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!
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-1e3-7hOJ_U8Bg.gif\")
Butternut squash recently entered my life. It was love at first bite
kale!
I’ve been big on kimchi lately!
I sneak in spinach into everything!
I’m a quinoa nut! Lately I’ve been trying to incoporate tumeric into my smoothies too.
Artichokes! Love them.
I’ve always been a veggie fan but have been trying to incorporate many more into my meals. Spaghetti squash and “zoodles” have been a great way 🙂
I am loving blood oranges!
Brussel sprouts!
I have a recent obsession with Brussels sprouts!
One of my all time favorite foods is kale. I put kale in everything! Whole foods makes amazing smoothies with kale in them, I am obsessed.
I’ve started eating tons of quinoa! Filling, versatile, and healthy; that’s my kind of grain!
I’ve been eating lots of brussle sprouts!
I’ve always been a squash lover, but the last few months I’ve been eating it almost daily! It’s a great way to get your daily Vit A 🙂
I’ve recently been incorporating different grains into our meals, like quinoa, farro, and bulgur.
I switched from lettuce to spinach this year… and haven’t looked back since! 🙂
I’ve been loving spaghetti squash lately!
I have always loved sweet potatoes but just recently brought them back to my dinner rotation. So delicious!
My 2 year old and I love to put chia seeds (“sprinkles”) on yogurt, applesauce… Pretty much anything we can!
I started eating brussel sprouts lately. I’ve been trying to add in more veggies during the day and I discovered that I love brussel sprouts!
Chia Seeds!! Love putting them in overnight oats, smoothies and salads!
I’ve been eating Brussel Sprouts, something I despised as a kid. I also just bought my first Spaghetti Squash. I can’t wait to try it out!
Quinoa! Live the nutty taste!
I just picked up some almonds! Not new, but so delicious.
I love oatmeal!
Fresh spinach! Yum!
Grapefruit! Yum.
I love spinach! Either fresh spinach mixed in a salad
Or steamed spinach with vinegar! Yum!
Pomegranates! I just found a new method of getting the seeds out which is much easier so I’ve been enjoying them more often.
I used to eat roasted broccoli all the time, then I got pregnant and could not stand the taste or smel. Now 6+ months postpartum I can say I finally love it again.
Sweet Potatoes are definitely a staple in my diet. It is so versatile and you can eat it with every meal. I even make “pasta” from sweet potatoes!
I’ve been eating more steel cut oats lately. I like the texture so much better than old fashioned oats.
I just started making my own green smoothies again and experimenting with recipes!
I’ve been incorporating more yogurt into my diet for the protein, calcium and probiotics! Plus it tastes pretty darn good
I’ve been adding foods with healthy fats
I love avocados. Fabulous healthy fat and tastes great at any meal! Yum :). Thank you for the awesome giveaways!
i have a new found love for kale. i don’t know why it took me so long! it started with store bought kale chips, to home made kale chips, to now i love it raw!
a staple health food is avocados. i have always had an obsession with them and it’s still going strong!
Kale! I’ve been trying kale in a tin if different dishes matey. Delish!
Newly discovered chia seeds and re-discovered quinoa!
Avocados with everything! love fat 🙂
I’ve recently gotten back into grapefruits! I used to eat them all the time for breakfast and am excited to incorporate them once again into my diet.
I signed up for a CSA veggie delivery for the Winter and am excited to try the celery root that came this week!
Collard greens as a wrap!
Love WF!!! Chia seeds and raw honey on greek yogurt is the best!
I just started juicing! so I am eating a lot more carrots, kale, ginger, yams and spinach.
I discovered quinoa last year and cook with it all the time now!
I’ve been making cauliflower pizza crust…so yummy!
Spinach-based salads and all kinds of fruit mixed with oatmeal are staples for me 🙂
Almond flour and coconut oil.
I am now a big time lover of cottage cheese! Once i got past the texture I started to love it!
i’ve started incorporating more veggies through smoothies – lately i’m enjoying Boathouse Farms juices!