Consuming an increased amount of fruit and vegetables has left me feeling less hungry than ever before.

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In a bid to improve health and manage irritable bowel symptoms, one individual embarked on a week-long experiment of consuming eight to ten portions of fruits and vegetables daily, while maintaining protein intake without meat. This adventure in plant-based eating was documented in detail.

The breakfast of champions was a bowl of oats, adorned with Greek yogurt, blueberries, banana, chia seeds, linseeds, and rolled oats. Surprisingly, this meal packed almost 40g of protein, ensuring the author felt satiated throughout the morning.

Lunchtime saw a vibrant vegetable stir-fry take centre stage. The concoction included pak choi, mushrooms, carrot, ginger, bean sprouts, spring onions, peanut butter, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sweet chill sauce, and wholewheat noodles. The author's secret to a perfect stir-fry? Heating oil in a pan, adding the chopped ingredients, stir-frying for five minutes, then adding the peanut butter and liquid ingredients, and mixing until they coated the vegetables. If using dry noodles, they were boiled and added to the vegetables once they separated. If using straight-to-wok noodles, this step was skipped to save on washing up.

Dinner was a simple affair, with a baked sweet potato and cheese taking centre stage. The author was not hungry throughout the day, but found that they did not experience the usual hunger pangs or evening munchies.

The author's protein intake did not suffer as much as they thought it would without meat. In fact, they were consuming around 0.8g of protein per kg of body weight, as recommended by Harvard Health. Protein is great for providing a feeling of satiety, according to a review in the British Journal of Nutrition.

After a week of this meal plan, the author felt perky and more fun to be around, despite the decreased calorie intake. Moreover, their skin improved significantly, with fewer pimples, dry skin, and eczema.

Research indicates that consuming eight to 10 portions of fruit and vegetables per day may offer additional health benefits beyond the recommended four to five portions. However, the search results do not contain information about who conducted the research project that the author refers to.

The author's snacks throughout the day included chocolate, caramel rice cakes, and fruit, all of which were tracked on the Samsung Health app. Despite the occasional sweet treat, the author's diet was packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants from all the fruits and vegetables.

In conclusion, this week-long experiment in plant-based eating proved to be a success for the author, both in terms of health improvements and managing irritable bowel symptoms. The author plans to continue incorporating more fruits and vegetables into their diet moving forward.

Consuming an increased amount of fruit and vegetables has left me feeling less hungry than ever before.