Whole Again

by Gwyn Whittaker, Owner of GreenFare

So many diets and so much controversy. The American College for Lifestyle Medicine (since 2002) has centered on six pillars of health: nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances (alcohol and smoking), and social connections. Doctors accredited with ACLM are focused on using these lifestyle levers before prescribing medications to fix the root cause and not just eliminate the red blinking light on the dashboard. If you had a noise in your car engine and took it to a mechanic, you would be unhappy if you were given ear plugs, knowing that the problem was still there but you could no longer hear it. A whole food, plant-based diet is the scientific consensus that is being taught by ACLM for doctors who want to heal and not just treat.

When T. Colin Campbell’s coined phrase “whole food, plant-based” was chosen, he wanted to emphasize the “wholeness” of the food, and the “perfectness” of plants to be optimal for human nutrition. Later, people began saying that they were whole food, plant-based to mean that they consumed meat surrounded by plants. This is most definitely not what was meant; in 2015, Greenfare reframed the phrase to be “whole plant food,” that is, minimally processed plants. With enough calories and enough variety, all protein and fiber types are met, if whole. The latest science (David Katz from Yale and Christopher Gardner of Stanford) shows that the quality of protein is more important than the amount of protein.

What does Whole actually mean?

Intact. Nothing removed or added. Complete in itself. The whole is all there is: every part, member, and aspect. In his book “Whole” Campbell writes about how plant foods are perfect, and how the food industry (and now us, with our vitamixes, dehydrators, freezers, and air fryers, adulterate mother nature’s gift to us. The food industry loves to take out fiber and water, cook and extrude, and add all kinds of junk back in. We love to drink our food after the long fibers are destroyed in a blender and food becomes a drink, causing loss of absorption and creating inflammation.

Reading Campbell’s masterpiece “Whole” gives a reference for the complexity of the human body (and its ability to adapt), and as well, the complexity of plants as a symphony of nutrients and fiber, that when adulterated (intensified, modified, or subjected to extreme temperatures) lose their power to provide energy and act as healing agents. I remember the commercial years ago for margarine, where a lightning bolt strikes because “you shouldn’t fool Mother Nature.” When we embrace the gifts given by nature, we truly find the meaning in the adage “food as medicine.”