What is a Whole Food?

What is a Whole Food?

Before we put a bite in our mouth, before we heat it up, before we even decide to toss it in the grocery cart, let’s take a moment to consider where the food came from.

Can I imagine it growing? It’s easy to picture an apple tree or a blueberry bush but it’s a little tough to picture a field of marshmallows or streams where you can scoop up a refreshing glass of soda!

How many ingredients does it have? This is what makes it so easy, a whole food has one ingredient…itself! Compare the ingredient list between 2 dinners, one you make at home and one you buy in the frozen food section. Avocado, salmon and wild rice from home to a salmon and rice frozen meal. Just do it next time you are at the store, you will be amazed at the long list of additives and preservatives.

Is this product “part” of a food or the “whole” shebang? Juice is only part of a fruit. Low-fat milk is only part of the milk. Oil is only part of the olive. When you eat a lot of partial foods, your body in its natural wisdom will crave the parts it didn’t get.

What has been done to the food since it’s been harvested? Less is more. Have you noticed that so many things have been stripped, refined, bleached, injected, hydrogenated, chemically treated, irradiated, and gassed?! Modern foods have literally had the life taken out of them. Read the list of ingredients on the label, if you can’t pronounce something or imagine it growing in your garden don’t eat it. For example, you can make miso (with a bit of effort) from soybeans, but you can’t make isolated soy protein.

Cheers to a HEALthy YOU!

Bo and Shelley