Whole-Food Plant-Based Diet: Why Unrefined Grains Are Best.
Who doesn’t love Wonder Bread?
It’s fluffy, white, refined, and tastes delicious. Which is the point. Refined foods are usually refined from their original form for a number of reasons:
- To “improve” the overall flavor profile
- To lengthen their shelf-life
- To change their overall texture
Regardless of the reason, when foods are refined, they’re not whole. Whole-Food Plant-Based (WFPB) Diets are designed to incorporate whole foods back into your diet. Wonder Bread tastes great, but Multi-grain will have all the nutrients it’s supposed to.
Refining Grains
Thanks to advancements in the milling process, we’re able to refine grains so that they taste better, have longer shelf lives, and have a finer texture. A grain is made up of three parts.
- Bran
- Germ
- Endosperm
The bran is the outer skin of the kernel. The germ is the part which is capable of creating a new plant. The meat of the grain kernel is the endosperm. This part makes up the largest part, and carries the majority of the kernel’s starchy carbohydrates, proteins, and various other vitamins and minerals.
During the milling and refining process, more than ¼ of the grain’s protein, and 2/3 or more of its nutrient collection are removed. Now, here’s the trick. Since this caused widespread and vitamin deficiency among dependent populations, after the refining process is done, manufacturers not put back in a mere shadow of what was taken out to make the grains “enriched.”
So, refined grains are processed. Enriched grains are simply tampered with. Regardless, they taste delicious. Which isn’t really the point.
The enrichment process has proven that you can’t put back in what you take out. So, while you’re shopping, don’t just look for brown breads. Sometimes, refined and enriched grains are dyed to be brown again. Look for “unrefined” and “whole-grain” labels.
Processed Oils
Most of the oils which line your grocery store shelves are highly processed. Many vegetable oils come from genetically modified corn, canola, or soy before they’re cleaned with chemicals and heated to high temperatures which only oxidizes the oil.
Healthy fats are important to a nutritious diet and healthy lifestyle. Many of us like to think of fats as the bad guys, but really, fats help your immune and endocrine systems. Regardless of your diet choices, choose your oils and fats wisely.
Avoid any kind of vegetable oil. These have likely been processed. Additionally, do some research ahead of time. Olive oils should be extra virgin, cold-pressed, and unfiltered.
Not only should the taste sort of burn the back of your throat, but it should have a health gold color and a bit of a fog inside a green bottle. Look up the oil online and find out how the company processes their oil before you buy since labeling on this particular matter in the U.S. is still murky.
If you prefer coconut oil, look for virgin, unrefined, and centrifuged. Any type of animal sources of fat should come from grass-fed and pastured animals through a process which does not involve heating to the point of oxidation.
Eating Whole Foods
As you can see, the process of refining foods includes grains, sugars, as well as fats and oils. The whole point of a WFPB diet is to incorporate whole healthy foods into your diet so your body can do its own processes on them.
We don’t need foods laden with chemicals and heated to the point that their molecular structure changes and then causes free radicals.
We need whole, healthy, smart foods so our bodies can do what evolution has designed them to do: Process the foods for us to extract the needed nutrients in correct and balanced amounts.
