Whole Foods

Jimmy Moore wrote to me:

I don't know if you're aware of this yet or not, but the health food retailer Whole Foods Markets has launched a nationwide "Health Starts Here" marketing scheme that endorses a low-fat, vegetarian diet, with promises that the diet will "improve health easily and naturally."

The plan promotes the books and private business ventures of Joel Fuhrman, MD, and Rip Esselstyn, both of whom worked with Whole Foods to formulate the new guidelines. Customers now receive a pamphlet urging them to adopt a low-fat, plant-based diet and to cut back or completely eliminate animal foods. Many Whole Foods stores no longer sell books advocating consumption of meat, eggs and dairy products and have shelftalkers and banners throughout the store pushing a high-grain, low-fat diet while eschewing meat and animal-based foods.

I'm working on a column about this and would love a quote from you ASAP. Thoughts to ponder:

- Is this a smart move by Whole Foods or will it backfire on them?
- Do you think Whole Foods CEO John Mackey is fully informed about the health benefits of fat?
- What should the response of people supporting high-fat, low-carb diets be?
- What alternative places for healthy foods should people consider instead of Whole Foods?
- What do you think the ramifications on the health of the Whole Foods consumer base will be?

Here's my response:

I don't know if this will backfire on Whole Foods, but it does seem to me that narrowing your market appeal is generally not a brilliant business model. Even among non-low-carbers, stuff like grass-fed meat, pastured eggs, and wild-caught salmon are making a strong showing, and are perceived as healthful. Perhaps this will strengthen Whole Foods' appeal to doctrinaire vegetarians/vegans, who are offended by shopping in a store that even carries things they wouldn't themselves eat. How this will affect the chain's bottom line will probably vary from store to store, depending on the neighborhood and the size of the local population of doctrinaire vegetarians/vegans.

I cannot imagine that Mr. Mackey is fully informed about the health benefits of fat, and particularly of animal fat and other traditional saturated fats, or he wouldn't be doing this. At least I like to think he wouldn't; I prefer to assume he's ignorant than that he's unethical. On the other hand, despite the occasional accusations that those of us who advocate a low carb diet -- and especially Dr. Atkins -- are "just in it for the money," the big money in the past few decades has lain in pushing a diet much like the one being espoused here; heaven knows Dr. Ornish, Dr. Weil and Dr. Oz have done very, very well for themselves. So maybe Mackey just thinks this is the horse to back, I couldn't say.

Our response should be the same as it would be to any store that is not serving our needs, or is serving our needs to a lesser degree than formerly: To spend less of our money there. I don't shop at Whole Foods at all; we don't have one in Bloomington. We do have a food co-op, Bloomingfoods, where I used to shop quite a lot, years ago. But they discontinued more and more products I found useful to make room for more and more organic junk food, vegan stuff, and soy products; I can now go months without setting foot in the place. On the other hand, I shop frequently at Sahara Mart, a health/gourmet/international grocery store here in town, because they have stuff I want. This is Economics 101.

Where low carbers should shop will vary with their location. I like Trader Joe's a lot, but they're hardly everywhere; the nearest one to me is an hour and a half away, on the north side of Indianapolis. Again, I am happily served by an excellent independent health food store, and that would be my first choice, even before this move by Whole Foods, I like the family that runs it, and I think they do a terrific job. Local farmer's markets are also a great source of healthful food -- not only fruits, vegetables, and herbs, but also grass fed meat, pastured small farm eggs, and local grass-fed dairy products. Our local farmer's market is a weekly Bloomington event; you see everyone there! Great fun, and great food.

The internet, of course, is a terrific source of -- well, everything. If you live in an area that is not served by an independent health food store that meets your needs, and doesn't have a farmer's market, there is little doubt that a quick Google will turn up nearly anything your heart desires that you cannot get locally. And of course, the internet has long been the best place to find low carb specialty foods.

But, of course, there is not much reason we absolutely have to shop at health food stores. Yes, grass fed meat is nutritionally superior to grain fed meat, pastured small farm eggs are superior to "battery" eggs, and local raw-milk cheese from grass-fed cows is nutritionally superior to generic cheese -- plus, of course, all of this stuff is more interesting than the common run of American foodstuffs. But the big mileage will be made by shifting from a diet based on cereal, bread, pasta, potatoes, rice and sugar to a diet based on meat, eggs, dairy, nuts and seeds, all of which are available at your local grocery store. Indeed, I do most of my grocery shopping at standard grocers -- Marsh, Aldi, and occasionally Kroger -- and only fill in around the edges at health food stores. Health food stores, while useful, are not essential to a low carb lifestyle.

One other thought: As a person who has made at least a some-time living for the past decade being wildly opinionated (a trait I come by honestly), I certainly urge low carbers who have been Whole Foods customers, and especially those for whom Whole Foods is the only health food store available, to contact Whole Foods and make their opinions known. You can email them from this webpage. Companies generally assume that for each customer who bothers to write about a given issue, there are minimally dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, who feel the same way, and just don't get around to saying so. It's definitely worth telling them your low carb story, and that you want a store that serves your needs.