Your Daily Drugs vs. Real Food
“Overweight and obesity are linked to more deaths worldwide than underweight” said the World Health Organization said on October 2017.
Today people live in a rush and are pushed by the feeling of being in a hurry. Most people don’t take the time needed to cook and neither to consider the quality of the food they intake. Feeding has been is mainly focused on nutrients and calories instead of the quality of food itself. But are we slowly killing our bodies by eating low-quality, processed, cheap food?
Processed foods, how bad are they?
Nourishment has a complex composition which is healthy in its natural unprocessed way. Exposing raw food to an industrial process, usually includes a crucial alteration in its natural composition.
For example, take a natural yogurt made with organic or 100% milk, then add sweeteners, additives and flavor enhancers making it an unhealthy processed yogurt. Then a food which is supposed to be true fuel for the human body is converted into a product with serious harms to humans’ health. As a result, a movement called Realfooding has developed, which is based on a lifestyle change and not a strict diet, in which the advocates spread the idea of eating real food for health improvement.
What is ‘Real Foods’?
For a food to be a 'Real Food' it should only have a minimal conservation process, or their industrial and artisanal natural healthy properties have not been worsened through a change in its composition.
More specifically a 'Real Food' grocery list includes: vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, tubers and roots, legumes, fish and seafood, eggs, meats, whole grains, virgin oils, quality dairy, coffee, cocoa, infusions, herbs, and spices.
What is not 'Real Foods'?
It is important to point that whole grains cereals and light products are not considered 'Real Foods'. The word ‘whole’ on the package can be misleading, but looking closely at the list of ingredients, only 13% of the flour used is truly whole and not 100%. The same happens with products considered 'light', they have sweeteners and conservatives on its composition.
If you would rather eat quality and not less calories, check the list of ingredients on the package, but also avoid the next foods: soda, energy drinks, packaged juices, dairy sugar, bakery, white bread, processed meats, commercial pizzas, cookies, refined cereals and bars, precooked products, fries and chips, sweets and ice cream, processed dairy products, and commercial sauces.
All these products are poorly nutritious due to the high number of artificial calories they provide, especially due to the great amount of refined sugars. Those sugars can create addiction, since, following a study carried by Queensland Technological University in Australia, they discovered that sugars can have a similar effect as cocaine to the brain.
Why do people keep eating un-real food?
Most of the food people eat today are those crafted by companies that spend high amount of money on advertisement to sell their products as beneficial to health, regardless of the real impact on the consumer wellness. Also, governments do not penalize or properly regulate these companies, and even encourage the consumption of un-real foods.
Take care of yourself
Do not wait for others to make a change in your lifestyle, but do it yourself. Avoid the daily drugs that are potentially harming your health. What do you prefer? Spend money in the future on healthcare or make an investment now? Think about it, and make a change.
PS, we encourage you to follow on instagram @realfooding_ to cook yummy, creative and easy recipes. And also, follow the master of this movement, Carlos Ríos (@carlosriosq), a Spanish nutritionist.
Disclaimer: Pictures from the @realfooding_ Instagram account.
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