Natural Foods

What Are Natural Foods?

Basically, what distinguishes organic and natural foods from commercially available products is the way the food or ingredients are grown, how heavily the product is refined or processed, and the nutritional profile of the end product.

A broad definition of natural foods (or whole foods, as they are sometimes called) is that they support a healthy lifestyle, offer high nutritional value, promote long-term good health, and are free of artificial ingredients and preservatives.

Many frozen products, including meats and seafood, are also thought of as natural. For some consumers, the closer the finished product is to its original state, the more “natural” it is. Conversely, the further away the product gets from its natural state, the greater the nutritional loss. The food is at its nutritional peak when it is fresh and raw; anything that happens past that point, including cooking, diminishes its nutritional levels.

For example, a kernel of rice which has just been harvested will consist of a hull (or husk), bran, polish (a thin skin under the bran) and germ. The hull must be removed before the rice can be eaten, but if the rest is left intact, the end result is brown rice, a natural foods staple.

If the bran and polish is removed, the resulting product is white rice, a food which is more refined and therefore less nutritional, but which still can be considered “natural.”

If the rice is further processed—ground into flour or puffed and combined with other ingredients to make a rice cake—it’s moved one step further from its original natural state, but can still find its way onto a natural products shelf.

If, however, the rice cake is made with artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, or preservatives, it belongs somewhere other than in your natural products section.