What Happens If You Only Eat Natural Food?

October 29, 2025 •

5 min read

Did you know that in one study, individuals eating unprocessed foods consumed an average of 500 fewer calories per day compared to those on an ultra-processed diet? Understanding what happens if you only eat natural food involves weighing significant health benefits against potential challenges and risks.

Quick Summary

Eating exclusively natural foods can lead to improved health, higher nutrient and fiber intake, and better weight management. However, potential drawbacks include higher costs, increased preparation time, and the risk of specific nutrient deficiencies, particularly if eliminating certain food groups.

Key Points

Nutrient Density: Whole, natural foods are rich in essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, unlike many processed alternatives.
Improved Digestion: High fiber content from natural foods supports a healthy gut microbiome and regular bowel movements.
Potential Deficiencies: A strictly natural diet, especially vegan, requires careful planning and supplementation to avoid deficiencies in B12, Calcium, Vitamin D, and Iron.
Weight Management: Natural foods are more satiating and lower in added calories, which helps regulate appetite and aid in weight loss.
Practical Challenges: Exclusively natural eating can be more expensive, time-consuming to prepare, and may involve more food waste due to limited shelf life.
Lower Chronic Disease Risk: Diets emphasizing whole foods are linked to a reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.

What Defines a 'Natural Food' Diet?

At its core, a diet based on 'natural food' or 'whole foods' prioritizes eating items as close to their original state as possible. This means focusing on ingredients that are unprocessed or minimally processed and avoiding those with added sugars, salts, unhealthy fats, and artificial additives. For example, this approach favors eating a whole apple over apple juice concentrate, or a baked potato over french fries. While this eating pattern emphasizes fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins, it can be adapted to be plant-based, include sustainably sourced animal products, or follow other variations.

The Health Benefits of Eating Only Natural Food

Shifting away from a standard Western diet and consuming only natural food can yield a wide array of health improvements. Many of these benefits are a direct result of increased fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants and reduced intake of harmful additives.

Higher Nutrient Intake: Natural foods are packed with essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. For instance, a single Brazil nut can provide the full daily requirement of selenium, a mineral vital for thyroid function.
Improved Digestive Health: The high fiber content in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains aids digestion, promotes healthy bowel movements, and feeds beneficial gut bacteria. This contributes to a healthier gut microbiome, which is linked to overall well-being.
Better Weight Management: Natural foods, particularly high-fiber options, promote a feeling of fullness and satiety, which helps naturally regulate calorie intake and prevent overeating. This can contribute to sustained weight loss, as evidenced by studies where whole-foods participants lost significantly more weight than control groups.
Reduced Risk of Chronic Diseases: An eating pattern rich in whole foods has been consistently linked to a lower risk of developing chronic conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. This is attributed to a lower intake of processed sugars, unhealthy fats, and a higher intake of protective phytochemicals.
Stable Blood Sugar Levels: By minimizing added sugars and refined carbohydrates, a natural diet helps prevent the blood sugar spikes and crashes associated with highly processed items. The fiber in natural foods also slows sugar absorption, which is particularly beneficial for managing or preventing diabetes.

The Challenges and Potential Risks of an Exclusively Natural Diet

While the benefits are significant, a strict, exclusively natural diet is not without its challenges. It is crucial to be mindful of these drawbacks to ensure long-term health and sustainability.

Risk of Nutrient Deficiencies: An improperly planned all-natural diet, especially if it is also plant-based, can lead to deficiencies in key nutrients. These include vitamin B12 (found almost exclusively in animal products and fortified foods), vitamin D, calcium, and iron. Careful planning and potential supplementation are necessary to overcome these limitations.
More Time and Effort: This diet requires more effort in meal planning and preparation. With fewer pre-packaged or ready-made options, individuals need to spend more time cooking from scratch, which can be a barrier for those with busy schedules.
Higher Cost and Food Waste: Fresh, natural foods can be more expensive than processed, long-shelf-life alternatives. Their limited shelf life also increases the risk of food waste if not consumed promptly.
Availability Issues: In some geographic areas, access to a wide variety of fresh, natural foods may be limited due to seasonal restrictions or a lack of specialty stores, potentially leading to a monotonous diet.
Risk of Orthorexia: An overly strict interpretation of an all-natural diet can verge into an unhealthy obsession with "clean eating." This can lead to feelings of guilt or shame when eating something perceived as "impure," potentially developing into disordered eating patterns like orthorexia.

