Whole-Food  Plant-Based (WFPB)


WFPB Guidelines

Guidelines are useful for understanding the WFPB diet. These WFPB guidelines are all similar:

The main difference between WFPB guidelines is in how the foods are grouped. The following sections compare three WFPB guidelines.

Dr. Campbell's WFPB diet guideline

Dr. Campbell's WFPB diet guideline:

Albert Einstein said, “Things should be as simple as possible and no simpler.” Dr. Campbell's WFPB diet is one big food group, which makes it simple to follow.

Dr. McDougall's program

Dr. McDougall's program has two food groups:

  • Starch Staples
  • Fruits and Vegetables

https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/education/free-mcdougall-program/steps-to-recovery/starch-staples/
Starch Staples:

  • Whole Grains
  • Unrefined Flours
  • Roots
  • Winter Squashes
  • Legumes

https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/education/free-mcdougall-program/steps-to-recovery/fruits-vegetables/
Fruits and Vegetables:

  • Fruits
  • Vegetables

Make starches the centerpiece of your diet with various fruits and vegetables added to the mix.

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2011nl/dec/eatmorestarch.htm
Starches satisfy our appetite. Make starches 75 to 85 percent of your diet, with the remainder coming from fruits and vegetables.

Dr. McDougall has more experience than anyone in teaching people how to eat the WFPB diet, and he has become quite good at it. In his book "The Starch Solution: Eat the Foods You Love, Regain Your Health, and Lose the Weight for Good!", Dr. McDougall explains how the WFPB diet works in practice. I recommend this easy-to-read book to anyone new to WFPB.

Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen Checklist

Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen Checklist specifies the number of daily servings for each food group. The checklist has 10 food groups. Foods are grouped such that each food group has special nutrients not found in abundance in other food groups.

The Daily Dozen Checklist is listed at:

Daily Dozen Checklist:

  1. Greens (2 servings) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_vegetable
  2. Vegetables (2 servings)
  3. Cruciferous (1 serving)
  4. Beans (3 servings)
  5. Fruits (3 servings)
  6. Berries (1 serving)
  7. Grains (3 servings)
  8. Nuts (1 serving)
  9. Beverages
  10. Flaxseeds (1 serving)
  11. Spices (1 serving)
  12. Exercise

The checklist has about 1400 Calories; eat additional whole-foods to get enough calories.

The checklist is popular and there is satisfaction in checking off items. I tried it for a week and it was a good exercise for getting me to trying new foods.

IMHO, Dr. Greger's checklist is unnecessarily complicated. Campbell's and McDougall's WFPB guidelines are so simple that they don't need a checklist.

In his short video's, Dr. Greger presents the evidence and lets the viewer decide how strong the evidence is. The evidence is weak for cruciferous, berries, nuts, and turmeric:

  • The benefits of cruciferous and berries may not be that special. Dr. Campbell said, "a large number of similar plant-based foods are able to do the same thing."
  • Nuts Won't Save Your Life (Part 1 of Nuts)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvFHuqI-TCw (48-minute video)
    Jeff Nelson explains flaws in some of the nut studies cited by Dr. Greger.
  • You Don't Need Added FAT to Absorb Nutrients (Part 3 of Nuts)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viL-O6i2QbM (30-minute video)
    21:28 Jeff Nelson explains flaws in Dr. Greger's evidence for blueberries and turmeric.
  • Nuts and Heart Disease - Dr. Esselstyn (Part 4 of Nuts) by Jeff Nelson, 2019
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n85akJM6veI (12-minute video)
    Why Dr. Esselstyn says to avoid nuts if you have heart diseases.
  • Nuts Will Break Your Heart by Jeff Nelson, 2019
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkC0-sXruM8 (21-minute video)
    Case study - a longtime healthy vegan following Dr. Esselstyn's diet used Pulse Wave Velocity analysis and found consuming 2 ounces of nuts decreased his arterial elasticity by 20% to 30%, in the hours after the meal. If you're concerned about heart disease, these results confirm the advice of Drs. Ornish and Esselstyn to tightly restrict nut intake, along with other fats.

Non-WFPB allowance

WFPB guidelines simply specify the healthiest diet for humans. Any deviation from the healthiest diet is left to the discretion of the individual.

For practical or social reasons, people allow themselves to eat some non-WFPB food:

  • restaurants
  • invited to dinner
  • convenience
  • taste

For example, a 90% WFPB diet

  • has 90% of the health benefits
  • has a 10% allowance for non-WFPB food
  • is much healthier than the standard American diet

Count the total calories consumed in a day. For example, if you are on a 90% WFPB diet and eat 2000 cal/day to maintain ideal weight, then your non-WFPB allowance is 200 cal/day.

Animal protein in any amount is unhealthy. The book, "The China Study" presents the scientific evidence. If you eat animal protein, consider spacing the meals at least 7 days apart because:

A little added salt & sugar doesn't hurt

Many WFPB doctors believe added sugar can help with WFPB adherence:

  • In the book "UnDo It!" page 84, Dr. Ornish limits sugar to 25 grams for women, 38 grams for men (which is about 5% of calories).
  • In the book "China Study Solution" page 165, Thomas Campbell allows less than 5% added sugars but also warns of sugar's addictive nature on page 43.
  • A Dr. Klaper video says a little added sugar is OK.
  • From Dr. McDougall's web site
    https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2010nl/jun/sugar.htm
    The starch solution depends upon individuals and entire populations adhering to my diet plan. However, there are prices to be paid for this concession. You need to know the truth about sugars in order to make rational decisions. In the end, the benefits of adding simple sugars [adherence] far outweigh the costs for most people.
  • Marry McDougall dessert recipes add some maple syrup.

Honey and maple syrup are NOT whole food, they are added sugar.

  • Honey is sugar extracted from flowers and processed by bees. Fiber is missing.
  • Maple syrup is sugar extracted from trees. Fiber is missing.

https://www.plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/a-little-sugar-or-salt-doesnt-hurt-t-colin-campbell 6/29/20
Keep it simple, eat whole foods, add spices for flavor, a little added salt & sugar doesn't hurt.

https://plantpurecommunities.org/our-culinary-philosophy/

  • The PlantPure Communities (PPC) Culinary Philosophy allows for modest levels of added salt and sugar, based on the assumption that as people experience the benefits of this diet, they will do their best to reduce these ingredients as much as possible over time. Taste preferences change, so once we become accustomed to a low-salt and low-sugar diet, we discover that these flavors “pop” at low amounts.
  • Our science advisor, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, has long maintained that you get most of the potential health benefit from dietary change simply by moving to a whole food, plant-based diet. Becoming a purist is not likely to create much additional gain, and whatever gain might appear pales in comparison to the gain from going plant-based.