What are whole foods? Why are they good?

Whole foods are unprocessed and unrefined foods which our body loves. In a nutshell, they are anything fresh and whole, such as vegetables and fruit, for example. Shelly Najjar explains what whole foods are in her blog post.

How to add whole foods to your diet

Fruit and vegetable salads

Fruit is naturally sweet, packed with lots of vitamins and minerals, and tastes lovely by itself. Try cutting up a few pieces of fruit in a bowl, you’ll love the sweetness first thing in the morning, or as a healthy snack.

If you’re having a lasagna, or some chips and burgers, add some vegetables to a salad. Cucumbers, onions and sweetcorn work really well with main meals.

Salads are a great and easy way to get whole-foods into your body.

Change some of your main meals

Try adding a homemade country vegetable soup, or a tasty stir-fry, into your main meal diet.

Add them to your favourite meals

Do you love that curry you make/buy? Add peas to it. Adding one of two vegetables is very easy to do.

Legumes

Things like chickpeas and lentils, for instance, are legumes and are considered whole foods. Some legumes require to be soaked in water for 8 hours before cooking, so they are not considered handy for quick cooking!

Having said that legumes are very easy to eat and are packed with fiber which helps maintain a healthy digestion system. Try adding legumes to Mexican food — it is a great combination. Once you do this you’ll become an expert at adding them to other cuisines.

Health benefits of whole-foods

Whole foods have been proven to lower bad cholesterol and maintain good cholesterol. This helps us have a strong heart and clear arteries/veins. Whole foods are rich in fibre which helps us maintain a healthy digestive system.

I would also argue that whole foods can improve your mood, outlook on life, concentration… You might want to start eating more of them.

Reference

1. Bruce, B. Spiller, G.A. Klevay, L.M. Gallagher, S.K. (2000) A Diet High in Whole and Unrefined Foods Favorably Alters Lipids, Antioxidant Defenses, and Colon Function. [Online] [Accessed on 18th March 2013] http://www.jacn.org/content/19/1/61.full

Why bother reading/writing about our diet?

Lately I have been writing posts related to our diet but why do I write them?

Everything starts with our diet

Okay this is not one hundred per cent true but most things start with our diet. Other factors, such as genetics, for example, influence what goes on in our environment: Our body has its own boundary because everything inside our skin belongs to us in its own environment.

Our diet can have a large impact on this environment because everything we eat enters our environment: The food we eat gets behind our skin, consequently our environment.

Photo of the word “diet” made out of vegetables

What is a healthy diet? What is a balance?

The short answer to this is eating lots of whole-foods, such as fruit and vegetables, for example. A healthy diet is one rich in nutrients which helps us build and maintain an excellent environment, free of cancers, minor alignments and physical organ problems. Don’t just stop eating a bunch of fruits and vegetables, get a range of them. What is the easiest way to do this? Become adventerous next time you are at the supermarket, swap most of your vegetables in your homemade soup for completely different ones, or subsitute one or two vegetables for new ones in your stir-fry. Getting this range allows us to have an excellent environment.

Diet is not just about food

If you are anything like me, you will love great tasting food. But our diet isn’t just about taste, it’s about how we look (how our skin glows…), how we feel (do we stay mentally well…) and how we act (do we feel energised to…). Our diet has a huge impact on our life, eating a healthly and balanced diet allows you to look great, feel fantastic and have a lot of energy.

In short I write these posts to learn about our diet which allows me to maintain a healthy, enjoyable body, as well as being able to publish them on this blog which allows you to maintain a healthy and enjoyable body. I hope to continue to write some diet posts as part of this blog on life.

An automatic thing

Recently I went to a fruit stall to get some natural sugar after handing in an assignment. As I was getting my change something happened automatically: I put the change into my wallet without looking at it. Is this an automatic thing?

Action without thinking

Perhaps I was too preoccupied with the crowds in a very big city, or became engrossed at the amount of fresh fruit for really low prices. Either way I did something automatically.

Automatic reactions are a good thing because our brain has this amazing capability to keeping on top of things, even if we are not concious of it.

Have you ever remembered that a light is on, or you left your [X] on?

At the time we don’t notice, but our brain has the amazing capacity to keep us right. A few minutes/hours pass and we get this sudden reminder.

So much so, nothing too serious happens whenever we are distracted. Leaving the light on, for example, is not a big deal.

But what about the change?

I don’t have money to throw away, but after this automatic reaction I could have lost a few coins. How would I have known I was overcharged if I put the change straight into my pocket?

Maybe an automatic reaction happens whenever we feel really safe. Maybe this automatic reaction allows us to show trust towards another human. Did I simply trust the fruit stall guy and felt so safe that he wouldn’t screw me over? Maybe

PS, he gave me the correct change. This time it really was a good automatic thing.

What are your automatic things?

What have/did/do you do? Is there this one [thing] that you keep forgetting and suddenly remember?

Five a day — it’s as easy as juice

Getting five portions of fruit and vegetables is important to reach optimum health. I would also argue that your mind becomes free, and you feel better as a result of eating balanced meals too. In a sense, good food also impacts your mood, and train of thought(s).

Five a day doesn’t have to be difficult

I love technology, and I love using new gadgets — this includes a juicer / blender. I think this combination is good, and I hope you do too.

By using a juicer, you can easily get five portions a day in one glass. Does this mean that we might be able to get eight portions, or more, a day, instead of five? The more the merrier.

Easy way to get your five a day!

Bursting with flavour

By blending a banana, orange, handful of red and green grapes, a pear and an apple, I was guaranteed a fresh taste. But by taking full advantage of these fresh fruits, I added some natural yoghurt too. Natural yoghurt, with probiotics, can help (as well as the banana) to feed our “good bacteria” within our gut (colon / large intestine). Try it. My glass was definitely half full — not half empty with this healthy, nourished, and positive body and mind. The flavour is excellent, and very sweet. I also think that natural sugar is better than buying it from a packet.

Okay, a little greedy, but it was very, very tasty.

Who said getting your five a day was boring, or difficult? Who said fruit doesn’t taste good. A whole pint of nutrition, I hope my body thanks me by staying healthy!

Enjoy your body. Listen to your body, remember the self-regulation posts? Have fun! Your body and mind will take care of you! Without one healthy, the other suffers.