats this way because it encourages her to try new foods and add to her plate rather than restricting herself or counting calories. “The message is go for color and variety,” she said.
When putting all this into practice when cooking, she doesn’t follow recipes per se but rather leads with what she has in the fridge and thinks about reaching her nutritional goals. Her weekly food delivery consists of around 10 different vegetables, butter beans, black beans, chickpeas, lentils, and fish.
Morse shared three high-fiber dinner recipes she makes during the week.
Veggie-packed omelet with crispy kale
One of Morse’s go-to dinners is an omelet packed with vegetables, herbs, and spices.
She starts by air-frying some sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and zucchini and grabbing some frozen edamame beans out of the freezer. When frying the eggs, she adds the vegetables into the pan along with some butter beans for protein and fiber, smoked paprika, cumin, chipotle, chile flakes, and dried mixed herbs.
On the side, she’ll have some crispy kale. To make it, she rinses the kale, drizzles over some extra virgin olive oil, and seasons with salt, pepper, lemon juice, and chile flakes. Then, she roasts it in the air fryer.
“Kale roasts really, really nice and gets a real nice flavor and texture to it,” she said.
Fish dinner
Morse aims to eat at least two portions of oily fish a week because it contains heart-healthy fats and aids brain function. The FDA recommends adults eat eight ounces of fish or seafood weekly, based on a 2,000-calorie daily diet.
If she has white fish or shrimp in the fridge, she might use them to make a risotto with lots of different vegetables thrown in. Other times, she makes a tomato-based curry.
Recently, she paired salmon with mashed potatoes and added roasted chickpeas into the mash for fiber and texture. On the side, she had roasted broccoli and some other roasted vegetables that she had on hand.
“I find that roasted veg is probably my favorite thing to have because you can put so much flavor on it, loads of olive oil, loads of different herbs and spices and dressings,” she said.
Eggs on sourdough toast
Another go-to dinner for Morse is eggs on sourdough toast. She usually has at least two eggs either scrambled or fried with extra virgin olive oil, which contains heart-healthy fats, she said.
To make sure she’s eating 30 plants a week, she’ll pair it with some air-fried veggies, grilled mushrooms, and edamame beans.
She sprinkles some mixed seeds on top and usually drizzles over some crispy chile oil or sriracha.
