A note before we get started: Let me just get this out there – I get it, breaking down this concept of what can be categorized as a “real, whole food” may seem a bit absurd. Shouldn’t the practice of choosing real, whole foods be completely obvious?
Here’s the thing – it’s not your fault that this simple concept of a healthy food has become so muddled. We just happen to live in a world where we have been fed flawed information on what we should be eating, and this information has led to diets based on some of the most unhealthy substances I could imagine.
Seriously though, we have genetically modified our most prevalent crops, we refine these crops down into one substance from each, we then combine these substances with a handful of others, and then since this product looks and tastes nothing like a food, we add back flavor with sugars and chemicals and add in synthetic vitamins so that our base requirements for survival are met. And then we label it as “healthy” because our government allows us to do so.
Yes, that breakfast cereal made of refined grain (with added synthetic nutrients), sugar, and milk (with all of the nutrients removed) – that’s what I’m talking about. Or maybe that fake burger – the one with no real meat and instead made of refined soy, artificial flavorings, and a list of chemicals you cannot pronounce. That’s what I’m talking about.
We have spent so long living lives with this twisted idea of what healthy foods are, and this means there is a lot of work to do reversing some of our ideas of a healthy food.
So, in the name of overcoming all of the poor beliefs surrounding what it means to eat a healthy food, I find it best that we start from scratch. Bear with me through this one. I have made it short and (not-so) sweet so we can move onto bigger and better things.
The Reprogrammed Systems Approach is based on a key principle that the human body has been designed over millions of years in ever-changing environments in the natural world. As our species evolved further we developed the miraculous human mind and body, allowing our ancestors to move out of Africa and span the entire globe. This world-wide migration exposed our species to a wide variety of environments, and because our species was so remarkable, we were able to adapt to each and every unique, natural environment.
The result is a species capable of surviving in a range of environments, whether it’s the warm, temperate climates with large varieties of plant and animal sources of food, or the cold, desolate climates with few, if any, plants.
This tells us one important fact: our species is capable of surviving (and even thriving) on diets based on any food.* Yes, that is correct. Despite what you may hear about how a vegan diet is ideal for our population or that a keto or carnivore diet is what is really miraculous for our health, the honest truth is that if you look at our history as a species, we have been capable of surviving on an incredibly wide range of foods. We, as a species, spanned the entire globe, living off of the variety of food sources available in each climate – and all along experienced very minimal occurrences of the modern diseases we regularly experience today.
And then, there was a major shift. As our species evolved, we created our own world – a world based on technology – that is, a world based on goods of our own making. We stopped eating the foods that come from the ground or from healthy animals, and instead started making our own methods of producing edible goods.
While this is a truly remarkable phenomenon, one that comes with so many improvements to the natural environment, it has also shown to be a situation with severe consequences.
Modern Disease has shown itself to be an integral part of this novel world. It arises as the body breaks down, first losing its ability to regulate its own internal processes, progressing towards system-wide dysfunction, and finally the arising of clinically relevant symptoms at which point we call it a disease.
The concept of a diet based on real, whole foods is a simple, yet effective solution to this problem. We evolved eating real, whole foods, so our body is best suited to operate when fed these real, whole foods.
However, I have found that the actual implementation of this concept is anything but simple, which is why there is a great need to spend some time ironing out exactly what it means to eat a real, whole food.
I will start by giving you a definition with some further explanation. Following this I will give you some guiding principles that can be used to sort out real, whole foods from industrial not-so-foods. While this may seem excessive, I can assure you that it is necessary given how far removed we have become from any diet based on real, whole foods.
Let’s begin with a definition of a real, whole food:
A real, whole food is an edible, organic substance that provides nutrition for the body, was produced from the ground, a plant, or animal, and could have been produced in its final form without the use of modern technology.
To clarify further:
A real, whole food is a food that has not gone through industrial processing, nor has had industrially processed ingredients added to it.
Think of it like this: could you have prepared the food, yourself. in your own kitchen from start to finish, given that all ingredients came directly from the ground, a plant, or an animal? I’m not saying that you did prepare it in your kitchen from start to finish, but could you if you so desired.
Or, would it take heavy machinery or laboratory equipment to get the food into something that is edible?
Make sense?
To summarize, all you really need to consider when deciding on what to eat is to ask the following question:
Is this a food that came directly from the ground, plant, or healthy animal, and were any industrial ingredients added to it?
Simple, right?
Let’s dig into this concept of industrial not-so-foods. For now, I will introduce you to the idea, but for a full explanation, you’ll need to check out my articles on the subject (see full and abridged).
If you’re unsure of what these “industrial ingredients” include (i.e. the parts of the meal that could not have been produced in your own kitchen), a good place to get started is to consider the all-too-common industrially processed ingredients that tend to find there way into almost ever single food item produced commercially: refined grains, vegetable/seed oils, and sugar, along with chemical additives (e.g. flavorings, stabilizers, etc.).
I encourage you to get started with removing these common industrial ingredients from your meals. No, really – right now, today. Get these out of your kitchen, stop adding them to your meals, and when you eat meals prepared by others, do your very best to make sure these have not been added. Again, these include:
- Sugar
- Vegetable/seed oils
- Refined Grains
- Chemical additives
Now, let’s think about putting it into practice. To get a clearer picture of what this means for you when you are choosing what to eat, consider the following guidelines.
