PBWF

Everything I eat is plants, so yes. But I don't limit myself to whole foods.

I was just wondering what the F was that you were putting with the peanut butter. Such a disappointment. Plant based but not whole foods, myself.

kshama2001 wrote: »

I have a vague concept of what a whole food is in my head and was going to ask how others defined it, but after looking at two pages I'm wondering what's the deal with oil and salt. Olive oil is ok but others aren't? Why is that? Would other oils be ok if they were cold pressed? Is it only Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Olive Oil that is ok? And what's up with salt?

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/plant-based-diet-guide#meal-plan
...Excludes refined foods, like added sugars, white flour and processed oils.
...Healthy fats: Avocados, olive oil, coconut oil, unsweetened coconut, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_food
The modern usage of the term whole foods diet is now widely synonymous with "whole foods plant-based diet" with animal products, oil and salt no longer constituting whole foods.

Eta: I'm genuinely confused, not being snarky. I think the world would be a better place if we consumed more plants.

I always find terminology like this confusing.

My understanding is that a lot of those who push WFPB say that no oil is okay (or at least none would be on the regular diet of a WFPB person, although everyone can have occasional treats). Some of those seem to be anti fat in general, but many think fat is okay as part of a whole food (nuts, seeds, avocado) but should not be consumed on its own (kind of the same rationale as the anti added sugar argument).

Some others focus on amount of processing and, maybe, how long it's been in culinary use. So for them EVOO would be fine, but something like soybean oil or canola oil, no.

I don't see any way that oil in general is a whole food, so I would assume it is typically not included in a 100% WF diet. (I use olive oil pretty frequently, for the record.)

Salt? Beats me, I'd consider it along with spices.

(For what it's worth, OP, I eat a lot of what would be considered whole foods, and I am currently eating at least 2 plant-based meals a day, but am not totally WFPB. More a reducitarian if I need a label.)

kshama2001 wrote: »

I have a vague concept of what a whole food is in my head and was going to ask how others defined it, but after looking at two pages I'm wondering what's the deal with oil and salt. Olive oil is ok but others aren't? Why is that? Would other oils be ok if they were cold pressed? Is it only Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Olive Oil that is ok? And what's up with salt?

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/plant-based-diet-guide#meal-plan
...Excludes refined foods, like added sugars, white flour and processed oils.
...Healthy fats: Avocados, olive oil, coconut oil, unsweetened coconut, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_food
The modern usage of the term whole foods diet is now widely synonymous with "whole foods plant-based diet" with animal products, oil and salt no longer constituting whole foods.

Eta: I'm genuinely confused, not being snarky. I think the world would be a better place if we consumed more plants.

My general sense is that some WF people are okay with cold-pressed oils, while others have a hard no-oil stance. For me, oil is self-evidently a non-whole food (you're literally taking part of a plant, extracting the fat, and tossing the rest!), but it's academic for me as I am not a WF person.

As far as salt, that's a new one for me. My mom had a bunch of self-described WF cookbooks when I was growing up and salt was always okay (and usually soy sauce too). But now that I think about it, most of those cookbooks also included olive oil so . . . I'm back to square one.