Example of whole food

Example of Whole food: Whole foods are foods that haven’t been processed. When food is processed, fat, sugar and salt are normally added and essential nutrients, such as fiber, are normally eliminated. Too much saturated fat, added sugar or sodium can increase your risk of developing a chronic disease.

Whole foods include fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains (such as oats, brown rice and barley), nuts, beans, fish, shellfish and eggs. Minimally processed foods are foods which can be a little bit processed, such as frozen produce or whole wheat flour.

Eating mostly whole or minimally processed foods, when possible, will help you keep healthy.

What Is a Whole Foods Diet? (Example of Whole food)

A whole-foods diet just isn’t a proper or business diet, says Lisa Young, PhD, RDN, creator of Finally Full, Finally Slim and adjunct professor at New York University. Rather, a whole foods–based mostly approach to eating is designed to be a long-term, sustainable plan. It’s about as self-explanatory as possible: You fill your plate with whole foods and, as much as you’ll be able to, keep away from these which can be processed. Whole foods, Dr. Young explains, are as near their pure, unprocessed type as possible. They include foods like whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean meats like chicken and fish, milk, yogurt, legumes, nuts, and seeds.

“The whole-foods diet is not closely defined — there’s a big gray area,” says Caroline Susie, RDN, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in Dallas. “The idea is to consume minimally processed foods as close to their natural state as possible.”

Whole Food vs Vegetarian vs Vegan

Like vegan and vegetarian diets, whole-food diets focus on fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes. But these phrases are in no way interchangeable.

People following a whole food diet can eat meat, eggs, and dairy so long as these ingredients don’t take middle stage. Vegan and vegetarian diets are defined by what they don’t include and put no emphasis on eating actual food over processed food.

Food Types	Vegetarian	Vegan	Whole Food
Meat	No	No	Limit
Eggs and Dairy	Yes	No	Limit
Vegetable Oils	Yes	Yes	Limit
Processed Foods	Yes	Yes	Limit
Fruits, Veggies, Legumes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Whole Grains, Nuts, Seeds	Yes	Yes	Yes

Types of Whole Foods

Of course, it’s possible to eat a strictly vegan, whole-foods diet. To do that, you simply have to abstain from meat, eggs, and dairy products while emphasizing unprocessed and minimally processed plant-based foods. This sort of diet dramatically will increase the health benefits that come from eating whole foods.

A Detailed Whole-Foods Diet Food List to Follow: What to Eat and Avoid

The following foods could be half of your eating plan on a whole-foods diet:

• Whole grains (for instance, steel-cut or old-fashioned oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice, farro, bulgur)
• Fruits
• Nonstarchy vegetables (asparagus, green beans, bell peppers)
• Starchy vegetables (corn, carrots, potatoes)
• Avocado
• Poultry
• Seafood, including fish
• Eggs
• Plain yogurt
• Cottage cheese
• Cheese
• Nuts and seeds
• Legumes (beans and lentils)
• Oil (olive oil, avocado oil)

Avoid or limit the next foods as much as possible:

• White bread
• French fries
• Snack mixes
• Chips and crackers
• Frozen pizza
• Fast food
• Snack bars
• Boxed macaroni and cheese
• Chicken nuggets
• Hot dogs
• Commercial baked goods
• Deli meat
• Most microwave meals
• Candy
• Soda and different sweetened drinks

A 7-Day Whole-Foods Eating Plan

When placing together meals, purpose to include a source of protein, carbohydrates, and vegetables, suggests Susie. (This aligns with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate recommendations, in which you purpose to fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables, 1 / 4 with grains, and 1 / 4 with lean protein. A serving of low-fat or fat-free dairy on the side is non-obligatory.)

