Whole foods?

You've seen it in magazines and books.  You've heard of people switching to a whole foods diet. What are they talking about?  What in the world is a whole foods diet? And where do you start?

A whole foods diet is based on  the idea that we should be eating foods in the forms they come in.  It rejects the idea that our food needs additives or other interference from man.  It says that what you find in nature should be what you are eating.  Strawberries should actually look like berries.  Vegetables should look like the root or the flower or the leaf of a plant. Meat should be an identifiable part of an animal.  (A chicken with nuggets? Really?) Eating whole foods does two things. It increases the nutrition which your body is able to draw from the food you eat.  At the same time, it decreases the number of manmade chemicals which you put into your body. What you are left with is real food.  Food that is better for your body, food that your body can break down and use. Food the way it was meant to be.

Another popular movement that coincides with the whole foods movement is the "paleo foods" movement.  "Paleo" simply means "the past," so this diet is based on what people ate in the distant past, before the Industrial Age. My kids like to call this "caveman food."  Paleo food is usually high in protein with a heavy emphasis on eggs, nuts, and meats in addition to fruits and vegetables.

There are innumerable reasons people choose a whole foods diet.  Some are trying to improve their health.  Some want to offer their families, especially their children, a more natural diet.  Others are trying to avoid the extra sugars that are added to so many processed foods.  Still others have allergies or intolerances to the manmade chemical additives.

Our family's journey began as an effort to avoid the chemicals which my daughter reacts to - not just in food but in any product.  It later morphed into the allergy side when my son and husband identified various food allergies.  I found it much easier to avoid allergens by buying just an apple instead of a sweetened, processed applesauce which might have been cross contaminated.  I was also pleasantly surprised to find that when my kids were served "real" food they were more quickly satisfied than when they ate processed food.

It can be overwhelming to think of making major changes to you diet.   It is important to realize that there is no perfect diet.  That isn't what eating whole foods is about.  It is simply making better choices.  I like to think of it like a thermometer.  I can make the thermometer go up or down.  And I don't have to do it all at once.  Just one good choice means I am doing things one "degree" better than what I did yesterday.  The other critical thing to remember is that this isn't a diet. You aren't going to deprive yourself or go without foods.  You are simply going to replace one food with a healthier option.  You can do that!

So where do you start?  Let's start with the food you actually have in the house. Grab a piece of paper and list 5 foods, meals, snacks, whatever that you have.  On the other side list 5 ways you can replace processed food with whole food or add whole foods to what you already eat.  Do you accept the challenge?  I'd love to hear about your list.