If on your Instagram account or in your circle of friends you have started to hear words like ultra-processed foods, real food or #realfood, it is probably thanks to Carlos Ríos. This dietician-nutritionist with almost a million followers has a mission: to wake us up from the Matrix, that is, from the reality that a food industry has created that makes us believe that cookies, breakfast cereals or juices are healthy foods.
He has just published the book Eat real food. A guide to transform your diet and your health (Ed. Paidós) and we have interviewed him to tell us a little more about the ultra-processed. Also, we have good news! Carlos is going to collaborate with Clara, both in the magazine and on the web.
Before reading the interview, let's review 3 key concepts of the #realfood universe:
- Real food, realfooding or #realfood. Unprocessed foods, those that are consumed exactly as they are. In other words, almost all the foods - vegetables, fruit, legumes, meat and fish - that you can find in the market.
- Ultra-processed foods. They are those that do not resemble their original form at all. They are normally loaded with added sugars, salt, fats, and additives. Example: cookies, breakfast cereals, cold cuts, packaged juices, supermarket bread, soft drinks, diet bars or cold cuts.
- Healthy processed. They are foods that have a higher degree of processing than the minimally processed (vegetables, fruit, etc.). and that, normally, they are packaged. Examples: EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), whole grains, canned legumes, yogurts, cheese or milk.
Here you can read the complete list of healthy real, ultra-processed and processed foods.
Question: Why are ultra-processed foods bad?
Answer: They are made with ingredients that we know from scientific evidence to be unhealthy. These ingredients are mainly added sugars, refined vegetable oils and flours, additives, and salt. The combination of these ingredients makes the ultra-processed ones low in nutrition, in calories, addictive and unhealthy.
Q: How do they harm us?
A: Ultra-processed ones slowly kill us because people overindulge, they don't know what they are and why they are harmful. The more you consume, the more risk you are going to have of developing what are called Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases such as type 2 diabetes, being overweight, obesity or some types of cancer and even some mental illnesses. Non-communicable diseases are so called because they are not spread through an infectious agent, such as the flu or smallpox virus, but are the result of a combination of factors, including poor diet.
It is a double negative impact because when you consume ultra-processed, in addition to eating harmful foods, you stop eating real food full of beneficial nutrients for our body.
"The more ultra-processed you eat, the higher your risk of obesity, diabetes or cancer"
You can spend years having glucose spikes every time you drink a sugary soda, and you won't know until your pancreas starts to malfunction. The ultra-processed ones cause changes in our body and we do not realize it, so we do not have a remedy.
Q: Is this situation reversible?
A: Actually, as having these diseases is a cluster of factors, it is never too late to start taking care of yourself. Although it is easier to prevent than to treat, we know that being overweight or type 2 diabetes is reversible with good habits.
Q: How do we detect ultra-processed?
A: They are usually packaged, carry large claims such as "rich in such", "low in which", 0%, light, eco, bio … The truth is in the list of ingredients because by law they cannot be hidden, although they are camouflaged with names that are hardly accessible to people. An easy rule: if it has more than 5 ingredients, it is probably ultra-processed and if in those ingredients you find sugars, flours, vegetable oils, additives or added salt, it sure is.
Q:
A: If the ultra-processed ones represent less than 10% of your diet it is true that nothing happens. The problem is that that little is usually a lot every day. Ultra-processed products are present in all places –supermarkets, at social events, in the media …–.
Q:
A: It is true that real food is more expensive than ultra-processed foods, because they are made with cheap and profitable raw materials. The comparison is odious. But you have to stop comparing them, because feeding on ultra-processed should not be an option. If your health is a priority, it will be you who will look for the way and tricks to make it more affordable. You don't have to put a price on your health.
We must promote food education and even record the ultra-processed with taxes, as was done with tobacco.
Q:
A: Combine real foods and cook them in a healthy way (griddle, oven, steam…). And at least half of your dishes are of plant origin: vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts … We complement the rest with unprocessed animal foods: meat, fish, dairy products, eggs or with foods rich in carbohydrates like whole grains, tubers. It is easy to eat a healthy and varied diet.
A: Yes. When someone stops eating those ultra-processed foods, full of flours, sugars and fats that the body absorbs easily, they eat real food, which is more filling and with quality calories. Not all calories are the same; the calories from less processed foods may make you less fat thanks to their greater impact on digestive metabolic expenditure. So if you eat real food, it's easy to eat fewer calories a day and lose weight.
Q: Does the concept of lunch or day off make sense in a real food diet?
A: This concept has negative connotations because it assumes that during the week you are having a hard time with restrictions and then you compensate yourself with ultra-processed food. I am more in favor of eating real food on a regular basis but because you enjoy it.
Q: Cookies, yes or no?
A: The only healthy cookie there is if you make it yourself. With healthy ingredients: banana or dates instead of sugar; whole wheat, spelled or oatmeal instead of refined flour; EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) or coconut instead of sunflower or palm oil. Also since you have to cook them, you will end up eating less. By definition, the cookie is a bakery product, based on flour, fat and sugar. Most of the population consumes them thinking that they are healthy cereals. It is better to have real food for breakfast or a snack: fruit, dairy, nuts …
Q: Is Iberian ham healthy?
A: Acorn-fed Iberian ham has a fat content that is not harmful and no nitrites have been added. In any case, you have to see your diet in general, how do you consume this ham (or any other healthy processed)? If you eat it and replace healthy vegetables, fruits, legumes or proteins, it is when you make your diet unbalanced. You have to treat it like one more meat, which I recommend eating three times a week (white or red).
Healthy processed foods do not have to replace vegetables, fruits or legumes, they are a complement
Q: Is coconut oil recommended?
A: Studies say that the saturated fats in virgin (raw, raw) coconut oil are not harmful. The important thing to know is that saturated fats are different if they come from ultra-processed or if they are naturally present in a real food, such as coconut. But I am more in favor of extra virgin olive oil, it is more beneficial and affordable.
Q: Is cheese a healthy process?
A: Studies have confirmed that the fats in cheese are not as problematic as long as, as we have explained before, they are not a substitute for real food. Some more ultra-processed cheeses such as spreads or melting should be avoided.
Q: Is there a good sweetener?
A: The only healthy sweeteners are ripe fruits. Among the healthy processed, only the crushed date would save, which has more fiber and less sugar than normal sugars. The rest, stevia, agave, brown or brown syrup are very similar to the refined white sugar of all life. In any case, the worst sugar is the one that is added in ultra-processed foods, because you have no control over what you eat. In the end, if you add a teaspoon of honey to the milk, it is not so harmful, although you have to avoid them.
Neither stevia, nor agave, nor panela are healthy
Q: And the bread?
A: Bread is not rich in nutrients, if it is refined it does not have fiber, little satiating and it is easy for its calories to accumulate. You have to use whole grain breads, with slow fermentations. Artisan breads are healthier and more satisfying. Supermarket bread is very bad. I recommend a super easy recipe for making bread. In addition, what is also important about bread is what you combine it with. It is not the same to do it with avocado, evoo than with sausage, cocoa cream, etc.
Cover photo by @carlosriosq
