Whole Food Plant based (WFPB) eating, aka Forks Over Knives diet - any UK recipes?

Elisheba

Hi all,

I have been reading about 'Whole Food Plant based' eating, where you cut out all animal products, but also exclude or dramatically reduce all overprocessed products like oils, white flour and white rice.  Instead you focus on eating fruit, vegetables, tubers and starchy veg, wholegrains and legumes, with moderate use of wholegrain flours and bread, nuts and seeds, tofu, and plant based milks.   For anyone interested there seems to be a lot of research (The China Study - loads of books about it) indicating it can work really well to prevent, reduce or even regress heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Its also a good diet for weight loss, and pretty good for the environment.

So it sounds pretty awesome, if quite a radical lifechange.  However, although there are loads of recipes available online they are all very much to American tastes and use ingredients that I presume are a lot easier to get hold of in the US.  For example, I cannot work out what the UK equivalent of white wholewheat flour is!  

It might be a bit niche in this country as yet, but I was wondering if anyone follows this diet, and has suggestions for more UK based food and recipes? Especially frugal ones, as I am not really one for buying lots of weird ingredients I will never use up!

TIA,

Elisheba

littlegreenparrot

Sounds like you want vegan recipes. 

The Veganuary website is a good place to start if your new to it, lots of resources. (They encourage people to go vegan for a month to try it, so is geared towards people who are new to vegan cooking)

Apart from that I'd start with the usual suspects, most recipe sites have a specific vegan section. 
Or as you get more confident you can often sub things in to make recipes vegan without to much trouble. 

Good luck with it. 

Elisheba

Yeah its like a vegan diet, but a bit different in that you can't sub in vegan dairy replacements, and need to keep away from oils and processed food.  But the vegan recipe boards would be a good place to start I suppose, and see what needs replaced.

maryb

The China Study has been critiqued by a former raw vegan who is a statistics nerd, Denise Minger.  Have a look at her blog to help you balance the claims.  I’m not saying there is nothing in it by any means but it is, to say the least, a bit more nuanced than the headlines might suggest

Naseby

I have just started reading The Plant Power Doctor by Dr Gemma Newman who is a GP in the UK. There are some recipes in the book. She has a website https://gemmanewman.com/ and there are some recipes on there too. There are also various podcasts on the site too.
HTH

atrixa

Hello, vegan of 6 years or so over here and I remember when this diet was doing the rounds. I would like to stress that WFPB is a diet, and probably too restrictive to eat exclusively long term, even for those of us who are ethical vegans. A lot of the marketing stuff around it made it sound like this diet could raise the dead and sweep the floors for you for good measure, but the reality is a bit more boring.

Whenever I make these kinds of meals, I am a bit concerned by how difficult it is to get plenty of protein even when using lots of pulses. Tofu is a great option, but it is technically a processed food. I also see no need to restrict oils/healthy fats beyond what common sense would dictate. Looking at it from a frugal lens, it can be very expensive if you're not able to get cheap fruit or grow your own.

Anyway, I recommend searching vegan recipes then adapting them- Veganuary has some good ones, as does the tinned tomatoes blog. The Vegan Society had some recipes on their website too- I've been making an adapted version of their chilli for years.

poppy811

Please do not take offence but a lot of people are struggling to feed their families so this idea is irrelevant for many.  Of course you are entitled to your views on diet but lots of people do not have the choice.

maryb

Unnecessary 

poppy811

Why.
.  Not allowed  an opinion?

poppy811

Please don’t bother to report me, I will not post again.  It seems no one is allowed to have an opinion anymore.  I did emphasise she was entitled to hers.

maryb

Of course