It's been stated that what you consume determines who you are. While this isn't strictly true, the food we eat has a significant impact on our health, appearance, and even mood. That's why it's critical to eat a diet rich in vitamins and nutrients while avoiding the trash your body doesn't require.
Is it time to get out the calculator and start keeping track of every calorie, carb, and nutrient you consume? No
What this means is that if you want to feel and look your best, you might need to change your entire eating habits. We're talking about major lifestyle changes like learning to recognize which foods are best for your body and creating a daily meal plan around them.
And studies show that eating a whole-food plant-based diet is the best way to do so.
What Is a Whole-Food Plant-Based Diet?
You've probably heard of the vegan diet, which involves avoiding all animal products in one's diet. No meat, dairy, fish, eggs, or bee products are allowed.
A vegan diet is an excellent approach to eliminating many bad foods from your daily routine, potentially lowering blood sugar levels, increasing renal function, and lowering your risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and certain cancers. Isn't it pretty decent?
However, being vegan and eliminating animal products does not always imply eating well. There are many manufactured vegan snacks available, which can lead to veganism based on junk food. After all, you could eat Oreos all day and not break any vegan rules, but that doesn't mean you'd be doing your health any favors.
On the other hand, if all you're doing is avoiding animal products but not eating nutrient-dense foods, you might end up with nutritional deficiencies; vitamin B12 is only found in animal sources, and protein, iron, zinc, calcium, and omega-3 fatty acids can all be hard to come by on a junk food diet.
In terms of nutrition, the whole-food plant-based diet picks up where the vegan diet leaves off.
Like a whole food plant-based diet, a vegan diet excludes meat, dairy, eggs, and other animal products. It does, however, stay away from refined and processed meals (including foods that contain refined sugar or white flour). Instead of focusing on what you shouldn't eat, we prefer to concentrate on what you can add to your plate.
Eating this manner aims to provide your body with entire, high-quality, plant-based options rich in essential nutrients, including some that junk-food vegans often overlook. In essence, a whole-food plant-based diet provides all of the above-mentioned health benefits without the drawbacks of a vegan diet.
Foods You Should Include On Your Plate
The whole-food plant-based diet, as previously said, is about living a healthy lifestyle rather than monitoring calories or dieting. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the foods described in this section. These are the meals you can eat as much as you like because they're packed with nutrients that are excellent for your body. Here's what we're talking about:
- Whole fruits
- Vegetables (both starchy and nonstarchy)
- WaterUnsweetened tea
- Unsweetened coffee
- Plant-based Omega-3 sources (like flaxseed and chia seeds)
- Legumes
- 100% Whole grains
When transitioning to a whole food plant-based lifestyle, one common concern is that you won't obtain all of the macronutrients your body requires, particularly protein. However, when you switch to a whole food plant-based diet, you won't need to drink protein shakes. There are numerous plant-based protein sources to choose from. Nuts, lentils, chickpeas, tempeh, and edamame are examples of plant protein.
Except for vitamin B12, a varied whole-food plant-based diet will likely meet all of your nutritional needs. You can either take supplements or eat b12-fortified foods to achieve this.
Foods to Avoid or Limit
A whole food plant-based diet does not include animal products. The good news is that most animal products are rather obvious from afar. The bad news is that some animal products are utilized as ingredients in other foods, making matters even more complicated.
Avoid eating obvious animal items, as well as overly processed and prefabricated foods. Here are a few foods to limit or avoid for best health:
Refined sugar-containing foods
- Fish
- Seafood
- Eggs
- Processed foods
- Refined flour
- Fruit juice
- Soft drinks
- Oil and fats (margarine, butter, and liquid oils)
- Dairy
- Poultry
Now, we know what you're thinking: as you convert to a whole food plant-based diet, you'll have to check nutrition labels continually. But here's the thing: the best whole foods are fresh and unprocessed, which means they're rarely labeled with nutritional information.
Make a beeline for the produce section! You won't have to worry about unknown ingredients getting into your diet if you stick to meals cooked with fresh fruit, vegetables, and legumes. However, there are some excellent prepackaged whole food plant-based brands available at the grocery store.
Because what we eat defines us, it's vital to feed our bodies only the highest-quality foods. Natural, nutrient-dense meals focus on the whole-food plant-based diet, which will help you look and feel your best. Instead of counting calories, concentrate on eating the right foods. You won't have to worry about nutrition labels ever again.
If you're concerned that this is a limiting diet, remember that the Blue Zones, the world's five locations where people live the longest, all have rich culinary traditions — and they all consume plants largely.
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