Buddhism has the right idea about releasing the concept of self. Humans are mostly comprised of bacteria. These bacteria are what produce many of the nutrients needed by human cells.
Take cyanocobalamin, vitamin B12, as an example of a nutrient preovided by a human's microbiome. Animals don't make B12. Plants don't make B12. Cells require B12 to metabolize proteins and carbohydrates into energy.
Whole foods freed whole holobionts. Define whole food as a food with nothing bad added and nothing good removed. A million people died of Beriberi in Asia when rice began being polished. It was discovered that this scourge is a symptom of a societal deficiency in vitamin B1. Fortification attempts to replace nutrients after "refinement" removes them.
The holobiont is the collective including all symbionts in a system. When a person eats, he or she feeds more than a human: the microbiome gets fed, too.