The Pinnacle Of Healthy Eating: Organic Whole Food
Eating well can mean many things in our society, filled with quite a bit of affluence. Due to the rising statistics on obesity, we now know, for example, that the phrase "eating well" is best not employed when discussing huge portions, but that we should refine it to mean something a little more complicated. By thinking consciously about what you eat, organic whole food consumption can be the very definition of ‘eating well'.
What's Organic?
You've probably seen and heard a thing or two about organic foods. Basically, organic foods are part of a movement towards more healthy living started decades ago. Organic food is food that has been produced by sustainable procedures and also features minimal man-made chemicals. While an organic farmer may use newspaper as mulch, he may not utilize plastic sheeting unless he takes it up every planting season. Naturally, organic foods also mean spraying most kinds of pesticide is out of the question.
What Do They Mean By Whole?
Whole foods (organic, or otherwise) describe something that has undergone minimal production processes. An example of a whole meal would be a handful of almonds and a banana in unpasteurized milk. The opposite of whole foods would be the processed foods common all over the place in our grocery stores. Anything that's in the form of a frozen meal, or items with ingredients you have trouble pronouncing, would probably not be considered whole organic food.
What About Cost?
You may think that eating organic whole food means a huge investment. Not so. Actually, heavily processed foods that are high in salts and preservatives often feature a lot of extra packaging, which adds weight. This makes processed foods more expensive in general. You can avoid that extra weight, and extra expense from preservatives and other chemicals, by getting high-quality organic whole foods.
Is Organic The Same As Whole?
When keeping an organic whole foods diet, it's important to realize that organic foods and whole foods can be two separate things. For example, you can find vegan, organic cookies in the aisles of many grocery stores, but a look at the ingredients will tell you that the cookies are far from whole. Watch out for anything ending in "-ite", "-ol" or "ate" to see what chemicals may be in the food you're considering.
Shop Around…and Around…And Around
A good rule of thumb for keeping an organic whole food lifestyle is to keep to the perimeter of the store, and avoid the aisles entirely. That's where you'll find the heavily processed, high carbohydrate stuff you're trying to avoid. Instead, keep to the outer areas of produce and staples like eggs and milk to stay focused.
