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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Grapefruit – its very refreshing in the morning! I have found it to be a delicious and healthy way to start my day 🙂
I’ve always been a fan of nut/seed butters, and nutritional yeast is a new favorite of mine!
I’ve been loving kale and chick peas ..and your blog 😉
I’ve been loving cauliflower lately. So many awesome ways to use it!
The one healthy food that I’ve been really loving lately is plantain!!!! I love all things healthy, but plantain has been delicious when cooked in coconut oil, and then I add it into oatmeal, etc., or put it on top of french toast. 😀
I’ve started incorporating tofu in my diet recently. I’m still learning how to prepare it properly but it’s been fun trying something new!
Sunflower seed butter! It is the perfect afternoon snack with an apple!
Avocado’s don’t last more than a day in our house. We love putting them on sandwiches, salads, and most recently mixed into homemade fajita bowls!
I just tried a baby pineapple to put in my birthday smoothie (with cilantro and spinach… So good!!). Oh and kabocha- I hadn’t had that since I lived in Japan!
My #1 love will always be avocados!
I have been loving cabbage lately! steamed, in salads, in stir-frys, any way I love it!
I picked up some sorghum for the first time the other day and made a Mediterranean-inspired salad with feta, cucumbers, kalamata olives and tomatoes. It was delicious! I love trying new grains to switch it up 🙂
I know this is weird, but I’ve been obsessing over bananas lately! I have never been a big banana fan but I am right now!
Sweet Potatoes and all varieties of squash!
I am addicted to pressed juice- especially with Kale! It’s my new favorite!
I’ve been incorporating almonds into almost everything!!
I love cashews and almonds.
I am newly pregnant with my first baby, and have been trying extra hard to incorporate foods with fiber, protein, and healthier fats…so oven roasted broccoli with squash and pepitas is a new favorite!! I seriously make and eat it a few nights a week!!
I have been juicing beets lately and loving them with ginger. I probably roast cauliflower once a week. My whole family loves it!
I’ve recently been trying to add more healthy fats to my diet. I’ve always been so afraid of fats, but no longer ! I’m loving avocados and almonds right now! (:
It’s all about kale! I feel better and my skin is clearer when I eat it regularly.
I’ve been using my nutria-bullet just about every day to make a smoothie with greek yogurt, organic frozen fruit and spinach….so good!
I have started to eat more sweet potatoes and I love them! Roasted with garlic salt or steamed with a little peanut butter on top, they are so delicious.
Chia seeds! I’ve been adding them to my overnight oats, smoothies, and even some of my baking recipies! 🙂
I could eat kale for every meal.
Sugar snap peas !
Chia seeds! Totally random, but they make me feel so… Trendy!
I love spaghetti squash and chia seeds!
My healthy staples are oatmeal, spinach, chia and flax seeds and Greek yogurt! Love me some Whole Foods!
I’ve been loving avocados! Love the healthy fat 🙂
I recently started adding radishes to my salads. Love the spice and crunch they add!
I just started cooking with eggplant and so far I’m loving it! It’s quite versatile.
I have been loving spinach on everything lately! I have always enjoyed it but there was a 2 for $5 sale on bags of spinach last time I went grocery shopping and now I’m incorporating it into everything! Smoothies, sandwiches, salads, and whatever else I can! I need more recipes 🙂 Also almond butter. No explanation necessary.
I’ve started using chia seeds and love them.
Nutritional yeast and chia seeds!
I recently started making steel cut oats instead of the regular rolled oats. Such a different texture and consistency, and so many delicious ways to make them!
Collards, mushrooms, purple cabbage, and cauliflower have been my latest favorites! They’re some of my favorite things to snack on raw 🙂
AVOCADOS! the most delicious healthy food there is!
Edamame! I couldn’t stand them at first, but once you find the proper way to prepare them, they are fabulous.
I have recently started using coconut oil!
KALE! I like to saute it will evoo, garlic, parmasan cheese and lemon peel
Recently started adding chia seeds to more of my food! Love it. I also eat avocados pretty much every day. They are so versatile and easy!
I have been having a kale salad with turkey and goat cheese almost every day for lunch the past couple of weeks and it is so refreshing! Feels good to have a lettuce-based meal once a day.
Hi! Two things: green tea and almonds. Chia seeds are next!
I love acai!
zucchini and spagetti squash!!
Recently added chia seeds to my yogurt and oatmeal:)
i have been eating more almonds lately – mostly roasted with a little salt
I’m late to the game with making my own nut butters, but I’m having a lot of fun doing that lately!
acartwrightmorell at gmail dot com
Definitely kale and beets! Delish!
I have been loving avocados on wheat toast! I always love berries of any kind, apples, and bananas!