If you are just learning about the whole foods lifestyle, it might seem a bit confusing. Like many people, you have likely had healthy foods in the past that you are no longer able to eat.
The first thing you should know is that you are not alone. Many people have been in your shoes. It is downright hard to start this journey and then realize that you have to adjust to a completely new way of eating.
And it can be even harder when you have been thinking that you were making healthy choices for yourself and your family all of this time only to realize now that you were not.
For example, you can go into almost any grocery store and find vegan frozen meals. Sure, these meals look healthy from the surface. Many times they promote vegetables and have all of the right ‘healthy words’ on the box.
What’s even more confusing is that these foods can also be found in your local health food store, the one place where you would expect to find truly healthy products.
How to Choose the Right Whole Foods
If you are starting on your whole food journey, you don’t need all of that frustration. Instead, you just need to follow a few simple guidelines to determine if something is whole or not.
Once you have these rules memorized you will easily be able to go through your grocery store and pick the foods that are truly healthy for your body. Also check out these tips for clean eating that will help you too!
Rule One – Always Buy Organic
This is a bit more expensive and is usually one of the hardest things for new whole food eaters to wrap their minds around. The reason is because we are always taught that fruits and vegetables are good for us, it wasn’t until the last few decades when people started making a fuss about eating organic.
But in truth, whatever cost you spend on eating organic will be well worth it in the long run. When you are not eating organic you are often exposing yourself to a variety of chemicals that are used to ‘beef up’ and preserve those fruits and vegetables.
Add that to the fact that you have no way of knowing exactly what has been done with the food that you are choosing, and eating organic becomes a whole lot more important.
Rule Two – Choose Grass Fed Meats
If you are a meat eater, you want to be sure that you are choosing grass fed meat. Like with organic foods, when you are eating grass fed meat you are eating meat that has to be treated a certain way.
From humane treatment to the way they are fed, grass fed meat tends to have a better life and be better for you. Additionally, it is important to remember that we are technically eating whatever our meat has eaten, so if your meat is not being fed properly you will be impacted by that.
Rule Three – Choose Foods In Their Natural State
While this doesn’t mean that you have to forage through the woods, it does mean that you should be reading labels whenever possible and looking for foods from online sources like ‘Primal Kitchen’ and ‘Thrive’, or foods approved by the Whole30 program.
Even if you aren’t following a Whole30 program, Whole30 followers have strict rules about what they can and cannot eat. And if you ever have any questions on your whole food path, it is better to err on the side of caution.
Look for raw foods, ones that have not been processed or treated with chemicals in any way. Choose foods as pure as you can get!
Even though this journey may seem a bit confusing now, with a little time it will all start to become second nature.
Yes, in the beginning you may feel like you are spending a lot of time looking for recipes and finding supplies in the grocery store, but over time you will have a ‘go to’ list of things that will be easy for you to use.
Hi! I’m Chris! Just a Midlife Wife sharing about life’s journey; screaming and kicking through it while supposedly aging gracefully…
Focusing on healthy living, low carb & keto, things I am loving right now, and life in general.