We wrote More Plants because the evidence pointing toward plant-rich eating as a foundation for a longer, healthier life is more consistent, more replicated, and more compelling than almost anything else in nutritional science. Not a trend. Not ideology. Just science.
If you want to understand why, start here.
The two diets worth knowing about
Nutritional research is notoriously messy. Randomised controlled trials are difficult to run for years at a time. Observational studies are confounded by a hundred lifestyle variables. Most dietary claims made in the media don't survive much scrutiny.
Against that backdrop, two dietary patterns stand out for the quality and consistency of their evidence: the Mediterranean diet and the eating patterns documented in the Blue Zones, the regions of the world where people live verifiably longer and healthier lives than anywhere else.
They are different in many respects. One is defined by geography and cuisine, the other observed across five distinct populations on four different continents. But they share a foundation so consistent it's hard to ignore.
Both are built overwhelmingly on plants.
The Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet has the strongest evidence base of any dietary pattern in nutritional science. The research runs from Ancel Keys' Seven Countries Study in the late 1950s through to the PREDIMED trial, one of the largest and most rigorous dietary intervention studies ever conducted.
PREDIMED followed 7,447 people at high cardiovascular risk over nearly five years. The groups eating a Mediterranean diet, either supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or mixed nuts, saw their risk of major cardiovascular events - heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death - reduced by around 30% compared to a control group following a low-fat diet. A 2024 review in Revista Espanola de Cardiologia concluded that the Mediterranean diet is the best evidence-based model for cardiovascular prevention.
What does the Mediterranean diet actually look like? The key elements are abundant use of extra-virgin olive oil, high consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes, regular fish, and a reduction in processed meats, red meats, and ultraprocessed products. Meat appears occasionally, not centrally. The plate is built from plants first.
The Blue Zones
The Blue Zones are five regions of the world identified by researcher Dan Buettner and a team of demographers through National Geographic and the National Institute on Aging: Sardinia in Italy, Okinawa in Japan, Nicoya in Costa Rica, Ikaria in Greece, and the Seventh-day Adventist community in Loma Linda, California. In each place, people live measurably longer, with lower rates of chronic disease and higher concentrations of people reaching 100.
A meta-analysis of 154 dietary surveys across all five Blue Zones found that 95% of centenarians ate predominantly plant-based diets, including substantial quantities of beans.
Look at each zone individually and you see the same pattern. The classic Sardinian diet consists of whole-grain bread, beans, garden vegetables, and fruits, with meat largely reserved for Sundays and special occasions. In Okinawa, the diet was very high in vegetables and whole grains, with meat eaten only at festivals and significant celebrations. The Loma Linda Adventists follow a vegan diet of leafy greens, nuts, and legumes, and consistently show among the highest life expectancy in the United States.
It is worth being honest about what Blue Zones research can and cannot prove. The diets of long-lived populations are not fixed but evolving patterns influenced by historical traditions and societal change, and the evidence does not allow for recommending the adoption of a specific Blue Zone diet as universally transferable. Longevity in these regions is also shaped by social connection, physical movement, purpose, and stress - diet alone is not the complete explanation.
But the dietary signal across all five zones is consistent enough that dismissing it requires more effort than accepting it.
What they share
Set the Mediterranean diet and the Blue Zones diet side by side and the common ground is striking.
Both are overwhelmingly plant-based. Both feature legumes as a daily staple. Both use quality fats, particularly olive oil and nuts, as primary fat sources. Both are low in ultra-processed food and added sugar. Both include small amounts of animal protein - oily fish and occasionally lean meat - but as a minor element rather than the centrepiece of every meal.
Neither is a vegan diet. Neither is a restrictive protocol. Both are, in the most straightforward sense, an enjoyable, varied, flavourful way of eating that happens to be extraordinarily good for you.
The 30 plants target
One of the most actionable insights to come from recent microbiome research is the 30 plant varieties per week target. Research from the American Gut Project, involving over 10,000 participants, found that people eating 30 or more different plant types per week had significantly more diverse gut microbiomes than those eating fewer than 10. Gut microbiome diversity is increasingly understood as a key predictor of immune function, metabolic health, inflammation, and mental wellbeing.
Thirty plants a week sounds like a lot. It isn't, once you start counting. A bowl of porridge with mixed seeds, a handful of berries, a salad with five different vegetables, a meal made with two types of bean and a handful of herbs - you're most of the way there by lunchtime. Herbs, spices, nuts, seeds, and different vegetables all count. Variety, not volume, is the point.
Every recipe in More Plants is designed to help you hit that target, with plant point counts on each dish so you can track progress without it becoming a chore.
Why this matters to us
BOSH! has always made food for everyone - people who don't eat meat at all, people who eat it occasionally, people who have no intention of changing what's in the centre of their plate but want more interesting, nutritious food around it. The "more plants" message has been at the heart of what we do since the beginning.
What's changed, for us personally, is that the science has sharpened our understanding of why. This isn't about dietary identity. Plants carry most of the compounds that protect cells from oxidative stress and inflammation - the processes most closely linked to chronic disease and accelerated ageing. The fibre that feeds the gut microbiome comes almost entirely from plants. The polyphenols in olive oil, berries, spices, and herbs are among the most studied longevity-relevant compounds in food.
More plants means more of all of that. You don't need to eat perfectly. You don't need to follow a protocol. You just need to shift the balance of your plate gradually in a direction that happens to produce delicious food.
That's what the book is about. That's what we're about.