The whole food vegan vs the junk food vegan

By Gloria Stovall

Are you a junk food vegan or whole food vegan?  I must confess, up until recently, I had mainly thrived as a junk food vegan, and I am not proud of that as I was relying heavily on processed vegan foods, which offer minimum nutritional value whatsoever. Not only did consuming vegan junk food cause me to gain weight, it also in a strange way, made me feel guilty for not following a healthier “whole food” vegan diet.  Granted, even though I was primarily eating vegan junk food, I still was not contributing to the suffering of innocent animals and was significantly reducing my carbon footprint, which is significant, to say the least; but primarily consuming processed food is still not a wise way to live. The good news is that despite being a junk food vegan for most of my vegan life, my blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar are at exceptionally healthy levels and still are remarkably healthy.    

The word “vegan” can sometimes be so misleading as so many people automatically assume vegans are super healthy, but sadly, that is not true if vegans are not primarily eating whole foods.  Examples of vegan junk food include processed foods such as pizza, chips, cheese, cookies, plant-based meats including veggie burgers, vegan sausages and “chicken” and just about anything that contains loads of sodium and unhealthy levels of saturated fat.  The definition of junk food is food that has low nutritional value, typically produced in the form of packaged snacks, needing little or no preparation.  Per the Department of Agriculture, processed foods are any raw agricultural commodities that have been washed, cleaned, milled, cut, chopped, heated, pasteurized, blanched, cooked, canned, frozen, dried, dehydrated, mixed or packaged-anything done that alters their natural state.  As for me, I can honestly say up to about 65% of the vegan food I was consuming was processed, hence, junk food. 

That was then, this is now, as that chapter of my vegan life has been terminated and replaced with the whole food vegan lifestyle.  What exactly is a whole food and why does it matter?  A whole food is a food that have not been processed or minimally processed, in other words, a natural food in its whole state, without being altered.  Some examples of whole foods include, whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds.  What does a whole food vegan diet look like?  It is basically a diet that omits processed vegan junk food and for me personally, about 80% of the vegan foods I am now consuming are whole foods, whereas before, only about 35% of the vegan foods were whole foods.  Giving up vegan junk and processed foods has not been an easy feat, but the benefits of a whole food vegan diet incredibly outweigh the desire to eat a family size bag of chips, vegan pizza, sausage or ice cream.  

Are you a whole food vegan or junk food vegan?  If you are the latter, it would probably be a good idea to begin transitioning to a whole food vegan diet.  I pray you are well and considering the vegan lifestyle, if not already.  Thank you always for following my blog and I warmly welcome your comments, suggestions and questions.  Thank you again for your support and I hope you have a fantastic week!