The Whole Food Plant Based Diet Pyramid is a great way to remember what whole foods to eat in the proper proportions. At the top of the Whole Food Plant Based Diet Pyramid are the foods to be eaten sparingly, including high fat whole foods like avocados, olives, nuts and seeds. One avocado and a few handfuls of nuts and seeds per day will do it. The second level of the pyramid are foods that can be eaten moderately and include green leafy vegetables and legumes. The third level consists of fruits and vegetables with a focus on berries and cruciferous vegetables. Eat these abundantly, its hard to get too many whole fruits and veggies! Starchy vegetables and whole grains form the base of the pyramid. Eat these abundantly as well as these form the bulk of your diet. Following a whole food plant based diet pyramid is the simplest and easiest way to implement a whole food plant based lifestyle for your health and longevity, disease prevention and weight management. Incorporate the WFPB diet pyramid when making your whole food plant-based diet shopping list to maximize ease, simplicity and nutritional goodness.
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Table of Contents
The Top of the Whole Food Plant Based Diet Pyramid – High Fat Whole Foods – Eat Sparingly
High fat whole foods include avocados, olives, nuts and seeds. Even though these are healthy fats, it is best to eat these foods sparingly to limit our fat intake. This is especially true if you are watching your weight. Eating a whole food plant based diet in the proper proportions is the best way to lose weight and keep it off long term.
Nuts
Nuts are a great source of healthy fat, fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals.
They come in a wide variety and include: almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts (actually a legume but the high fat content places them squarely in this category), pecans, pine nuts and pistachios.
Seeds
Seeds are another great source of healthy fat, fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals. They generally have less fat than nuts so can be used more often and in greater amounts. Seeds actually include whole grains and legumes. However, in this instance, I am talking about seeds that can be eaten raw.
The following seeds are great raw or toasted and can be eaten as a snack, a salad topping or as a muesli and porridge ingredient for a high protein, high energy breakfast.
Super healthy seeds include: chia seeds, flaxseeds, hemp hearts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.
Extra Virgin Olive and Flax Oils
Although oils are a processed food, I include extra virgin olive oil and extra virgin flax oil in this category. Eat these sparingly and avoid all other oils, especially seed oils that have been processed with heat or chemicals. The extra virgin means that the oil is mechanically cold pressed from ripe olives or flaxseeds and processed without high heat or chemical solvents. Both olive and flax oils have high amounts of antioxidants and the cold pressing retains these antioxidants which are otherwise damaged by heat processing.
Flax oil is a great source of omega 3 fatty acids. It is pound for pound the richest source of ALA (plant based) omega 3 fatty acid making it a great source of omega 3 fatty acids, especially if you don’t eat fish or want to take fish oil.
Olive oil is high in monounsaturated fatty acids which, when substituted for saturated fats, can help lower your “bad” LDL cholesterol.
Both olive oil and flax oil are high in antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory properties.
Second Level of the Whole Food Plant Based Diet Pyramid – Green Leafy Vegetables and Legumes – Eat Moderately
Green Leafy Vegetables
Packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants yet low in calories, dark green leafy vegetables are the healthiest foods on the planet. As whole foods go they have the most nutrients per calorie. Green leafy vegetables including cruciferous vegetables significantly reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease and may help to slow cognitive decline with aging.
Green leafy veggies can be eaten raw, steamed or thrown into your favorite stew or soup. Salads prepared with a mixture of greens are a quick and easy addition to any meal. Using an extra virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar dressing adds nutrients and nutrition without many added calories.
Frozen greens are great for convenience, cost and availability and have similar amounts of nutrients as their fresh counterparts. Having a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer is great for greening up any warm dish.
Leafy greens to choose from: arugula, beet greens, bok choy, chicory, collard greens, dandelion greens, kale, lettuce, mustard greens, rapini (broccoli rabe), spinach, swiss chard, turnip greens and watercress.
