Today is the first day of the rest of your life! Also the first of September. AND the first day of the Whole Foods Challenge! Give me a "W"! Give me an "H"! You get the idea. Go whole foods! (The crowd goes WILD!)
Today's post, besides offering you a cheer to get you totally psyched, is basically a clarification. When I came up with the whole foods idea for a challenge, I wanted to be inclusive. I thought, here is a challenge for EVERYONE, from vegans to vegetarians to carnivores. And who could disagree with whole foods?
Well, apparently people can!
Although it seemed like a no-brainer to me, I found myself having discussions about what, exactly, constitutes a "whole" food and why, exactly, would I wish to disparage perfectly good "unwhole" foods like skim milk, egg whites, and orange juice? After all, everyone knows refined flour and sugar are the enemy, but these last three are important components of a healthy diet. Or are they?
Let me admit, right off, that I am a "nature person". When my first daughter was born, I took her to a Chinese pediatrician who I really liked. He was very down-to-earth, especially for a doctor. I explained to him that I didn't want her to have any vaccinations until her immune system was fully developed. He looked confused at first, then smiled and laughed a little, saying, "OH! You nature person."
Yes. I am.
I have a deep respect for nature and things in their natural state. I believe that whole foods, in their most natural state, are basically what we were designed to eat. Nature designed our bodies, our systems. And nature also designed our foods. Perfectly. When we screw around with those foods, processing them, breaking them into minute components, and rearranging them in completely unnatural ways, we often end up with food "products" that are less nutritious, at best, and downright dangerous, at worst.
Take transfat as an obvious example. Touted as healthier and better than butter, most of us downed pounds of margarine and Crisco for decades, before it came to light that trans-fatty acids are actually much WORSE than saturated fats, clearly causing heart disease. The original link between saturated fat and heart disease was actually pretty flimsy. We now know that whole eggs do NOT cause heart disease. The egg yolk contains almost ALL the nutrition, including the omega-3 fatty acids, and the white contains mainly just protein. When you squeeze an orange, you get all of the sugar but much less of the fiber and the vitamins. And skim milk is just a hideous gray liquid devoid of deliciousness.
An important point that Michael Pollen makes in his book, In Defense of Food, is that we are only just beginning to reveal and understand the components of food. Scientists first discovered that foods contain 3 major macro-nutrients: protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Then they found out about vitamins, mostly the hard way, through deficiencies which caused disease. Now we know about minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals. We may THINK we know it all, but I would wager that we don't. Eating whole foods is the only way to guarantee that you are not missing out on everything a plant or animal has to offer you. It is your best bet.
To make a long tirade only slightly shorter, the Whole Foods Challenge is my gift to you. If you want to regift it to your neighbor or throw it in the dumpster, no problem! I will never know! If you want to climb aboard the All-Natural Train to Whole Foodsville, there are plenty of seats available. WOOT WOOT! (That's my train whistle.) I'd love to have your company.
Today's post, besides offering you a cheer to get you totally psyched, is basically a clarification. When I came up with the whole foods idea for a challenge, I wanted to be inclusive. I thought, here is a challenge for EVERYONE, from vegans to vegetarians to carnivores. And who could disagree with whole foods?
Well, apparently people can!
Although it seemed like a no-brainer to me, I found myself having discussions about what, exactly, constitutes a "whole" food and why, exactly, would I wish to disparage perfectly good "unwhole" foods like skim milk, egg whites, and orange juice? After all, everyone knows refined flour and sugar are the enemy, but these last three are important components of a healthy diet. Or are they?
Let me admit, right off, that I am a "nature person". When my first daughter was born, I took her to a Chinese pediatrician who I really liked. He was very down-to-earth, especially for a doctor. I explained to him that I didn't want her to have any vaccinations until her immune system was fully developed. He looked confused at first, then smiled and laughed a little, saying, "OH! You nature person."
Yes. I am.
I have a deep respect for nature and things in their natural state. I believe that whole foods, in their most natural state, are basically what we were designed to eat. Nature designed our bodies, our systems. And nature also designed our foods. Perfectly. When we screw around with those foods, processing them, breaking them into minute components, and rearranging them in completely unnatural ways, we often end up with food "products" that are less nutritious, at best, and downright dangerous, at worst.
Take transfat as an obvious example. Touted as healthier and better than butter, most of us downed pounds of margarine and Crisco for decades, before it came to light that trans-fatty acids are actually much WORSE than saturated fats, clearly causing heart disease. The original link between saturated fat and heart disease was actually pretty flimsy. We now know that whole eggs do NOT cause heart disease. The egg yolk contains almost ALL the nutrition, including the omega-3 fatty acids, and the white contains mainly just protein. When you squeeze an orange, you get all of the sugar but much less of the fiber and the vitamins. And skim milk is just a hideous gray liquid devoid of deliciousness.
An important point that Michael Pollen makes in his book, In Defense of Food, is that we are only just beginning to reveal and understand the components of food. Scientists first discovered that foods contain 3 major macro-nutrients: protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Then they found out about vitamins, mostly the hard way, through deficiencies which caused disease. Now we know about minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals. We may THINK we know it all, but I would wager that we don't. Eating whole foods is the only way to guarantee that you are not missing out on everything a plant or animal has to offer you. It is your best bet.
To make a long tirade only slightly shorter, the Whole Foods Challenge is my gift to you. If you want to regift it to your neighbor or throw it in the dumpster, no problem! I will never know! If you want to climb aboard the All-Natural Train to Whole Foodsville, there are plenty of seats available. WOOT WOOT! (That's my train whistle.) I'd love to have your company.
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