It is not about dieting to lose weight, or supplementing your diet with shakes or other ‘miracle’ products. Realfooders are struggling to return to traditional food, avoiding ultra-processed products. As easy, or as difficult, as that.
“The population buys products that are not food, they get fat, they get sick, and then they look for miraculous solutions.” That was the reflection that led Huelva- born Carlos Rios , a nutritionist by profession, to create Realfooding. His method does not have any star product or any restriction of specific foods. His philosophy is simpler: go back to real food and avoid ultra-processed foods, become a realfooder.
But what are ultraprocessed
They are edible industrial preparations made from substances derived from other foods, which are always packaged and, for the most part, ready to eat.
They are made up of high amounts of sugars, saturated fats and salt . Among its ingredients we will always find refined raw materials such as flour, sugar or vegetable oils and additives such as flavor enhancers , dyes , emulsifiers , etc…
Examples of these products are sugary drinks, precooked, pastries, processed meats, cookies, sugary dairy products, sweets, refined cereals, commercial pizzas, nuggets, energy bars are the most expensive examples of this type of product. … In short, 80% of the food products in a supermarket, according to Carlos Rios.
The rush, comfort or being able to eat them anywhere are some of the keys to the success of this type of food that not only makes you fat, but is also associated with serious illnesses . “Ultra-processed foods produce chronic inflammation in our body and this inflammation is the first step to many of the diseases that kill us today,” declares the promoter of realfooding.
So much so, that a 2018 report published in The British Medical Journal (The BMJ) concluded that a 10% increase in the proportion of ultra-processed foods in the diet was associated with a significant increase of more than 10% in the risks. Of cancer.
And what is the food of the ‘realfooders’
Well, the one of all life. Whole, fresh foods and those that have been minimally processed. The latter are the ones that, although treated, preserve the initial quality and healthy properties of the food. A good indicator of this is that they usually have less than five ingredients on their label and lack added sugars, flour, refined vegetable oils, additives or salt.
Examples of real food are vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, eggs, artisan cheeses, meats, coffee, cocoa, infusions, fish, shellfish and virgin oils.
“What characterizes good processed food is that the food is the main ingredient of the product,” argues Rios.
Eat everything
Therefore, it is not a question of eliminating foods from the diet, nor of doing without carbohydrates or proteins, as some ‘star’ diets proclaim. Just avoid fast food, artificially treated and with numerous additives harmful to health.
Fried eggs with potatoes, steaks, stews of all kinds, rice, pasta, even artisan pizzas. Everything is allowed for a realfooder, as long as it has been prepared in a homemade way, without industries involved.
The realfooding movement has handled social networks masterfully, achieving in a short time a community on Facebook of more than 100,000 followers and more than 425,000 on Instagram. Thanks to initiatives such as ‘A realfooder in the supermarket’ or the #Reto1MesConComidaReal , the community is more active than ever and continues to grow.
Menu for a day of food ‘realfooder’
Breakfast: whole wheat toast with oil and tomato or scrambled eggs with mushrooms and tomato. And a coffee with milk.
Lunch:Iberian sirloin with mustard sauce or chickpea stew with spinach
Snack: Nuts and/or fruit.
Dinner: Chicken curry or cream of courgette and asparagus.
