Revolution Day 2013

Alexx Stuart

Food Revolution Day, while of course created by the awesome Jamie, is a symbol for so much more than one person’s mission. It’s a symbol for all the efforts, the many movements, initiatives, grants, education programs, farmers’ markets and people making a difference when it comes to getting the essential message of Real Food out there in the world. It’s a day for doing, not just thinking we should do something. There are still too many people going through life completely disconnected to food.

Food marketing has declared us too busy to cook for years, handing us convenient packets and snacks for our on-the-go lives, and then TV gives us hours of shows to watch other people cooking instead, while we eat our takeaways with fake salt, MSG and gosh knows what else. We’re noticing that disease isn’t just happening somewhere else - it’s in our back yards and our families. Hospital wards are building new obesity wards all over the place, heart disease rates still going up, cancer increasing, diabetes increasing and it’s today.  Today we say, ‘I can play a part in changing this.  If I’m healthy, I can share with others by example and inclusion. I can empower my neighbour or my friend’.

More people are realizing how happy one feels when you make a great meal and then share that meal with friends and family. More people are understanding that if they know what the ingredients are going into their meals, their bodies understand those ingredients too. More people every day are thinking ‘gosh that farmer was lovely at the market or wow, my butcher is so passionate about ethical meat and I’m proud to support them.’  I’m so darned excited to be a person helping to spread the word and most importantly instil the confidence in YOU. You can do it. I can do it. Let’s all do it together!

My Food Revolution Day ‘Love Real Food Picnic’

I’m thrilled to be hosting a public, FREE picnic on May 18th as part of the Food Revolution Day celebrations, as a Sydney Ambassador for the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution. It’s the first of many I hope and called The ‘Love Real Food’ Picnic. I would love for you to come if you’re in Sydney, Australia. You can read all about it and RSVP here. It’s going to be an awesome day of connecting, sharing delicious food with your friends and family and reaping the delicious rewards of a bit of home cookin,’   The challenge? To make everything you’re bringing from scratch. The dips, crackers, quiches, cupcakes, soups and lemonades … whatever it is, you’re making it start to finish! So best get organized with friends and divvy up your cooking, so each can prepare just one or two things, and then share it all on the day! Too easy! Here’s a video I’ve made to explain in more detail http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFby61SzTWQ.

Find Your Inner Foodist.

For me, Real Food has never been about dieting, calorie counting, what you should and shouldn’t eat. Sure, out of my own research, I’ve decided on a mix of foods that really work for me and my family and I build my recipes and community around that. Different niche groups will always have something to argue about with each other over which foods benefit people most and what we should stop and start eating. For Food Revolution Day, focus on the fact that if you’re a Real Foodist of some kind then we have that beautiful thing in common, no matter what our personal food passions are. We all share a passion for real food, free from additives.

If you do still love ‘junk food’ of some kind however, I wrote a piece about redefining treats here if you fancy reading. It may help. You can have your chocolate, and cake and eat them too, just make sure that even the Treats in your life, are REAL and made with love, not additives!

So this Food Revolution Day is about celebrating a little cooking and a lot of loving with friends and family. If you can’t make it to our picnic in Sydney, why not think of a way to celebrate with your friends and create your own event and upload it to the foodrevolutionday.com site – if it’s private, just list it as a private event. I’m doing a private event for my son’s preschool on May 17, getting a rainbow food bingo activity happening. That night, I’m having a few friends over for a pot lucking dinner. Then the Saturday, the picnic – Yes, I’m giving Food Revolution Day everything it’s got!

We can all work towards and achieve eating foods free from chemical additives, numbers, preservatives and the best part is that with some good support, clever thinking and basic skills, it’s actually really easy! If you don’t trust my words, trust my recipes and those of loads of real foodists all over the place like Jamie – he knows a lil’ thing or two about cooking!

Real Food. Happy Bodies. Let’s start a Food Revolution everywhere! If you’re in Sydney, don’t forget to follow the link to the Love Real Food picnic and RSVP down the bottom of the event page and share the event. See you there!

About the Author: Alexx Stuart, a Food Revolution Ambassador, is passionate about helping people realise what lies in the average supermarket shelf product and personal care product, and empowering people to make positive change and ditch the additives to find better health. She's determined to keep it an inspiring, easy and fun process to boot. A writer and speaker on all things ethical and sustainable, being a Jamie Oliver Food Revolution ambassador is an awesome part of her mission to help spread the word.

Website http://alexxstuart.com/, Facebook community https://www.facebook.com/Alexx.Stuart.Blog, Twitter and Instagram: @Alexx_Stuart, Love Real Food Picnic details: http://activities.foodrevolutionday.com/68356/the_love_real_food_picnic

Alexx Stuart youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFby61SzTWQ&feature=youtu.be