Whole foods make a huge difference when eating healthy.
Why? Because they aren’t processed beyond recognition and actually function better in your body!
It’s very important to know how to eat properly, and if you haven’t figured out the special formula? You’re never too old to learn.
The easiest way I’ve found to shed pounds while still enjoying the food I put in my mouth is to make myself the whole food promise: I promise myself to eat as many whole foods as possible.
So what is a whole food?
A potato. A tomato. A piece of chicken. Beans. Rice. Olive Oil...
Easy right?
What’s not a whole food?
Pasta. Bread. Pizza. Buns. Tofu. Cheese.
Sabotaging the process
When looking at the different kinds of foods we eat, white bread and other highly processed foods tends to have the worst reputation.
Why?
It’s because of what they do in the body!
When ingredients like oil, sugar and salt are added to foods when they are packaged, and this is what we call processed foods.
Refined and processed foods often act like glue in your system, slowing down the progress of the other foods that you eat.
“So while you could be eating what appears to be a healthy sandwich containing meat and salad on white bread, the reality is that you are not going to absorb the essential nutrients because the refined grains leech the goodness away,” The Present Day Wise Woman, Jennifer Jeffries explains, "If you did nothing other than replace white grains with brown in your diet, your basic level of health would increase dramatically.”
Wise words.
Breads, cheeses, tofu, and canned tuna or beans are all foods that have been altered, but not in a way that's detrimental to health.
So, when choosing components to add to a meal, choose something that will round out your plate and act as a team player in your body. Something that will work alongside the other foods you’re ingesting.
Working together
A whole or sprouted grain bread will be processed by the body in a much different way than a high processed grain, such as white flour.
Imagine the whole-grains actually work like little scrubby brushes inside your body, washing away all the gunk on the sides of the walls of your guts.
Gross? No! Cool!
Those 'scrubbies' not only help move everything through the passageways, much like a car wash’s big spinning brushes! But once it’s all properly digested, there are a lot more nutrients for the body to absorb, so anything that isn’t expelled will be utilized, unlike the gluey substance created by the refined grains in basically anything made with flour.
Lastly, remember, it’s important to be lenient with yourself. But you need to be aware of the foods that you are putting in your body and how they work together. Check out my article on how heavy and light carbs work together, and scroll down to the last section to read all about The Washing Machine Effect.
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