Why you should choose whole foods over processed foods

Another week, another opportunity to improve it when you move it! 💃

In keeping with our cadence, we’re due for a nutrition-focused feature this week!

(If this email was forwarded to you and you'd like to receive this weekly newsletter, sign up below!)

I know I say this almost every week (lol), but…

That change this week:

Eating whole foods.

(Not to be confused with the Amazon-associated expensive-for-no-reason grocery store).

Let’s face it: the “standard American diet” relies on a huge amount of processed foods.

How do we know something is “processed” as opposed to a “whole food?” One simple way is the ingredients list. If the ingredients are anything other than the food itself (e.g. beef, egg, cucumber, corn, blueberry), it is likely processed in some form. If the ingredients list includes words you can’t pronounce, it’s definitely processed. If it comes packaged or in plastic, and isn’t identifiable as a food you would find in nature, it’s probably processed. Yes, chicken nuggets, I’m even looking at you and that 14-item-long ingredient list.

The Nuance: Processing food isn’t all bad. It’s what has allowed canned beans, tomatoes, or tuna, for example, to have a shelf life of months rather than days. But most processed food goes far beyond that. It’s typically full of added compounds, chemicals, preservatives, sodium, and added sugars.

Many of the name-brand “foods” we see advertised today prioritize palatability (how good it tastes) over virtually everything else, including health. Modern “foods” are processed and engineered to be as addictive as possible (Hello, delicious cheesy orange triangles and crunchy, creamy, brown and white cookie sandwiches).

Why go for whole over processed? Several reasons:

1. For thousands and thousands of years of human history, whole food is really all we had. 

Sure, we could cook and prepare and preserve in different ways, but whole foods are what our bodies are made for, and they’re what we either harvested or hunted from nature. It’s not until the last century or so that industrial food companies have been processing our foods to make them more energy-dense (higher in Calories per serving) and less nutrient-dense (lower in nutrients per serving). I’ll give you one guess at the primary motivations behind this: 🤑💰.

When the most basic—and sometimes even leftover—ingredients can be mass manufactured for cheap and engineered to taste great, that’s a recipe for profit. Think flour, corn, sugar, salt, corn syrup, vegetable and seed oils, etc. Cheap, tasty, easily produced. Our bodies crave the tastes, because for the vast majority of our existence, this meant sustenance that will fuel us and keep us alive.

But today, when we have unfathomable amounts of these highly palatable, high-Calorie foods at our fingertips, overindulgence is far too easy. It’s the default unless you work against it.

2. Salt. 

One thing most processed foods have in common is that they’re high in sodium. While sodium is essential for life and bodily functions, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Remember the “Goldilocks principle” of wanting a “just right” amount. Not too much, not too little.

Many of us are probably aware that consuming too much sodium can lead to some downstream issues, including a cascade that results in high blood pressure, which in turn increases our risk of stroke and other chronic diseases. The small amounts of table salt we add to our foods when cooking isn’t where the problem lies; keep doing that if you want. But processed foods typically already have tons of added salt that you don’t even taste much of.

If you eat a lot of processed food, try to check your sodium intake, or at least drink extra water before and after those meals to help balance out all that salt!

3. Added sugars are the devil! (As Bobby Boucher’s mom would say. But they ate snakes & gators so maybe not. Watch The Waterboy.)

I’ll definitely have more to say on added sugar in the future, but for now, honestly just try to avoid it like the plague. Natural sugars (like what’s present in whole fruits)? Great! You’ll get tons of other vitamins and fiber from it and fill up quickly. Added sugars in processed foods? So tasty, so addictive, so full of Calories and so lacking in accompanying nutrients. Sugar in this form honestly wreaks havoc on our bodies in more ways than I could name. We’d do well to avoid it.

