Real Food Day

Does anything look as good as a table heaped with real healthy food? From glistening greens to delectable dried fruits, there’s nothing better than getting your five a day while having a delicious meal as part of the deal. Potentially the best thing about real food is that you can do more than simply eat a plate of veggies to have a healthy meal. Healthy food ingredients can turn into some firm fakeaway favorites, from homemade pizzas to a twist on your staple weekly Chinese. If you’re looking to make some healthier food choices, Real Food Day is the perfect day for you. Enjoy a healthier lifestyle while still stuffing your face with mouth-watering real food dishes.

Learn about Real Food Day

Real Food Day is all about celebrating healthier food choices and promoting a healthy, active lifestyle. Run by the Public Health Collaboration (registered charity no. 1171887), it’s a day for showing some love to real food, from the classic leafy greens to some of the healthier natural food we have on the market, like lean meats and lower-fat dairy options. The Public Health Collaboration (PHC), led by Samuel Feltham, spotted that health problems like Type II Diabetes were on the rise, so they wanted to raise awareness and education about what real food means.

The PHC is trying to help people answer the question: what is real food? Some obvious choices, like a big bar of chocolate or your weekly fast-food splurge, would be ‘fake’ food, while vegetables and fruit are clearly ‘real’ foods. But this day is about trying to delve deeper into real food and encouraging people to eat as minimally processed foods as possible, like lentils, fish, and dairy.

Real foods are considered anything that is minimally altered from their original state, while fake foods are highly processed, high in added sugar, and highly processed oil. Fake foods are essentially high in all the things that are bad for you but low in things that will fill your hunger meter up.

The day is for everyone from kids through to adults, and that’s why events are run in schools and workplaces to improve everyone’s awareness of Real Food. There are also activity packs for families, workplaces, and schools, so you’ve got the perfect distraction for a rainy day for the whole family (or office).

Real Food Day is about more than just healthy eating, though, as it aims to raise awareness of how living an active lifestyle and exercising every day can help combat health-related diseases like Type II Diabetes. Check out the Real Food Day blog for some life-affirming stories about how people rediscovered their zest for life through revisiting their relationship with food.

History of Real Food Day

Real Food Day was launched in 2019 to combat the rise in fast food and health-related conditions. The Public Health Collaboration started the day to show that by making real food and positive lifestyle changes, some conditions can improve and, in some cases, be reversed entirely by living a healthier life. Samuel Feltham, director of the PHC, ran a Fitness Bootcamp for five years, which means he’s no stranger to healthy living. In 2016, he stopped his Bootcamp business to focus on the Public Health Collaboration. Since then, he’s founded a dream team of leading health professionals, from Cardiologists to Psychiatrists, to dive into and understand why people are living less healthy lives and what they can do to fix it.

But why do we love fake foods so much? From our weekly takeaways to our daily packet of crisps, it’s always hard to put down the packet and pick up a piece of fruit. You might treat fake food as a reward or compensation for a bad day – how many of us order a pizza and put our feet up on a Friday night after a manic week at work? Scientists also say that the quick-fix sugar-hit you get with your soda gives you a rush, which then is followed by a sugar crash that leaves you craving that feeling again and wanting more. You can also get sugar-fix with fruit, veggies, and dairy, but these are released more gradually, so you can enjoy the feeling without experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions.

The increase in conditions related to an unhealthy lifestyle is a relatively new phenomenon. From 1960 to 1970 conditions like obesity remained pretty stable, but have since increased by 35% for adults and almost 50% for children. Obesity can be related to health conditions like Type II Diabetes and high blood pressure. Both conditions can be improved and even reversed by making real food and lifestyle choices, so it’s no wonder that the PHC is so active in raising awareness.

How To Celebrate Real Food Day

Real Food Day is the perfect way to celebrate that wholesome good food with your family and friends. Splurge on a healthy food shop and throw a dinner party to showcase the deliciousness that is real food eating. Want to distract kids for a few hours? Why not get them involved in the cooking and use some of the Real Food Day website activity packs to throw a little food education into the process.

If you’re new to the world of real food, why not buy a ‘fakeaway’ recipe book, and replace that weekly takeaway with a cauliflower pizza-base or a real food alternative to your Indian takeaway. If you’re vegetarian, pescetarian, or vegan, there are hundreds of real food recipe books to meet your dietary needs. Not a cook? Well, we’ll forgive you, why not support your local real food restaurant and treat yourself to a real food night out.

You can celebrate Real Food Day with everyone you know, from your kids to your colleagues, by downloading an activity pack and getting involved in the food fun! Packed with recipes, games, and quizzes, you’ll have everything you need for a real food party.

Join in the Real Food Day party on social media by posting a photo with yourself, friends, family, or colleagues holding up an ‘I SUPPORT #REALFOODDAY, or WE SUPPORT #REALFOODDAY’ sign and the reason why you’re supporting the day. Have fun sharing your love of really good food and real healthy living!