“Red wine is better than white wine!” 

“Spinach is better than romaine!”

“GRAINS ARE EVIL!!”

“Don’t eat white potatoes”

“White rice or Brown”

Ever feel like good nutrition is just too complicated?

If you’re overwhelmed, try this ONE habit:

Eat mostly (or at least more) minimally-processed foods.

Most people would define this as choosing foods close to how they’re found in nature. Whole foods—potatoes (yes any), broccoli, chicken, an apple—are a great example of this. 

Why?

Reason #1: The greater the degree of processing, the more likely a food has:

👉Lost nutrition (fibre, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients) 

👉Gained additives (sugar and/or refined starch, unhealthy fats, sodium, preservatives, and fillers)

Reason #2: Diets rich in minimally-processed foods are linked to lower rates of heart disease, cancer, depression, and type 2 diabetes.

Reason #3: Because minimally-processed foods also tend to be richer in fiber and protein, and lower in calories per volume, these foods make it easier for you to manage your calorie intake.

Minimally-processed foods are more nutritious, improve health outcomes, and help you regulate your appetite.

There’s just one caveat:

It’s REALLY hard to eat ONLY whole foods.

So, think of foods on a continuum. 

As with most things, processing isn’t binary: Foods aren’t 100 PERCENT FAKE or FRESH-FROM-THE-DIRT (or animal).

Most are somewhere in between.

This is why I encourage minimally-processed foods versus only limiting yourself to whole foods.

Look at the foods you’re currently eating, and just try to move along the continuum, choosing foods that are slightly less processed than what you’d usually eat. Or start by choosing ‘less’ processed foods over time.

Plus, some processed foods are awesome.

Whey protein powder. 

Tinned fish. 

Those little emergency to-go packets of rice crackers and hummus (Snack attacks are REAL.)

Also: Cooking, chopping, and blending are all forms of processing.

So it’s not that processing is “bad.”

It’s just that ultra processed foods—star-shaped cereal puffs, electric blue energy drinks and pretty much anything that’s shelf-stable for over a year—are usually specifically engineered to make these foods too delicious, and thus easy to overeat.

How To Start This Habit

Begin by assessing the foods you have in your kitchen/workplace right now. How many of them are fully processed or are real foods?

Can you replace some (or all) of the processed ones with something less processed?

Think about your choices for just one meal at a time. For instance, choose breakfast and move away from processed foods to real choices such as eggs on toast, porridge or yoghurt and fruit for just that one meal.

Once that becomes habit, move to the next meal or snack and work on that.

You don’t need to overhaul everything at once and really shouldn’t. Unless you have full coach support and a way of tracking and checking in daily, going whole-hog is a tough gig to maintain for any length of time on your own.

Need help? Reach out any time