Want to eat a lot more, take in fewer calories and thrive?
Jon Kabat-Zinn, promoter of Mindful Meditation, says that no one can listen to your body for you. To grow and heal, you have to take responsibility for listening to it yourself.
And that's just what researchers found when they looked at how folks eating a completely unprocessed diet were listening to the signals their body was giving them. Turns out that they instinctively choose the amount of healthy foods they need to have a plentiful intake of micronutrients and satisfy their nutritional needs.
But the big surprise wasn't that it's healthier to eat unprocessed foods. It was that the amount of food those folks naturally ate added up to almost 50% more by weight than what was consumed by folks in the study who ate highly processed foods. Yet the unprocessed foods supplied around 330 fewer calories a day!
This, say the researchers, shows that when you eat natural foods, your inbuilt "nutritional intelligence" steers you toward a nutrition-rich diet -- so you eat a greater quantity of foods that don't pack on unhealthy pounds!
Unfortunately, today's processed foods block that natural intelligence -- and folks don't instinctively opt to eat foods they need to be healthy. Instead, an ultra-processed diet drives folks to opt for more and more processed options, adding excess calories and creating nutritional deficiencies that imperil health.
If you like the idea of eating as much as you want -- and staying healthy -- gobble up the info on eating whole foods in my books "What to Eat When" and "The What to Eat When Cookbook."
Health pioneer Michael Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer emeritus at the Cleveland Clinic and author of four No. 1 New York Times bestsellers. Check out his latest, "The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow," and find out more at www.4YOUngevity.com. Email your health and wellness questions to Dr. Mike at questions@4YOUngevity.com.
(c)2026 Michael Roizen, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
(c) 2026 Michael Roizen, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Comments