You may have heard or seen the phrase, whole food plant-based (or WFPB) way of eating and have no clue what it means.
There is a lot of confusion out there right now when it comes to the terminology about the way people choose to eat. When someone says I’m vegetarian or vegan or plant-based or whole-food plant-based, what does it mean?
Here are the most common definitions based on months of my research related to plant-based diets:
- Vegetarian: commonly means they don’t eat meat but will eat dairy and sometimes eggs.
- Vegan: typically means they don’t eat anything that comes from animals. No meat, dairy, eggs, or even honey. Defining yourself as a vegan often includes a lifestyle of avoiding clothing and other products made from animals as well.
- Plant-based: generally means that the majority of their food intake is vegetables and fruits. They may choose to consume lesser amounts of animal foods, sugar, and/or processed foods in their overall intake, but the focus is fruits, vegetables, and other natural foods (legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, etc…). There are also plant-based ‘meats’ out there now that may also be included in the plant-based diet.
- Whole-food plant-based: this way of eating usually means avoiding animal foods (meat, dairy, and eggs). It also strongly recommends avoiding sugar, oil, and salt, which means staying away from processed foods as much as possible (including the plant-based ‘meats’).
So why Whole-Food, Plant-based?
The health benefits of reducing or eliminating animal-based foods as well as processed foods are substantial.
There is a significant amount of research now that shows that eating more plants and eliminating animal products can help preventor in some cases even reverse many of the chronic illnesses that are plaguing Americans today.
Some of these illnesses include:
- Cardiac disease (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes)
- Type II diabetes
- Some autoimmune diseases
- Some cancers
- Obesity (which leads to many of the chronic illnesses)
- It has also been shown to decrease anxiety and depression
The diet in America today consists of 92% animal products and processed foods and only 8% fruits and vegetables! In Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book, “Eat to Live” he states that populations with the lowest death rates from the leading causes of death in the US (cardiac and cancer), “consume more than 75% of their calories from unrefined plant foods.” This is almost ten times the 8% consumed in the US.
The standard American diet (SAD) consists of calorie rich and nutrient poor foods causing Americans to be overfed and undernourished.
What are the key issues with the standard American diet?
- Without a significant amount of fruits and vegetables, our diet is severely lacking in fiber, nutrients, and phytochemicals. All of these are necessary for protection against the diseases listed above. Foods from animal sources have no fiber and the processed, convenient foods that are so prevalent in today’s society are severely lacking in any type of nutritional value, including fiber. Some processed foods have added fiber back into the final product but the fiber from the original source is far more beneficial to our gut microbiome (because of the nutrients and phytochemicals in the original foods).
- Gut microbiome health is imperative to a healthy immune system. Nearly 70% of our immune system is housed in our gut. Gut health is dependent on a variety of fruits and vegetables – diversity is key.
- Our dairy consumption has had many health implications over the years, especially as we continue to eat more and more of it. Dairy has been associated with constipation in children, premature puberty, acne, some cancers, and cardiovascular diseases.
- Sugar has many negative health implications, and it is found in almost everything these days. If you look at the food labels of processed foods you will find it in the most surprising places. And it is listed under many different names. The food industry tries to hide sugar as an ingredient by listing it under many different names.
- We know that many convenient or processed foods also have a lot of different chemicals listed in the ingredients and these have been shown to be A lot of the added chemicals, along with the sugar, dairy, and gluten are known to cause inflammation in our bodies. This inflammation is also a major contributor to the chronic diseases discussed above.
In 2019, based on recent blood work, my doctor told me that I had inflammation markers that were elevated and an autoimmune response of some sort going on which were all most likely related to a leaky gut. He told me to cut out sugar, dairy, gluten, and processed foods to try and reverse what was going on.
So, I left his office on a journey to find more information on what these issues meant and what in the world I could still eat if I cut out everything he told me to! I transitioned to a whole-food, plant-based way of eating and a few months later, a repeat blood panel showed everything had reverted back to normal.
I felt so much better overall with this new way of eating, with more energy throughout the day, and a recurring plantar fasciitis that has not flared up since the change.
I hope this article has given you an informative overview of what a whole-food, plant-based diet is and a few of the many health benefits that come with that way of eating.
I’ll leave you to ponder Hippocrates when he said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”