Day 1

Breakfast Vegetable omelet and an orange

Lunch Salad topped with chicken and avocado, and a broth-based soup

Snack Apples and cheese

Dinner Grilled shrimp and roasted vegetables served with brown rice

Day 2

Breakfast Egg and spinach scramble with whole-grain toast

Lunch Three-bean chili

Snack Plain yogurt and berries

Dinner Grilled chicken with Brussels sprouts and roasted sweet potato

Day 3

Breakfast Oatmeal with berries and walnuts

Lunch Grilled shrimp and roasted vegetables, plus a whole-grain roll

Snack Cottage cheese and fruit

Dinner Brown rice and tofu bowl with vegetables

Day 4

Breakfast Chia seed pudding with berries

Lunch Homemade chicken salad in a pita

Snack Dark chocolate with almonds

Dinner Turkey meatballs served over zucchini noodles or whole-grain pasta

Day 5

Breakfast Plain yogurt with sliced fruit, seeds, and cacao nibs

Lunch Warm spinach salad topped with chickpeas and quinoa

Snack Pistachios and an orange

Dinner Salmon with broccoli and farro

Day 6

Breakfast Old-fashioned oatmeal with apples and pecans

Lunch Quinoa bowl with vegetables and tahini sauce

Snack Dark chocolate and dried apricots

Dinner Marinated grilled chicken with butternut squash mash and green beans

Day 7

Breakfast Hard-boiled eggs and old-fashioned oatmeal

Lunch Lentil and vegetable soup

Snack Pear and cheese

Dinner Stuffed peppers with quinoa and ground turkey

What You Need to Know

While the breadth of what you’ll be able to eat on a whole foods diet is surprisingly large—meat, cheese, grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts, beans, and extra—there are a couple of tell-tale markers of foods that do not match the invoice.

For instance, many ready-to-eat foods such as frozen meals, soda, baked goods, and sweet could also be full of artificial ingredients, such as coloring, preservatives, and flavorings. You’ll also wish to steer clear of any foods containing added sugars. Anything including an ingredient from this list of hidden sugars just isn’t a whole food (though honey is an exception).

A grey space in a whole foods diet is meat and poultry, which regularly contain antibiotics and hormones. Some people could select natural animal products solely or keep away from them totally, but it is actually a private desire. Similarly, some proponents of a whole foods diet would keep away from canned beans, preferring to soak dry beans and put together them at home.

What to Eat

• Fruits and vegetables
• Nuts, seeds, and beans
• Milk and some dairy products
• Meat, poultry, and seafood
• Minimally processed foods

What Not to Eat

• Prepared and ready-to-eat foods
• Heavily processed foods
• Refined carbohydrates
• Foods with added sugars

Fruits and Vegetables

In their authentic state, these are all whole foods. Those which can be canned or frozen with out additives (such as sweetened water) also retain their nutritional worth. Fruit Roll-Ups, fruit drinks, and veggie chips, nevertheless, should not whole foods. Corn on the cob is a whole food, while Corn Flakes or something that includes high fructose corn syrup or different molecules derived from corn just isn’t.

Milk and Dairy Products

Milk is a whole food (though some would argue that solely raw, unpasteurized milk is technically “whole”). Processed cheese just isn’t. Regular cheese and yogurt are minimally processed, with the “processing” brought on primarily by bacteria, molds, and many others.

Minimally Processed Foods

This time period refers to foods which can be pre-prepared for comfort, including washed salad greens, sliced fruits, and so on. It might also include canned and frozen items, as long as they do not have additives such as sugar or salt. Also, notice that some food additives are added for his or her nutritional profit, such as calcium and vitamin D added to fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Refined Carbohydrates

Whole grains such as brown rice, quinoa, and barley are whole foods. Products that include refined carbohydrates or processed grains, such as puffed rice, brown rice syrup, or something made with white flour, should not. Grinding grains into flour makes them extra glycemic and eliminates their resistant starch.

Whole vs. Processed Foods

Before you try a whole-food diet, it’s essential to know that the majority foods you’re eating are processed to some extent. Cooked, canned, frozen, packaged, or nutritionally altered foods are all thought-about “processed.”

 Nutritionally altered foods include these which can be fortified or preserved. That said, any time a food is ready or cooked, it’s processed to some extent. Take the roasted pistachios you snack on, the bagged lettuce you purchase for a lunchtime salad, or the brown rice you’re boiling to eat — they’ve all been processed, even when solely mildly.

“I think we need education around the term ‘processed foods,’” says Susie. “They can be very convenient, especially since we’re all so busy. I don’t want someone thinking they cannot have 90-second microwaveable brown rice, when it’s a nutritional powerhouse.”

On the whole-food diet, it’s okay to sometimes have calmly processed foods like yogurt and cheese (as long as they’re not awash in sauces or syrups). Canned and frozen fruits and vegetables can also be healthy decisions when loved without added sugar and extra sodium. Just purpose to keep away from extremely processed fare, such as quick food, frozen pizza, and microwaveable dinners.

 You can simply establish these foods as a result of they arrive prepackaged and have a long listing of ingredients you’ve by no means heard of which can be usually difficult to pronounce. These foods can contain lots of added sugar and sodium, two nutrients that Americans are eating too much of. Eating too much salt can result in high blood pressure, a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

 And extra sugar consumption comes with a better risk of health ills, such as extra weight achieve and type 2 diabetes.

