The Whole Foods "Diet" Trend
(and why it's the only "diet" trend I will ever be a fan of)
You know when you tell a funny joke and no one hears you and then your friend says it louder and everyone laughs?
That is exactly how every dietitian feels when we see some 250 lb. muscle man on the internet preaching to his followers that a whole food diet is the way to go.
We’ve BEEN saying this but hey, what do we know?
Now don’t get me wrong, the four steaks per day served on a cutting board followed by buttered dates is not exactly the move. However, the diet lovers (I guess) are slowly moving in the right direction with this one.
As a dietitian, I have always recommended people aim for ~80% of their diets to be made up of whole foods.
What is a whole food?
The simple answer is anything that does not have an ingredient list. I will list some examples below:
Eggs
Chicken breast
Salmon
Broccoli
Brown Rice
Quinoa
Strawberries
Chia Seeds
Yogurt
Apples
You get the idea.
Following a diet that is primarily made up of whole foods ensures that you are taking in adequate amounts of bioavailable macro and micronutrients (aka you are eating the stuff your body needs).
Now, I think people are easily confused by *how* to follow an 80/20 guideline (not rule because there are no rules!). I like to break it down by meals.
So if you are someone who eats three meals per day, that means you are consuming 21 meals per week. Eighty percent of 21 is about 17.
This means that 17 of your meals per week should be rooted in whole foods. This does NOT mean that four times per week you should put your foot on the gas and eat a whole pizza or consider those 20% of meals as “cheat” meals.
(I don’t even like the word cheat meals but I feel like it is the most universally recognized so thats what we are going with here but it’s important to remember food does not carry any moral weight).
I also want to reiterate, it is not going to ALWAYS be a perfect 80/20 split. There will be weeks where you end up eating out / ordering in more than you planned on and that is okay. Do not beat yourself up over it.
These numbers are solely to help you understand what the 80/20 guideline would look like.
If you are someone who is just starting out with incorporating more whole foods into your diet, I don’t necessarily recommend going full speed ahead with the 80/20 guideline (80% is a lot and I don’t want you getting discouraged if you can’t hit that number off the bat).
Maybe for your first week you start with whole foods at breakfast. This could look like a yogurt bowl with fruit, seeds, and nuts. This could look like a couple eggs with some avocado, sprouts, cottage cheese, and some berries on the side. The world is your oyster (also a whole food- LOVE)!
If you get through the full week with all of your breakfasts as whole food based meals- you’re already at 33% for the week! You can slowly start adjusting your other meals as well but breakfast is a great place to start.
You got this y’all and Happy National Whole Foods Week (not real- I made that up)!
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Okay as always have the best weekend of your life and I will catch you over on social until next time!!