We rely on food for all our nutrients. The raw materials our bodies need to function come from our food. Real, whole foods in their natural state, provide many micro and phyto nutrients that work together to provide fuel for good digestion, energy production, detoxification and brain function.
What is real food?
Whole fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, seafood, raw nuts, seeds, whole unprocessed grains, herbs and spices
Food with a few whole food ingredients combined.
Real Food Guidelines
Most of us rely on convenience foods to a degree due to time, interest in cooking and flavor enhancement. Fortunately, there are more and more choices for healthier versions of convenience foods.
Here are some guidelines to help you make the best choices for your health. It’s not about being perfect; rather, it’s about being aware, about making informed decisions, about nourishing our bodies so we can live a happy, healthy, balanced life.
- Understanding food labels and ingredient lists is key to making healthy choices.
- Always check the ingredient list first.
- Choose foods that have just a few ingredients that are whole intact foods. Long lists usually include unhealthy additives.
- Ingredients are listed by weight, so the first items on the list are present in the largest quantities in a product.
- If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.
- Look for hidden sugars like dextrose, fructose, galactose, lactose, levulose, maltose, sucrose, beet sugar, corn sugar, corn sweetener, high fructose corn syrup, invert sugar and maltodextrins.
- More natural sugars include maple sugar, maple syrup, turbinado sugar, coconut sugar, honey, and molasses. Often more than one sugar is listed and increases the total amount of added sugars to the product.
- Sugar alcohols often cause intestinal discomfort, gas, bloating and are best avoided. These include sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol, xylitol, isomalt, lactitol and erythritol.
- Whole grain items must say 100% whole grain or it isn’t a whole grain. Wheat flour, white flour, enriched flour are all stripped of the fiber.
- Natural flavors are often derived from real food but they are highly processed into a form that can be used in the packaged food.
- Chemical additives include aspartame, monosodium glutamate(MSG), food dyes, sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate, BHA, BHT, sulfur dioxide, potassium bromate, sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate.
Real Food: How to Make Healthy Choices
Fruits & Vegetables: Buy local, seasonal and/or organic when possible. Farmer’s Markets are a great resource.
Meat & Seafood: Wild instead of farmed seafood is best. Choose grass-fed, organic meat without added hormones or antibiotics and buy locally as much as possible.
Fats and Oils: Choose Unrefined, Virgin, Cold-Pressed Oils & Fats: coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, grass-fed butter, ghee. Avoid processed oils like canola, soybean, safflower, corn oil and margarine.
Whole Grains: Choose whole, unprocessed grains such as steel cut oats, quinoa, brown rice and farro. Minimize products made with flour, even whole grain and gluten free.
Dairy and Eggs: Use full-fat, grass-fed, pasture-raised when possible.
Beans and Legumes: Canned beans are fine just choose lower sodium options and be sure there aren’t any other additives.
Seeds and Nuts: Prefer raw, unsalted, unsweetened and/or organic when possible.
Spices, Herbs & Seasonings: Can use fresh/dry/ground; minimally processed and organic when possible. Use unrefined salt that includes minerals especially iodine.
Natural, Unrefined Sweeteners: Honey, maple syrup, and raw dates.
Processed Foods: Avoid as Much as Possible
Packaged, prepared and/or fast foods usually contain chemicals and additives, like artificial flavors and colors as well as ingredients you can’t pronounce.
Refined grains: white flour, white rice, white pasta or any grains that don’t say “100% whole”. Even foods labeled 100% whole grain like cereals and breads are made from processed grain/flour. Flour is a ground version of the grain that is more quickly metabolized into sugar once ingested.
Refined sugar: white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, cane sugar, and anything artificial, like Splenda, Equal or Sweet’N Low. Sugar alcohols like xylitol and erythritol are highly processed and not recognized as real food in the body.
Processed oils and fats: trans-fats, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated and/or polyunsaturated vegetable oils (canola oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, peanut oil), margarine and non-butter spreads and sprays.
Genetically modified foods: Look for non GMO labels
Low fat, low sugar, lite: Usually contain additives and chemicals to make them taste good. Read the ingredients.
Make Informed Choices
Remember, small changes add up! Use this information as a guideline and make choices as you’re able. Health is a journey, not a sprint. Begin by adding more healthy real food to your diet and some processed foods will start to fall off and not taste as good. Eliminating all processed foods isn’t always realistic but choosing products with fewer and less toxic ingredients will go along way to improve health and energy levels.