A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to attend a Health Starts Here tour at Whole Foods and my interest was immediately piqued.
Since I no longer live near a Whole Foods, I figured I wouldn’t be able to attend and was quite bummed since Ryan and I used to love Whole Foods events when we lived in Orlando. (We attended a number of restaurant cooking demonstrations and had a great time at a Greek cooking class! I know I’ve mentioned Whole Foods events on the blog before, but I highly recommend them for fun, inexpensive date nights!)
When I responded to the invitation, I happened to mention my travels to Jacksonville for my sister’s bridal shower last weekend and we were able to set something up since there is a Whole Foods in the area. Woo!
The Health Starts Here tour is free to everyone and I met up with Heather Olsen, the Jacksonville Whole Foods healthy eating specialist, for my tour in the late afternoon. Heather gave me a ton of information about the Health Starts Here program, which I never knew existed at Whole Foods until our tour began!
Health Starts Here is a mindful approach to healthy eating that’s rooted in simple ways to build better meals. The program is essentially an in-store guide that you can use to choose the healthiest foods.
Fun fact I learned from Heather: The average American cycles through the same 10 fruits and vegetables!
The Health Starts Here program includes the following Four Pillars of Healthy Eating:
- Whole foods: Health Starts Here foods only use recognizable ingredients in their purest, unprocessed forms.
- Plant-strong: Plant-based foods are the foundation of Health Starts Here.
- Healthy fats: Health Starts here foods does not use any extracted oils or processed fats but included healthy fats from natural sources including nuts, seeds and avocados.
- Nutrient dense: Health Starts Here meals contain a rainbow of nutritious whole plant foods with high Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) scores.
As Heather escorted me around the store, she pointed out Health Starts Here logo stickers that can be found on a number of food items within the store that follow the four pillars of health.
If you’re visiting the Whole Foods salad bar, hot bar or prepared foods section and noticed the Health Starts Here logo, you can be sure that the food you are eating is a healthy choice. It’s a great way to take some of the guess work out of healthy eating!
The program also offers a grocery list for stocking your pantry the healthy way and tips and tricks for cooking fast and healthy meals using quick-cooking whole grains, canned no-salt-added beans and frozen vegetables and fruit.
I left very impressed with the Health Starts Here program and know I’ll be looking for the logo as I select foods from the hot bar and salad bar during my next trip to Whole Foods!
Whole Foods Giveaway
When I said I’d be writing about this tour on my blog, Whole Foods was kind enough to offer a giveaway to one reader for a $50 gift certificate to Whole Foods. Since I know you guys get just as excited about food as I do, I have a feeling this one may interest quite a few of you!
To enter this giveaway, simply comment below and tell me about one healthy food you’ve recently started incorporating into your diet or a favorite healthy food that has been a staple in your diet for quite a while.
I will randomly select a winner on Friday.
Good luck!
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I have started adding some kale to my smoothies and I can’t even taste it! Thank you for sharing about this program, I love whole foods!
Oh how I miss Whole Foods…I actually travel to another state about an hour away to go there these days, but it’s so worth it. I’ve been eating red/orange/yellow peppers as snack food a lot recently, and absolutely loving it.
Wow! I totally fall into the “ten fruits and veggies” category 🙁 but after seeing the fab green smoothies you’ve been posting I have incorporated more kale & spinach into my diet.
I’ve always incorporated coconut oil by one means or another! Stir fries, pancakes, or face lotion, it makes an appearance daily.
I recently made the switch from low-fat to full-fat greek yogurt and holy cow, can’t believe what I’ve been missing! Full fat milk is much more nutritious and greek yogurt packs a great punch of protein. I just went to a Whole Foods for the first time last weekend and was VERY impressed! Thanks for the giveaway! 🙂
Green smoothies, every morning! My next goal is to incorporate more kale into my diet. Ugh, don’t love it.
I can’t seem to get enough of Kale salads. I’ve found that kale makes a great substitute to regular lettuce.
I’ve recently gotten into chia seeds. They are delicious in chia pudding!
I am officiiay obsessed with Kamut Puffs, so healthy and low cal
I’ just started eating kale.
I’ve loved eating more quonia recently!
I have recently started eating greek yogurt again! It was a mainstay in my diet and I started to get sick of it so I took a break! Now its back with a vengeance!
I love starting my day with Ezekial bread….I have for years! Thanks for doing the giveaway…love WF!
