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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I’ve been using quinoa a lot, there’s so much you can do with it!
I started drinking green smoothies every morning to start my day!
Spinach is an old favorite, but lately I’ve really been loving almond butter!
I have been loving avocados lately!
I’ve always loved beets in every form, but I only started making chips out of them (by slicing them with a mandolin and baking) within the past couple of years. They are AWESOME.
I just started incorporating Kefir into my diet!
I’ve never noticed the Health Starts here and I go to Whole Foods at least twice a week! What an awesome, easy way to plan meals and make healthy choices! I’ve been really into the SUPER superfoods. I add maca powder (which I get from Whole Foods) to my protein pancakes and I’m a steadfast kale lover. A green smoothie is THE BEST way to start the day 🙂
We have really been getting into Quinoa lately!
I really love replacing pasta with spaghetti squash!
Green juice!
I recently bought a spiralizer and have made pasta out of sweet potato and squash. What a great tool for those who need a gluten free lifestyle.
My absolute favorite is spaghetti squash. I’m always trying new things with them. 🙂 I’ve recently been attempting to make quinoa. I don’t love it yet. lol
Almonds!
I love kale and have been using it in everything!
Brussels Sprouts! I’ve been roasting, toasting, baking and shredding these like its my job recently!
I’m a kale lover as well as green smoothies!
Chia seeds on everything!
I’ve started incorporating quinoa into my meals! It’s so good! 🙂
I have recently started incorporating spinach into my diet and adding it to many recipes!
an old food I have always eaten is spinach. I love it in my smoohies! A rather new food for me is old fashioned oats-which I got from learning new recipes from you! I would love love this giftcard because I am a student with no money for food 🙂
I’d like to try and eat more chia seeds in my morning yogurt and oatmeals!
I’ve been eating more tempeh lately and loving it!
I’ve cut out sugar and have been incorporating more salads overall. I can’t believe how fantastic I feel!
I have always loved spinach but just recently started trying to incorporate kale. I will throw it in smoothies, scrambles, or even make chips out of it.
Definitely incorporating more frozen fruits into my smoothies. Eating fresh ones all the time was more restrictive than you’d think!
Sweet potatoes are a staple in my diet, as is salmon!
I eat tons of quinoa, so much so that I have to buy it in bulk!
new healthy thing- almond butter. I am SO behind on this glorious nut butter!! That and muesli. Delicious.
Chia seeds have been doing it for me lately! In and on everything!
I’m all about kefir! I was first introduced to it studying abroad in Russia (everyone drinks it there, all the old babushkas say it’s good for you, and it turns out they’re right)!
I’ve been incorporating more kale into my diet recently. Who knew it could be so delicious in smoothies, as a salad base, and in wraps?
I’m loving quinoa and Greek yogurt lately! 🙂
I’ve been loving starting my day out with fresh green juice!
I love Greek yogurt. I have been using it as a replacement for sour cream for several years. I love it for breakfast and often as a snack. My current favorite weird combinations as snacks:
– Greek yogurt, applesauce, and cinnamon
– Greek yogurt, some pure pumpkin puree, and chopped up peanuts
Thanks for the great offer!
I’ve been incorporating a lot more healthy fats like avocado and cocount oil in my meals!
Kale! A friend shared a Kale salad recipe with me that I love. Since my family is not as crazy about the salad as I am, I baked the Kale into chips and they (my husband and ten-year-old love it). I’ve also frozen it and put it in smoothies and smoothie popsicles (for the kid).
Cauliflower ? I sub it for potatoes in recipes.
I’ve been incorporating Coconut oil, smoothies, chia and generally eating more GF meals and Paleo meals.
I have been using chia seeds in a variety of recipes, from my homemade granola bars to chia pudding. There are so many health benefits to them and they can basically be added to anything!
I really love chia seeds! I put them in my yogurt, salads, and smoothies! They help keep me full longer!
Been making a lot of Quinoa lately and loving it! Can’t wait to try out a few recipes in the future.
I’ve been using almond milk for about a month now and slowly weened off of cow’s milk and feel a whole lot better about it 🙂
i have been trying to rotate my greens instead of just relying on spinach so i’ve been trying kale in my smoothies and sauteing collard greens!
My favorite healthy food is sweet potato!
Love whole foods! Their 5 wines for $5 is so much fun! Recently I switched out pretzels for raw almonds in my lunch. I still get that crunchy snack but with more health benefits.
Almond Milk!! Absolutely love this stuff!!
Spinach! I put it in almost every meal and it is SO good for you. And it’s easy to disguise 🙂
I am pregnant with twins, so I have added spinach to everything I can to keep my iron up. Fresh or frozen!
Something really new I just added is agave syrup. It makes yucky decaf coffee somewhat more tolerable and sweetens up my plain Greek yogurt nicely.
Ohh so many great healthy food items! I’ve been on quite the butternut squash and avocado kick lately
does peanut butter count