Whole Foods

You may think this is going to be a grocery store commercial....it is not - though I do spend a few dollars at our local Whole Foods Market, and if you have one near you, it is a great place to shop! I actually prefer our locally owned and operated organic market, Food and Thought - because everything there is certified organic, meaning that I don't have to read the labels and there are a lot of knowledgeable people around to chat with, AND they have a great restaurant for those days I go shopping without eating first! Anyway....THAT was the grocery store commercial...if you live near me, shop at Food and Thought! :)

This post is actually about the definition of a whole food. Dictionary.com says it is "a natural food, especially when grown organically." Hmmm, that works....I guess.

Let me give you a little more information though, because as I talk to people who are just beginning their journey to a healthy lifestyle, the term "whole" food is a truly foreign concept. When I think of a whole food, I would define it as a food in as close to its natural state as possible. In other words, exactly the way God gave it to us.

An apple is an apple and it really needs no help. It is not the same to eat a McDonald's apple pie and say that you ate your "apple" for the day. You did not!

Eating foods organic and raw is usually the best way to utilize all of the nutrients. Cooking kills so much of the nutritional value of any food and pesticides and other chemicals are harmful to the body. The second best thing to organic is local produce. At least it has not traveled thousands of miles to your dinner table.

I know it is difficult to change habits that are ingrained in you, but I can assure you that once you get used to food a certain way, it becomes the norm for you. If you are a big snack person, learn to snack on fresh fruits, raw vegetables, and granola. An occasional bag of Kettle Chips is our "junk" food splurge around here. Choose things that are not loaded with sugar and do not contain refined white flour.

Kids are the most difficult I'm sure, but I can also tell you that they adapt way quicker than we adults. A few weeks of a change and they have forgotten the way it used to be! My younger children do not remember our eating habits being any different than they are now. They don't even know what a Little Debbie cake is!

For lunchboxes choose nitrate free lunch meat or peanut butter on whole grain bread or whole grain tortillas, fresh fruit, raw carrots and celery sticks, string cheese, nuts, and plain ol' water to drink.

Remember that if the television add entices your children to want to purchase it and there is a list of vitamins that they have "enriched" it with - you do NOT want to eat it! It is not a whole food...it is a "food" product, stripped of all of its nutritional value and then "enriched" which simply means that they tried to put back some of the nutrients by using synthetic vitamins.

The same goes for canned and boxed foods. The healthiest way to shop is around the exterior of the grocery store. You want things that spoil -- if it lasts for years and years in a box or can, there is virtually no nutrition left in it. Shop in the produce department and then in the freezer section for things that are out of season.

Eating whole foods will mean less additives and preservatives, which are chemicals, synthetically made to prevent spoilage. There is no benefit to them and quite possibly a lot of harm. Simple is better. As I have said before our suppers usually consist of a baked meat, a steamed veggie, maybe a baked sweet potato, and a green salad.

Simple, simple, simple.....your family will adapt - and they will thank you one day!