A single dietary change that will make a HUGE impact on your health and well-being is to eat real food. It sounds simple enough. But what is “real” food? Holistic Nutrition classifies real food as whole, live and natural.
Whole foods are foods that have been processed and refined as little as possible. Whole foods are extremely close to the form that you would find them in nature. These are foods that your great-grandparents would recognize, grow, and eat. An example of a whole food would be wheat berries. The fragmented food produced from wheat berries is whole wheat.
Over-processing results in foods that are deficient in natural enzymes. By contrast, live foods are foods that are rich in enzymes and probiotics. Live foods are typically raw fruits and vegetables, sprouts, nuts and seeds, and fermented foods. Living foods provide high levels of nutrients, are rich in antioxidants support healthy digestion, and strengthen immunity.
Natural foods are foods that are minimally processed and free of chemical preservatives, flavours and colours. Read the label on any box of cereal or bag of chips at your grocery store and you will be sure to find ingredients that you don’t recognize nor can you pronounce. Among other reasons these ingredients have been added to increase shelf life and make cheap “food” look and taste good. Natural foods do not need additives to taste good – they are delicious in their natural state!
The next time you head to your grocery store make “whole, live and natural” your mantra. Avoid packaged, canned and processed foods. Nature knows what it’s doing when it comes to providing you with important enzymes, vitamins and minerals!
Go real or go home!!
