During the program, you aim to eat 2 pieces of fruit and 250 grams of vegetables every day, avoid alcohol, and ensure you get enough fluids. You also receive a daily suggestion for a healthy plant-based lunch.

Under the "Recipes" tab, you will also find suggestions for breakfast and dinner.

Eating more plant-based offers sustainable contributions in several important areas:

Up to 35% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the production of food. Meat and dairy make up the largest share of this. This production leads to loss of nature and to environmental pollution. Plant-based food counteracts the climate problem and the depletion of the earth (1).

There is a lot of animal suffering in the livestock industry. Ask yourself if you want to contribute to this. Consciously eating less animal products and emphasis on eating more plant-based products can make a difference, but this does not have to mean that after your challenge, you can never again eat a piece of meat or have a bowl of yoghurt. By choosing organic products, you contribute to more animal welfare (2).

Eating more plant-based products, while reducing the intake of animal products, such as meat, has several health benefits. Research shows that it can contribute toa lower risk of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease (3, 4) and type 2 diabetes (5). This while contributing to a lower blood pressure (6), a more stable blood sugar level (5, 7, 8) and a better cholesterol balance (7, 8). In addition, switching to a more plant-based diet can help you to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight (7-9). Also, there are indications that a plant-based diet can reduce inflammation (10).

Not all plant-based (vegan) products in the supermarket are healthy, by the way. You also have plant-based croquettes, cookies, and candy. Therefore, in addition to eating plant-based, the following pillars also apply during your RechargeWeek.

Grain products contain carbohydrates, proteins, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, especially whole grain products (such as whole grain bread, pasta, or rice). However, it makes a difference to your body and your health whether you eat whole or refined (white) grains.

Research has shown that eating whole grain products is beneficial for your health, compared to white grain products. For example, by lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and intestinal cancer.

The Dutch Nutrition Centre Recommended replacing white-grain products (such as white bread, pasta, and rice) with whole-grain products. And to eat at least 90 grams of whole grain products daily (11-13).

You can find sugar in many foods, also in fruit and dairy products (14). So, sugars occur naturally in products that fit into a healthy diet.

These sugars are available in their natural form: surrounded by vitamins, minerals, proteins, fiber, and other healthy substances. Therefore, not all sugars are bad. However, products like soft drinks, cookies, and candy contain a lot of added sugars.

Added sugars are mostly refined sugars that are added to products to increase sweetness. Refined sugars are sugars that are extracted from food by means of industrial processing. For example, from sugar cane or sugar beet. During this purification process, many useful nutrients are lost and only the sugar remains.

In your body, all forms of sugar are converted into glucose (the fuel for your body to provide energy) (14). Products with added refined sugars are typically digested faster in your body, leading to negative effects on your health. Among other things, it leads to rapid blood sugar spikes (15). This can trigger a hormonal process that can lead to a fat storage state (16) and then a blood sugar drop. The latter in turn leads to fatigue (17) and a feeling of hunger that makes you crave food again (18). Moreover, if you eat too many products with added sugars, you are at risk of eating fewer products that are good for you and provide vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

It is recommended to drink as few sugary drinks as possible (13, 19). Sugar-sweetened beverages (such as soda and sports drinks) often contain high levels of refined sugars and therefore provide energy (calories). Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages increase the risk of obesity. This is probably because your body perceives calories that are ingested in a liquid form less easily. As a result, you feel satiated less quickly after drinking than after eating food.

Did you know that fruit juice contains as much sugar as a soda (e.g. cola)? During the preparation of fruit juice, a lot of nutrients are destroyed, and therefore, fruit juice contains fewer vitamins and fiber than a piece of fruit, but the same amount of calories.

More than 100,000 tons of caffeine are consumed worldwide. Coffee contains caffeine which, in small amounts, makes you alert, energetic, and focused (20, 21).

Several beneficial qualities are attributed to this substance.

However, using too much caffeine can also lead to high blood pressure, sleep problems, anxiety, and feeling restless (20-26).

Caffeine acts as a stimulant in your central nervous system. It affects the action of several important substances including

A few cups of coffee a day, an average of 2 to 4 cups, fits into a healthy dietary pattern according to the Dutch Nutrition Centre. It is however important to be aware of how your coffee is made. If coffee is filtered more, it is healthier, because it then contains less of the substances Cafestol and Kahweol. These substances raise LDL cholesterol. Too much LDL cholesterol in your blood sticks to the lining of your arteries. This increases the risk of, for example, a heart attack or stroke (13, 20, 21). Therefore, it is better to drink filtered coffee, instead of unfiltered coffee.

We drink alcohol for fun and as a treat but also, for example, to de-stress, to suppress our emotions, or out of habit.

