3 Reasons to Eat Whole Foods

With all the different types of diets being popularized online, the information can get overwhelming. Deciding to focus your eating habits around whole foods is simple. You do not need to read a book or constantly remind yourself of exclusions when shopping at a grocery store. You simply eat foods with minimal processing. Whole foods include fruits, vegetables, whole wheat products, beans and legumes. This type of eating plan encourages some fish and poultry, but most of the calories should come from plants. There are countless advantages to eating whole foods, which is why this way of eating is consistently promoted by more doctors than any other diet.

person holding green vegetables

Healthy Benefits

The main reason doctors recommend a diet based on whole foods is because it’s good for your body. Some physicians, including Dominique Fradin Read, recognized that traditional medicine was not keeping their patients healthy. Instead, they moved to a holistic approach to care, promoting lifestyle changes and discouraging processed foods. The more a food is processed the less nutritional value it retains. In a study done at Yale in 2014, researchers found that many diets, such as Paleo and vegan, had exaggerated health claims. However, they consistently found that a diet based on whole foods, mostly plant-based, is directly connected to disease prevention and overall health.

Longterm Weightloss

When inexpensive processed foods flooded the grocery stores in the 20th century, levels of obesity in the USA exploded. That was not a coincidence. Processed foods are packed with empty calories that do not fill you up. This leads to overeating, which leads to weight gain. On the other hand, foods rich in protein and fiber give a full feeling with fewer calories. Protein also increases your metabolism, which aids in weight loss. For optimal weight loss, you can alter the percentage of protein, complex carbs and natural sugars in your whole foods diet. These percentages are best determined by a weight loss specialist.

Sustainability

When you eat less meat and more fruits and vegetables, you are helping the environment. This is because some food production is better for the planet than others. For example, the amount of carbon dioxide released into the environment from producing 100 grams of beef is 105 kg. Compare that to the amount released from 100 grams of peas, roughly 0.2 kg. If we can shift food production away from animal farms and factories, people will be healthier and so will the environment.

Krystal | Sunny Sweet Days
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