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Whole Food Plant-Based Diet: Is It Worth it? | Nutritionist Explains... | Myprotein
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Jan 30, 2025
Our expert nutritionist explains just how the whole food plant-based diet works and if it is actually worth all the effort. Vegan, Keto, Mediterranean, Low Carb, Carnivore… heard of all the popular diets right? What about whole food plant-based? In this video, Richie Kirwan, our expert nutritionist, talks all about the wholefood plant based diet, what it is, what it’s supposed to do and whether it’s worth the effort. *** Chapters: 00:00 - Intro into WFPD 00:57 - Is it different to veganism? 03:26 - What is WFPB diet? 04:34 - What are the benefits? 07:37 - Can I eat animal products? 08:52 - Got any more diet questions? ********************************* Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/MyproteinUK?sub_confirmation=1 If you like this, you'll love this: https://youtu.be/yy9vFCrRPzM
View Video Transcript
0:00
vegan keto mediterranean low carb
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carnivore you probably think you've
0:05
heard of all the popular diets right
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well what about the whole food
0:09
plant-based diet let's talk about that
0:13
how's it going guys my name is richie
0:14
kirwan and today we're going to talk all
0:16
about the whole food plant-based diet
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what it is what it's supposed to do and
0:20
whether it's worth the effort i just
0:22
want to point out that i'm not
0:23
recommending any particular diet what i
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am going to do is explain how this
0:28
particular diet works and what evidence
0:30
it has or doesn't have to back it up if
0:32
you watched my videos before you'll know
0:33
that i don't really promote any one diet
0:36
and hopefully you'll understand why
0:38
after this let's get started so the
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easiest way to explain what a whole food
0:41
plant-based diet and let's just get this
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out of the way a wfpb just to make it
0:45
short is probably to explain the
0:47
similarities and differences with the
0:49
vegan diet because the two terms are
0:51
often used interchangeably even though
0:54
they are most definitely not the same so
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for anyone who's been living under a
0:58
rock for the past 20 years or so and
0:59
don't worry i realize some of you
1:01
weren't even alive 20 years ago
1:02
according to the vegan society veganism
1:04
is a philosophy and way of living which
1:07
seeks to exclude all forms of
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exploitation of and cruelty to
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animals for food clothing or any other
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purpose now if you think about that
1:16
veganism is much more than a diet it's a
1:19
philosophy and a way of living
1:22
this means a vegan's ultimate purpose is
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to prevent the exploitation of animals
1:26
so this means no leather made from
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animal skins no wool made from sheep's
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fur no honey made from the labor of bees
1:34
and no cosmetics or toiletries that have
1:37
been tested on animals a vegan diet
1:39
avoids anything that comes from animals
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no meat milk eggs or even honey like i
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just said because veganism is all about
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protecting animals
1:49
veganism has
1:50
nothing to do with nutrition a whole
1:52
food plant-based diet on the other hand
1:54
is completely food focused and as such
1:57
has a lot more to do with nutrition
1:59
although there's some ideology in there
2:01
and we'll get to that in a moment the
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thing is a whole food plant-based diet
2:05
doesn't have a set definition which i
2:08
think is a good thing
2:09
but it has a few common guidelines which
2:11
make it more of a dietary pattern a
2:13
dietary pattern is different from a
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specific diet because a specific diet
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often has fixed rules whereas a pattern
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is more flexible and has guidelines that
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you follow along with instead of having
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to stick to rigidly firstly as the name
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implies the emphasis is whole
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unprocessed or minimally processed
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plant-based foods
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what does that even mean
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well think of fresh fruit vegetables
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nuts seeds whole grains and legumes like
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beans peas and lentils these are
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supposed to make up all or at least the
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vast majority of the diet so far so good
2:47
right at its heart the wfpb diet is an
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inclusive diet an inclusive diet is a
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diet that focuses on including specific
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foods the opposite of an inclusive diet
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is an exclusive diet which focuses on
3:00
excluding specific foods that you should
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avoid so for example a keto diet focuses
3:04
on excluding carbs a gluten-free diet
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focuses on excluding cereals and
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products that contain gluten and a vegan
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diet focuses on excluding animal
3:14
products so there's the big difference
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between a whole food plant-based diet
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and a vegan diet the next points are
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really all secondary to what i've just
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mentioned but help to clarify what a
3:24
whole food plant-based diet is in a wfpb
3:27
there is often a focus on the quality of
3:30
the food scene like i said earlier this
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means there's a big focus on unprocessed
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or minimally processed foods basically
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most food on a whole food plant-based
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diet should look like you would find it
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in a field
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fruits vegetables nuts seeds whole
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grains etc or in the case of minimally
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processed foods they'll often contain
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very few ingredients and will have had
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simple processing like grinding grains
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into flour or nuts into nut butter
3:54
there's often a focus on locally
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produced in-season produce and even
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organic produce too although that
4:00
doesn't seem to be a requirement in the
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wfpb diet as the focus of a whole food
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plant-based diet is getting in loads of
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unprocessed plant food that means that
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it inherently reduces or limits the
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amount of processed foods like refined
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flour and flour products like white
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bread white pasta and white rice or
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refined sugar processed oils and highly
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processed foods in general it also
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potentially reduces the amount of animal
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products like meat eggs fish and dairy
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and especially processed meats like
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sausage pepperoni and other cured meats
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at this point you're probably asking
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well what's the point are there any
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benefits over a vegan diet or a regular
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diet well let's look into that firstly
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there's something really important to
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bear in mind the average diet in the uk
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or the united states is
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pretty damn in fact a recent study
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showed that almost 60 percent of all
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calories eaten in the united states come
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from ultra processed foods and these are
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foods that are made from already highly
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processed ingredients like refined flour
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refined sugar and refined fats and oils
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this means people eat a lot of processed
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foods that are high in calories and low
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nutrients like fiber vitamins minerals
