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\")
KALE!!! It is sad that I have just discovered this amazing food but I’m glad i did 🙂
I’m a avid believer that having a great breakfast helps you throughout the entire day, but a while ago I used to be a believer of only starting the day after my first cup of coffee, full of sugar.
I started to make my own yorgut parfait at home, filled with strawberries, blueberries, and baobab granola. It leaves me satisfied, full and energized the entire morning!
kale, coconut oil, chia seeds, almond butter, cashew butter, we bought a vita mix, cant get enough fruits and veggies. smoothies, soups etc. would love a trip to whole foods 😉
It’s not so much one or two foods I started incorporating, but I’ve started eat breakfast on a consistent basis which I didn’t do at all before.
Thanks to you and Whole Foods for the giveaway!!
I absolutely love nut butters and since getting a vitamix recently, I have really loved making my own. Now I really know what hours in them!
chia seeds! unsweetened coconut! coconut oil! ….and much much more! i have loved incorporating new, delicious, healthy food into my diet.
I have recently started make my own dressing! My absolute favorite so far used avocado as a base. I love the creamy texture, and often mix in tuna!
Hope I’m not entering too late!! This sounds like an amazing program. I definitely want to take the tour here in Indy! I have recently added sweet potatoes to my regular diet. I love how nutrient dense they are and the starchiness really helps fill me up 🙂
I’ve really made an effort over the past year to eat whole foods, while I’ve always enjoyed fruits and veggies, I started using kale as a base ingredient for my morning smoothies. I always feel like I’m starting the day off right with my greens!
I have started eating more avocados for some healthy fats!
I love using quiona!
I love eating quinoa! Especially for breakfast!
Polenta! My sister just started using it in recipes and got me hooked too. Oh and kale of course.
I’ve recently started eating quinoa and I love it!
Hi Julie!
Something I recently started incorporating into my diet was more fresh vegetables!!! Whether I am tossing them into egg scrambles, trying them in salads, or sauteing them, I love to try all new kinds. Recently, I’ve learned to love spaghetti squash, kale, and fresh spinach.
Something I have always enjoyed in my diet is broccoli. I can’t get enough and it’s my go-to side for a meal.
Thanks!! 🙂
Ashley Z.
Chia seeds and quinoa I’ve recently added… I think I’m getting better taste buds as I get older because I can eat tilapia now! I’m really growing up. LOL!
I’ve started incorporating spinach and red bell peppers into my sandwiches.
I’ve started adding kale to my smoothies and now i crave them! i wake up thinking about that flavor – who am i now? i don’t recognize myself!
I’ve started putting avocados on/in everything!
ive been eating a lot of grapefruit lately!
Recently discovered the “make your own” nut butter at Whole Foods, and both my husband and I are obsessed! It has definitely become a staple in our house 🙂
I absolutely love kale. I love that no matter what it always comes out perfect and packs such a nutrition punch!
I just discovered purple sweet potatoes!!
I just started to eat brussels sprouts I thought I would hate them but they really good roasted
Pryfamily5@gmail.com
I’ve recently gotten back into juicing–mostly greens–and can’t believe that I’ve been away from it for so long. I feel so much better having a green juice most days of the week.
For the past year or so kabocha squash has been one of my favorite snacks! I recently learned it is great for muscle recovery…perfect since I am a runner!
I started using coconut oil daily 🙂
My recent new food would have to be coconut oil, I started out just trying it with my morning coffee (my new fave) but am also using it in my cooking and beauty routine too! 🙂
Kale. I’ve been obsessed with kale chips recently.
Favorite healthy food staple: oatmeal with dates and peanut butter 🙂
Homemade hummus using the Barefoot Contessa recipe. It helps me eat more raw veggies.
spaghetti squash for pasta. yummy!!!!
I started adding salmon to my diet, it tastes amazing and I love it!!
I’ve started using chia seeds and flax meal a good bit. And greens–any/every kind–are a staple, of course, but lately I have been adding them to almost everything I cook.
I recently started subbing in whole-grain and other alternative flours for all-purpose in pretty much everything! Quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, coconut and spelt flours all make excellent pizza dough, tortillas, muffins, pasta, etc.!
Overnight oatmeal smoothies. They are the best since I can make up a whole work weeks worth on Sunday and no excuse to skip the breakfast. Also beans.
I’ve recently started buying organic unsweetened coconut chips, and making my own coconut milk! It’s SO easy and WAY cheaper than buying it. And there are no preservatives or gunk in it! And I use the leftover coconut pulp to make coconut flour. ZERO waste! Yes!
coriwestphal at msn dot com
I just started using coconut oil and kale.
Brussels sprouts are my absolute favorite food of all times. Recently I’ve been enjoying them roasted in the oven with black pepper and tossed in melted unrefined coconut oil after. The oil hardens and makes a shell around each sprout…… Sheer perfection. It’s funny because when. I was younger I absolutely hated the green giant ones in the butter sauce that you simply pop into the microwave and put off the veggie indefinitely but now that I can prepare them right, they are eaten on a daily basis:)
I am adding Kale to anything I can! I will add it to smoothies, stirfrys, salads and kale chips. I would love to try out the healthy starts here foods around the store!
I’ve been on a broccoli kick for about a month now – cant get enough of the stuff!
kale!
chia seeds! add them to pretty much everything now
quinoa. it’s so easy to make and you can do so much with it!
I always go on grain kicks. Right now it’s quinoa. Who knows what’s next. I eat it constantly until my boyfriend mentions that he’s sick of eating it so often :/