From the dictionary: "food that has not had any of its natural features taken away or any artificial substances added".
That would mean unprocessed food: fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains (such as oats, brown rice and barley), nuts, beans, fish, shellfish and eggs.
In this context, it doesn't mean "no processing" but more like "nothing good removed, nothing bad added".
Unlike veganism, which has yes/no test of "does it contain animal products", with WFPB there's more a spectrum as you move from "no processing" to "minimal processing" to more processing.
And the science supports getting nearly all the benefits by being mostly compliant, even if you don't eat 100% whole-foods or 100% plant-based.
People still have 5% or so processed foods are still having very good results.
The UK is following the US in pursuit of a diet consisting entirely of ultra-processed 'food'.
"Ultra-processed foods account for 56.8% of total energy intake and 64.7% of total free sugars in the UK diet. Free sugars represent 12.4% of total energy intake, and 61.3% of the sample exceeded the recommended limit of 10% energy from free sugars. This percentage was higher among children (74.9%) and adolescents (82.9%). Prevalence of excessive free sugar intake increased linearly across quintiles of ultra-processed food consumption for all age groups, except among the elderly. Eliminating ultra-processed foods could potentially reduce the prevalence of excessive free sugar intake by 47%."
Beans and brown rice would be… unless you’re eating the whole cow. But actually, it’s surprising how many things like preservatives get added to things like ground beef.
Sorry but this is a ludicrous statement. Beans and brown rice are more "whole" than beef unless you're eating the whole cow? You're not eating the whole bean plant or rice plant. Even looking at brown rice or beans off the plant, with brown rice you are still removing the husk and with beans you are removing the pod.
That part was humor, sorry you missed it. I’ll elaborate.
If it’s unprocessed beef it could be considered a whole food — but often people don’t bother checking the ingredients for the meat they buy and just assume that it doesn’t have things added.
That said, there is research that points to eating too much beef and other red meats potentially being bad for health.
That would mean unprocessed food: fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains (such as oats, brown rice and barley), nuts, beans, fish, shellfish and eggs.