A typical Whole Food Plant Based diet is made up of an abundance of vegetables, fruits, beans, whole-grains, nuts and seeds. Many people will say to me that eating this way means that you have become a "Vegan". Well, that's not true because even though vegans do not consume any animal products, they could be eating sugar, artificial sweeteners, and a huge amount of processed foods. A vegan diet can be downright unhealthy if you are eating doughnuts and pastries for breakfast, a diet soda and french fries for lunch, and a processed "vegan burger" for dinner with a bag of chips. Saying that you're not eating any more steak, but instead eat a box of cookies for dinner, is not eating healthy!
However, a WFPB diet eliminates the processed foods as well....the foods that make a sick and fat. Diets such as this truly undermines the true intent and lifestyle of the vegan diet. The substitution of processed foods for animal products will have little positive health effects. This is one of the reasons I don't like to use the term "vegan" because it really only tells people what you DON'T eat, but what you DO eat is far more important. Therefore, I like to use the term Whole Food Plant Based diet because it means just that, "whole foods", foods that are not processed and are derived from plants.
From a purely nutritional standpoint, animal foods are not needed to maintain good health. But many people have trouble believing this because of so many different beliefs. Nutritional information is extremely confusing to so many people because we are literally fed misinformation on a daily basis. One piece of advice--pay attention to where you are getting your information from--people can get anything published--take the Atkin's Diet for example--this is one of the MOST DANGEROUS "diet plans" a person can follow!! If the person giving out information is trying to "sell" you their product, be very cautious--make sure there is scientific evidence to back up whatever it is they are telling you.
The scientific evidence backing up a WFPB diet is nothing short of amazing. Because the meat and dairy industries are extremely powerful, they ensure that we are bombarded with all kinds of "reasons" to eat meat and consume dairy products (dairy products are nothing more than liquid meat). Of course, the more we buy their products, the wealthier they become and the sicker we get. There is no such industry as a "vegetable" or "fruit" industry to promote all the health benefits we could get by eating vegetables and fruits. It takes millions of dollars to promote meat and dairy--and as we all know, these two industries bombard us with all kinds of advertising. It doesn't matter to them that their products are responsible for much of the disease we have in this country today--what matters to them is their bottom line--money.
All the healthy nutrition we NEED can be found in the plant kingdom. People are extremely concerned with protein amounts...how will I possibly get enough protein if I'm not eating meat? What they don't understand is that all fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds have protein in them. Some of them, such as beans, nuts, broccoli and spinach have more than others. We NEVER have to be concerned about getting enough protein, carbs or fats if we simply eat a VARIETY of whole plant-based foods everyday. The beauty of this diet is that it is the NATURAL diet for our species, and nature has packaged everything in these healthy foods in just the right amount of quantities.
We are a nation of people that believe we need to eat far more protein than we really do need. The physicians that have done the nutritional research and clinical studies (Dean Ornish, MD, Caldwell Esselstyn, MD, John McDougall, MD, Joel Fuhrman, MD, Neal Barnard, MD, and Dr. T. Colin Campbell) for many years will tell us that the Standard American Diet, (SAD) contains an excessive amount of protein from animal products. Animal protein actually washes calcium from the body into the kidney system, leaving calcium-deficient bones and an increased risk of kidney stones. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
If you are ready to take control of YOUR health and need help transitioning to a Whole Food Plant Based diet, just let me know. This can be a gradual process, or, we can jump right in with both feet...it doesn't matter how you choose to do this, what's important is WHEN.
Why wait until you're diagnosed with dis-ease...get started now. If you do have a medical issue, it's NEVER too late--with the right nutrition you can REVERSE damage that may have already been started.
What are YOU waiting for??
However, a WFPB diet eliminates the processed foods as well....the foods that make a sick and fat. Diets such as this truly undermines the true intent and lifestyle of the vegan diet. The substitution of processed foods for animal products will have little positive health effects. This is one of the reasons I don't like to use the term "vegan" because it really only tells people what you DON'T eat, but what you DO eat is far more important. Therefore, I like to use the term Whole Food Plant Based diet because it means just that, "whole foods", foods that are not processed and are derived from plants.
From a purely nutritional standpoint, animal foods are not needed to maintain good health. But many people have trouble believing this because of so many different beliefs. Nutritional information is extremely confusing to so many people because we are literally fed misinformation on a daily basis. One piece of advice--pay attention to where you are getting your information from--people can get anything published--take the Atkin's Diet for example--this is one of the MOST DANGEROUS "diet plans" a person can follow!! If the person giving out information is trying to "sell" you their product, be very cautious--make sure there is scientific evidence to back up whatever it is they are telling you.
The scientific evidence backing up a WFPB diet is nothing short of amazing. Because the meat and dairy industries are extremely powerful, they ensure that we are bombarded with all kinds of "reasons" to eat meat and consume dairy products (dairy products are nothing more than liquid meat). Of course, the more we buy their products, the wealthier they become and the sicker we get. There is no such industry as a "vegetable" or "fruit" industry to promote all the health benefits we could get by eating vegetables and fruits. It takes millions of dollars to promote meat and dairy--and as we all know, these two industries bombard us with all kinds of advertising. It doesn't matter to them that their products are responsible for much of the disease we have in this country today--what matters to them is their bottom line--money.
All the healthy nutrition we NEED can be found in the plant kingdom. People are extremely concerned with protein amounts...how will I possibly get enough protein if I'm not eating meat? What they don't understand is that all fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds have protein in them. Some of them, such as beans, nuts, broccoli and spinach have more than others. We NEVER have to be concerned about getting enough protein, carbs or fats if we simply eat a VARIETY of whole plant-based foods everyday. The beauty of this diet is that it is the NATURAL diet for our species, and nature has packaged everything in these healthy foods in just the right amount of quantities.
We are a nation of people that believe we need to eat far more protein than we really do need. The physicians that have done the nutritional research and clinical studies (Dean Ornish, MD, Caldwell Esselstyn, MD, John McDougall, MD, Joel Fuhrman, MD, Neal Barnard, MD, and Dr. T. Colin Campbell) for many years will tell us that the Standard American Diet, (SAD) contains an excessive amount of protein from animal products. Animal protein actually washes calcium from the body into the kidney system, leaving calcium-deficient bones and an increased risk of kidney stones. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
If you are ready to take control of YOUR health and need help transitioning to a Whole Food Plant Based diet, just let me know. This can be a gradual process, or, we can jump right in with both feet...it doesn't matter how you choose to do this, what's important is WHEN.
Why wait until you're diagnosed with dis-ease...get started now. If you do have a medical issue, it's NEVER too late--with the right nutrition you can REVERSE damage that may have already been started.
What are YOU waiting for??
RSS Feed