Guidelines for Choosing Real, Whole Foods:
To get started eating a diet based on real, whole foods, we have to understand how to prepare real, whole foods in our own kitchen. First, this means getting all of the industrially processed ingredients out and stocking up on all the good stuff. Second, this means understanding how to turn these real, whole foods into something delicious and nutritious.
To help you with the first step, I have outlined how to approach the grocery store below. As for the second step, there are so many tools for you to learn basic cooking principles. To help you out, you can check out my instagram page at yourhealth_reprogrammed.
Now, I know, telling ourselves that we don’t know how to cook or don’t have the time to cook is such an easy way to get out of making any positive change. But, seriously, these are terrible excuses. Cooking can be so quick and simple, and I can help you out understanding how.
As for what to do at the grocery store:
1. Aim for the produce aisle and butcher shop. This is where you will find the majority of your real, whole foods. These include fruits and vegetables, and meat and dairy. However, even when you’re in these sections, you will have to proceed with caution.
- Look out for: Foods with added industrially processed ingredients (see section 3). Oftentimes, a food may look like a food, but it has had industrial ingredients or other chemicals added to it. Make sure you check the label to ensure that you aren’t consuming any industrial not-so-foods that are lurking in your foods.
- Look out for: Meat that has been processed or raised with poor ethical standards. Poorly raised animals are not only harmful for the animal and the environment, but they are almost always less nutrient-dense. Do the animals, the environment, and yourself a favor and by animal products from animals raised with high standards.
- Look for: Foods that look like they came directly from the ground or plant, or from an animal.
- Tip: Always check the ingredients list. Even foods that look whole can contain unnecessary additives
2. Avoid the middle aisles of the grocery store – the ones lined with foods in cans, plastic, or in boxes (see section 3).
- Exceptions: Nut butters, canned veggies, condiments, and other whole foods that have been conveniently packaged for you for ease of preparation. Note that these foods fall under the real, whole food definition – you could, in theory, make nut butters or certain oils (e.g. coconut, avocado, or olive) in your kitchen. I have done it with my food processor. It’s not difficult, but I’m a busy person and I enjoy the convenience when I can get it.
- Look out for: real, whole foods that have added industrial ingredients (e.g. sugar or vegetable oil). The most heart-wrenching examples are nut butters (added sugar and oils) and hummus (added vegetable oil).
3. Packaged foods are often, but not always, best classified as industrial not-so-foods. If it comes in a package, there’s a good chance it is not a real, whole food. If that package is making any health claims, then chances are it is really not a real, whole food.
- Exceptions: Often times foods are prepared with minimal processing for your convenience. Examples include veggies that have been pre-washed or chopped. These can be eaten freely, but consider that they often don’t taste as fresh or last as long.
- Look out for: Packaged foods that look like they are in their real, whole food state, but have actually been tampered with in ways that any reasonable individual would think is unnecessary. Examples include chicken breasts that have been pumped full of sodium, or salads that come with dressings filled with sugar and vegetable oil. To prevent any problems, make sure you always check the ingredients list on any packaged food to make sure you aren’t ingesting any industrial not-so-foods in disguise.
Now, as an inherent part of being a human with a human mind is to go through life with pre-conceived notions and to try to incorporate these (often false) understandings into novel concepts, let me clarify what eat real, whole foods does not mean:
- this does not means that you walk into Whole Foods with the thoughts that everything is fair game
- this does not mean that your diet is based on organic, non-GMO, natural foods
- this does not mean that we are aiming to follow any sort of popular diet, including vegan or paleo
While it may provide extra benefit to aim for foods that fit into certain categories, real, whole foods are not necessarily organic, non-gmo, and gluten-free. If you feel strongly that you should eat foods that fall under these labels, then by all means keep looking out for them. But as for the Reprogrammed Systems Approach, at the time that you are figuring out a real, whole foods diet, these labels do not get priority.
Real, whole foods get the priority – foods that come directly from the ground, a plant, or an animal, to which no industrial processing occurred and no industrial ingredients were added.
One last thing:
To finish up, let me get something out into the open. As I promised, the first step in the Reprogramming Process is conceptually as simple as it gets: just eat real, whole food.
The problem is that the implementation of this concept is going to be difficult.
Unfortunately, the modern world is so saturated with industrial not-so-foods, you are going to face many challenges while you go about changing your diet. These challenges include:
- Products that are marketed to sound healthy or like a real, whole food. It is easy to be fooled by packaging encouraging health benefits of certain products. Keep your head on straight with the goal of real, whole food and avoid marketing tactics.
- Friends or family members encouraging you to sabotage your efforts. While they may not be consciously trying to harm your efforts, the insecurities or poor beliefs of others may encourage behavior that causes you to stray from your goal.
- A world set up for convenience, with outs available to you at any moment. Don’t buy into the nonsense that you will save time or money by opting for unhealthy foods.
Whether or not you get deterred by obstacles is up to you. You know what you need to do to get healthy. Now it’s just up to you to go out and do it.
*Well, almost any food – we do need at least some animal products in our diet or else we die of B-12 deficiency; so we can consume diets based on 100% animal based to 100% plant-based, as long as that plant-based diet is supplemented with animal-based foods.