Legumes
Beans are loaded with protein, iron and zinc yet low in saturated fat and sodium and free of cholesterol. For these reasons they make a great meat alternative with the added benefit of containing nutrients like fiber, folate and potassium.
The most comprehensive study on diet and cancer ever published recommends eating whole grains and legumes at most meals. Not weekly or daily, at most meals!
If you have trouble digesting legumes try soaking them for longer (1-3 days) and change the soak water often before cooking. For a super easily digestible legume try sprouting lentils and then cooking.
Other ways to make legumes more digestible include cooking your legumes longer and eating with a fermented food like live kimchee or sauerkraut.
A list of legumes to try: adzuki beans, anasazi beans, appaloosa beans, black beans, black calypso beans, black-eyed peas, bolita beans, cannelli beans, christmas lima beans, cranberry beans, eye of the goat beans, fava beans, flageolets, great northern beans, Jacob’s cattle beans, kidney beans, lima beans, marrow beans, mung beans, navy beans, pink beans, pinto beans, rattlesnake beans, red beans, scarlet runner beans, beluga lentils, black lentils, brown lentils, castelluccio lentils, crimson lentils, green lentils, Puy lentils, red lentils, red split lentils, yellow lentils, green peas, pigeon peas, yellow peas, split peas, chickpeas, desi chick peas and split chick peas.
Incorporating beans and legumes into most meals can be tricky, but here are some ideas.
- Soy Beans – Tofu and tempeh are quick and easy pre-made soy products that are great as a meat replacement.
- Tempeh is mildly savory with a nutty, earthy flavor that sometimes gets described as similar to mushrooms. It provides a neutral base for nearly any dish, readily taking on the flavor of a sauce or condiments. It is a great ground beef replacement or can even be made to taste like bacon or sausage.
- Tofu is a relatively tasteless soy cake, but that’s what’s great about it. Tofu is there as a base for you to manipulate. It is a blank slate that needs and wants seasoning, marinating, flavor and proper cooking so that it can become anything you want.
- Edamame – Frozen edamame is quick and easy to cook either on the stove top or in the microwave and makes a great snack or appetizer.
- Miso Soup – Miso soup is quick and easy to make and goes great as an appetizer for almost any meal.
- Peas – Have a bag of frozen peas in the freezer and add to soups, stews, pasta and rice dishes. Add them right at the end for some extra color, taste, fiber and protein.
- Lentils – Lentils are cheap, fast cooking and don’t require soaking. They are super healthy, having more than 25% protein, and make quick and easy sprouts.
- Cook lentil and bean soups, stews and curries. One of my main meals is a lentil, bean, quinoa curry stew. I cook it in my instant-pot, which I love, then eat it for a few days before freezing the rest for later.
The Third Level of the Whole Food Plant Based Diet Pyramid – Fruits and Vegetables – Eat Abundantly!
The whole range of fruits and vegetables with a focus on super healthy berries and cruciferous vegetables can be eaten to your hearts content. A diet with abundant fruits and vegetables will lower your blood pressure, reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke, prevent some types of cancer, lower risk of eye and digestive problems, and have a positive effect on your blood sugar, which can help keep your appetite, and weight, in check.
Fruits
Greens are the healthiest vegetable and berries are the healthiest fruit, partly due to their rich colors and plant pigments. Leaves contain the green pigment chlorophyll, which activates photosynthesis, giving greens all those great antioxidants.
Berries, on the other hand, evolved to have bright, contrasting colors to attract fruit-eating animals like us. This helps these colorful fruits disperse their seeds. The same characteristics that give berries their colors also give them all those healthy antioxidants.
In general, the more vibrant and colorful the fruit or veggie the healthier it is and more antioxidants it has.
Amount of Antioxidants in Various Fruits and Berries
The best berries to eat are the ones you like and will eat the most. However, some fruits and berries have more antioxidants than others. Below you can find the antioxidant power number for your favorite fruit.
