What is Whole Food Plant Based Diet Article written by the Spencer Brothers on 4/22/2022.
A Few Disclaimers Before We Discuss the Whole Food Plant Based Diet.
- I think it is near impossible to discuss lifestyle eating without seeming judgmental. Please know that nothing stated in this is meant to make people feel bad. It is simply made to help you question societal norms and to encourage you to do a deeper dive into the foods you eat to see if that is what you actually want to eat.
- A big pushback against the Whole Food Plant Based Diet is “I could never give up x and y”. My response to that would be. If you genuinely can’t, then don’t. Find ways to reduce your animal based foods a bit at a time. You may never be 100% WFPB, but steps closer to that direction will be better for you and the earth.
- This diet does hold a level of privilege within it. Depending on where people live and their own circumstances, this may not be possible or even priority.
3 Books that Answer the Question “What is Whole Food Plant Based Diet?”
What is Whole Food Plant Based Diet – Whole Book
Whole by T. Colin Campbell does a great job at explaining what a WFPB diet is as well as how society has developed such an obsession and abuse of animal products. He also discusses how science has been suppressing this due to the strong consumerist need in America to keep its hold on the meat industry. You can check out our Whole Book Summary here. Now, let’s take a step back though and look at the basics of the Whole Food Plant Based Diet.
So, let’s start simple. Whole Food Plant Based (or WFPB) diets simply mean you try to eliminate or greatly reduce the amount of animal based and heavily processed foods from your diet. Your diet would then be led by complex carbohydrates (brown rice, quinoa, etc) and many different types of vegetables and fruits. If you are anything like me, you may have a visceral reaction against that at first, but there are many cultures who already do this and have some of the most delicious food on the planet. But, if you need further convincing, let’s discuss why we should eat using the WFPB diet.
Why Eat with the WFBP – We Are The Weather Book
There are many reasons to move to a WFPB diet. Although the transition can be hard for many (slowly raises hand), there is no doubt that the benefit outweigh the inconveniences. Firstly, as Jonathan Foer eloquently explains in his book, there is direct tie to the amount of animal product the citizens of our planet eat to the amount of damage to the planet.
Ecologically, this doesn’t happen just because we eat meat, but rather due to the meat industry and its practices. With how much met is consumed on a daily basis, companies have had to take drastic means that overall have harrowing effects on our planet. You can check out our full We are the Weather Book Summary here for more information!
How to Eat WFPB – How Not to Die
After hearing what a WFPB is and why you should start implementing changes, the difficult question remains: How the crap do I do this? Enter Dr. Michel Greger and Gene Stone with their 2015 book, How Not to Die. This book is a book of two halves, the first half is dedicated to explaining all of the immense health benefits to the WFPB diet. The second half talks through tangible, actionable lists of foods and meals that anyone can implementing.
The most important idea that this book presented to me was the red-yellow-green scale. It listed out foods in each of these categories. The red are foods that should be greatly reduced or completely eliminated. the yellow are foods that are okay to eat, but in moderation. Lastly, the green section are foods that you can eat all you want effectively. A simple, but powerful idea from this book is simply this: If you are eating yellow items, they should be used to maximize the amounts of green foods you are eating. If you are interested for more thoughts, you can check out our How Not to Die Summary and Review.
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