hi everyone!

after a 8 month plateau I got a personal trainer who recommended to me going more along the whole foods way. Following their guidelines, i've managed to shift the scale down almost 2kg from the bottom of my plateau fluctuations which is amazing.

I could just do with some advice on what is considered whole and what wouldnt be. I've read through some threads which has been really useful. But would you consider things like honey, hummus, whole grainy crackers as whole?

I had more questions but i forgot >.<

Have you read through the stickies?

The superfoods RX list isn't complete but it is pretty good to get an idea of some of the best foods for you to eat:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/whol...oks-1-2-a.html

I would consider hummus a whole food but I would say preferably to make it yourself. It generally tastes better if you do and is cheaper and fresher. I consider whole grain breads with minimal and recognizable ingredients to be a whole food but I don't eat them much. So some crackers may be whole foodish although they are still processed and not really a whole food while others would totally not be.

There's no black and white definition. I mean, olive oil is most certainly not a "whole" food but most would consider it a mainstay. I always try to think in terms of always moving in the direction of more whole foods, rather than trying to define it and do it 100% *now.* I think the biggest, most important steps to whole foods are lots of produce, getting rid of refined grains (or making them a very small part of your diet), and getting rid of processed, commercial convenience foods.

Personally, I don't try for 100% whole food perfection. I try to make good choices. I want to be able to easily live this life forever, which means nothing too extreme or difficult to maintain. I would say I'm probably 80% whole foods.

For example, if I wanted to snack, I consider store bought hummus/whole grain pita an okay snack. Much better than a Starbucks muffin or a bag of chips or whatever.

I love whole wheat tortillas, whole wheat bread - they might not be considered "whole foods" but they are a healthy part of my what I eat.

I don`t aim for 100% whole either, but I avoid anything processed, e.g. no ready meals and fast foods, whole grains over white flour, nuts and fruit over sugary sweets, etc. I cook everything from scratch and get a weekly delivery of organic fruit and veg. No ready sauces froma glass either - too much sugar, salt and other additives. I however use canned tomatoes a lot and flavour them with herbs and plenty garlic and black pepper.

thanks for all the input, it really cleared up a lot

I'm new to the whole food life style too. I'm so excited!!! This seems like something I could stick with.

I've been eating whole foods for a while now. I'm also a vegetarian - and have been for a long time.

Whole foods lifestyle means (to me) to avoid any processed foods. Buy veggies, beans you have to cook yourself... make your own foods, and grow your own as much as possible. You can't really know what is being put into processed foods. For example, a can of green beans could be packaged with fluoridated water. Much better to live in an area where there's no fluoridation, and grow your own. You really can't say a tomato is organic if it is grown using fluoridated water. (Plus they put chlorine and other chemicals and medications in water.)

Processed foods like, for example, breakfast bars or SlimFast drinks or anything like that may have ingredients that aren't good for us. You cannot trust food manufacturers because their bottom line is profit, not the health of people eating their products. For example: McDonalds food is notorious for unhealthy fat and salt content but do they ever change? No... because people like their unhealthy foods so there's a good profit from selling them.

And then there are the GM - genetically modified - foods. Most soy and corn products fall into this category, so I try to avoid them for the most part.

I'm still working on getting all this in place, but we had a very productive garden this last summer.

I am a calorie counter with a strong focus on whole foods. I still have some cheats--diet coke on Friday night, sweetner in coffee (hisssss), fat-free miracle whip, etc. I think you are doing a great thing--whole foods very much agree with my body.

Although I'm new to the forum, I am not new to eating whole. For me, it's pretty simple: Make as much things as you can from scratch, ALWAYS read ingredient lists, and stay away from frozen/pre-packaged/boxed foods. Of course there are other guidelines such as keeping away from refined/fake sugars and grains. But for me, I can make probably 90% of the food in packages at the grocery store from simple ingredients available in bulk and the produce section.

This is how we are supposed to eat. Not out of a box or out of a meal-in-a-bag, and it is a lot more work but I always feel better physically as well as where my money is going to (local produce instead of HUGE corporations).

to me the whole foods diet is about not relying on heavily processed foods... not avoiding them, just not relying on them for the bulk of my meals. it does mean I've been doing a lot of cooking and prep work. i try to avoid oils and filler foods (bread with pasta, crackers with chilli, sour cream for potatoes). I've been cooking rice and not relying on pasta to fill me up.