Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet

The downsides would be more related to nutrient intake. If you would like to have a completely plant-based diet, it requires you to be educated and be aware of your vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron, iodine, and omega-3 fatty acid needs and intake.

However, by working with our plant-based dietitians, we can work together to address all of these concerns and ensure you eat a balanced and nutritious whole food plant-based diet.

It depends on what kind of bread it is. A whole food plant-based diet emphasizes the consumption of whole, minimally processed foods, excluding heavily processed food items.

Therefore, white bread would be a less favourable choice but you can always have bread that is made from whole wheat, whole grains, flaxseed, buckwheat etc.

Meanwhile, whole grain cereals and oatmeal could also be a good replacement for your breakfast. Explore our website to learn more about recipe ideas.

Always being hungry is not necessarily due to the diet, it might be greatly attributed to that you are not consuming enough energy. And that’s why your body is telling you that you need more food.

On the other hand, you can revise your food choices to make you feel full longer. You can incorporate foods that contain more fibre and protein to increase your satiety and they include peas, chickpeas, lentils, peanuts, black beans etc.

Start your journey with a discovery call to learn more about how to improve your food choices.

Coffee can definitely be included in a whole food plant-based diet because it doesn’t undergo a lot of processes to make it from coffee beans. In the meantime, you can also choose your beverage from tea, sparkling water, unsweetened plant-based milk etc.

You definitely can eat potatoes on a WFPB diet. Potato is a great source of potassium, vitamin C and many other nutrients. However, the nutrient profile may vary greatly depending on your cooking method. If you have questions about which cooking method you should use, arrange a meeting with our plant-based dietitians to obtain evidence-based answers.

Similar to bread, pasta made with refined grains, aka white pasta, is not considered a whole food. However, whole-grain pasta and brown rice pasta are good choices to include in your WFPB diet. Therefore, if you like to follow a whole food plant-based diet, our team of plant-based dietitians recommend you read the labels and ingredient list before your purchase.

Oatmeal is considered as a whole food and it could be a great choice for your breakfast if you are on a WFPB diet. Want to know more about how to prepare tasty and nutritious oatmeal, come and discover our plant-based recipes or have a discovery call with our plant-based dietitians to get more ideas.

The answer is it really depends. Typically, making nut butter only requires roasting and grinding the nuts until they become smooth and butter-like.

However, in a lot of commercial products, vegetable oil and sugar are added to achieve a favourable texture and taste. In this case, this kind of nut butter would not be considered whole foods.

If you are looking for whole-food nut butter, you should read the ingredient list carefully and buy the ones that only contain nuts and perhaps salt.

A whole food plant-based diet centers around unprocessed, natural foods.

It encourages the consumption of legumes like lentils and beans, whole grains such as quinoa and oats, and nutrient-dense seeds and nuts like chia, flax, and sunflower seeds.

Meanwhile, a rich variety of fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables is highly recommended.

Additionally, the diet includes healthy fats sourced from olives, olive oil, and avocados.

A whole food plant-based diet doesn’t equal weight loss. The principle of weight loss is to have a calorie deficit which means the energy that you are eating is less than what you need. If you do not see a weight loss, it probably means that you are not creating the energy gap. If you would like to learn more about weight loss, explore our weight loss service and arrange a meeting with our plant-based dietitians.

No, a whole food, plant-based diet is not the same as vegan. They share a similarity regarding consuming a plant-based diet but a vegan diet does not add restrictions to the extent of process that foods undergo.

On the other hand, veganism is more likely to be a lifestyle that extends far beyond a diet and it excludes all the food and products that originates from animal.

For example, vegans may specifically look for shampoos that are cruelty-free and not sourced from animals but people following a WFPB diet may not necessarily do that.

Following a whole food plant-based diet involves avoiding specific food categories that don’t align with its unprocessed and plant-based principles. These include fast food items, sugary foods, refined grains, packaged convenience foods (e.g. chips), and processed vegan options (e.g. vegan butter). Additionally, artificial sweeteners and animal products should be avoided as well.

A whole food, plant-based diet is considered a healthy diet because it usually contains high fibre, vitamins, and minerals that could act as antioxidants. Therefore, this diet would provide numerous health benefits including decreasing the risk of heart disease and cancer and promoting weight management.

In the meantime, due to the unprocessed nature, following this diet can help protect the environment by minimizing pollution from food production.

There are tons of foods that you can obtain your protein by following a plant-based diet. They include beans, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, tempeh, nuts and seeds, and whole grains. Consult one of our plant-based dietitians to learn more about how to incorporate these foods into your daily eating plan.