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What Are Whole Foods and Why Should We Eat
Them?
By Scott Collins N.D. (Naturopath)
Whole foods are the foods that we typically find sold fresh in
fruit and vegetable outlets. These are fresh foods found in
their natural form such as nuts, seeds, cereal grains, legumes
(beans), fruits and vegetables.
These foods are called whole as they have not been processed or
have been stripped down from the original plant. Partial foods
are those like white rice, white flower and sugar that have
been refined from the original plant (refined foods).
The major benefit to eating whole foods is to maximise our
intake of essential macro and micro nutrients. Author Michael
Van Stratens states that switching to organic produce will
increase your nutrient intake, with organic produce having
higher content of nutrients and minerals.
Whole foods are also naturally high in PHYTOCHEMICALS; the
natural plant chemicals believed to play a biological role in
disease prevention delaying the onset and development.
Therefore diets high in green, red, orange, yellow vegetables,
legumes, fruits seeds and nuts are believed to contain a
cocktail of antioxidants which cumulatively have a protective
health benefit.
Fruits and vegetables that are in season are a better choice;
as they are less likely to have been in long term cold storage.
This is important as they haven’t been picked green and ripened
after being harvested minimising nutrient uptake from the
soils. Cold Storage has been shown by researchers clearly
reduce the antioxidant activity and potentially to reduce other
nutrients
Whole foods contain natural fibre which is present in all plant
foods, the American Cancer Society recommends whole grains and
cereals as they are higher in fibre for good health. Dietary
fibre is well studied and is known to assist in disease
prevention such as diabetes and good bowel function to name a
few.
It is very easy to include whole foods in your diet speak to
your local produce store simply ask questions about the foods
they carry and how they are used. A quick Google internet
search will unearth some amazing recipes for the whole family.
Make this a fun experience by experimenting with whole foods
for a healthier you today.
by Scott Collins N.D. -
Ressel, G, American Cancer Society releases
guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer
prevention - Practice Guidelines, American Family
Physician, Oct 2002
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