Whole Story

Looking for healthy eating resources? At Whole Foods Market®, we have developed Health Starts Here® to help guide wise nutrition choices. Listen in and learn where to focus for the most benefit.

Akua Woolbright holds a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and is Whole Foods Market’s Senior Healthy Eating and Wellness Educator.

Whole Foods Market has developed a simple program to support your health and wellness goals:

• Health Starts Here® uses a commonsense, back-to-basics approach to provide healthy eating education and support.
• Our ultimate goal is to educate people about the benefits of eating real, whole foods (specifically plant foods) in order to live more vibrant, healthy lives.

There are four pillars to guide healthy eating choices no matter which dietary path one follows:

• Whole Foods - select foods that are as unrefined and unprocessed as possible
• Plant-Strong™ - consume more plants foods: fruit, green and colorful vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds
• Healthy Fats – meet small daily fat requirements with whole plant foods such as nuts, seeds and avocados
• Nutrient Dense - increase consumption of micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals) while decreasing calorie consumption

Nutrient-dense foods can be helpful during weight management and cleansing:

• Nutrient-dense foods are, by their natural makeup, those that are lower in calories and higher in micronutrients.
• Dark green leafy vegetables or raw almonds are examples of foods that are low in calories and void of saturated fat and cholesterol.
• One meets the criteria of nutrient density simply by using the other three pillars to help guide food choices.

Additional healthy eating resources are available online and in store:

• ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) scores are listed throughout the store and rates foods from 0-1000, with a 1000 being the best.
• Kale and certain other green leafy vegetables would score a perfect 1000! The best way to use ANDI is within categories to see which vegetables, fruits or perhaps legumes have the highest scores.
• There are recipes and tips for getting started with Health Starts Here on our website. Many of our stores also have healthy eating specialists on staff to offer store tours, cooking classes, supper clubs, and printed materials. Ask for a healthy eating specialist at a store near you!

Visit our Whole Body site to download this month’s featured Be Good to Your Whole Body pocket guide and more.