WFPB: Stuff I've Learned
(Last updated 13 January 2025)


These pages document my personal experiences in nutrition, specifically my experiences
with a whole food, plant-based (WFPB) diet.  These pages describe events I've experienced,
along with my personal choices, observations and opinions.  I am providing the information
on this website for informational purposes only.

I am NOT a medical professional and I have NO formal medical or nutritional education.
Nothing on this website is intended or should be interpreted as medical advice or recommendation.

If you have or suspect you have a medical problem, contact your health-care provider promptly.



I switched to a whole food, plant-based (WFPB) lifestyle in May 2023.  I went cold-turkey (cold-tofu?), immediately dropping all animal-based foods, including dairy, eggs, and fish.  I made this switch in my early 70s and started this page 1.5 years later.

Most of the info I used for my new lifestyle comes from Dr. Michael Greger's works, including his book, How Not to Die, and his website, nutritionfacts.org.  Other information comes from sites such as ForksOverKnives.com and clevelandclinic.org, and numerous web searches.

But all the web research I did didn't prepare me for some of the issues I hit or adjustments I had to make.  Some changes were tweaks, to get a bit more nutrition.  One change, involving B12, is required so this lifestyle doesn't kill you.  This page describes some of the more interesting changes I've made in my WFPB experience.


Vitamin B12 is Required

Dr. Greger has some entertaining history behind B12 and its sources, and I strongly encourage you to hit his nutritionfacts.org website for the skinny.  In the outside world, B12 comes from bacteria; plants cannot produce it.  The bacteria in our gut can make B12, but that B12 is too far down the digestive tract to do us any good.  In short, a WFPB diet is deficient in B12, and if that deficiency lasts long enough, it will kill you.  Vitamin B12 supplementation is required.

Happily, there are several ways of fixing this lack, and they are easy and cheap to do.  One obvious way is adding a B12 supplement.  I started taking one Nature Made timed-release B12 supplement (1000 mcg) each morning, followed by a tablespoon or two of nutritional yeast on my evening salad.  I also make sure to add a B12 test to my routine bloodwork panels, so my PCP, Dr. C, can help me track my B12 levels.

Note that Dr. Greger advises against using a vitamin B complex.  Apparently, the mix of other B vitamins can destroy the B12, leaving you with no B12 intake.


The Most Important Spice

My morning smoothie is loaded with spices; it's basically an antioxidant shake.  I add turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, mint, unsweetened cocoa, and amla powder.  I ran the numbers one time, and my smoothie usually tops 2000 units (modified FRAP assay daµmol antioxidant units); for reference, the typical Standard American Diet breakfast rarely hits 50.

There's a catch, though.  Most of those antioxidants will never make it to my bloodstream to help fight systemic oxidation.  Instead, they will move from the stomach to the liver, which will then metabolize the antioxidants and route the results for elimination.  Of the 2000 units I swallow, no more than 100 units or so will actually make it into my bloodstream.

And this is where pepper comes in.  Ground black pepper contains a compound called piperine; that's what gives pepper its pungent smell and taste.  Piperine suppresses the liver's metabolizing of antioxidants, which allows the unmodified antioxidants to enter the bloodstream.  And it doesn't take much pepper to have this effect; as little as 1/20th teaspoon will show a significant boost to antioxidant levels in the bloodstream.  So, each morning, I also add three or four grinds of fresh pepper to my smoothie.  Problem solved; now I get the full benefits of all those antioxidants.

I also add black pepper to any spicy dish I cook.  I enjoy the flavor of spicy foods, and pepper ensures I get the health benefits of those spices.

No Banana in My Smoothie!

This tweak is recent, based on research from Stanford Medical, released in 2024.  Essentially, if you blend a banana into a smoothie rich in flavanols, such as you find in berries or cocoa, the polyphenol oxidase in the banana can destroy over 80% of the flavanols before you get any benefit.  You can get more info from nutritionfacts.org if you want to dig deeper.  You can also find some of Dr. Greger's recommendations on getting the most nutrition from a smoothie containing bananas.

In my case, I simply leave the banana out of my morning smoothie.  But I still need the potassium and fiber, so I eat the banana as part of a snack later in the day.


