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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This might be boring, but I’m such a fan of regular ol’ vegetables! Give me a big salad, and I’m a happy girl!
I eat an apple almost every single day. Avocados for healthy fats are another favorite of mine!
I’ve been loving trying new quinoa recipes lately! And my meat and potatoes boyfriend actually loves it too.
I started eating spinach smoothies this past year (a little behind the times), and I have always been a big fan of broccoli. I love Whole Foods… it is just a happy place!
Nut butters and brussel sprouts for me!
Quinoa has been one of my staples for a few year now. Love the versatility of it! Lately I’ve been incorporating spinach into my smoothies thanks to your suggestion! I love how i feel after sneaking in the nutrition and you can’t even taste it!!!!
Such a great concept!
I really have tried incorporating more spinach into my diet. I use it for the base of my salads, on a sub or even in a smoothie!
I love sweet potatoes! I had never tried them until a couple of years ago after reading about them on blogs and I’ve been hooked ever since! I eat them sever times a week and can’t get enough.
I’ve recently started eating overnight oats for breakfast. So delicious and filling! I love that you can always switch up the flavor to make it less boring.
Spaghetti squash is my new go to for recipes that require pasta. My favorite quick dinner is sauteeing spaghetti squash, garlic, spinach and cherry tomatoes in cocnut oil and topping with nutritional yeast. So easy, healthy and tasty!
Recently I started adding collard greens into my rotation! I like to use them as wraps. They actually have a great taste!
I always wondered what the Health Starts Here stickers meant! I’ve been incorporating more brussels sprouts into my diet – I was obsessed with them for awhile, then took a break but I’m back in full force!
started adding protein powder to my morning smoothie. i work such crazy hours, it’s hard to get a healthy meal on the studio lot.
I’ve been having more goji berries recently. I really love them!
I eat an apple just about every day! I’ve also been eating a ton of quinoa lately.
Would love to win this!!
I just recently discovered chia seeds! I’m a huge texture person, and the first time I tried chia seeds it was in a pudding and I didn’t like the “slimy” texture. That was over a year ago. I gave them another try in oatmeal and I loved them!
Coconut flour is a new healthy food I’ve recently been using. I add a tbsp or 2 to a chocolate banana smoothie. I think it’s just pulverized coconut, so it thickens the smoothie and adds a lot of flavor. Yum.
I have been drinking GT’s Synergy Kombucha for about a year now and really wanted something different. I picked up the Austin, TX-based kombucha brand, Buddha’s Brew, last week. I am in LOVE. My favorite flavor, so far, is Tart Cherry Melon. Hello, heavenly angel tears. I’ll be using my gift card to stock up on my new elixir. Thanks for the fabulous content! XO
I have been adding sweet potatoes back into my diet. They make me full, happy, and healthy! 🙂
Brussels sprouts, roasted with balsamic vin!
I love Whole Foods and wish there was one closer to us here in Ocala!! I always visit the one in Orlando when I am there. I have started incorporating ground flax seeds and chia seeds into my diet. They are simple things to add to smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt. Love them!
Fresh pressed juice everyday with lots of veggies!
Thanks to you and your overnight oats recipe, I’ve been incorporating Chia seeds into my diet. Pretty much every day for breakfast–love them in those overnight oats!
I started incorporating cauliflower and broccoli into my salads. I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought to before, but it’s so good!
just started adding chia seeds to yogurt and smoothies!
I always been good with getting enough veggies in my diet, its Protein that I struggle with since I was born and raised a vegetarian. As I eat some meat, sometimes it just doesn’t appeal to me. I recently started eating Beyond Meat, and its only sold at Whole Foods. So I would love to win this giftcard!!
Spinach!! Because it integrates into almost any savory dish 🙂
More hummus as a healthy snack.
Chia seeds!
Quinoa and Brussels sprouts!
I recently started adding spaghetti squash to my pasta dishes to cut carbs. I love it!
I am eating some healthy hummus and raw veggies at the moment. 🙂
I’ve been adding coconut oil into lots of baking and cooking recipes in the past few weeks and get excited to feel like I’m preparing foods so much better! I’m always looking for new things to add or different preparations to try, and this is definitely a keeper!
i made my first green juice using a regular blender the other day…loved it! made crackers from the pulp, too. 🙂
I’m loving sweet potatoes, spinach, and roasted broccoli this fall. Can’t get enough broccoli! I also found some asparagus on sale the last 2 weeks and it was such a treat here in the Minnesota winter.
I’ve been trying to incorporate more oatmeal in my diet.
I recently started adding flax seeds to random meals. I’m interested to count how many fruits and vegetables I use in my regular rotation!
I’ve been loving lots of fruits lately! Apples, oranges pineapple! can never go wrong with fruits and veggies in a meal!
Sweet potatoes and dates! Every Sunday I’ve been roasting up a bunch of sweet potatoes and making my own breakfast bars with dates, unsalted peanuts and chocolate chips. Dates give them such a great natural sweetness!
I am all about sweet potatoes, spinach, and broccoli right now. And I’ve recently been eating more and more brussels sprouts and I’m loving them!!
I’ve been eating more flax seeds!
I’ve been loving incorporating Spectrum Essentials Chia & Flax Blend with Coconut & Cocoa into my smoothies and oatmeal. So good!
Roasted sweet potatoes are a new staple of mine. Incredibly delicious!
I just bought bok choy for the first time this week!
Quinoa! I love it in soup and salads, it’s like little balls of pasta!
Recently, I started using dates to sweeten my desserts and threw out my white sugar!
We have been growing lots of different leafy greens in our backyard, so I love throwing a mix of kale, spinach, and a variety of lettuces into my morning smoothie!
Lately, I’ve been making the best soups for lunch… low sodium veggie broth, a little bit of brown rice or quinoa, veggies, and black beans, chili powder, and lime juice! Super easy, quick, healthy, and delicious.
Great giveaway! I’ve recently added green smoothies to my routine – such a quick, easy, and delicious way to get enough fruits and veggies throughout the day.
I adore Bell Peppers, I eat as snack, in salad, in omlets, as ‘chips’ with salsa or hummus as dip.
And you can get different colors, with slightly different vitamins!