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’ve recently started expanding my lettuce selection after 25 years of romaine!
I’m not sure why I have been scared of sweet potatoes but I started eating them and just love them now!! They are not just a casserole with marshmallows on top!
I have been trying to eat more fruits and veggies into my diet. Smoothies are a great way to do that. And adding spinach to them is a great way to incorporate some veggies.
I’ve recently started eating a lot more whole flax seeds. I love putting them into my smoothies to give it an earthy flavor. Thanks for the great giveaway!
I’ve recently started adding spinach back into my smoothies!
A Whole Foods opened near me and it has been very educational, and wonderful. I thought I new so much about healthy foods, but there is so much to know. I go to many of their classes, and I like to adventure down the aisles. Every week I try to pick a new section and seek out something new. I wouldn’t know what to say for a new item, for one, more organic foods. I love organically grown veggies and fruits. One product I totally fell in love with is Columbia Gorge organic carrot juice. Our local srore won’t carry it anymore, b/c they didn’t sell enough of it, and I’m soooo bummed. (I highly recommnend it!) But I’ve been using different organic juices, too! I’ve switched to a more plant-based regimen, and I adore hummus all the time!!!
I’ve started incorporating chia seeds to try and get more omega 3!
I’ve recently started incorporating chia seeds into my meals. In yogurts, smoothies, and oatmeal!
Beets! Can’t get enough!
I’ve been eating more veggies than I had been around the holidays.
I’ve recently started eating avocados. I never liked them before and now i make some fresh guacamole with veggies and beans and dip carrots into them! I love it!
I love oatmeal! My bf makes fun of me because as soon as I wake up each morning I’m like, “Oatmeal time!!”
Love my oatmeal in the morning!
I used to take a lot of frozen “healthy” meals for lunches and have recently replaced them with more wholesome options that are just as simple to prepare. My current favorite is a whole wheat tortilla with grilled chicken, spring mix, shredded carrots and sugar free salsa. It’s really tasty and contains much less sodium and preservatives than the frozen meals.
I’ve been fermenting water kefir. Love it!
I have been eating more yogurt and cereal and less donuts. Every little bit helps:)
I have been incorporating beets into my diet! I love them!
Green smoothies! Spinach, cucumber, green apple, coconut-almond milk and a touch of honey. Such a perfect way to start the day and give me more energy through the afternoon.
I can’t wait to find that guide to the perfect bowl – looks like fun to read and get some ideas to spice up lunch and dinner. It does sound crazy that we stick to our same 10 fruits/veggies, but I do think I totally do that! Lately I have made the change from regular oatmeal to steel cut, and I”m loving it! The steel cut take longer to prepare, but are super filling and full of all kinds of good stuff.
I just made a huge batch of roasted veggies and brown rice last night, and I know that I will be able to enjoy it all week long!
Recently, I have really been making a push to eliminate artificial sweeteners from my diet and try and eat whole foods that I prepare myself over pre-packaged food! If I do by packaged foods, I try to make sure I recognize every ingredient on the list as something I would actually use if I prepared it myself. I have also been incorporating a lot more nuts into my diet. I especially love pistachios and cashews!
coconut oil, flax seed, chia seed!
As a vegetarian, I’ve begun incorporating quinoa into at least one meal a day. It’s so versatile and helps me get my protein in!
One healthy change I started to make was to make my own instant oatmeal, instead of buying the packets. It sounds weird but I got the recipe from Martha Stewart and I make a big batch a couple of times a month and enjoy really quick healthy breakfasts without all the preservatives.
I have recently been using Chia seeds and love them for the added crunch or thickness it provides in some of my favorite healthy snacks. Super easy way to sneak in some fiber too!
Hi! I’ve recently started incorporating chia seeds into my oatmeal as well as in foods i cook for my 1 year old! Everything from baked apple sauce donuts to pancakes of all sorts. Thanks for hosting!
I’ve recently started using Hemp Hearts in a ton of my cooking. Adding them to smoothies, on salads, and as a crunchy topping to dessert.
Oh man, OBSESSED with Whole Foods – I literally would rather browse there than the mall! 🙂 A new healthy food in my life is beets — I never knew how great they are roasted!
I recently found out that I have gluten intolerance, so I’ve been focused on eating healthier. In the last few weeks, I just started eating quinoa, which I love! I have also never really liked many cooked vegetables (love them raw though!), but I am finding that I’m liking crisp green beans more & more! So I would love this gift card giveaway so I can explore more healthy options at Whole Foods.
I love whole foods! I live about 30 min from the one in Dr. Phillips! I actually just started incorporating spinach in my smoothies (thanks to your inspiration) and it is amazing! You can’t taste it but it adds such great nutrients.
I’m so excited for this giveaway! I just moved in with my boyfriend and we’re trying to build a healthy lifestyle together. This would be such a great start for us. Right now I’m loving chia seeds, especially in the form of pudding. I could eat it for breakfast and dessert each day!
We have a HUGE Whole Foods in Chicago and my guy and I like to go on dates there. We grab a glass of beer or wine (there’s a bar in our store), and shop and then go home and cook together! I just introduced him to my healthy dinner staple – brussel sprouts – he never had them before.
I drink a strawberry banana spinach smoothie for breakfast every morning. I love that it is so balanced and filling, plus it helps me to eat healthy the rest of the day too!
I’ve been really into sweet potatoes lately!
I’ve recently started to incorporate chia seeds into my diet! I’m on a major overnight oats kick and sometimes add them to my smoothies as well!
I recently just went gluten free so I’ve been eating a lot more vegetables for breakfast. Just recently I had some brussels sprouts with eggs and it was a welcomed change!
I tried kale for the first time a couple of weeks ago!
I need more Iron in my diet so I have started eating kale salads with winter citrus, sunflower seeds, roasted beets and lentils….so delicious, full or iron and vitamin c to absorb it. win,win 🙂
I have been LOVING raw kale in my salads. I use Annie’s Goddess dressing more times than not, because it somehow cuts into the bitterness of the kale and makes it DELICIOUS!
Hemp seeds! Love ’em and add them to anything from smoothies to pancakes!
Whole Foods cooking classes sound like such a fun idea for a date night! I have just started using ground flax seeds and so far I love the extra fiber it adds. One thing I have been eating for a long time is chia seeds. Love em!
I have been incorporating lots of avacados. I used to be afraid of them because they are so high in fat. But I love them on a veggie egg scramble and on a salad, and sometimes make guacamole 🙂 YUM!
Ever since your recipes for protein pancakes I’ve been eating a lot more eggs for breakfast! I’m also on a chia seed kick with my oatmeal.
Love this! I am SO hooked on Whole Foods. When they built one within walking/biking distance of my house in Savannah, I thought I’d died and gone to healthy food heaven!
I have been loving juices lately! My favorites are actually from WF so a gc would be awesome, I would probably use it all for my juices!!! 🙂
My husband and I are eating more Hummus and the most delicious and crackers (no GMO and high fiber)
I”ve also been snacking more on vegetables like celery!
Butternut squash! I have been on a real kick lately and am finding a ton of new ways to cook and eat it.
I have been eating baked sweet potato slices, they are definitely one of my go to snacks! Thanks for an awesome giveaway! 🙂
I’ve been eating healthy for a long time, but I love that I can cook all the same healthy foods for my boyfriend, and he loves it. We are getting a whole foods near me this year- I can’t wait!
An omni-present staple: homemade peanut butter. Portion control is a problem though!