Natural Diet vs. Standard Diet: A Comparison

To understand the full impact, it is helpful to compare an exclusively natural (whole foods) diet with a typical modern, standard diet that relies heavily on ultra-processed foods.


Feature	Exclusively Natural Diet	Standard Modern Diet
Nutrient Density	High: Rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants from whole foods.	Low: Often energy-dense but nutrient-poor; nutrients are stripped during processing.
Fiber Content	High: Abundant dietary fiber from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.	Low: Fiber is often removed during the refinement process.
Added Sugars/Salt	Low: Uses natural sweeteners like honey or maple syrup minimally; controls added salt.	High: Often contains excessive added sugars and salt for flavor enhancement.
Preparation Time	High: Requires significant time for meal planning and cooking.	Low: Focuses on convenience foods that are quick to prepare.
Associated Health Risks	Low Risk: Associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases and inflammation.	High Risk: Linked to higher incidence of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and inflammation.
Potential Deficiencies	Specific: Can lead to deficiencies in B12, D, Calcium, and Iron if not carefully planned.	General: Broad deficiencies due to overall low nutrient density and poor food choices.

Making Nutrient Absorption Count

It's worth noting that simply eating natural food doesn't guarantee optimal nutrient absorption. For example, some antioxidants, like lycopene in tomatoes, are better absorbed by the body when the food is cooked. Additionally, pairing iron-rich foods with vitamin C-rich foods enhances absorption. Proper cooking methods, such as steaming or stir-frying instead of boiling, can also help preserve water-soluble vitamins like B and C. A balanced approach recognizes these nuances rather than adhering to an overly strict ideology.

A Balanced and Sustainable Choice

Ultimately, a binary “natural vs. not natural” approach is less effective than striving for a balanced dietary pattern that emphasizes whole foods. The key is to avoid an all-or-nothing mentality, which can be difficult to sustain and potentially harmful psychologically. By making mindful choices that incorporate a variety of whole, nutrient-dense foods, while allowing for some minimally processed items (like healthy canned beans or whole-wheat bread), you can achieve the health benefits without the more extreme drawbacks.

Conclusion

Eating only natural food, or more realistically, adopting a whole-foods-focused diet, offers substantial health advantages, from boosting your metabolism and aiding weight management to significantly reducing the risk of chronic diseases. However, such a regimen presents practical challenges like cost and preparation time, and it requires careful planning to prevent potential nutrient deficiencies, particularly B12. A sustainable and balanced approach, rooted in a variety of whole, minimally processed foods, is the most practical and effective way to achieve long-term health and wellness. This eating pattern leverages the best of nature’s offerings while accommodating a modern lifestyle.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, while a natural food diet is associated with numerous health benefits, it does not guarantee perfect health. Factors like proper nutrient balance, cooking methods, and individual health needs still play a crucial role.

No, an all-organic diet is not necessarily the same. While organic foods are typically natural and grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, a natural food diet focuses more broadly on unprocessed whole foods, regardless of their organic certification status.

Since vitamin B12 is not naturally present in plant foods, individuals on a strict plant-based natural diet must consume fortified foods or, more reliably, take a B12 supplement to meet their daily needs and prevent deficiency.

Not all processed foods are bad. Minimally processed foods like frozen vegetables, canned beans, or whole-wheat bread can be convenient and healthy. The primary concern lies with ultra-processed foods high in additives, sugars, and unhealthy fats.

Yes, a diet emphasizing whole, natural foods can support weight loss. Natural foods are high in fiber, which promotes satiety, and low in added sugars and unhealthy fats, which reduces overall calorie intake.

Adopting a more natural food diet often involves consuming less packaged food and supporting more sustainable, local farming practices. This can lead to a reduced carbon footprint, lower energy consumption from processing, and less landfill waste.

Not necessarily. While a raw diet is a form of natural eating, it has drawbacks. Cooking certain foods can increase nutrient bioavailability (like lycopene in tomatoes) and kill harmful bacteria, making a mix of raw and cooked natural foods ideal.

Initially, natural and organic foods can be perceived as more expensive. However, some sources suggest that a focus on staple whole foods like legumes, grains, and seasonal produce can be budget-friendly and may offset future medical costs associated with chronic diseases linked to poor diet.