Follow a Perfectly Whole Foods Diet for 2 weeks to begin to feel the benefits of truly healthy eating!

To begin a Perfect Whole Foods Diet, eliminate all refined foods from your diet and eat only whole foods. A whole food is one that has had no parts removed. A refined food has had something taken out. For example, whole  wheat flour is whole, but white flour is refined. The Perfectly Whole Foods

Diet focuses on eating all whole foods, but especially whole carbohydrates because refined carbohydrates cause so many health issues.

One way to do a two-week trial is to follow a very simple, easy-to-prepare diet of whole foods for two weeks as outlined in the list below.  Think about the timing of starting the diet. For example, waiting until after holidays or after a vacation is a good idea.

What to eat

For your meals, you might eat a basic menu of whole grains with vegetables and protein foods. Snacks can be nuts and seeds. Beverages can be spring water or herbal teas. Some spices or seasonings may be used. A variety of ingredients will keep the menu interesting.  Here’s some suggestions for starting a two-week trial while you are learning more about the diet.

Grains: brown rice, quinoa, 100% whole rye or other whole grain crackers, rolled oats, oat bran, 100% whole wheat flour.

Vegetables, all types: fresh or frozen, raw or cooked. Eat the peels if edible (be sure to wash carefully before eating), and avoid canned products.

Protein foods: meat, fish, poultry, beans, legumes, tofu, farm eggs, whole milk, cheese.

Spices or seasonings: Bragg’s liquid amino acids, sea or mineral salt, black pepper, any individual spices (avoid pre-mixed), vinegars, olive or other whole (unrefined) oils.

Snacks: macadamia nuts, peanuts, cashews, pecans, sunflower seeds, popcorn, pumpkin seeds, walnuts; pure nut butters on 100% whole grain crackers.

Beverages: mint tea, chamomile tea, spring water.

These are just a few of the items on the complete diet, but the above will give you a very simple two-week trial.  The complete diet includes all kinds of vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds, fruit, eggs, some fats, meats, poultry, dairy products, some condiments and some seasonings.  Anything whole should be okay.

What not to eat

Totally eliminate the following (even traces, as it is the trace that defeats the whole purpose of this diet and causes a triggering effect): 

All sugars: including honey, syrup, molasses, corn syrup, sorbitol, and mannitol. Any word that ends with –ose is a sugar: sucrose, dextrose, lactose, fructose, etc. Also, eliminate any sweetener added to foods (occasional use of saccharine may be okay, and stevia is fine). Some people may even have to avoid fruit for a few weeks, months, or longer because of its high sugar content. Some people will be able to eat whole fruit, fresh or frozen, without added sugar.

Foods that have parts omitted (and are not whole)—for example:

• refined grains, such as white flour (eliminate any flour that doesn’t specify 100% whole grain), white rice (brown rice is okay), refined cornmeal (whole grain cornmeal is okay), etc.

• peeled vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. (i.e., whole potatoes are okay if the skin is eaten; the smaller the potato, the better).

• Any kind of starch added to foods, such as cornstarch, potato starch, etc.

Caffeine: completely eliminate caffeine. Discontinue even decaffeinated coffee and tea, because they are not totally caffeine-free. Caffeine is a contributing cause to the addiction, because one of its effects is releasing very significant amounts of pure sugar (glycogen, which is two linked glucose molecules) from the liver into the blood without any of the trace nutrients needed for metabolizing it. This counteracts the diet.

All alcoholic beverages: and all ingredients ending in –ol such as sorbitol, alcohol, etc.) and any use of nicotine. Alcohol is one of the most refined carbohydrates and will cause an immune system triggering response to occur. Nicotine will cause an elevation of blood sugar, which also tends to defeat the purpose of the diet.

To avoid eating excluded foods, read every food package label (including supplements)!

Carefully document how you feel each day. (For the first several days, you may experience symptoms of withdrawal such as fatigue or headaches. After the withdrawal clears, you can expect to feel much better.) If you follow the diet perfectly, you will know it is worth your while by your experience of some benefits in four days, lots of benefits in a week, and even more in two weeks. If you are not feeling better after two weeks, examine everything you are eating more carefully and be sure you are eliminating all refined carbohydrates.

Once you know it is worth your while to follow the PWFD, you can decide how to continue. As you learn how and where to shop as well as how to use spices, eating all whole foods will get easier. You may find it helpful to remove all refined foods from your kitchen. Read every label to avoid eating all traces of refined foods.  Further learning and study about diet, nutrition, and cooking may help as you become more sensitive to your body. If necessary, at any time after the two-week trial, adjust your diet. Consider adding different dietary approaches. 

You will continue to see more benefits for about three months so long as you follow the diet perfectly, although the improvements come slower as time goes on. It then typically takes six to twelve months to get your health to the place where your symptoms will not return easily. Then you may include some traces of refined foods in your diet.

For more information about the Perfectly Whole Foods Diet, read Recapture Your Health: A Step-by-Step Program to Reverse Chronic Symptoms and Create Lasting Wellness by Walt Stoll, MD and Jan DeCourtney, CMT.  If you need further help understanding how to follow the PWFD, you may post your question on the bulletin board at www.askwaltstollmd.org.

The Whole Foods Diet is only one leg of the 3LS Wellness Program.  Do the other two legs (Skilled Relaxation and Right Exercise for You) for fastest results, greatest health, and numerous wellness benefits.