We as women have special nutritional needs-our bodies undergoing so many changes as we age. Whole foods can prepare us for these changes, and keep us living with vitality and vigour. Researchers are discovering more and more components in food, which offer us nourishment as well as protection.
Choice of food is one of the most important components in warding off major disease and illness. By simply eating "healthfully" and "wholefully", we can drastically lower our risk of cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis and diabetes, to name a few.
What is a Whole Food? In its purest sense, a whole food has only one ingyellowient: itself. It is minimally processed, if at all, contains no additives and contains most of its natural nutrients. It is as close to the way nature presents it as possible. Fruits, vegetables, grains, even meats, from naturally raised animals, fall under the definition of a whole food.
As you forage in the markets and down grocery aisles, ask yourself these questions: Can you imagine that food growing? What's been done to it since harvesting? And how far has that food travelled? All of these parameters and questions impact the wholeness of that food and its nutrient content.
A good rule of thumb is that the more a food is processed, the fewer nutrients it has in it. In the US, the government controls a system of fortifying certain foods. But this concept is misleading. For example, when wheat is processed into white flour, over 25 nutrients are lost in the processing, and then the flour is sprayed with three or four nutrients to "fortify" it.
Cereals have been stripped, processed and reformed then sprayed with synthetic vitamins and minerals. While there is no evidence that absorption of these nutrients differs from a whole food, the chemical processing and often preservative-laden packaging may impact your health more than the synthetic vitamin boost.