Whole foods are nutritious

Nutritious foods (not supplements) are the best basis for optimum health and designed by nature, whole foods give us all of the nutrients we’d like with none additives. By repeatedly eating a range of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and protein foods, we’re masking all bases. And it’s suggested that even these “protein foods” ought to come predominantly from plants; tofu and tempeh are nice meat replacements and completely depend as whole foods.

The good instance of that is our Protein Power Bowl containing 26.5g of plant protein per serving. It’s miso roasted tofu, coconut and edamame smash, with energy grains, sweet chilli broccoli, sesame cabbage, and a pea and edamame medley.

Building your diet round whole plant-based foods means you’ll naturally eat:

• Most, if not all, the vitamins and minerals you want in your body to operate completely; Vitamin B12 is the primary one to look at out for.
• Dietary Fibre, which helps to maintain your digestive system on monitor
• Unsaturated fat; minimal trans and saturated fat; and completely no cholesterol
• Plenty of protein
• Phytonutrients – the chemicals that act as a plant’s immune system. These include antioxidants, which assist combat disease in people too.

Whole foods can combat disease

Replacing processed and animal-based foods with extra plants typically means extra fibre and much less saturated fat. This can have an important impact in your total health but also means a lowered risk of most cancers, heart disease and sort 2 diabetes

And again to phytonutrients – while not strictly important to maintain us alive and kicking, they’ll: reduce inflammation, boost your immune system and even assist to prevent sure types of most cancers. They are found in hundreds of completely different plants, but usually in actually vibrant fruits and veggies (like tomatoes, peppers, leafy greens). So, while carrots could not enable you to see in the dark, it’s possible they do prevent cataracts.

Whole foods are better for the planet

Plant ahead diets should not solely nice in your health but also have a confirmed impact on the atmosphere. For us Brits, a well-planned plant-based diet requires a couple of third of land, freshwater and energy of the standard ‘meat-and-dairy’ based mostly diet.

Eating whole foods takes the “processing” step out of the sector to fork provide chain, reducing the gap travelled and the energy used to course of and refine.

What makes whole foods “whole” and processed foods “processed”?

Whole foods vs. processed foods, what’s the difference? Whole foods are typically characterised as foods that haven’t been processed, refined or had ingredients added to them. Whole foods include fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, meat, fish and eggs. Think of food that you just take a look at and acknowledge as something that exists in nature, like broccoli, a fish or a potato. In addition to a whole-food diet, some people could eat a whole-foods, plant based mostly diet, which simply excludes animal foods, like meat, fish, dairy and eggs.

Processed foods are foods which have undergone substantial modification, remodeling them away from their authentic type. This course of strips them of nutrients, bleaches them, combines chemicals, and different unnatural additives. As a result, the look, really feel, and the taste is completely different from their pure type.

Healthy wholefoods swaps

Eating extra whole foods doesn’t imply it is advisable lower out all ultra-processed foods. Try changing:

• sugary breakfast cereals with a bowl of porridge with banana or berries
• a muesli bar with a handful of mixed nuts
• white bread with wholemeal or wholegrain bread
• fruit juice with whole fruit
• ham or different deli meats with roast chicken or pork.

Looking to lose weight?

Carrying extra weight can take its toll at any stage and age. That’s why we’ve partnered with Prima Health Solutions, to offer you free entry to our Healthy Weight for Life program that can assist you develop healthy habits, lose weight, and improve your high quality of life.

The program is accessible free to HCF members who’re overweight and have osteoarthritis, or are at risk of developing chronic conditions. You should have had an eligible hospital product for 12 months and meet this system’s eligibility criteria. 

What are the professionals and cons of the whole foods diet?

Pros

Switching to eating whole foods will help you lose weight, prevent diseases. and improve your total health. Other benefits include the next:

• Safety. The whole foods diet covers all primary food teams and avoids unhealthy additives, making the diet secure and nutritious.
• Sustainability. Because there are few restrictions, most people can adhere to the diet and flip it right into a way of life.
• Suitability. The whole foods diet is appropriate for many people, though you must at all times seek the advice of your doctor you probably have any underlying medical conditions.

Cons

• Cost and availability. Whole foods are usually dearer and difficult to acquire. They might not be out there in any respect grocery stores.
• Practicality. Processed foods are extra simply out there, so adhering to a whole food diet would require extra planning and prepping, particularly if you’re touring.
• Overdoing it. Clean eating can result in an unhealthy obsession with avoiding all “impure” foods. (Example of Whole food)