Give your body and mind the best gift of all this year—a nutritious whole foods diet with the bonus of protection from chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease… metabolic syndrome… hypertension… diabetes… and even cancer.

Published reports and studies show that diets high in fiber, fruits, vegetables and herbal teas significantly reduce the occurrence of these and a host of other deadly diseases. To protect your health, you must start implementing a diet rich in whole foods—TODAY!

Whole foods are foods in their natural state, or very close to it—like vegetables, fruits, grains, seeds, nuts and legumes before they get refined, processed, dyed, preserved, canned or bottled. Even unpasteurized dairy and unprocessed meats are whole foods, but you should eat smaller amounts because they have much lower levels of micronutrients than produce.

But for the greatest health benefits, eat whole foods that are high in fiber and micronutrients instead of those that are high in calories. One main principle of the whole foods regimen is to consume 50 percent or more of your food in its raw form—and cook 50 percent or less of the foods you eat.

For example, vegetables are considered a whole food when eaten fresh, and most of the active enzymes and micronutrients remain intact when they are frozen, steamed or juiced.

One study published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture showed that broccoli lost 97 percent of its antioxidant flavonoids when microwaved, 66 percent when boiled—but very little when steamed.

Sprouted or boiled, the grain wheat keeps most of its nutrient content. Yet, when refined into white flour made into breads, rice and pasta, wheat is no longer a whole food.

Fruits are similar in that when they are refined and added to sugar—such as jams, jellies, canned or bottled juices—they also lose their nutrient value and are no longer whole foods. Consider how apples may be robbed of their vitamins, fiber and antioxidants to make apple juice—apple-flavored sugar water that can rot your teeth!

Now listen carefully to this—a study reported in the British Medical Journal confirmed that those who eat whole foods live twice as long as those who eat normally. Furthermore, those in this study who consume a fresh fruit daily had a significantly reduced mortality rate from heart attacks, strokes and many other causes compared to those who repeated eating an average amount!

So, before you eat another thing… adopt the whole foods regimen as a way of life. Give your family and yourself the gift of good health… prepare tasty whole foods as close to the natural state as possible.