The Whole Story of Whole Foods: What Makes Them Special?

The buzzword in the food industry and everyone looking for healthy food and a healthy diet is whole foods. Even though it may sound confusing, it is the simplest and easiest diet to follow. Here is all you need to know about whole foods to keep your health and heart healthy.

What Exactly Are Whole Foods?

In layman's language, Whole Foods are food items that are closest to their naturally occurring form, minimally processed, unprocessed, or found in a whole state. It, however, does not mean following a strict diet that is only vegan or free from processed foods. It means to prioritise whole foods in your meals over other food items.

Some of the best examples of Whole Foods are fruits, vegetables, legumes like lentils and beans, nuts, seeds, unrefined whole grains which include brown rice, basil, cilantro, and spices like ginger, garlic, and turmeric.

You would have noticed these Whole Foods are the regularly eaten food items. Therefore, many times when you eat Whole Foods it is referred to as clean eating since indirectly you avoid processed foods or foods with additives, and preservatives and focus on foods that provide nutrition.

Benefits Of Eating Whole Foods

Increased Consumption Of Nutrition Dense Food

Eating Whole Foods gives our body the necessary vitamins, minerals, proteins, fiber, and digestive enzymes which help to make the body strong and healthy.

Leads To Healthy Gut Health

Most of the Whole Foods contain essential compounds that provide nourishment to the good bacteria in our gut. These compounds, called prebiotics make the gut healthy which in turn leads to mental wellness and healthy skin. Some examples of Whole Foods that include natural prebiotics are fermented vegetables like kimchee, pickles, and sauerkraut.

Additionally, Whole Foods do not contain harmful toxic chemicals that are found in all processed foods.

Whole Food Develop Stronger Immune System

A good immune requires good nutrition. Whole Foods are loaded with nutrition that is needed by the body to build a stronger immune system. Undernutrition or malnutrition may lead to deficiency. Therefore, it is essential to feed our body with wholesome Whole Foods to equip it with all the vital vitamins. Minerals and other nutrients.

When we pamper our body with good Whole Foods and give a miss to processed unhealthy foods, the enzymes in whole foods help to break down the nutrients and use them. The antioxidants further help to fight the free radicals in our body and the fiber content helps to maintain a strong and healthy gut.

Whole Foods Have Lower Number Of Calories

When we consume Whole Foods,  we not only nourish our body but also keep it light with more nutrition in lower calories. While processed and refined foods have higher calories for the same serving of food.

This is because foods that are cooked and processed at multiple levels and loaded with artificial chemicals, preservatives, cheap oils, extra sugar, sodium, and unhealthy oils lose their original flavour. Hence to spice them up, artificial ingredients are added which only lead to empty calories with no nutritional value.

Whole Foods Lead To a Healthy Heart

Whole Foods are a great way to keep our heart healthy. A whole food diet that is plant-based plays a significant role in lowering the risk of heart diseases and keeping the heart healthy. It has been found that people who are active and have high levels of energy follow a diet rich in Whole Foods.

A diet rich in Whole Foods is recommended for people suffering from high blood pressure or taking medications for cardiovascular diseases.

Whole Foods Are Associated With Healthy Weight

People who follow a diet rich in Whole Foods are found to be leaner than people who follow a heavily processed food diet as it leads to weight gain.

It is, therefore, a no-brainer that whole foods are the need of our body. And foods that are processed only make our body weak, and breeding place for various diseases.