A Simple Nutrition Plan for Stroke Survivors: The 800-gram Challenge

Eating a healthy diet is a critical part of not only recovery after stroke but overall health and wellness.

In terms of stroke recovery, many resources that identify foods that help recovery after stroke center around the basics – you should eat more fruits and vegetables as well as salmon for the omega-3 fatty acids – but that’s generally the gist of most nutritional advice for stroke survivors.

A few months before my stroke I listened to a podcast from the Ready State that discussed the 800-gram challenge, a nutrition strategy that encourages you to eat more fruits and vegetables.

At the time, I was intrigued by experimenting with the challenge, but I had recently started tracking my macros meticulously with the Carbon Diet Coach app and was happy with my results, so my interest in the 800-gram challenge faded over time.

I never could’ve imagined that my interest in the challenge would be renewed just a couple of months later after having a hemorrhagic stroke that left me struggling to plan and make my own meals.

However, this simple diet challenge became the nutritional framework that I leaned on in the earliest weeks and months of recovery.

This simple diet challenge became the nutritional framework that I leaned on in the earliest weeks and months of recovery.

What is the 800g challenge?

The 800g challenge, created by EC Synkowski, is based on a 2017 study that showed eating 800 grams of fruits and vegetables a day was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, some cancers, and most causes of death.

In this simple diet framework, your goal is to eat 800 grams of fruits, vegetables, and beans a day. Outside of this requirement, you can eat whatever else you desire when hungry.

By eating more fruits, vegetables, and fiber, you’re expected to feel fuller and you’re going to snack less – if at all. You’re also going to improve the overall quality of your diet by consuming all the different micronutrients fruits and vegetables offer.

If you don’t have a food scale, 800 grams is roughly six cups of whatever your favorite fruits and vegetables may be. On her website, Synkowski outlines the foods that count toward the challenge and sample meals that hit the 800 gram threshold.

While it sounds difficult to eat 800 grams of fruits and vegetables every day, it was surprisingly much easier than I expected.

As Kelly and Juliet Starrett write in their book Built to Move “The easiest way to hit 800 grams is to include fruits and vegetables at every meal and snack.”

An additional aspect of the challenge, which I found to be helpful, encourages you to eat 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight, in addition to the 800 grams of fruits and vegetables each day.

What Foods Are Good for Stroke Recovery?

The Mediterranean Diet – one that emphasizes plant-based foods and healthy fats, such as fish – is often cited as a good nutrition plan for stroke survivors.

However, without any specific amounts or targets to hit, I’ve always found it difficult to stick to any particular eating habits. It’s very easy to snack too often or eat just a handful of fruits and vegetables and believe that to be appropriate.

That’s where the 800g challenge proved to be a significant help for me.

As I struggled to cook for myself in the weeks after stroke, I wanted to avoid eating out constantly. The 800-gram challenge provided me with a realistic goal to hit every day that helped me believe I was eating in a way that would advance my recovery after stroke just as an exercise program from a physical therapist would.

The challenge was also a fun way to experiment with different fruits and vegetables that I didn’t even know existed.

For example, when we’d visit the local farmer’s market, I’d always look for new things I had never tried before. One day, I was introduced to lemon cucumbers. While I was informed I could eat them raw, almost like an apple, I quickly learned I was not a fan of ‘lemon cukes.’

On the other hand, golden kiwis are known for having the highest vitamin C content of most common fruits, and they are now one of my favorite afternoon snacks.

How the 800-Gram Challenge Supports Recovery After Stroke

Once I returned home from in-patient rehab, I assumed that I would jump right back into my old habits, tracking all my meals on Carbon Diet Coach as I did prior to the stroke. This was a priority for me as I had lost a little over 15 pounds during my three-week stay in the hospital/rehab center.

However, that was a much too ambitious goal so early in recovery.

Not only could I not cook for myself in those early months of recovery, but I also struggled to look at a phone or computer screen for an extended period of time. Just the thought of planning a meal, cooking it, and cleaning all the dishes was overwhelming. It felt impossible that I could do all of that in a timely manner.

After a couple months of following the 800-gram challenge, I was eventually able to transition back into meeting the recommended macros provided by Carbon Diet Coach and I’ve been using the app daily ever since.

In the end, the 800-gram challenge was a fun and simple yet effective way for my post-stroke self to eat healthy every day with very little restrictions other than centering my diet around fruits and vegetables.

It helped me to create sustainable habits to fit more fruits and vegetables into my diet, which I continue to follow to this day.