Whole Food Plant Based
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A place for people who want to eat more fruits and vegetables and less animal products and processed foods.
This includes adding more vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts/seeds. While eliminating meat, dairy, eggs, and fish. It is also avoids added salt, oil and sugar as much as possible
We are not looking for perfect adherence to any one particular eating style of WFPB.
Posts should be about eating whole food plant based foods most of the time.
Recipes should not include animal products.
Share images, information, questions, recipes, stories, or victories.
founded 1 year ago
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Plant-Based 101
What do I eat?
Keep it simple—eat whole, unprocessed foods derived from plants.
Why?
The benefits of a healthy lifestyle are enormous. When you adopt a WFPB lifestyle, you can increase the odds that you will:
- Lower risk of prostate, breast, and other cancers
- Prevent, even reverse, heart disease
- Prevent and treat diabetes
- Achieve a healthy body weight and increase your energy levels
- Live longer
- And much more!
The price? Simply changing your diet. You can achieve profound health benefits by including more whole plant-based foods on your plate.
Let’s break it down into what should and shouldn’t be on your plate...
Whole Food, Plant-Based Guide
Yes! Eat these in abundance**
Enjoy a wide range of whole, unrefined plants. You can eat when you’re hungry and eat until you’re full. Strive for diversity in your meals, and include fiber-rich foods that capture all the colors of the nutrition rainbow.
The following list contains many suggestions, but it is not exhaustive. Some items on this list may be inaccessible where you live due to climate or cultural relevance. We encourage you to use these suggestions as a starting point, but explore other foods in the following food groups! Also, choose organic when possible. For produce, please visit the Environmental Working Group’s website to locate their list of the dirty dozen and clean fifteen foods.
Whole Grains & Ancient Grains
amaranth, barley, brown rice, bulgur, farro, millet, quinoa, sorghum, steel cut and rolled oats, teff, wheat berries, whole wheat, wild rice
Legumes
(dried or canned with minimal salt)
adzuki beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, fava beans, green beans, kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, mung beans, peas, pinto beans, soybeans
Greens (fresh or frozen)
arugula, bok choy, chards, cilantro, collards, kale, lettuces, parsley, spinach
Roots
beets, carrots, daikon, garlic, ginger, leeks, onions, potatoes (all colors), radishes, turnips
Other Veggies
asparagus, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, celery, mushrooms, peppers, sea vegetables, squash, tomatoes, zucchini
Fruit (fresh or frozen)
apples, apricots, bananas, berries, cherries, grapes, kiwi, mangoes, melons, papayas, pineapple, plums
Omega-3-Rich Seeds
chia seeds, flaxseed
**Organic Whole Soy Products
(Recommend limiting soy to 2–3 servings per day) edamame, miso, tempeh, tofu.
Spices
all spices
Beverages
decaffeinated coffee, green tea, herbal teas, unsweetened plant-based milk substitutes, water
Should I take vitamin B12?
This essential nutrient is not made by animals or plants. B12 is made by microbes, bacteria that blanket the earth. These bacteria are common in the gastrointestinal tract of animals and so animal foods can be sources of B12. Few plants actually contain vitamin B12: two varieties of edible algae, some varieties of mushrooms, plants grown in experimental settings with B12-enriched soils or water, and some foods made with certain fermentation processes have small amounts of active B12.
Occasionally. Eat these sparingly.
Many of the following foods are healthy. For example, nuts, seeds, and avocados have many valuable, health-promoting nutrients. But these foods are also very calorie dense because of their naturally high fat content. It is also easy to eat these foods excessively without realizing it. Enjoy them in moderation.
Nuts
almonds, cashews, nut butters, pistachios, walnuts
Coconut
low-fat coconut milk, raw coconut, unsweetened shreds or chips
Avocado
Seeds (except omega-3 sources)
pumpkin, sesame, sunflower
Dried Fruit
organic and without added sugars or oils
Natural Added Sweeteners
date syrup, maple syrup, molasses
Beverages
caffeinated coffee and high-caffeine tea (without added sugar) If purchasing a pre-packaged food product, carefully read what is on the package, box, or can. Note that product ingredients are listed in descending order, with the greatest amount by weight listed first. Purchase plant-based products with only a few ingredients, which may be a good way to tell if it is less processed. Aim for foods high in fiber and low in sodium and added sugars.
No. Avoid these foods.
The standard American diet (SAD), or the Western diet, is heavy on meat, dairy, and refined and ultra-processed foods. It is very high in added sugar, sodium, and cholesterol and deficient in health-promoting nutrients, fiber, and phytonutrients. Consequently, we face epidemics of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other lifestyle-related diseases; staggering health care costs; and lower quality of life.
