A whole food plant-based diet and lifestyle can contribute to optimal health and disease prevention. Numerous peer-reviewed studies have shown that a diet void of animal protein and ultra-processed food helps to prevent common widespread diseases. This includes diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary heart disease.
What are “whole foods”?
The term whole food plant-based consists of two separate aspects. Whole foods are foods that are unprocessed and therefore still mostly in the same shape and form as they have grown. Fresh fruit and vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds fall into this category, until they are indeed processed. So do fresh eggs and honey, which are both neither plant-based nor vegan.
Flours from grains or legumes and oils from vegetables, nuts and seeds are highly processed and therefore not whole foods. These types of processed foods are nutritionally inferior to their original source, as they are comparably low in fibre and/or phytonutrients.
What is “plant-based”?
Plant-based food on the other hand is simply any type of plant matter that has been turned into food. It does not contain any type of animal product such as animal flesh or bones, dairy, egg, honey or anything else derived from an animal. A vegan diet will therefore always be plant-based by default. Oils, flours and vegan “junk food” are rightfully labelled as plant-based without being a whole food.
In combination, a whole food plant-based diet is therefore centered around unprocessed plant-food. Such diet will provide a huge amount of fibre, vitamins, minerals and water.