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and protein basically almost any diet
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that someone tries is going to be better
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than the standard american diet which is
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ironically called the sad or sad
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and because they're tasty and not very
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filling ultra processed foods can lead
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people to overeat and gain weight in the
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long term and don't assume that diets
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outside america are much better ultra
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processed foods make up over 50 percent
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of the diet in many countries in the
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developed world including the uk and
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that 50 is an average meaning there are
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some people who eat a lot more a whole
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food plant-based diet encourages people
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to eat a lot of the foods that are
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currently lacking in the standard
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american or uk diet vegetables fruits
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whole grains legumes nuts and seeds
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these are all foods that provide a huge
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variety of beneficial nutrients like
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fiber phytonutrients like polyphenols
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vitamins and minerals all of which are
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associated with better health and lower
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levels of chronic disease like diabetes
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heart disease and cancer on top of that
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whole food plant-based diets can help
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people feel fuller for longer and people
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end up eating fewer calories overall
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which can help to reduce the risk of
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overeating and gaining weight in fact a
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lot of diets and dietary patterns like
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the mediterranean diet and the dash diet
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which stands for dietary approaches to
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stop hypertension our diets in blue
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zones where people are known to live
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long healthy lives like in okinawa and
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japan sardinia and italy or nicosia and
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greece are all quite similar to the
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whole food plant-based diet and have a
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huge amount of research backing their
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health benefits and remember what i said
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earlier about a vegan diet being about
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protecting animals and not about
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nutrition well this is why i think that
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the whole food plant-based diet is much
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better from a nutritional perspective as
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a vegan diet focuses on eliminating
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animal products you could have a diet
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made up of ultra processed foods like
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oreos and fizzy drinks and it would
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still be completely vegan in fact there
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is research that shows that plant-based
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diets based on ultra-processed foods
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lead to poor health whereas plant-based
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diets focusing on whole foods lead to
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much better health so remember just
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because a food has a vegan label that
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says absolutely nothing about whether
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it's a healthy food or not now so far
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the whole food plant-based diet sounds
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pretty great right well here's the thing
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as this dietary pattern doesn't have
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much or any animal products which can be
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very nutritionally dense it can
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potentially run into the same problems
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as a vegan diet such as deficiencies in
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vitamin b12 and minerals like calcium
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iron and zinc that's why any diet that
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cuts out entire food groups should be
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planned well to make sure you're getting
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all the nutrients you need but does a
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plant-based diet mean you need to cut
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out all animal products well there are
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definitely some people who will disagree
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with me on this and i can imagine that
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the comment section on this video is
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going to be
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fun i would say no i think that a whole
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foods plant-based diet can include
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whole animal foods too remember the
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whole food plant-based diet is not a set
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diet it's a dietary pattern that aims to
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include lots of whole plant foods as its
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main guideline from a nutritional
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perspective it makes sense to include
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some nutrient-dense animal products to
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supplement some of the nutrients that
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are harder to get on a whole foods
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plant-based diet nutrients like protein
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from eggs dairy and lean meat iron from
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lean meat and eggs calcium and iodine
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from dairy products and long-chain
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omega-3 fatty acids from oily fish
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depending on how you interpret it all of
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these foods which are whole foods
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can be part of a whole foods plant-based
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diet
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as long as whole plants make up the
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majority of the diet right like i said i
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don't follow or recommend any particular
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type of diet
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but you could describe my diet as whole
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foods plant-based as the majority of my
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food is whole plants but
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i eat everything meat eggs fish even
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processed foods just not in excess it's
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easy for people to become extremists or
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even militant about nutrition and that's
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something that i really like to avoid i
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hope this video has helped you realize
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that a whole food plant-based diet has a
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huge amount of health benefits and that
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it doesn't mean you need to give up
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animal foods to achieve it in fact plant
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and animal foods can complement each
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other really well in a balanced diet as
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always if you have any questions about
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whole food plant-based diets let me know
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in the comments below and remember to
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like and subscribe to the my protein
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youtube channel for more great
9:18
evidence-based nutrition information
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