The recommendation of general line nutritionists for vegan food (fruits, vegetables, seaweed, berries, nuts, mushrooms, seeds) is 500 g.

This amount is the very minimum and not quite enough for for a truly healthy diet. Better is to eat 1000 g = 1 kg.

From 1 kg we get about 30 -60 g of fibre (but only about 400 kcal), which we desperately need to keep the intestine and our microbiome (gut bacteria flora) healthy. Now that in the healthy diet one has restricted the amount of grains / cereals (100 % full grain of course) to 2 pc of bread (etc.) a day which is about 50 g, there comes 5-8 g of fibre more.

Generally, people eat vegetation less than 500 g/day, due to old fashioned and undeveloped eating habits. Fast foods or readymade factory foods contain vegetation and essential fibre very little.

Here come some valuable hints how to contain 1 kg of vegetation into your diet easily, so that it tastes good, fits well into smart diet and keeps your fibre levels good.

Here are some examples of portions of vegetation what we can easily eat each day:

1. One onion, cabbages, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms etc. about 100 g in each warm meal.
2. Recommended handful of raisins, 60 g.
3. 2 fresh fruit 100 g each.
4. Fresh vegetable salad as part of a warm meal 150 g.
5. Highly recommended glass of seed – berry fruit smoothie (or carrot juice) at least once a day. 250 g.
6. One green smoothie for snack   200 g.
7. A slice of water melon to get energy and liquid. 100 g.
8. 2 pieces of fresh carrots or broccoli in the evening with TV etc. 100 g.
9. Thick slices of pepper, cucumber etc. on those 2 sandwiches one eats = 2 x 50 g.

All these made already 1160 g. If one has very good habit of having 2 green or seed – berry – fruit smoothies a day, the amount of vegetation climbs already to 1360 – 1400 g/ day.

Smart eater also includes, health improving herbs and spices too which increase the health impact and good taste a lot. With other herbs one can also regulate the health impacts of the food into certain direction depending on the physical state of the eaters and their health issues.

This calculation shows how easy its to fit the healthy amount of vegetation into the diet and benefit all the good sides it shall bring with it.

Besides this 1 kg on vegan foods one should eat protein about 1 g/ kg (70 g = 280 kcal) good fats (butter, coconut oil, olive oil) and fatty foods the rest to cover the energy needs. This means usually that the fat in the diet is about 50 – 65 % of the total energy content of the food.

Eating energy in fat is far healthier, than eating it in carbohydrates which usually tent to be cereal based and thus brining big strain to the blood sugar balancing mechanism of the body. Carbohydrates are usually cleaned and processed, and thus increasing their absorption speed (= “glycaemic index”) in the gut and causing the risk for diabetes.

Veli-Jussi “Vessi” Jalkanen
Preventive health specialist