Getting Those Mushrooms

Mushrooms are a pretty powerful addition to my WFPB diet.  For example, research shows they can lower PSA and improve outcomes of prostate cancer.  Mushroom intake also appears to reduce significantly breast cancer risk.  But the biggest benefit seems to come from the ergothioneine found in common, white button mushrooms.  Ergothioneine can protect the mitochondria in your cells, with the largest protection appearing to occur in areas of greatest stress, such as your liver and the lenses of your eyes.  You can find more info by searching nutritionfacts.org.

I try to add mushrooms to my meal plan every day.  They have a meaty texture that I like in rice or pasta dishes, and I also add them as part of my evening salad.  Note, however, that I only use cooked mushrooms; most raw mushrooms contain a toxin, agaritine, I want to avoid.  Best cooking method seems to be microwaving; just nuking for 30 seconds wipes out half the agaritine.

Research on actual harm in humans caused by agaritine intake from raw mushrooms appears mixed.  Some studies claim to show possible increased risk for cancer (at least in mice), others claim to show possible dermatological issues.  I'll just skip the raw mushrooms, thanks.


I'll Have Rice, Hold the Arsenic

Recent reports seem to show a strong uptick in arsenic found in rice.  This rise has been linked to the increased levels of arsenic-based chemicals fed to chickens; the chicken manure later used in the rice fields contaminates the soil, causing arsenic uptake in the plants.  The arsenic levels apparently have become so high that the rice industry is working to breed a plant that can take the huge arsenic hit without dying.  No mention of concern over arsenic impact on consumers, though.

Research at University of Sheffield in 2020 shows that parboiling rice can cut the arsenic content in rice by about 50%.  So when I make rice, I follow their recommended cooking technique.  I bring about twice the normal amount of cooking water to a brisk boil, then throw in the rice and reduce heat to a simmer.  After five minutes, I drain the rice, discard the water, then use the parboiled rice in my intended recipe.


Tofu for the win!

Based on Dr. Greger's recommendations, primarily in How Not to Die, I have added several soybean recipes to my WFPB diet. 

Soybeans have become sort of a wonder food for a lot of health issues.  For years, breast cancer victims were warned to avoid soybeans, as they contain phytoestrogens that might aggravate cancer.  Turns out, research shows the opposite, to the point that the American Cancer Research Institute proclaims (dated 2024): "Early fears about soy foods causing breast cancer have been debunked by a large body of research."  See https://www.aicr.org/resources/blog/soy-and-cancer-myths-and-misconceptions/ for details.

I try to get at least three to four ounces of soybeans every day.  My favorite method, by far, is a no-cook chocolate pudding recipe.  I put a 14-16 ounce package of silken tofu in a large bowl, then add two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa, 1/4 cup of date sugar, one teaspoon of vanilla extract, two or three grinds of black pepper, and (optionally) 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom.  Stir in 1/4 cup of plant milk (I like oat milk, YMMV), then blend up that bad boy.  The texture is superb, better than anything I've made with dairy, and I love the flavor.  Note you don't have to cook this pudding, just blend and refrigerate.


It's All About the Numbers

I learned early on that I really needed numbers, as in lab test results, to gauge my progress toward long-term health.  Just going by how I felt wasn't getting me anywhere.  Some of the changes were visible and pretty dramatic, such as a ten-pound weight loss in the first two weeks.  But what was going on inside?  What was happening to my markers of systemic inflammation or blood glucose?  Was my lifestyle change really helping me?

Some numbers are easy to get.  A bathroom scale and calculator gets me BMI, no problem.  To get consistent values, I weigh myself every morning, before breakfast and naked.  You can find an excellent BMI calculator here: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm.  For blood pressure and pulse, I periodically use an Omron HEM-712C automatic blood pressure monitor.

But other numbers require a blood draw, and that means lab orders from my PCP.  Thankfully, Dr. C has been very supportive of my efforts and willing to provide lab orders for most of my requested tests.  For example, I found out about the C-reactive protein (CRP) marker for systemic inflammation.  But I discovered I don't have a baseline for that!  I fired off a MyChart message to Dr. C, asking if she thought it would be a good idea to get this tested.  She immediately added a CRP test to my upcoming bloodwork and now I have a baseline.  (BTW, my CRP value was <0.3 units, which is excellent.)

