Examples Of Whole Foods

I wanted to show you some examples of whole foods because a lot of people are a bit unsure of what they actually are.


Whole foods are foods which contain no harmful additives which you will find in processed foods. Whole foods are foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible. They mostly do not contain added ingredients and are as natural as possible.

Whole foods are the best source of nutrition and they give us maximum nutritional value. This is why nutritionists always recommend eating as many whole foods as possible.

Whole foods are foods that are as close to their natural form as possible. So when you read that a peach is a whole food - it is - but it's not a whole food when it comes in a tin. What about dried apricots? We all know that these are a good snack option but are they a whole food? Well yes they are but they are not as much of a whole food as the actual apricot in its natural form.

So basically, the more basic and natural a food is, the more of a wholefood it is. If a food is tinned or packed with many other ingredients, then it is not a whole food.

EXAMPLES OF WHOLE FOODS

Fruits and vegetables are good examples of whole foods.

Apples, bananas, carrots, dandelion greens, eggplant, figs, grapes, kale, lemons, mangoes, peaches, squash, tomatoes, watercress and yams are all whole foods as are all other natural fruit and vegetables.

LEGUMES

Legumes are a class of vegetables which includes beans, peas and lentils. Legumes are typically low in fat and contain no cholesterol. Legumes are a good source of protein and can be a healthy substitute for meat, which contains fat and cholesterol.

Examples of legumes would be: adzuki beans, black beans, calico beans, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), edamame beans (soya beans),kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, mung beans and split peas.

NUTS AND SEEDS

Nuts and seeds are nutritious and contain healthy fats, along with other important vitmains and minerals. They are also a good source of protein.

When talking about nuts as a whole food, I mean the ones that are natural and not salted or with any other added flavours.

Almonds, brazil, cashew, macadamia, peanuts, pisatchio and walnuts are all examples of nuts. Flax (linseeds), pumpkin, sesame and sunflower are examples of seeds.

WHOLE GRAINS

Whole grains are grains which contain all the edible parts with nothing stripped away. Eg - its natural form. They are high in fibre, vitmains and minerals and are natural and far healthier than refined grains which have had most of their bran and germ removed during processing.

Examples of whole grain foods would be: Amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat, barley (hulled), corn, cornmeal (whole), couscous (whole wheat), oat groats, oats (rolled), popcorn, rye (whole) and millet.

Some more examples of whole foods would be: