Whole Food Plant-Based Lifestyle

Did you know that all of the plant foods we eat contain all 9 essential amino acids? It’s like that simple fact is top secret information. The ratios of those 9 essential amino acids in any single plant differs from the ratio of those same 9 essential amino acids in human flesh but all plant foods that we eat actually contain all of the nine essential amino acids. Beans, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts and seeds all have protein. Pinto beans have protein. Kale has protein. Broccoli has protein. A raisin has a bit of protein. A cherry tomato has a bit of protein. Some foods from plants such as soy beans have a lot of protein. A Whole Food, Plant Based diet  from a wide variety of plant foods  will supply all of the nine essential amino acids, provided that a sufficient amount of calories are consumed. Remember: Eat enough calories from a wide variety of plant sources every day. See the following: The Mystique of Protein and Its Implications - Center for Nu...

Some people are able to switch to a Whole Food Plant Based, no added salt, no added oil, no added sugar, no alcohol lifestyle immediately after learning about the benefits of doing so.  Others will start slower. Some will be 100% WFPB no SOSA and others might see 90% as their end goal. The choice is yours to make.  The important thing is that you move in the direction of your goal and if you find yourself moving away from your goal then change direction and resume your progress.

By switching to a Whole Food, Plant Based diet you are: 1. helping the natural environment recover 2. fighting climate change 3. helping to end animal suffering 4. taking control of your health You're basically a superhero. Well done!

The answer is clear, no level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health. From the World Health Organization: Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer decades ago – this is the highest risk group, which also includes asbestos, radiation and tobacco. Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, including the most common cancer types, such as bowel cancer and female breast cancer. Ethanol (alcohol) causes cancer through biological mechanisms as the compound breaks down in the body, which means that any beverage containing alcohol, regardless of its price and quality, poses a risk of developing cancer. The UK's National Health Service says that there is no completely safe level of drinking .  Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health states  that zero drinks per week is best. The World Cancer Research Fund International:  For cancer preventio...

 When following a Whole Food, Plant-Based diet you eat foods that are as delivered by nature with little or no processing.  For example, you'd choose an apple over apple juice and an orange over orange juice.  That way, you get more micronutrients, fiber and minerals etc.  Cooking vegetables is perfectly fine. Sautéing with water is easy with a bit of practice. Cleanup is easy too with no greasy crockery, pots or pans. Oils are a highly processed food.  They are not whole foods. Typically, they have been refined, bleached, deodorized and then sometimes blended with other oils.  Oils are 100% fat with 9 calories per gram. A single tablespoon of oil will have approximately 125 calories!  Just four tablespoons coming from processed foods, from frying, from salad dressings etc. in a day would add 500 calories! That's 500 calories with just about zero nutrients and no fiber. Empty calories. Healthy fats, in their whole form, are not avoided. Walnuts, almond...

With catchy headlines on the American Heart Association website such as: "Olive oil may lower heart disease risk" You might think that olive oil is worth considering. Dig into the article or study and find the "compared to what?". Here's what it was compared to: One interesting thing our study shows is that although olive oil was better than most animal fats and margarine, it was not superior to vegetable oils in this study population," Guasch-Ferre said. "This means that replacing any type of animal fat with vegetable oils, including olive oil but also others, could be a good strategy to improve cardiovascular health. Here's another attention grabber: "The benefits of adding a drizzle of olive oil to your diet" and here's what the researchers found: In cohort studies of U.S. adults, replacing margarine, butter, mayonnaise, and dairy fat with olive oil is associated with lower risks of total and cause-specific mortality. If you're...

Few supplements are needed when following a Whole Food, Plant Based diet that includes a wide variety of whole foods.  Vitamin B12 supplementation is necessary.  It is critical that you take B12 on a regular basis. Vitamin B12 is made by microbes as neither plants nor animals make it. Eating unwashed fruits, roots, leaves, vegetables and drinking from natural water sources would have supplied our ancient ancestors with Vitamin B12, but that's not an option in today's polluted world. We wash our fruits and vegetables and drink treated or filtered water etc. for safety.  The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) or Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for vitamin B12 for people over age 14 is 2.4 micrograms. All adults over the age of 50 are advised to consume foods fortified with vitamin B12 or a supplement containing vitamin B12 because of malabsorption issues with food-bound vitamin B12. All who follow a plant-based diet are advised to either consume B12 fortified foods or ...

The answer is that whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, pulses, whole grains, nuts and seeds already contain sodium. Our bodies evolved to be  salt conserving machines . Consider the following: There is no RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) set for sodium because there is inadequate evidence to support a recommendation.  Likewise, there is no Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) . There is only an AI (Adequate Intake) and a Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) (was UL now it is CDRR (Chronic Disease Risk Reduction)) set for sodium.  Lots of people confuse AI and RDA when it comes to sodium. Researchers Paul Elliott and Ian Brown (Brown et al.) determined that the physiological need is 230 to 460 mg of sodium per day. They also noted in their published paper that the 1500 mg/d AI (Adequate Intake) was set to " ensure that the diet provides adequate intakes of other nutrients , and to cover sodium sweat losses in unacclimatized individuals who are exposed to high temper...

The phrase No SOSA simply means that there is no added salt, no added oil, no added sugar and no added alcohol in your regular diet. There are negative health impacts associated with all of those items. Once you've committed to a Whole Food, Plant-Based diet (WFPB) then no added salt, no added oil, no added sugar and no added alcohol (no SOSA) in your regular diet just follows naturally. It might seem difficult at first but, from experience, I know that it just makes sense. You just don't want those items anymore!

  The Center for Nutrition Studies describes a Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet as: A WFPB diet doesn’t include any meat, poultry, fish, dairy, or eggs. It’s not, however, the same as a vegan diet, which is defined only by what it eliminates. A WFPB diet is defined also by what it emphasizes: a large variety of whole foods. The term “whole” in WFPB describes foods that are minimally processed. This includes as many whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes as you want. It also includes, in moderation: nuts, seeds, avocados, natural sweeteners, and certain soy or wheat products that don’t contain added fat (e.g., tofu). Heavily processed foods, on the other hand, are not included in a WFPB diet. This means avoiding highly refined grain products (e.g., white rice, white flour), foods containing added sugars or artificial sweeteners (e.g., confectioners sugar, high fructose corn syrup), and foods containing added fat. Yes, even olive oil.  It's that simple! It's a beautifully si...

  Dr. Joel Fuhrman  coined the term “Nutritarian” to describe a nutrient-dense eating style, designed to prevent cancer, slow aging, and extend lifespan. This nutrient-rich, plant-based diet is based on the following principles: This eating style focuses on the  nutrient-rich foods  that unleash the body’s tremendous ability to heal, achieve optimal weight, and slow the aging process. Eat mostly plants  means only eat animal products in small amounts,  if any , such as meat, fish, dairy, and eggs Whole food  describes natural foods that are not heavily processed. Basically, the majority of our diet is made up of fresh and clean produce rather than food that comes out of a package. No S.O.S  means that we don’t add salt, oil, or sugar to our recipes or to our prepared food, because these ingredients have been shown to have a negative impact on our health. When we eat the whole nut over just the processed oil, we are eating the fiber and protective ...