Now I always look for tests I can take to provide information on whatever marker I want to evaluate.  This gives me numbers to track and objective values for gauging my long-term health.


Chew Early, Chew Often

I had been plagued for years with IBS.  I had hoped this would be reversed with my change to WFPB, but no, I still had IBS symptoms.  I went looking for the cause and discovered there are usually multiple causes, which makes sense.  And some of these causes are mechanical, not dietary, which again makes sense.  Case in point: Chew your food well.

I was browsing through a now-forgotten webpage that listed several possible causes for IBS and saw something like "Not chewing food thoroughly."  So I searched more, to see what "thoroughly" meant.  Turns out, this means basically chew each bite until you have a slurry or soup of food in your mouth, then swallow.  One early rule for chewing thoroughly was to chew once for each tooth in your mouth, as in, 32 times per bite of food.  OK, I gave it a shot.

I started with a bite of banana, chewed it ten times, checked the state of the food in my mouth; odd, I could still feel lumps of banana.  Chewed ten more times, checked again; nope, still felt lumps, but they were much smaller.  Did ten more chews, all the lumps were gone; time to swallow.

I kept doing this chew-30-times routine during that meal and during the next several meals.  I had to count at first, but gradually the long chewing times became second nature and now that is simply how I eat.  And, for the most part, the IBS symptoms disappeared.  But...


Bigger is Not Always Better

Even after changing my chewing habits, I still had occasional flareups of IBS.  Back to the web for more research.  I had resolved all the dietary issues I knew of, and thought the chewing was the only mechanical issue I needed to address, but then I found another.  One mechanical cause of IBS can be eating too much food at a meal.

When I switched to WFPB, I was struck (more like, staggered) by the sheer volume of food I was going through.  I would fill my plate, have lots of snacks, and still lose weight.  Eventually, my weight stabilized but I was still putting down a lot of food.  I remember several times getting up from the table with an uncomfortable belly and just assumed that was part of WFPB.  But maybe I was just eating too much at one sitting. 

One of the tips to reduce your food intake is actually pretty simple; use a smaller plate.  To test this, I switched from a 10" plate to a 9" plate.  Doesn't sound like a big change, but it noticeably reduced the amount of food at each meal.  Within a day or two, the IBS disappeared and has not returned.  Granted, this might be correlation, not causation, but until the IBS returns, I'm going with this change as the fix.


Food Now Has Flavor

The WF stands for whole food, which means unprocessed.  Specifically, according to Dr. Greger, it means food with nothing bad added and nothing good removed.  And one of the worst things that gets added to processed foods is salt.

I had an elevated sodium level on one blood test (five units over reference) and Dr. C wanted me to bring that down.  I ran the numbers and I was getting about 1000 mg of sodium per day, not counting sodium in the unprocessed plants I was eating.  That was well below the current RDA, but she's the doc so what the heck; let's do it.  I dropped just about the only processed food I had been eating (a packaged pasta sauce), and made some other tweaks, then ran the numbers again.  This time, I was down around 200 mg per day.  After eating at that level for three or four days, I had another sodium test and was now safely in reference (five units below upper threshold).

So I kept eating this same low sodium diet.  And I started to notice how good the food was tasting.  The flavor of lentils, berries, nuts, just about anything, is amazing!  Even without adding any salt-free seasoning blends, I'm enjoying the foods I eat much more.  As a side benefit, my systolic blood pressure dropped to 100 mmHg from a typical 125; yes, I'm assuming causation here, but it seems reasonable.


 The Bottom Line

As I see it, there is no the WFPB diet, there is your WFPB diet.  My WFPB diet is pretty hardcore; zero animal-based foods, zero junk food, only whole, plant-based foods, zero added oil.  But along with the food you choose to eat is how you choose to eat it.  And how you choose to track your WFPB progress matters, as well.  It's a lifestyle, not a diet, and it changes as you gain more information and decide which direction to push yourself.  But above all, to me, it is fun!


Thanks for reading...

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