Talk:Whole-food, plant-based diet

Purpose of this article

I created this article because "whole-food, plant-based diet" is used in nutrition, medical and lifestyle-medicine literature as a more specific term than the broader phrase "plant-based diet". The topic appears distinct because it combines two criteria: emphasis on plant-derived foods and emphasis on whole or minimally processed foods.

The article is intended to distinguish whole-food, plant-based diets from broader plant-based diets, vegan diets, vegetarian diets and commercial plant-based foods, without presenting the diet as superior or making unsupported health claims. Further improvements to sourcing, terminology and neutrality are welcome.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Dannyboy1971 (talk • contribs) 23:37, 20 June 2026 (UTC)

I am not convinced this should be a separate article. Not enough sourcing. Carrot juice (talk) 20:04, 21 June 2026 (UTC)

Hi Carrot juice, I just read your comment from a few days ago—thanks for taking a look. I am a relatively new editor still learning the ropes here. Based on your note about sourcing, I have heavily trimmed the article to keep it strictly definitional and focused on how the phrase is used in academic literature. Peer-reviewed sources (like Storz 2022, Wicks 2021, and Pye 2022) explicitly use "whole-food, plant-based" as a distinct, standardized framework separate from broader plant-based diets, which is why a concise, standalone entry seemed useful for readers. Hopefully, this streamlined version looks much better. I will continue to research the topic and improve the quality of it, thanks. Dannyboy1971 (talk) 08:30, 25 June 2026 (UTC)

Support: Currently the wikipedia has a few articles that focus on dietary patterns that eschew "meat" (beef, pork, poultry etc), and I will look at the three main ones that still include gaps which a discussion on a "Whole-food, plant-based diet" is able to address. The first article is Vegetarianism. However, vegetarians by definition consume dairy products (and in some cases eggs), which then excludes patterns where dairy (and eggs) are absent. The second article is Veganism. Again, the definition leads to a gap: to follow a vegan diet simply means to eschew all animal products. A vegan diet therefore may include ultra processed foods, which complicates patterns that focus on health. It is also a term that is rejected by some vegetarians who reject the idea of "mock" meats for religious or ethical reasons. The third article is Plant-based diet, which by definition is one that has a "high frequency" of plants, and thus is a term that is sometimes used interchangeably with a vegan diet. However, it is also applicable to the mediterranean diet (and others similar to it), as by definition it does not indicate 100% exclusion of animal products or processed foods.

A "Whole-food, plant-based diet" is a category which is not discussed in any of the above articles. It is surprising that the Plant-based diet article does not even have a subsection on it, as it is a pattern which is "vegan" as it its 100% free of animal products, but it is different from a vegan diet because it also eschews ultra-processed foods. Given the variety of dietary patterns covered by the wikipedia in this area (ie Flexitarian, DASH diet, Fruitarian etc), it is logical that there should also be an article on a "Whole-food, plant-based diet." This article has enough references to be in the START category, though it could use development. At the very least there should be a section on the Plant-based diet article on this topic. There is by the year 2026 enough research out there to support the development of this article.

One suggestion for development is the debate over dietary fat. Some forms of a WFPB diet argue for 100% absence of dietary fat, while others suggest that it should be low-fat rather than no fat. Others also suggest that the debate is over "oil" not dietary fat and argue for the inclusion of fiber - rich Whole Foods fat (avocado, nuts etc). -Classicfilms (talk) 13:52, 27 June 2026 (UTC)