Changes that come from eating whole foods
 

Hi, I'm getting ready to embark on the whole foods lifestyle, as soon as my Superfoods RX Diet book arrives in the mail. :) I'm wondering what the benefits have been for those of you whose diet consists of whole foods.

How much weight have you lost?
How has your health changed?
Have there been unexpected benefits, like maybe reduced sugar cravings, lower anxiety, better digestion, better skin, or whatever?

Also, how did the transition to whole foods go, and how long have you been eating primarily whole foods?

I took a whole foods approach from the beginning. It is , of course, always a process, because it's very hard to get rid of everything processed!

I enjoy food more. It has become a friend instead of enemy. Definitely big change in the sweet tooth. I sleep better. Heartburn is very infrequent now. Definitely more regular. TOM is better. My skin is better (I have a flushing problem that's much better). My hair is growing back where it thinned, that's pretty exciting. It's hard sometimes to separate exercise from diet as the cause of these things :)

I had no idea what the super food book was so I had to look it up. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I already eat everything on that list with the exception of fish and that is not going to happen. LOL!

I quit buying crap more than 20 years ago because of money. We were so poor I started making everything from scratch. Over the last 10 or so, my goal has been to not buy anything with HFCS in it and we try very hard and do pretty well. I also made it a rule after my first child was born I would try and not buy anything with more than 5 ingredients in it and I had to be able to pronounce and understand what they were. LOL! Helps a lot. My kids are 12.5, 10 and 8 and are huge label readers so I feel our hard work has paid off. They also are conscious of what ingredients are in the foods we eat.

I see many people struggle with the fruits and veggies and luckily, we've always eaten fresh fruit and vegetables so that's never been an issue.

My problem is I'm lazy and don't exercise as much as I should. :) My weight loss had been non-existent due to medical issues but we think those have been resolved and hope the weight will start to fall off me naturally. That would be nice. And I've been working out with resistance bands too. :carrot:

I just started cooking whole foods these past couple of months. The decision was economical, not weight-related, but I was more than pleasantly surprised to see myself drop from 260 to 243! And that was without exercise. I just made this discovery a couple of days ago, and it has really motivated me to start exercising again. I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow and I can't wait. The last of the processed items that have remained in my diet are out of here! I am truly embracing the whole foods lifestyle now for its health benefits and what it has done for my budget. :)

Hi there--I have been doing whole foods since September. I have my crutches but my diet consists of 90-95% of whole foods only. I have always been a huge foodie so it wasn't that hard for me. Like you, I have just ordered the Superfoods Rx book--it arrived a few days ago. I am very much enjoying all the explainations of the foods and how they work together once inside the body. I am trying to incorporate these items (the 14 plus their sidekicks) more heavily into my own diet.

Just curious--how did you pick this method or specifically the book?

It all depends how a person defines "whole foods". I don't eat EVERYTHING natural, but I eat no processed foods. Nothing that comes in a can, is in the frozen food section, and especially no meal in a box. Straight up fresh vegetables, fruits, natural peanut butter, no diet sodas, no juices that are 1% juice. I finally threw away the margiarine and ketchup which was huge for me. But nothing I eat anymore I even need it for. Not to mention all it is, chemicals made in a lab.

I have lost 88lb and the biggest had huge changes in my health. I had high blood pressure that was threw the roof, even on medication. I believe it was still in the 160/85 range when on medication (and I'm only 20!). I took it just today, I have been on medication for a few months, and got the biggest shock of this whole journey. 106/68! I couldnt even believe it. When I had high blood pressure, I was really convinced it was somthing that would never go away, since everyone in my family had it, no matter how much weight I lost, I would always have it. Aparently I was very wrong.

Also somthing that came, which I think just has to do with eatting healthier, not the whole foods thing. Is before my weightloss started, I used to get so sick everytime I ate. I could eat one meal a day (crap like pizza and maybe some ice cream for "desert") and would be sick all night. I remember that I couldnt even eat before work so I would be eatting dinner late at night when I got home, and starving all day. It was so misrable how sick I would get (I'll spare you the details), and thought there was somthing seriously wrong with me. Well there was, I was leading a very unhealthy lifestyle.

I still eat some processed foods - like ketchup (although it's very rare and I buy organic).

The biggest change for me has been the change in my energy level. Before, I used to drink 2 huge venti caramel lattes a day at work. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. But, I was always SO TIRED. I used to fall asleep at my desk nearly every afternoon and I was always terrified I would doze off in a meeting and embarass myself.

Now - I have SO much more energy! I have really cut back on the coffee and usually just drink 2 cups of green tea in the morning before switching to herbal for the rest of the day. I hardly EVER get tired in the afternoons anymore and I never worry about falling asleep at my desk.

All that sugar and processed food I used to eat really weighed me down and kept me logey. Concentrating on fruits, vegetables, low fat dairy, lean protein, healthy carbohydrates and healthy fats made a HUGE difference for me!

Answers to your questions:

How much weight have you lost?
70 lbs. And more importantly TO ME, I have kept it off for over 4 years.

How has your health changed?
Stunning good health. My heart burn went away.

Have there been unexpected benefits, like maybe reduced sugar cravings, lower anxiety, better digestion, better skin, or whatever?
Sugar cravings are gone for the most part. I always had pretty good skin, digestion, so I haven't noticed any huge changes. I did have a bit of a...rebellion...when I started eating more fiber. It eventually resolved itself.

Also, how did the transition to whole foods go, and how long have you been eating primarily whole foods?
I started in July 2004. I started pretty whole-heartedly but wasn't exactly sure what I was doing (like I used to eat that 100 calorie lite Yoplait stuff, now I eat organic). It has changed and refined over time, as I read more books, read more labels, read more forums. I was always interested in eating better for my long term health, but now I feel more armed with info to accomplish that. I'm still not "perfect" - I still buy whole wheat tortillas and pasta, I don't make my own yogurt or bread. I do the best I can with my lifestyle, it has to be doable and sustainable, so I don't aim for perfection, just what works for me.

I don't think of frozen or canned food as necessarily being unnatural or not wholefoods. Not as good as fresh, but often frozen or canned vegetables are in reality fresher than what is raw in the supermarket. Some nutrients degrade rapidly in picked produce. Broccoli and spinach, for example, retain more vitamins when frozen immediately after picking than the same vegetables sprayed or gassed or whatever they do to make them travel across the country, sit in the store, go home with a shopper, and then get eaten, maybe 2 weeks after it was picked.

I haven't been doing this for that long (just did the math, 5 weeks) and i am far from only eating whole foods... but i am eating QUITE a bit more. Grains (quinoa and steel cut oats), loads of spinach and a few salads here and there, and more fruit and nuts.
The one thing i've noticed is that my cravings for sugar are a LOAD better. I had a cupcake the other night (within my calories) and i didn't HAVE to have another one (or 2 more)... i was happy with the one, it was incredibly sweet and i enjoyed it but it didn't set me off.
I am going to look into this book. I would love to get more whole foods going as well :)
Good luck and i can't wait to see the changes that YOU experience. Be sure to share them!
Oh....one side note of TMI, the more *whole* i eat, the better my bathroom time :P