There is a lot to say about alcohol, but research shows that alcohol:

During your RechargeWeek, you avoid alcohol so that you:

The Dutch Nutrition Centre advises drinking no alcohol, or at least not more than one glass per day (13, 43).

You probably know that drinking fluid is important. But do you know why? More than half of your body is made up of water. If you want to function without problems, you need to make sure you are sufficiently hydrated.

According to the Dutch Nutrition Centre, It is recommended to drink approximately 1,5 to 2 liters of fluids daily through the consumption of calorie-free drinks like water, tea, and coffee without sugar (restricted amount of maximal 4 cups daily) (13, 44). The use of sugar-free soft drinks is less recommended since they can cause acid erosion of the teeth (45) and the consumption of fruit and vegetable juices are discouraged due to their often high sugar content (45).

Fluids are crucial for:

In general, eating less processed foods and cooking with fresh products is a good rule of thumb for getting more healthy substances, eating more consciously and more sustainable, and having less need to snack or overeat (51).

Unprocessed natural food automatically contains all the healthy substances. By choosing as much as possible for fresh and less processed foods you can maintain a healthy weight easier (52). Cravings for stumps of broccoli are not easy to come by, after all...

In the basics, choose:

Processing food is sometimes unavoidable. Freezing, pasteurizing, cooking, slicing are examples of processing forms that make food storable and (safely) edible. Unfortunately, with each processing form, nutrients are lost. For example, by cutting cooking, and storing your vegetables you already lose vitamins and minerals.

You can imagine that more highly processed products (or ultra-processed foods) might contain fewer healthy substances. For example, ultra-processed products can include ice cream, cookies, candy, and chips, but also sweetened cereals, breaded meat, and fish products (53).

Of course, there is room for all foods. As long as your choices are mostly healthy. We like the 80-20 rule for this. When you make sure to healthy products (e.g. fruits en vegetables) first, you’ll automatically have fewer insatiable cravings (52). Then you can just eat 1 cookie, instead of the whole pack (or maybe you won’t even crave it at all anymore). How nice it is when you are no longer a puppet of your craving for sweets.

Not sure if your product is as healthy as it seems? Read the label! After all, there is a lot of clever marketing out there…

Your body needs vitamins, minerals, fibers, and other plant substances every day. They are needed in every process in your body and we cannot produce these substances ourselves. If you build up shortages, more and more complaints will arise as the years go by. Fruits and vegetables are our healthiest sources of these substances.

Fruits and vegetables have many health benefits; they protect your body, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases, including coronary heart disease (55), stroke (56), type 2 diabetes (57-60), and certain types of cancer (lung and colon cancer) (13, 61-63). Also, the substances in vegetables help with help you maintain your weight (64). It is still unclear which compounds in fruits and vegetables protect against chronic diseases. This is probably due to the variety of vitamins, minerals, fibers, and other compounds. For this reason, a vitamin pill cannot replace fruits and vegetables.

Fruit provides few calories, but many nutrients. Eating different fruits is the best way to get all the important nutrients. Moreover, fruit contains a lot of water and dietary fiber, which provide a feeling of fullness (62).

The Dutch Nutrition Centre advises eating at least 2 pieces of fruit a day (equal to +/- 200 grams) and not replacing whole fruits with fruit juice. Since fruit juice contains just as much sugar as soda drinks and often fewer nutrients and fiber than fruit (which makes you feel less full) (62).

The Dutch Nutrition Centre recommends eating 250 grams or maybe even more vegetables each day (13, 63). However, according to the most recent food consumption survey, the average daily vegetable intake in the Netherlands is only 131 grams (65).

How do I eat enough vegetables per day?

Incorporating vegetables into every meal moment makes it easy to eat enough vegetables.

Here’s what it might look like:

In general, there is no need to be afraid of eating too many vegetables. Vegetables are low in calories and high in healthy substances. The fiber, however, can cause some people to become bloated if consumed in excess (66). Therefore, chew them well and do not eat only raw vegetables, but also stir-fried, steamed, or cooked vegetables. This makes digestion easier.

None. You need them all. Each vegetable has its own composition of essential substances, there is no single vegetable that can provide them all. The variety between different types of vegetables is the best way to get enough of these essential substances (63). Therefore, try to eat vegetables from different groups (67). A useful rule of thumb: try to eat 5 different colors of vegetables every day. Then you’re soon good.

Vegetables are not extremely sweet, fatty, sour, or salty, so not everyone can appreciate them. Flavoring vegetables with herbs and spices makes them tastier and even healthier because, although in small amounts, herbs and spices also contain vitamins and minerals.

Good luck!

For questions, you can always contact our RechargeCoaches at [email protected].