Whose empty bag of Peanut M&Ms is that next to me?? Anyway, aim for no more than 50g of added sugar per day (a 20oz. Coke has 65g 😳)

4. Fiber, nutrients, and everything else. 

While processed foods are high in lots of the bad stuff, that means they’re low in lots of the good stuff that whole foods provide.

Fiber, protein, and essential vitamins and nutrients are often lacking in that oh-so-yummy processed food. These so-called “empty calories” don’t fill you up very quickly and make it easier to overeat far more than your body actually needs… Like how I can eat a whole row of oreos without getting full because they’re nutrient-deficient. I dare you to overeat apples and chicken breast!

Meals made with whole foods are sure to make you feel fuller and more nourished in the long term.

You may have heard the phrase “shop the perimeter” in referring to how you pick foods at a grocery store. That means shopping for foods and ingredients along the walls at the edge of the store, not through all the aisles down the middle. What’s typically along the perimeter? All the fresh produce, then the meat products, dairy, and eggs. Almost all “whole foods.”

This one simple shopping hack—filling the cart from the perimeter before moving to the middle aisles for any remaining ingredients—has certainly helped me and can definitely help you pick more whole foods over processed foods. Also consider supporting your farmers market for even more local, nutrient-rich, seasonal produce!

As one of my favorite health and fitness professionals, Marcus Filly, advises, the first major change you should make to your diet if you’re looking to improve your health is to simply remove most processed foods and eat more whole foods. He even suggests a several-week runway of “five ingredient meals.” Click here to view his “Food” story highlight for examples!

Limit each meal you eat to five ingredients (not including flavors/spices; please salt and pepper your food). Start with a protein, add fruits and/or veggies. Throw in some carbs/starches if you like, along with a serving of healthy fats. When I practice this, I find that my meals are nutritious, filling, and actually quite cheap!

A couple examples:

• Breakfast: Eggs, greek yogurt, blueberries, toast, avocado

• Lunch: Salad with Spinach, grilled chicken, almonds, strawberries, feta cheese

• Dinner: Steak, butter, sweet potato, grilled asparagus, broccoli

These sound like pretty delicious meals, and they’re minimally processed! They should digest great, leave you feeling full and satisfied, be quick to prepare, and not break the bank.

Making this change to your diet by swapping heavily processed foods out for whole foods that can be found in nature, just as God created them, can be one of the greatest gifts you can give to your body.

And use that energy to keep moving and improving 😉

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: On your next trip to the grocery store (or maybe all of them from now on?👀), shop the perimeter first! Make it all the way around the sides of the store and see how many beautiful whole foods you can fill your cart with before you ever move into the aisles.

Level 2: Enjoy at least one meal per day this week that’s only composed of whole foods. See what no processed foods for one meal a day does for your energy, digestion, and health!

Level 3: Make 90% of your meals over the next seven days “five ingredient meals.” Keep it simple, nourishing, and delicious. Let me know how you feel if you try this!

This newsletter is brought to you by… me!

Interested in becoming a sponsor? Know someone else who might be? I’d love to get to know you and/or your business and see how we can partner together. Reply to this email!

✍️ Drew's Picks:

• “The Daily Pump,” Arnold Schwarzenegger’s newsletter. The guy does it all. The goals of our newsletters align pretty well: simplifying nutrition, fitness, and wellness. An excerpt from a recent email that fired me up:

  • “Remember: you’re lucky to be able to use your body. There are people in hospitals and nursing homes all over the world who would be horrified that you’re letting it go to waste. They aren’t wondering how they can convince themselves to get out of bed, they’re wishing they could.”

• Podcast episode: “Upcoming Trends in Women’s Health.” Dr. Lyon chats with Liz Plosser, Editor-in-Chief of Women’s Health about a myriad of topics regarding women’s health. I found this to be an enlightening discussion with actionable tips and excellent language around women’s fitness. Give them a listen!

As always, if you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to a friend or text them the link below! Every new subscriber helps grow this community and make us that more united in our journey to healthy, fulfilling lives.

Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).