There's a study that changed how I eat.

They found that people who ate 30 different plants per week had completely different gut bacteria than those eating 10 or fewer.

Not just different. Better in every measurable way.

The 2,000-calorie diet is dead. The new metric should be 30 different plants per week.

At first I thought - that's insane. Thirty plants? I eat like 5 things on rotation. Chicken, rice, broccoli, eggs, repeat.

Here’s a list of their findings from the American Gut Project on what affects the gut microbiome, sorted by impact:

Your gut has about 2 kilograms of bacteria. That's heavier than your brain. And those bacteria produce 95% of your body's serotonin.

Your mood is largely controlled by what you feed the bacteria in your gut.

So I tried it. For one month, I tracked every plant I ate.

Week one was embarrassing. Eleven plants total.

But then I started getting creative. That random cilantro on my tacos? That counts. The three different beans in my chili? That's three plants. Cinnamon in my coffee, garlic in everything, frozen berries in smoothies.

By week three, I was hitting 35-40 different plants without thinking about it.

Two weeks in, my energy was different. Not jittery coffee energy, just steady, clear energy all day. My digestion completely changed. And I felt... lighter? Less anxious about random stuff.

Why This Matters More Than Calories

The 2,000-calorie diet was invented in the 1990s by the FDA because they needed to pick a number for nutrition labels.

That's the origin story. Some bureaucrat picked a round number.

And we've been following it for 30 years like it's gospel.

People with diverse microbiomes have lower rates of depression, better immune function, even potentially longer lifespans. One study estimated it could add a decade to your healthy years.

Look, I'm not saying become a vegetarian or count vegetables obsessively.

I'm saying variety might be the most underrated health metric we have.

- Jacob, The Renewal