Eat More Whole Foods

Some whole foods

"If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health." - Hippocrates

If you want to lead a healthier life, you need to eat more of a plant-based, whole foods diet and less processed foods. There are no ifs, ands or buts.

What are whole foods? They are unaltered foods still in their natural state. Processed foods have been refined/created by people.

• Examples of whole foods: fruit, potatoes, brown rice, vegetables, chicken, fish, beans, milk, raw nuts, raw honey, quinoa
• Examples of processed foods: canned fruit, french fries, white rice, chicken nuggets, pasta, cheese puffs, bread, jam (all processed food comes in containers)

Nutrients are removed from processed food during the refining process, and you often end up eating more of it since it's not as filling. For example, to get white rice, the outside bran is removed (which is where the fiber and a lot of nutrients are). Without the fiber, you need to eat more white rice to feel full, you get constipated, and you have to eat more food or take supplements to get nutrients. To make matters worse, the average American gets 80% of their sodium from processed food, and high sodium can lead to high blood pressure, which can lead to heart disease. The good thing is that a low-sodium whole foods diet can reduce your blood pressure the same amout as 2-3 blood pressure medications. Personally, I'd rather eat a whole foods diet than be tied to expensive drugs!

If you are on an all-processed diet for a significant period of time, you will have health issues, be sallow and constipated, and probably overweight. Not attractive. Eat whole foods! Studies have shown that whole foods have a slew of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. We haven't catalogued all the nutrients that exist, but you'll get all of them by eating natural foods.

What to do: Put More Whole Foods in Your Diet

1. Figure out what processed foods you are eating in your current diet. Take a look at your Mindful Log and highlight all the processed foods you are eating. Are you having a bagel for breakfast and chicken salad for lunch? 
2. Think of whole food replacements for your processed food, or just cut back on it. If you're having a bagel for breakfast every morning, think about switching to oatmeal, fruit and a hard-boiled egg. If you're pressed for time, create your own sugar-free fruit and yogurt smoothie. Do you have chicken salad for lunch? Try grilled chicken over a green salad. Get creative with your diet.
3. Be moderate. If you love pasta, I don't expect that you will cut it out of your diet. Have it less and make healthier choices. I love pasta and used to have it 3 times a week or more. Now I cut my portions and frequency down (less pasta, more veggies or sauce) and use whole wheat pasta. The whole wheat makes it marginally better (it's still processed). After a lot of searching I finally found one that I like - the Whole Foods store brand.
4. Eat a wide variety of whole foods. If you eat a broad and varied whole foods diet, you can get all your nutrients from food (which is the best, most easily absorbable way to get nutrients.) It's great that you're eating fresh spinach for your vegetable every day, but branch out! Try swiss chard, broccoli, asparagus, kale, collard greens, etc. Try whatever is on sale. The world is your oyster. 

For more tips on whole foods, look at this article from WebMD. 

What I ate: 3 clementines, 2 slices whole wheat bread, 1T strawberry/peach jam, 1T goat cheese spread, 1 c. steel-cut oatmeal + milk, 1 cup coffee, 2 pieces Indonesian peanut snack, 1.5 c. Mindful Mix, 2 hard-boiled eggs, 1 dried apricot, 1 c. yogurt + jam, 4 squares of cheese (bad), 1 cracker, 1/2 cupcake, 5 pieces crudite, 55 oz. water.

Exercise: Ran 4.75 miles, 75 min. yoga