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 just bought coconut oil and have been using it on all my stir fry vegetables and chicken!
I’ve actually started using coconut flour in some of my baking and it’s seriously delicious!! I know Whole foods carries it! 🙂
Olive oil (instead of eating everything plain jane)
From your suggestion, I’ve started putting chia seeds in my smoothies and oatmeal and love the added texture (and fiber)!!!
fun! I’ve recently been eating more onions!!
I absolutely can’t live without Greek yogurt!!
its definitely the Kale..i have started recently drinking a side of green smoothie with KALE every morning..thanks to you for reminding me of kale…i was not a big fan of kale until how you said the ginger adds a nice flavor to kale smoothies..i now enjoy it everyday…also i have been making oven roasted sweet potatoes fries lately with skin on…its a great way to satisfy my sweet tooth…
I have been incoporating green juices with kale into my diet. I love Whole Foods!
I love eating almonds to get rid of headaches!
I’m totally guilty of buying the same fruits and veggies every week, but hey, whatever works right!? We have no problem chowing down on fruit, but I’ve been making a more conscious effort to incorporate lots of veggies, too. I especially love adding spinach/kale since its easy to sneak in to a wide range of dishes without too many complaints 🙂
I’ve been trying to mix up my leafy veggies. Instead of spinach and kale all the time, I added collard greens (from Whole Foods!) in my smoothies this week and they’re great!
i’ve been eating a lot more greek yogurt lately!
I definitely cycle the same 10 fruits/veggies through my cart. It’s something I’ve noticed months ago, but I haven’t really made a conscious effort to change it. I need to work on that. I’ve been eating a lot of butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and chickpeas, lately!
For me, broccoli
I’m a lover of sweet potatoes.
I’ve loved adding chia seeds to my breakfasts!
I’ve recently started incorporating Kale…love making kale chips in the oven 🙂
Chia seeds! I have heard so much about them, so I finally decided to give them a try.
Brussels Sprouts! I thought I would hate them but they are surprisingly good!
I always have greek yogurt in my fridge for when I need something small to tide me over until the next meal.
I started eating plain greek yogurt and adding flax seed to oatmeal.
I just cut out soy, and replaced my soy milk with almond milk. The WF unsweetened one is the best!
Lots of Green Peas – they are PACKED with protein!
Chia seeds, quinoa, and coconut oild have become staples in our house over the last year!
A big thing I have started using is coconut oil after hearing all the benefits it has!
I’ve recently been using coconut flour and chia seeds!
I’ve been eating chia seeds everyday, in thanks to your overnight oats recipes! I noticed immediately that I stayed full for longer and had more energy throughout the day. Now I want to start adding them to other things, too!
most recently…beets and coconut oil. both are excellent 🙂
I have recently started adding quinoa into my diet as well as green smoothies with kale, avocado, mixed berries, green apple, and cucumber!
Asparagus and Im getting ready to try kale!
Coconut oil and coconut oil cooking spray!
I’ve started to experiment with different kinds of squash recently ! I’ve been using chia seeds for AGES, they are always one of my staples.
I am experimenting with different ways to prepare sweet potatoes, because I don’t really care for them like a regular baked potato. So far sweet potato fries are the only way I like them, but I am going to shred some up like hashbrowns and try that tonight! Also a big fan of almond butter lately!
I got a food processor for Christmas so I have been experimenting with hummus recipes! I LOVED my first kalamata olive hummus and am trying to perfect the classic hummus recipe. Making my own is so much cheaper, super easy, and I know exactly what’s in it!
I just started eating a little sunflower seed butter as my afternoon snack- it helps with sugar cravings and is really filling and nutrient dense! Also great when I want to take a little break from nuts.
I’m always trying to drink more water to stay better hydrated and I love tossing a spoonful of chia seeds into smoothies.
I recently discovered farro. It’s nice to have another option besides quinoa.
We’ve been trying to eat a kale salad every day. I love it!
I recently began incorporating Quinoa into my diet and I’m loving how versatile it is! Breakfast, lunch, or dinner-it’s perfect with any meal!
I use organic sweet potatoes, organic uncured turkey bacon, brussels sprouts, and a little organic unrefined coconut oil to make meals for my work week!
I’ve recently started experimenting more with flax and chia seeds- so far, so good! 🙂
I’ve been eating broccoli slaw recently and it’s a new favorite way to eat ‘salad!’
Though I eat healthy, I’m guilty of falling into a rut with monotonous fruits/veggies every week. Lately, my boyfriend and I have taken to getting a fresh pineapple every Sunday night (at the whole foods across the street from us, actually!) and carving it up for the week… It’s a little extra effort, but definitely worth it!
How awesome? I hate playing the guessing game, especially when dining in restaurants. It’s always nice to have a guide of some sort.
I’m so happy that they’ve finally started construction on the Whole Foods that is coming to Lafayette! It should be complete by the end of the year! I’ve missed it so much since I moved from Baton Rouge, LA two years ago.
My staple is mushrooms! I mix them into everything, and also eat them alone and raw.
I have started adding avocados to my smoothies!! Yum!
My go-to lunch these days is a kale/cabbage/lettuce blend with grilled chicken, chia seeds, a few peanuts and a spicy Asian vinaigrette – low carb and filling- delish!
Fruit is a healthy staple in my diet. I eat an apple practically every single day, and love to make smoothies using different kinds of fruit, too!
I’ve been putting more kale and chia seeds into my diet! Healthy green smoothies all the way 😉
I’ve recently been adding healthy spices (like turmeric) to my roasted veggies to amp up the nutritional content as much as possible!
Mine is oats belive it or not I’ve never had them! THANK YOU!
I just started incorporating Chia Seeds into my morning smoothie!