Four Principles of the Eat Plants Feel Whole Plan

1. The Compared-To-What? Principle  My patients sometimes mention a favorite food and ask, “Is this healthy?” My response is usually, “Compared to what?” Many food choices exist, and some are healthier than others. Making healthier food choices on the spectrum moves you toward improved health.

Let’s look at the Food Spectrum Axis. We might agree that sausage is less healthy than cheese, and that a whole-wheat muffin (made with saturated fat and sugar) is less healthy than a whole apple. As we move to the right on the food spectrum, the options get healthier. This illustrates the principle that some food choices are healthier than others. When we become more informed about the foods we eat and how they impact our health, we can make better decisions when presented with options.

Factors to consider when comparing food items include:

• Is the food item whole and natural, or highly processed?
• Does it contain dangerous fats like trans-fat, saturated fat, or cholesterol?
• Is it made with processed, refined grains, or with 100% whole grains like millet, oats, whole wheat, spelt, buckwheat, brown rice, or quinoa?
• Does the item contain artificial sweeteners, flavors, colors, or preservatives?
• Are protein sources natural, minimally processed, and free of “bad” fats?
• Does the food have added sugars, or high fructose corn syrup?
• Does it include healthy fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants?

Let’s practice. Which of the two food options in each of these scenarios do you think is healthiest?

1. Baked potato with skins, or potato chips?

Answer: Baked potatoes are healthier than chips. If not peeled, potatoes contain more vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein. Chips are highly processed and contain high levels of fats and salt, and minimal nutritional value.

2. Regular pasta or zucchini noodles?

Answer: Zucchini noodles are a low-calorie whole food— minimally processed, high in antioxidants, vitamins and fiber— versus white pasta noodles that are made from processed wheat, with minimal fiber or nutrients, and high in calories.

3. Hamburger (beef/pork) or black-bean burger?

Answer: Red meat contains a good amount of protein, minerals, and some vitamins, but is also high in “bad” saturated fats, nitrates, and calories. Black beans are a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals— minus the fat and calories, and plus heart-healthy fiber. Red meat has a strongly positive correlation with chronic disease, while beans help to prevent these same diseases.

2.  The As-Grown Principle  To experience more vibrant health, select unprocessed or minimally processed foods whenever possible. Processing refers to anything done to food that changes, adds to, or subtracts from its natural state as found in nature. Some of these processes include canning, freezing, grilling, pressure cooking, baking, peeling, drying, blending, filtering, fermenting, juicing, extracting, frying, bleaching, milling, or pasteurizing— to name a few.  

Some processes produce little to no change in the health profile of the item — like chopping and low-temperature cooking. Other means of processing can dramatically alter the nutritional value of the food, such as extracting, frying, and cooking at high temperatures. The as-grown health principle is this: the closer a plant food is to its natural state as grown, the better it is for your health. Let’s look at the Whole Food Axis, which denotes how much a food is processed.

1. The Plant-Centric Principle

When introducing my patients to this principle, I sometimes ask them, “Do you eat grass?” With a dubious grin, they answer “No!”

I then respond: “The cow eats the grass, concentrates the calories, and removes all the fiber. We think of beef as a protein source, but around 50-75% or more of the calories are from fat, depending on the cut. It would be more accurate to consider beef a fatty food. The cow eats the ‘salad’ (grass) and turns it into a calorie bomb with very little water, lots of bad fats, and zero fiber.”

Beans are a healthier choice. They contain a similar percentage of protein as beef but with minimal fat, and with added heart-healthy fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants. Personally, I’d rather eat the plants myself and leave out the “middleman”!  But if you don’t want to give up animal products completely, just use them sparingly, as condiments or a way to add flavor.

Let’s look at an illustration of this principle, the Plant-Power Axis.

Animal products are on the far left, and plant foods are on the far right. The more whole plants you eat, the greater energy, mental clarity, and overall health you’ll enjoy. But if your diet is focused on animal foods, especially processed meats like chicken nuggets and hotdogs, you are inviting illness and chronic disease.

I must say here that you don’t have to be totally plant-based to be healthy. In fact, vegans and vegetarians can be unhealthy if their diet consists mainly of refined foods— like white bread, fried food, rich pastries, processed meat substitutes, sugary sweets, etc. On the other hand, an omnivore who eats mostly whole plants and small amounts of minimally processed fish and poultry would almost certainly be healthier.