Discussion Board

If only meat and oil caused anaphylactic shock or some other acute reaction. Instead of killing slowly over a long period of years after debilitating for years. Then restaurateurs would see vegans not as irritating freaks but as people trying to prevent their own premature deaths and ill health.

I went to PF Chang the other day, and it was amazing to have multiple vegan choices (not necessarily low-fat/oil-free, but at least vegan) on the menu, rather than one make-do choice that might even need modification to work. But they have a gluten-free section for celiacs--boxed in on the menu to call attention to how seriously they take the needs of celiacs. Nothing like that for vegans or low-fat vegans. Because our WOE is seen as just one possible choice, and not one made for any good reason; if you can make it through dinner eating something (meat) without an allergic or immune reaction, then hey, it's good food for you!

I have noticed exactly what you are talking about since I've eaten a vegan diet over the past five years. If a person is gluten intolerant or eats a certain way for religious reasons, people will gladly perform back flips to accommodate their needs. If you eat a low fat vegan diet for health reasons, people make jokes, try and get you to eat meat, begrudgingly accommodate you...That's why I chose the name HealthFreak, because that's how it feels a lot of the time, trying to eat a healthy diet in this SAD society.

That's why I'm doing back flips over the Health Starts Here food

That's great to hear Jeff. I'm sure this is not an easy thing. I have noticed a good deal of variety in how the stores handle the HTH program depending on location and region with some much better than others. It's a great program, and it will be wonderful to see it implemented more consistently, and in a way that instills trust in the HTH brand. Best of luck to you.

Jeff, is there a list of WFM locations presently participating?

Not yet but hopefully before this year it is over, it will be "all of them."

There are also some things in the works that will make the program available to everyone, everywhere by mid 2013.



In Health
Jeff

My local grocery store which is just 1/2 mile away has a better produce dept. than the huge Whole Foods store that is 25 miles away and it also carries more gluten-free items that I use.

be very cautious of the Health Starts Here labeled foods, more often than not they have OIL in them or CHICKEN or Fish OR FETA, OR tons of nuts and seeds or all of the above. I applaud the ones that do turn out right, but the serious clumsiness of this program and its contradicting messages make me angry at Whole Foods.

They are doing this $5 Health Starts Here dinner plate some nights and the Whole Foods in Honolulu had a big line and we got to the front of it and it was Chicken or OIL SOAKED tofu... GAG. In our local Los Angeles Whole Foods we call it "health stops here" since people only buy the ones with meat, nuts and cheese in them that's the only ones they keep making...

here is hoping they get better at educating the consumer and their staff and it evolves into the original program it was supposed to be...

And that's the reality and challenge of leading a highly decentralized organization where business units have the latitude to respond to the preferences of their existing customer base to maintain short-term profits with existing products rather than create a customer base for new products that embody a new way of eating for optimal health. I'm sure the existing customers love it - they get to eat rich, fatty foods and bask in the illusion that they are eating healthy. Not exactly the vision John Mackey has in mind for Whole Foods. Reminds me of a quote about a road, a destination, and good intentions.

I googled the Whole Foods Health Starts Here program and found references to poultry fish and meat.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/healthstartshere/

Then I googled the Health Starts Here recipes. Scroll down and you can see recipes for bison, beef and chicken.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes ... tarts-here

I am not sure I like the connection of Dr. McDougall and other plant-based people with this program.

Just FYI -- PF Chang's STEAMED version of Buddha's Feast is McDougall legal. Everything else is full of fat and sodium, but the steamed Buddha's Feast is pretty blameless.

I got the GF steamed vegetable Buddah Feast and the Shanghai Cucumbers the last time I went to P.F. Chang's. They also had steamed vegetarian dumplings.They also offer a choice of white or brown rice. In the past you could only find white rice at most Asian restaurants, but I'm finding more and more give you a choice between white and brown rice. I always look up the menu online ahead of time if the restaurant has a website.
That way there are no surprises or disappointments.

I went to one of the larger Whole Foods this morning. The pickings were very slim. In the refrigerated section I only found black bean hummus, and it didn't have any oil (or meat or dairy). Yay! I didn't see any soups or salads or anything else. Then, I noticed on the way out they had coupons for Health Starts Here breads. So, I guess they have those, too.

From the paltry pickings, I'm guessing that the program hasn't spread too far? I'll still check the smaller WF I go to, as well.

You kind have to hunt and peck. At the Seattle store there were several HSH oil free salad dressings in the produce department, Rip's Big Bag cereal was in the cereal section and then a lot of items in the salad bar area. Sounds like the Seattle store is one of the best so far.

I like Jeff's comment that in a couple years the HSH foods might be available everywhere. That would be amazing! Actually let me rephrase that-It will be Amazing!

I appreciate the information JeffN about more stores joining in on the Health Starts here program.
The WF in my town has one soup and no entrees or salads that are Health Starts here but not surprisingly, the Santa Rosa WF has 2 or 3 salads and a soup always available to customers. They also have f/f dressings near the salad bar, along with vegan parm and liquid aminos.
Whenever I'm in Santa Rosa, I make sure to head in and purchase some of each item (ingredient list is right in front of you) in an effort to support the program.
My local store had Rip Esselstyn's breakfast bowls available for a short time but I guess they didn't sell well enough to keep. : (

I think the largest obstacle to making Health Starts Here work are the cooks themselves, who are often overweight and forced to make donut after donut, how could they ever think about eating healthy and make the change and continue to crank out poison day after day... The cooks don't understand it and never will, its like being a vegan butcher. They need a separate HSH cook in every store who follows the program. Whole Foods does massive cross contamination, too. Forget about your items being actually vegan, the knifes, spoons, surfaces all had a dead chicken on them a minute before from my observations. I feel horrible doing it, but I request the sandwich people to use a clean knife, not let my bread touch the surface (use paper) and put on new gloves... they think I've got OCD, I just don't want an animal bacteria on my food, if they cut a cheese tuna sandwich and then your veggie sandwich you'll taste it in the first bite... puke!