- Apple 60
- Banana 40
- Mango 110
- Strawberries 310
- Cranberries 330
- Raspberries 350
- Blueberries 380 (wild blueberries may have twice as much!)
- Blackberries 650!
Are Frozen Berries as Good as Fresh?
Yes! Studies on strawberries, cherries and raspberries suggest that most of the nutrients are retained, even when frozen. While I prefer fresh berries, I mainly eat frozen as they are more convenient, keep for longer, are available year round and are usually cheaper.
I use frozen berries in my muesli and oatmeal and they are a great addition for sweet, sumptuous smoothies.
The list of fruits to include in your whole food plant based diet include: acai, apples, apricots, ackee, bananas, bilberries, blueberries, blackberries, boysenberries, bread fruit, cantaloupe chocolate fruit, cherimoya, cherries, cranberries, currants, dates, durian, elderberries, figs, gooseberries, grapes, grapefruit, guava, honeydew melon, horned melon, huckleberries, ita palm, jujubes, kiwis, kumquot, lemons, limes, lychees, mangos, mangosteen, mulberries, muskmelon, nectarines, ogden melons, oranges, papayas, passion fruit, peaches, pears, persimmon, pineapple, plums, pluot, pomegranate, quince, raspberries, rose apples, star fruit, sapadilla, strawberries, tamarind, tangerines and watermelons.
Vegetables
All vegetables are packed with nutrients and have health promoting attributes but cruciferous vegetables pack an extra healthy punch. Cruciferous vegetables include arugula, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage (savoy, green and red), cauliflower, collard greens, horseradish, kale (black, green and red), mustard greens, radishes, turnip greens and watercress.
Fermented vegetables in the form of kimchee and sauerkraut make tasty side dishes and are a great way to switch things up while improving your gut health and giving your microbiome an extra boost.
Benefits of Cruciferous Vegetables
The miracle component of this family of veggies is sulforaphane, which is formed almost exclusively in cruciferous veggies. Sulforaphane and cruciferous veggies can help:
- manage type 2 diabetes
- prevent DNA damage
- protect your brain and eye sight
- reduce nasal allergy inflammation
- treat autism
- activate defenses against pathogens and pollutants
- boost your liver detox enzymes
- protect against cancer by
- preventing metastatic cancer spread
- help prevent lymphoma
- target breast cancer stem cells
- reduce the risk of prostate cancer progression
Strategies to Get the Most Sulforaphane from your Cruciferous Veggies
The tricky thing about sulforaphane is that it is destroyed by cooking and isn’t actually activated in the plant as is. It will only form once the plant is damaged or chewed and eaten. Cutting or chewing cruciferous veggies activates enzymes which form sulforaphane releasing all of its glorious health benefits.
Eat Raw or Chop
To get the most sulforaphane either eat cruciferous veggies raw (not always ideal) OR chop them up, wait 40 minutes, then cook them as much as you want. At that point the sulforaphane has already been made in the 40 minute wait time.
Add Mustard Seed Powder
Other ways to get more sulforaphane is to add mustard seed powder or raw cabbage, daikon radish, horseradish, or wasabi – all cruciferous vegetables – to your cooked cruciferous veggies. The mixture of cooked and raw cruciferous vegetables form almost as much sulforaphane as the totally raw vegetables.
So, if you don’t have 40 minutes to spare between chopping and cooking, or if you are using frozen cruciferous veggies (they get blanched – quickly cooked – before freezing), just sprinkle mustard seed powder on and its almost like eating it raw!
Eat with a Slaw Garnish
Adding a bit of chopped cabbage or shredded daikon as a garnish or spicy horseradish, wasabi or mustard seed powder as a condiment allows you to skip the 40 minute waiting period and still get your super healthy, cancer fighting sulforaphane!
Some other vegetables to try: artichoke, aubergine (eggplant), asparagus, celery, cucumber, endive, fiddleheads, fennel, peppers, tomatoes and zucchini.
