Whole Foods. It’s more than a grocery store!

Each day it pops up in conversation with people from all walks of life shift from a process-based diet to a simpler, whole way of eating. Nutritional science has shown the foods we eat have a major effect on our health and lifestyle.

Benefits of Switching to Whole Foods

Moving to whole foods provides benefits to all areas of your life. ‘Whole Foods’ includes naturally-sourced one-food ingredients. These foods can increase your energy, balance your brain and moods, trim your waistline, ease your aches, provide relief to long-standing health concerns, and offer a new lease on life.

To help you sort through the array of nutritional information out there, here are key points for beginners.

1. Quality Nutrition

Whole Foods are nutrient-dense. They have fewer calories and are a quality nutrition that the body can easily process. Eating them helps you feel satisfied. You receive wellness with every bite.

2. Optimal Functioning

Whole Foods provide vital nutrition for your brain, cells, and organs, aiding in the daily repair and detoxification required to function. Aiming for 80-90% of your diet to be ‘whole foods’ is an effective and simple way to improve your health for complete nutrition.

3. Foods to Include

The basic rule of a whole foods diet is to include one-ingredient items that are direct from their natural source.

Eating from the following food groups helps you attain good balance:

• Vegetables
• Lean Proteins (animal or plant-based)
• Nuts and Seeds
• Fruits
• Healthy Oils/Fats

For ideas on additional foods to include, here are 50 healthy options.

4. Meal-Planning

When planning meals, draw upon diverse foods to aid your body in building muscle, distributing nutrients, fueling organs, and storing good fat for energy. These are the building blocks that your body needs to feel and look great.

Remaining aware of your body’s three main nutritional needs  – for protein, carbohydrates, and fats – will help you develop simple meals.

Go for a ratio of:

• Protein (largest amount)
• Carbohydrates (middle amount)
• Fat (smallest amount)

5. Would Your Great-Great-Grandmother Eat This?

A rule of thumb when starting on whole foods is to ask if your great-great-grandmother would eat it!

The idea is to get back-to-basics and allow your body the nutritional cleansing and building it needs through a simple-foods lifestyle. This approach steers you towards minimally processed items instead of highly processed ones.

Whole Foods lead you into your kitchen to remember what good nutrition is all about. And it brings the added benefit of slowing down, as you become more conscious of what you’re digesting. Your overall wellness improves through the extra attention you begin to give it.

Remember what your great-great-grandmother told you? Take care of yourself, keep it simple and stay close to the earth. To your whole health.