TLDR: Seed oils (vegetable oils) ARE NOT food. They are a modern invention of the industrial petrochemical complex (1915), humans are not suited to long term consumption of these food substitutes.
Conclusion - The consumption of the omega-6 polyunsaturated fat linoleic acid has dramatically increased in the western world primarily in the form of vegetable oils. OxLDL is thought to play an important role in atherosclerosis formation; however, it is the oxidised linoleic acid contained in LDL that leads to harmful OXLAMs, which induces atherosclerosis and CHD. Thus, reducing the amount of dietary linoleic acid, mainly from industrial vegetable/seed oils, will reduce the amount of linoleic acid in LDL and likely reduce oxLDL as well as the risk for CHDcoronary heart disease.
In summary, numerous lines of evidence show that the omega-6 polyunsaturated fat linoleic acid promotes oxidative stress, oxidised LDL, chronic low-grade inflammation and atherosclerosis, and is likely a major dietary culprit for causing CHD, especially when consumed in the form of industrial seed oils commonly referred to as ‘vegetable oils’.
Full Opinion https://doi.org/10.1136/openhrt-2018-000898
Whole foods is a philosophy to remove industrialization and contamination from what someone is eating. I.E. There is a problem, we don't know what is causing it, but if you eat the food your great grand parents ate you will be better off.
This level of debugging appeals to me, go back to a known good working state, and then reassess.
The cognitive dissonance we often see is people throw seed oils in there, many not realizing they are a new invention which our ancestors would never encounter. The term vegetable oil implies natural and "whole", it's a marketing term by design - this confuses well intentioned people. If they didn't exist before 1900, how can they possible be a whole food? Whole foods are the foods that come directly from the ground or animal with no (or minimal) processing.
i.e. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_food
While I'm on my soap box - Olive oil - it's great, it is a whole food, however, it's functionally impossible to source unadulterated olive oil. The southern California olive grower society publishes reports saying something like 90% of on the market olive oils are adulterated. Every step in the supply chain has a economic incentive to dilute olive oil with a cheaper (and undetectable to the end user) seed oil to increase their profit margin... and 90% of the shelf products demonstrate this. So... if your concerned about seed oil problems, olive oil is a no go unless you get it directly from the farm and you trust them. (The one exception is kirkland olive oil, every test I've seen they pass, they have their supply chain locked down - and they are cheaper then other brands too)
Even if you get real olive oil, you still have the problems with plant sterols interfering with the bodies cholesterol functioning and hormones (this is why seed oils lower LDL - this is not a good thing).... but if your not concerned with that, yeah - real olive oil is totally a good whole food