Interview With Carlos Ríos: And You, Do You Eat Real Food?

The realfooding movement or real food is much more than a fad in the field of food. Its creator, nutritionist Carlos Ríos, is teaching –and inspiring– thousands of people to follow a new lifestyle. A healthier one with which we realize that, sometimes, ‘the simplest is the most correct’.

We know that the food industry is very prone to being carried away by fads and passing gurus who promise us miracles. However , what Carlos Ríos achieved goes much further. His movement, started a few years ago in an unstoppable way through social networks, is achieving two things.

The first is to provide tools and knowledge to the consumer so that they understand what it is they consume every day. The second is to raise up a firm claim: open our eyes and understand the need to consume healthy food, ‘real’ food.

We talk about it with Carlos Ríos in the following interview.

Interview with Carlos Ríos

Carlos Ríos is a dietician-nutritionist, studied at the Pablo de Olavide University (Seville) and is the creator of the realfooding movement . It has thousands of followers on its social networks, and its purpose of awakening the awareness of the population in the purest Matrix style is having great results.

His book Eat real food: A guide to transform your diet and your health is a success, and it is already an essential manual backed by abundant scientific bibliography, which makes us understand something that Carlos Ríos himself frequently repeats ‘ we do not eat real food, but products that have been put before our eyes. ‘

In our interview with him we not only delved into what realfooding is . Something that invites us to understand is that knowledge is power. Knowing what we eat empowers us and helps us to choose better, to invest in health.

Where did the realfooding initiative come from ?

It was something that I started at the consultation level and, seeing the good results of focusing on food and teaching about the danger of ultra-processed foods, I decided to take it to the general population, since I manage well on social networks and I saw possible to reach a large audience.

The truth is that the consumption of foods processed by the industry is often detrimental to health, according to research published in the journal BMJ.

If real food has been within our reach for so long, why is the majority of the population not eating the right diet?

Because the food industry has been in charge of “taking advantage” of that way of life that we have to always go in a hurry and with lack of time to sell us products that are quick to consume, carry and ingest (ultra-processed), causing little by little it has been displacing consuming real food.

What is the worst thing we can consume on a daily basis? Is there a food that we should definitely banish from our diet?

In general, all ultra-processed ones are insane, and the sum of each of them is what makes them dangerous. One of those that perhaps we consume the most and also in large quantities are soft drinks, so they would be among the first that we should avoid.

All foods high in sugar are harmful to the general population. Regular intake of these products has been shown to be capable of impairing liver health.

So what should we look for when buying food?

Especially in the ingredients. We have always looked at kilocalories or fat, the ingredients being the really important thing. The food industry knows what we are looking at and that is why it tries to trick us with “light” or low calorie products, because it knows that they are more attractive to us.

However, these products are still just as insane as their “no light” versions. Therefore, the only way to know what we are consuming and whether or not it is healthy is through the ingredients of the product, to be able to identify real food in this way.

To know more: Do light products make you fat?

Could you tell us what alternatives exist to eat or drink between meals?

To eat we have many options: natural or roasted nuts without added salt, fruit, natural yogurts, pickles, olives, edamames, etc. The best way to drink is water, although there is a ” realfooder soda ” that we can make with water or sparkling water, lemon and ice.

You may also be interested in: Benefits of nuts in pregnancy

The mass media stick a lot of ultra-processed foods or foods with excess sugar through our eyes. Let’s talk about the little ones, how can we help them to join this initiative?

We have to understand that we cannot make children understand the concept of “this is healthier” or “this is ultra-processed”. They use their imagination a lot and what they capture through their senses, so we must present real food in a creative, tasty way and even as “a game”. For them it is not the same to eat a fruit as it is to eat a fruit that forms “a picture” on the plate.

Finally, where can we start with the leap towards realfood ?

For our 1 month real food challenge. In our instagram accounts there is a lot of information to start with. With this challenge you will get so many benefits in a month that you will not want to return to the previous habits.

Eat quality food to improve health

There is sufficient scientific evidence to affirm that a diet based on fresh foods is capable of improving health, especially when the intake of industrial ultra-processed products is restricted. For this reason we advise you to pay more attention to the labeling and the ingredients you buy the next time you go shopping.