Whole Foods – Whole Nutrition

Nov 12
11:09

2011

Michelle Hertz

Michelle Hertz

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Nutrition is the relationship of food to the health of the human body. Good nutrition from eating healthy whole foods is the foundation of the Natural Health Perspectivehealth and wellness program.

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Most people have heard of the term whole foods.  One definition of whole foods is food that was either minimally processed or unprocessed,Whole Foods – Whole Nutrition Articles so that none of the nutritional characteristics have been changed.  In other words, whole foods are unaltered and as close to original as possible.  These whole foods have many nutritional benefits.

We are only just beginning to understand the complex makeup of the foods we eat.  Many of the micronutrients found in whole food may actually be found to work in conjunction with each other.  A food that is in its unaltered form may have just the right balance of nutrition for your body.  This is one of the reasons processed foods are often devoid of any real nutritional value.  Processing foods with heat, chemicals, or acids causes the vital nutrients to become denatured.  Denaturing means to permanently alter a property and make it almost useless in terms of nutrition.

In many modern industrialized countries, we are very well fed.  By this I mean, we have plenty to eat.  You might be surprised to learn that many of these well fed people are actually undernourished.  The nourishment that should be coming from our food just isn’t.  The food most of us eat has lost almost all of its original nutritional properties.  Many times manufacturers add vitamins and minerals, and put “fortified” on the label.  This is to recreate the nutrition in the foods after they remove or ruin all of it through processing.  Fortification is absolutely not comparable to the real nutrition the food originally had.

One way to get healthy whole foods into your body is by creating smoothies in your blender.  A powerful, heavy duty blender, like the Vitamix, can create a delicious smoothie out of whole foods in no time.  This smoothie can be made to have all the nutrition you should be getting in your diet.  Drinking your nutrition like this is easier on the digestive system, since it requires very little digesting.  It is also faster and easier to drink a smoothie than to actually eat all those vegetables and fruits.

Juicing vegetables and fruits is another great way to get the nutritional boost your body needs.  Some would argue, however, that because the juice is separated from the pulp that it isn’t truly a whole food anymore.  This may be true, but the juice is still full of great nutrition even without the fibrous pulp.  Juice can be another easy and fast way to drink your nutrition.

Overall, consuming whole foods will give you the best nutrition.  Remember that any process from the time the food was grown, to when you consume it, may cause it to no longer be considered whole.  Even products that say “whole grains” are also full of many other properties that are not whole.  When you see whole grains on the label, realize that this may be a marketing ploy to get you to think it is healthy.  The food may contain whole grains, but in what amount?  Think about this processing the next time you choose your foods.  True whole foods won’t come in a package, except for the one Mother Nature gave it.

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