Those in the know offered their predictions for the 2018 food and wellness trends and it’s all about balance and building strength through nutrition and lifestyle.
Large corporations are responding to consumer demand for higher-quality food, and sustainability practices. At the same time, cutting-edge research on intermittent fasting and the microbiome offer promising outlooks for feeling our best and healing disease. Protecting the planet with #zerowaste initiatives will catch on big time in 2018, and a new movement will drive a new wave of women’s empowerment.
Here, 10 trends to jump on!
Protecting the environment will become an integral part of our daily routines. We experienced a record year of extreme weather and events that has left us shaken, and for some, ready to act. One piece in New York Magazine this July which went on to be the publication’s most-read article of all time, warned that, without major change, the world could become uninhabitable. While Donald Trump announced plans to pull America out of the Paris Climate Agreement this summer, many local governments and some of the most powerful companies announced plans to continue moving forward with its goals regardless.
The unplugged movement. We spend way too much time on my phone, and you probably do too. Besides the wasted time, there’s also the psychological grind that comes from spending too much time on your phone. Many people glued to their phones have trouble concentrating at school or in the office. There have been several studies on how social media can be bad for your mental health, and Facebook itself even admitted last year that passive use of its social network can leave people in negative moods.
Earlier this year, 60 Minutes released a special on the psychology of technology. We love checking our phones because the apps are designed to grab and keep our attention. While technology and social media represent a wonderful way to stay connected, they have been met with their fair share of resistance this year. With the new year though, there’s a fresh opportunity to be more deliberate about how you use your phone.
Sugar is the new fat The recommended daily intake of sugar is six teaspoons, but most of us are eating an average of 19.5 teaspoons a day. “Unlike the overwhelming wave of fat-free diets that didn’t have much validity, following a low-sugar diet or just decreasing your sugar intake overall can result in various health benefits including weight loss, reduced food cravings, regulation of glucose level, reduction of systemic inflammation and overall decrease in risk for various chronic diseases,” says Amanda Foti, Senior RD of Selvera Wellness.
Understand Your Herbs According to Whitney Tingle of Sakara Life, “You can sneak superherbs [a.k.a. functional herbs or adaptogenic herbs] like ashwaganda into everything from oatmeal to salad dressings. They help with everything from fatigue to metabolism to tapping into creativity.”
Get Familiar With Matcha, Matcha is a powdered green tea rich in antioxidants called catechin polyphenols, it’s only fair to predict we’ll soon be seeing many more variations of it at trendy juice bars and restaurants across the country as it’s currently a regular menu item at Starbucks.
Kelp is the New Kale. Seaweed is one of the world’s most nutritious and sustainable crops and the challenge of making the slimy ocean plant into a new, in-demand health dish is one many chefs and researchers (a team at the Ohio State University created and patented a new strain of red seaweed called dulse that smells and tastes like bacon) are predicted to take on.
Probiotics Are Still Hot “The microbiome is huge right now,” says Danielle DuBoise of Sakara Life, referring to the new crop of diets that target the bacteria in our digestive tract and aim to keep it balanced. “So much science is coming out about this internal ecosystem and how it affects everything about our health, from our hormones to our digestion. We [DuBoise and co-founder Tingle] love Dr. Robynne Chutkan’s book Gutbliss.”
Netflix and… Cook? “After the tsunami of food products and ready-prepared meals that surfaced over the last couple of years, people will be focused once again on the importance of going back to the basics. Grocery delivery services like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh are making it easier for even the busiest people to have a home-cooked meal using whole, fresh ingredients. My guess is there will be more companies and more concepts to support this desire,” says Foti.
The key takeaway here is fad dieting trends are worthless, and it’s high time we understand that the only road to fitness, health and well-being is the long journey of lifestyle changes and additions.
What are you doing to stay healthy in 2018?