Meat
fish, lamb, pork, poultry, processed meat, red meat, seafood
Dairy
butter, buttermilk, cheese, cream, half and half, ice cream, milk, yogurt
Eggs
chicken, duck, ostrich, quail
Processed Plant Fragments
(these are often found in vegan replacement foods)
Added and Hydrogenated Fats
Margarine, oils (including olive oil and coconut oil)
even the finest olive oils are 100% fat, meaning calorically-dense and nutrient-poor. Oil injures the endothelium, the innermost lining of the artery, and that injury is the gateway to vascular disease. Especially for those with known heart disease, adding even a little oil can negatively impact heart health.
Refined Sugar
barley malt, beet sugar, brown sugar, cane juice crystals, confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar), corn syrup, fructose, white sugar
Refined Grains
white flour (including in pastas, bread, snack foods), white rice
Protein Isolates
isolated soy protein or soy protein isolate, pea protein isolate
Ultra-Processed Foods
Foods with additives, artificial colors, stabilizers These are often packaged and drastically modified from their original state (think Twinkies, Oreos, potato chips, and other “junk foods”).
If you’re not sure whether you are eating an ultra-processed food, read the label and ask yourself whether you recognize the ingredients. Are they whole foods or only fragments of the original foods?
Beverages
energy drinks, fruit juice (even 100% fruit juice), soda, sports drinks
Source: https://nutritionstudies.org/whole-food-plant-based-diet-guide/
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I started making my own tempeh four years ago. It took me a while to figure out a good method, but now the entire process is easy and relatively quick — almost always a total of 72 hours from start to finish. The effort involved is on the order of making scrambled eggs, though there is a longer wait between steps.
I make tempeh from a 50-50 mix of (intact whole) grain and legumes. The photo shows a black-bean-and-black-rice tempeh. My most recent tempeh was soybeans and 3 grains (counting quinoa as a grain):
- 1/2 cup sprouted tri-color quinoa
- 1/2 cup sprouted millet
- 1/2 cup intact whole einkorn
I store the finished slab of tempeh in the refrigerator and dice it (large or small, depending) for stir-fries, chili, stews, curries, soups, etc. I also spray the diced tempeh with a little olive oil, tossed with some spices (smoked paprika, ground chipotle or cayenne, etc.) and salt, and then roast that in the air-fryer for a snack.--
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I was told that the very best (smoothest) hummus is made from desi chickpeas — but I didn't understand that the reference was to chana dal (split desi chickpeas, hull removed) and not kala chana (whole intact desi chickpeas). So when I saw at Walmart an 8lb bag of "brown chickpeas (kala chana), I immediately bought it and made a batch of hummus. It was quite tasty, though not especially smooth.
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“One farmer says to me, ‘You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make the bones with;’ and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying himself with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle.” —Henry David Thoreau
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Hooray it works well and it is effortless, if you can stick with mostly eating plant foods. I did 20-45 minutes of cardio or HIIT type training 3 of 4 days a week. Not to increase the rate of weight loss but just to start moving again and building muscle. Light weights and high reps because I am starting again at beginner levels.
Diet: Mostly WFPB-SOS all the time. Had 3 meals during this time that didn't follow guidelines but immediately got back on track with the next meal.
Bad News... This is me losing the same weight I have lost before.
2016 I went mostly vegan and mostly junk food vegan. Gained 50+ pounds until 2019 and went WFPB. After losing 80 pounds I decided I could limit myself and slowly allow Vegan Junk back in..... and that was a mistake. That once a month treat turned into every 14 days, weekly, twice a week, daily, 3 times a day. And before I knew it, I had spiraled back out of control and was eating anything and everything. One excuse turned into 5 and I just stopped worrying about it for another 2 years and gained all the weight back.
This time I am trying much harder to limit sugar, salt, oil, and other processed foods because they ultimately are what allows me to "cheat" and I am only cheating myself and my progress. The food and the side effects are never worth it and I end up being sick and bloated and angry at myself.
Share your story. Struggles and successes and everything else!
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Not everything "has" to be organic but it is best to buy these 12 foods organic when possible. They are listed as the dirtiest foods with the highest levels of pesticides.
Always clean your fruit and veg, organic or not.
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Kale, Collard & mustard greens
- Peaches
- Pears
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Grapes
- Bell & Hot peppers
- Cherries
- Blueberries
- Green beans
Source: https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php
for the cleanest 15 foods see this site: https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/clean-fifteen.php
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Share your favorite recipes from any whole food plant based source.
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Romanesco Broccoli is my favorite vegetable. I could eat in a soup everyday and never get tired of it.
What are your favorites? OR foods that you can't stand?
