Food Synergy: It Helps You Lose Weight

Foods in their natural states—raw fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains—are perfectly delicious and nutritious on their own. But due in part to the way foods have been processed over the years and also the way the competitive marketplace bombards us with advertising, our diets have shifted and we eat more things that have been altered and treated with preservatives and other chemicals. Attempting to get all of us back on a natural diet is the food synergy movement. What exactly is food synergy? And can it help you lose weight?


Led by Michael Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food,” food synergists believe that the road to wellness is filled with meals with ingredients that remain as nature intended them to be—and not enhanced by chemical science. As he states repeatedly, food is more than the sum of its nutrient parts. There is no need, for example, to add more lycopene to canned tomatoes—if you eat a well-balanced diet, you will get all of the nutrients you need.

What’s the best way to shop for natural foods? Do as much of your shopping at your local farmer’s market as you can. If that’s not an option where you live, spend your time at the grocery store shopping the perimeter, the areas where the fresh produce, butchered meats, and whole, unprocessed grain products reside. The center of the store is considered to be a danger area where the most highly-processed foods are found. You can take it one step further by planting a garden of your own or by canning your own produce for future use.

So, food synergy may help you become healthier, but will it help you lose weight? Yes, as long as you don’t increase your portion sizes and stick to lean cuts of meat and poultry. Natural foods are generally lower in calories and more satisfying than processed foods, so a synergistic eating plan will mean that your calorie intake will be lower than if you ate more pre-packaged foods.

To shed a few pounds and improve your overall health, it's easy enough to give food synergy a try!