Do You Eat Real Food? Interview With Carlos Ríos

The real food movement is much more than just a fad. Its creator, nutritionist Carlos Ríos, teaches and inspires thousands of people to follow a new, healthier lifestyle. When it comes to food, the simpler he thinks the better.

We know that the food industry tends to be taken away by crazes and transient gurus who promise miracles. However, Carlos Ríos ’achievements go beyond these fads. His movement, which began a few years ago and became an official hit through social media, is achieving two things.

The first is to provide consumers with tools and information so that they understand what they are eating on a daily basis. The second is to open the eyes of consumers so that they understand that they need to eat healthy, “real” food.

We talked about it with Carlos Ríos in the next interview.

Interview with Carlos Ríos

Carlos Ríos is a nutritionist who completed his studies at Pablo de Olavide University in Seville, Spain. He is the creator of the Real Food movement. She has thousands of followers on social media and her goal of raising awareness among the population is producing great results.

His book Eat Real Food: A Guide to Transforming Your Diet and Your Health is quite a hit and stands out from the crowd as an essential handbook confirmed by the scientific literature. It makes us all understand something that Carlos Ríos often repeats: “We don’t eat real food, but products that are put before our eyes.”

In an interview with him, we dive deeper into what real food is. The interview made us realize that knowledge is power. When we know what we are eating, it empowers us and helps us make better choices to invest in our health.

Where did the Real Food initiative come from?

I started it with my patients. When I realized I was getting good results by focusing on food and teaching about the dangers of processed food, I decided to share them with the rest of the population as I am quite popular on social media and saw an opportunity to reach a large audience.

If real food has been available to us for a long time, why does the majority of the population not follow a good diet?

Because the food industry has taken advantage of the hectic lives of most people by selling products that are easy to use and carry around (processed food) and thus gradually reduced the consumption of actual food.

What is the worst thing we can eat? Are there some foods we should eliminate from our diet?

In general, all processed foods are unhealthy and the sum of all of them makes up their danger. One of the most used products is soft drinks, which people should avoid.

So what should we keep in mind when buying food?

Ingredients. While people have always focused on calories or fats, ingredients are the most important thing. The food industry knows what we are watching and that is why we are being fooled by “light products” or low calorie products because they are known to be attractive.

However, these products are just as unhealthy as their original version. The only way we know what we are eating and whether that food is healthy or not is to go through the list of ingredients.

Could you tell us what we can eat and drink between meals?

Natural nuts or roasted nuts, fruit, natural yogurt, pickles, olives and edamame beans are good options. Water is the best drink. However, you can make a healthy soft drink by adding lemon to water or mineral water, for example.

The media shows people many processed or sugary foods. Let’s talk about children. How can we help them join the initiative?

We can’t get kids to understand the concept where “this food is healthier than that” or “this is processed food”. Children use a lot of imagination as well as their senses, so we need to introduce them to real food in a creative, delicious and even “playful” way. For them, it is not the same thing to just eat fruit as to eat fruit that is “put” on a plate.

Finally, how can we start the path of real food?

Our month’s “real food challenge”. Our Instagram account has a lot of information on the subject and is a good place to start. You will benefit from this challenge in so many ways in just one month that you will not want to go back to your previous habits.