I used to work at Whole Foods because I loved it so much – and totally was into that 20% off discount 🙂 I’ve started incorporating bok choy into my diet.
We’ve been eating more beans! It’s so easy to add some black beans to our tacos, quinoa, and sometimes I even throw a small handful into my breakfast smoothie!
I recently started using more quinoa in my cooking!
Greek yogurt has become my go to for substitutions and smoothies! It is the perfect healthy ingredient!
I’ve always tried to balance the protein that I eat throughout the week, and recently have been doing one vegetarian meal a week. It’s hard for me because I’m actually allergic to many vegetables, but I’ve found it’s been a great way to get me to try new dishes!
I always add spinach, kale, or broccoli to my smoothies. Can’t taste – and you get in vegetables. Win win! 🙂 I LOVE whole foods!
Chia seeds! I have been putting them into my smoothies for awhile and just started incorporating them into my overnight oats!
I have been making your delicious oatmeal and eggwhite pancakes recently. Would love to use this WF gift card to continue my healthy eating habits
I have become in love with black beans! I consistently have at least 2 jars in my cupboard at all times. I’ve also started incorporating spinach into a lot of my meals as well!
Fuji apples! I discovered these in high school and they are so delicious and satisfying. They are so crisp and juicy and seem to always round out my lunch.
Organic mixed squash. Delicious, easy to prepare, and it goes with everything!
Oh so excited about this giveaway! For me, I haven’t gotten into a specific new food, but I have tried new recipes, and I am loving the protein pancakes! Who knew egg and banana would go so well together?
I was always nervous about cooking lentils because the one time I tried it turned out awful! But I’ve found some great recipes and now they are certainly a staple in my diet. Even my husband loves them!
we always try to drink a green juice with fresh kale and spinach. sometimes I’m in a rush, so I don’t have time but we aim for 3x a week.
I have started adding chia seeds to everything lately!
I have recently gotten obsessed with kale and brussel sprouts, but I’m also trying to incorporate more beets into my meals. Awesome giveaway, I love Whole Foods!!
For the longest time I thought I hated mushrooms because they were a “fungus” turns out, I love them! I’ve recently started making a Vegan friendly meal once a week so that my boyfriend and I can try new vegetables!
After seeing chia seeds used so often on your blog, I started to use in my recipes.
I have recently started incorporating quinoa into my diet and I love it! Whole Foods just opened up near my house (1st one in the State!) and I would love to shop there on a regular basis!
i love so many things that have been mentioned (chia, oats, dark chocolate, kale, green smoothies, flax) but I think the bigggest healthy thing I have been trying to add is more water and tea! This winter is dehydrating me!
I recently started incorporating chia and flax seeds into my smoothies, oatmeal, and yogurt. I love the added texture and protein it adds!
I always love snacking on veggies with hummus. Fruit is another favorite snack!
Eggs ! I am obsessed with egg scrambles with veggies. It is the perfect meal.
I just started eating quinoa recently.
I recently started incorporating more spinach in my diet!
I love putting chia seeds in my oatmeal and smoothies! Very excited about this give away!
My fiance and I just started eating spaghetti squash! It’s an easy way to sub out pasta! I’ve also just started adding kale to my smoothies- you can’t even taste it!
I’ve been on an avacado kick lately and I don’t see it stopping anytime soon!
I’ve started making quinoa and love it!
I ‘ve been incorporating spaghetti squash into all of my recipies- mac and cheese, stir-fry, salads!! Love whole foods!
I was just introduced to pomegranates which I immediately fell in LOVE with!
I’ve been trying to eat more veggies and drink more water!
Ch-ch-ch-chia! I’ve been enjoying experimenting with these lovely little seeds lately 🙂
My mother recently gave me one of her old juicers and i didnt think id get much use out of it hearing about how expensive it is and the clean up but im surprised how much i love it! Carrot juices are currently my favorite that ive tried out so far.
Red Bell Peppers! I have never disliked them, but recently, I eat them with EVERYTHING! They are so delicious! They are so sweet they taste like dessert!
I have recently started to add Chia seeds to my smoothies in the morning and I think I have finally got the boyfriend hooked on greek yogurt as a healthy dessert.
Recently I’ve been eating a lot of sweet potatoes. It took me a while to jump on that train (always used to prefer traditional potatoes) but now they are a staple in my eating. Side note: they just put up 2 new Whole Foods stores within 15 minutes of me and I have been wanting to try it out!