INTRODUCING PLANT POINTS
A simple way to a varied diet that's packed with benefits.
We’re proud to be the first high street retailer to include Plant Points on the packaging for our new food range. Plant Points are a handy way to make sure you’re eating a nutrient-packed diet – aim for at least 30 different plants a week to support your overall wellbeing.
What are Plant Points?
Think of Plant Points like your 5-a-day. For many years, we’ve been advised to eat five fruits and vegetables a day to help us get more healthy foods into our diet. Plant Points can be gained from whole foods, powdered food, and herbs & spices and focuses on increasing variety rather than just the number.
To help us count our Plant Points, foods are split into three groups: whole foods which are worth 1 Plant Point, powdered foods which are 1/2 a Plant Point and herbs & spices which are worth a 1/4 of a Plant Point.
How to count Plant Points
How to count Plant Points
It's simple, if you add a food from the lists above then it counts towards your weekly plant points!
If you were making our Flamingo Pea & Smoky Red Pepper Stew, you'd include:
- H&B Flamingo peas: Whole Food = 1 Plant Point
- Red peppers: Whole Food = 1 Plant Point
- Tomatoes: Whole Food = 1 Plant Point
- Flat leaf parsley: Herbs & Spices = 1/4 of a Plant Point
So, you have 3 and 1/4 Plant Points…and that's before we add the rest of the ingredients, like our new H&B Red Sauce, Passata and Kimchi. And, to help, we've included the Plant Points for an average portion size on our food packaging.
What are the benefits of Plant Points?
Studies have shown that eating 30 different plant foods a week can play a positive role in leading a healthy lifestyle.¹ For example, the 2018 American Gut Project study highlighted that participants who ate a broader range of plants had more diverse gut microbiomes – which play a huge part in human health and disease.
Increasing the variety of plant-based foods is a great move for your health, because:
- Different fibres promote the growth of different bacteria
- Different fruits and vegetables contain a range of phytonutrients
- Different fruits and vegetables contain a variety of essential nutrients
- Plant-based foods tend to have lower energy density
Here's one of our top tips...
Here's one of our top tips...
We've given you ingredient led suggestions above on how to get Plant Points into your diet. Why not try one of our H&B Trail Mixes with Benefits? We have three to choose from, all delicious and here to support your nutritional needs.
The Tummy Love Trail Mix has a whopping 9 Plant Points! A delicious and easy way to get to your target of 30!
Alex Glover, Senior Nutritionist
Alex Glover, Senior Nutritionist
“Plant Points is a build on 5-a-day, and focuses on the total number of plants we are consuming within the diet, not just fruits and vegetables. Increasing our intake of plants allows us to feed our gut bacteria more diverse foods and the more diverse our gut becomes the more our gut is able to look after us!
Good gut health doesn’t need to take over your life. Think about what you’ve eaten today so far and how you can add extra Plant Points to that. For example, let’s say for dinner you’re making a stir fry. Why not add pepper, spinach and some nuts on top? It’s easier than you think!”
Need some inspiration?
If you’re not sure how to get to 30 Plant Points a week, we're here to help. To reach the recommended goal of 30, you’ll want to aim for just over four Plant Points from different sources each day. Our new foods have Plant Points on the labels and if you need a touch more inspiration, browse through our selection of tasty recipes to pair our plant-based food products together for maximum points!
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