Bored of beige? Here’s a top nutritionist’s guide to diversifying your diet

A varied diet is the key both to good gut health and to good overall health, as the bacteria in our gut need a diverse range of fibres to feed off, and our body needs a diverse range of nutrients to function. 

Having reduced bacterial diversity in your gut means that you are more susceptible to disease, whereas, with a diverse microbiota, you are more likely to bounce back from unhealthy fluctuations in your diet and to be able to withstand the environmental and biological challenges of daily life. 

Time and again, I see people in my clinic who eat only from a restricted repertoire of foods, unaware of how they could be limiting their health.

The number of different plant species we eat has a significant impact on the bacterial diversity of our gut. However, modern food retailing and farming practices mean that the fruit and veg we eat today is much more limited in terms of diversity and variety than that eaten by our forebears.

Modern processing and the need for global food availability has removed the natural variety from our diet. For example, a standardised variety of orange carrot is grown at the expense of other varieties. The consequence of decisions like this, according to the United Nations, is that 75 per cent of plant diversity has been lost since 1900. All of which means that we need to work hard to put that variety back in.

Six ways to diversify your diet: 

1. Experiment with different wholegrains. For example, use quinoa instead of rice, oats instead of store-bought cereal, or try adding spelt or barley into soups or salads. If you can’t find anywhere that stocks more unusual wholegrains, order them online.

2. Try different preparation methods. If you roasted your vegetables yesterday, try steaming them today, and eating them raw tomorrow.

3. Make sure you have every colour in your shopping trolley, and at least three colours on your plate. 

4. Leave a jar of mixed seeds on your kitchen or dining table to remind you to add them toyour food.

5. Buy pre-mixed combinations of fruits, veg, nuts, seeds or pulses and legumes.

6. Keep a range of dried herbs on your kitchen counter to remind you to use them. And try adding them to your dishes. Opt for mixed herbs to start with, then add more to your collection as you go along. For example, cinnamon on porridge or mixed herbs in a salad dressing.

The Imperfect Nutritionist 7 Principles of Healthy Eating by Jennifer Medhurst. Published by Kyle Books. Photography: Nick Hopper.