Food Trends in 2014

This year we will see continuing changes in our understanding of what constitutes "healthy eating."  Take a look at this list compiled by Nutritional Concepts.  Many of these are concepts that I am already talking about with my clients; some may surprise you!  Not sure what I think about the 'cricket bars' though...

• Semi-homemade meals made with fresh, high-quality ingredients.
• Better-for-you snacking
• Increased focus on high-protein breakfasts
• Expect dramatic changes from the FDA to the Nutrition Facts Panel seen on food packaging by early 2014.
• FDA will further define what is and is not considered whole grain.
• Food Addiction counseling will gain traction among certain segments of the public, but will take several more years to become mainstream.
• Lemon: used as a main ingredient in juice or preserved form.
• Tea Leaves: to add a healthy, flavorful twist to dinner, desserts and other products.

• Middle Eastern seasonings: sumac, za'atar and marash to expand the flavor profile of traditional Mediterranean cuisine.
• Nut-derived milk: made from cashews, almonds and peanuts for dairy-free flavors in sauces, drinks and dinners.
• Egg yolk: in place of cheese, dairy and sauces.
• Poaching and steaming innovations: wine, coffee, beer and smoky liquids to replace water for more flavorful dishes.
• Seaweed innovations: as a snack, umami-rich seasoning, etc.
• Pasta innovations: noodles made from alternative flours, seasoned with global spices and formed into new shapes and sizes.
• Farm-to-table flavors: exotic meat-goat, rabbit and pigeon-raised by small-scale producers for new feel-good protein choices.
• With the farm to table trend, people are looking for fresh herbs and spices, basil, cilantro, lemongrass, things that are fresh-tasting.
• The simplification of product formulations, an increasing level of transparency and greater degrees of personalization.

• Cricket bars. Seriously. Insects will be the new protein source.
• Matrix 'swapping' uses novel techniques to exchange certain compounds within whole foods to reduce sugar, add bioactives, and input exchanges with key sweeteners. The future will be about delivering the best that cocoa, cranberry, pomegranate, blueberry and so many other whole foods have to offer with extremely low to no sugar.
• This is the end of the exclusive reign of macronutrients as energy providers and metabolic response modifiers as new non-carb, non-fat, in-between compounds emerge to pare with standard proteins perhaps, or even more interestingly, with amino derivatives and human metabolites.

• Finally, the one-size-fits-all dietary advice will bow to 'personalized diet discovery' based on the realization that the saying, 'one man's food is another man's poison,' is startlingly more accurate than we currently appreciate. Expect to see the 'special diet' category explode as old dogma and institutional wisdom is blown away by the 'food as information molecule revolution.' A deluge of research will continue to pour out on how food compounds, large and small (molecular weight wise), 'talk' to our systems biology self and interacts with our immune systems in at least three phases: immediate antibody response, delayed antibody response, innate response.