What are Whole Foods?

So what exactly are Whole Foods?  Whole foods are raw, unrefined, unprocessed foods.

What are raw, unrefined, unprocessed foods?

Fresh fruits, fresh veggies, nuts (in shell), unprocessed meats (like chicken breasts, not bacon or sausage), raw milk and eggs (free range, organic or from your local farmer's market are best).

What is NOT a Whole Food?

Anything that has preservatives, artificial sweeteners/flavors and that is processed (processing robs food of it's nutrients).

How can you tell what is or is not a whole food?

Look at the ingredients, if you don't know what the ingredient is, if you can't pronounce it, if you can't make it yourself, it's probably not a Whole Food.  Your best bet, is to buy food that doesn't have an ingredient label, because it is the ingredient (fruits, veggies, meats, nuts, etc).

A Whole Foods diet is not a Raw diet.  On a Raw diet, people eat their food, you guessed it, raw.

Photo Source rawveganwarrior.com

Most grains are processed and some Whole Foods diets do not include them.

Photo Source National Cancer Institute

All sugar containing plants must be processed in order to extract the sugar as a separate product.  Raw, unpasteurized honey is a source of unprocessed sugar.

Photo Source webmd.com

What kind of things will you eat on a Whole Foods diet?  Well, here's what I eat: