Whole Food Plant Based Eating

There’s a group called “ Eating to Live (Whole Foods Plant Based)” that is fairly active and that might be of interest to you in finding people approaching their diet in a similar way.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Regarding increased insulin sensitivity, diet in general doesn't do a whole lot. Regular exercise and particularly resistance training have shone to have the biggest impact on insulin sensitivity. More plants is almost always a good idea but a plant based diet also tends to require greater nutritional knowledge than the average person has to meet nutritional requirements, particularly where protein is concerned.

Also keep an eye on your iron levels and you will need to supplement B12 as both of those nutrients are primarily provided by consumption of animal products. Plants do have iron, but the form of iron is not easily absorbed. Anemia is fairly common with vegan/plant based diets. Plants do not provide adequate levels of B12. I would also be a good idea to supplement Omega 3 as you will not be consuming any fish and plant based Omega 3 sources are lacking in EPA

Wise comments, and there's more beyond that about micros. Even as a long-term vegetarian, not entirely PB, I need to pay attention to these things. (I don't call myself WF, but a large fraction of my eating, the majority, is what most people would call whole foods, and a good amount of my protein comes from plants.)

A really good evidence based source for nutritional information on WFPB eating is this one:

https://veganhealth.org/

Its content comes from highly qualified registered dietitians who are experts on vegan/vegetarian diets. Unlike a lot of sites that are more about vegan advocacy (and therefore maybe not super meticulous about sharing where plant-based eating can fall short nutritionally), this is very "just the facts", honest and practical. They assume you know why you want to eat plant-based, so they aren't focused on a sales job, just on how-tos.

Great decision! After being diagnosed with heart disease a few years ago I made the same decision with no regrets. Add to your follows Dr. Michael Gregor at nutritionfacts.org or on Instagram. You'll find summaries of the latest nutrition and disease research.

boberg1239 wrote: »

neanderthin I have listened to several research scientist who discuss studies and their outcomes related to saturated fat (most people who do keto or carnivore eat a lot of saturated fat from animal proteins). I am not a research scientist but do understand a bit about studies and there a are lot of studies that have shown that, like trans fat, a diet heavy in saturated fat is unhealthy, especially cardiovascular wise. YouTube channels "Plant Chompers" and "Nutrition Made Simple" are both lead by research scientists and they do an excellent job of discussing the research and provide links so that you may read the information for yourself.

I was going to ignore your response to me but I think it's important to have a better understanding when making dietary decisions and maybe someone will want to explore a little closer this misunderstood nutrient and I suggest that again, please do your own research


An increase in LDL cholesterol is the linchpin vital to the argument against saturated fat but without nuance or a better understanding, it just makes good headlines. First of all any foods that have any fat in them whatsoever whether plant or animal will always have a combination of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, so your going to be consuming saturated fat regardless. Avocado for example has more saturated fat than salmon gram for gram but this doesn't mean that avocado's will contribute to heart disease or kill us as you mentioned it will in your OP.

Yes, when we consume more saturated fat than we would normally it increases LDL cholesterol. LDL isn't actually cholesterol it's what is called a low density lipoprotein basically a container that carries cholesterol around the body to shore up any deficits required by the cells in our body. Lipoproteins also carry triglycerides, glucose, CoQ10, vit. E and a few other nutrients as well. Our cells, every cell in our body actually manufacturers it's own cholesterol and the liver will manufacturer new cholesterol even if we don't consume any cholesterol, like in a vegan diet for example.

The main reason saturated fat increases LDL is it's effect on the LDL cholesterol particle size. Basically it increases LDL-P (particle) size which shows up as an increase in ml in the blood (higher LDL). What the liver is doing because of the increase of saturated fat it's replacing what it was manufacturing up until that point which were lipoproteins with the additional glucose and triglycerides in them and because of this reduction in glucose and triglycerides from carbohydrates the more cholesterol available to be carried and is carried, making them bigger and more buoyant. Smaller sdLDL are more likely to induce inflammation in the endothelial lining of the blood vessels, which triggers the cascade of events that leads to plaque formation mostly because sdLDL have a propensity to oxidize. Larger particle size, not smaller has an inverse relationship with cardiovascular disease and what that can mean is even if a person has low LDL in their blood they can still have a lot of sdLDL which is found pretty much every time within the population that has diabetes and insulin resistance or consumes a diet high in highly processed carbohydrates for example which at the moment is the diet de jour in the US. The other effect that I think is very important is with increasing saturated fat when replacing carbs are triglycerides are reduced and HDL is increased. A diet that consumes more whole foods including carbohydrate whole food will offer a better LDL profile and when going plant based it's important to keep this in mind, imo. Anyone can ask for a complete blood panel to acquire this type of information, but I suggest you talk to a dietitian as opposed to a PCP.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21816443/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22617560/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34362390/

WFPB eating is the way to go- great decision. I’ve been eating this way for 3 years. I do eat fish occasionally, which adds another option for protein besides tofu and tempeh. I have also found that when I don’t track my food I can easily go over on calories, even eating WFPB. Good luck!!

I have this on Audible. Fantastic.



https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/undo-it-how-simple-lifestyle-changes-can-reverse-most-chronic-diseases_dean-ornish_anne-ornish/19690176/

Hi, @boberg1239 - nice to see you back, and even nicer to hear that you've been so successful. Congratulations!

I'm still here, still in maintenance. Ideally, I'd be a few pounds down, but a few pounds gradually up and down is normal maintenance for me . . . not letting it get out of hand. I'm still vegetarian, too, but this is year 50 of that, so not likely to make big changes without some major reason.

Welcome back, and thanks for the update: I always wonder how things turn out with situations in these threads.

ETA P.S. We're close in age - I'm 68.

boberg1239 wrote: »

It has been about 1 1/2 years since I posted here at MFP. I lost a total of 40 lbs or 17% of my total body weight after about a year of trying different ways of eating as I discussed in this thread. I ended up eating low carb but not keto as I allow myself about 120 grams of carbs a day. I focus on getting in enough protein to maintain muscle mass as I am an older lady (67). I stopped counting macros and calories for a long while, hence reason I have not been here at MFP. I hit a long plateau where I maintained a 35 lb weight loss but kept fighting and going up and down with the last 5 lbs I had lost. In April I began to lose those 5 lbs again and decided to work hard at keeping them off and losing an additional 15 lbs for a total of 24% of my total body weight so I came back here so I can track. This time I splurged and got the premium version and really enjoy using it. I am down a total of 43 lbs now with 12 more to go. There have been times during the plateau that I really overindulged and ate foods with sugar added (junk foods). I find using MFP helps keep me more honest with myself but I am very proud of myself for maintaining the weight loss (within 5 lbs) for over a year. neanderthin, JNettle73, VegjoyP, AnnPT77, and all the rest of you in this thread....I hope you all are still here and would love to hear from you how you are doing!

Hell ya! Good for you! Congrats!!🎉