The base of the Whole Food Plant Based Diet Pyramid – Starchy Vegetables and Whole Grains – Eat Abundantly!
Starchy vegetables and whole grains are complex carbohydrates and are our bodies most important source of fuel. They are high in fiber and digest slowly. This makes them more filling, which means they are great for weight management and give you a nice, steady long term energy source without any crashes. This also makes complex carbohydrates ideal for people with type 2 diabetes because they help manage blood sugar spikes after meals.
Feel free to eat vast amounts of starchy vegetables and whole grains. Keep in mind this does not include potato chips, French fries or yam fries! Potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams are best either baked and eaten with some olive oil drizzled on top after baking or as part of a soup or stew. Fries and chips usually have huge amounts of salt and unhealthy fats which is best to avoid. Especially those terrible fats from the deep fryer at your local pub that gets changed about as often as the keg lines get cleaned.
Starchy Vegetables
Starchy vegetables other than potatoes and sweet potatoes include: beets, carrots, corn, Jerusalem artichoke, parsnips, squash and turnips.
Beets and carrots are great graded and added to salads or baked and added to soups. Corn on the cob is a tasty and easy addition to your backyard BBQ and baked squash comes in so many different shapes and sizes you could spend an entire winter trying out all the different variations without having the same one twice.
Some different types of squash to try: acorn, banana, buttercup, butternut, carnival, delicata, kabocha, Hubbard, honeynut, pumpkin, red kuri, spaghetti, sweet dumpling and turban.
Don’t forget to spread the seeds out on a cookie sheet and bake along with the flesh!
Wholesome Whole Grains
Whole grains always consist of the entire grain kernel and contain three parts: the bran, germ, and endosperm. Each part houses health-promoting properties. The bran is the fiber-rich outer layer that supplies B vitamins, iron, copper, zinc, magnesium, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. The germ is the core of the seed rich in healthy fats, vitamin E, B vitamins, phytochemicals, and antioxidants. The endosperm is the interior layer that holds carbohydrates, protein, and small amounts of some B vitamins and minerals.
Whole grains to try include: amaranth, barley, brown rice, buckwheat, bulgur, corn, kamut, millet, oats, quinoa, rye, sorghum, spelt, teff, triticale, wheat berries and wild rice.
My Favorite Whole Grains
My favorite whole grains are oats and quinoa. I regularly use rolled oats in my breakfast muesli or porridge and always include quinoa in my legume curry stews.
Rolled oats are minimally processed. The oat grouts are steamed, rolled and then dried. Oats have been shown to be good for heart disease, diabetes, digestion and weight control. The primary type of soluble fiber in oats is beta-glucan, which helps slow digestion, increase satiety, and suppress appetite.
Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is an ancient South American seed that is packed with nutrients and has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also gluten free and a great source of plant based protein.
Basing your whole food plant based diet around the proportions of this pyramid is a simple and easy way to get the most variety and benefit from a whole food plant based lifestyle. Whether you are looking to lose weight, prevent chronic disease or just feel great and have lots of energy, following a whole food plant based diet pyramid will help you with food selection and nutritional coverage for the healthiest and tastiest food choices and meal plans.
Have fun with it and enjoy!
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That is a pretty picture and some good content. I would add that everyone does a plant-based diet a little differently. For example, due to my individual biology (genetics) and circumstances, I rely more heavily on legumes, less on grains.
That’s a great point. As with anything personal preference is paramount 😉 I eat lots of whole grains for their taste, ease of cooking and digestibility and the long term, consistent energy I get from those hearty complex carbs. But, as you say, people are different and whole grains don’t agree with everyone like they do with me. Legumes are another great complex carb that give the same long term energy in a slightly different package. Thanks for commenting!
Thank you for your reply! Your website is very inspiring.
I don’t know if you or any of your readers may be interested, but it’s not too hard to culture your own tempeh at home, as this young blogger pointed out:
https://www.veggiepedia.com/tempeh-how-to-make-cook-recipes-protein/
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