5 Healthy Eating Trends to Watch for in 2017

If naked eating, bugs, and healthy party food make your mouth water, then 2017 may be an exciting year. Here Nema McGlynn, registered dietitian at Loblaws, shares her predictions for five nutritious eating trends.

1. Alternative proteins. “Although meat isn’t going anywhere, plant protein sources like nuts, seeds, beans, and grains are playing a greater role in our usual cooking repertoire. Insect-based foods like cricket protein powder and mealworm are popping up in grocery stores and are gaining a following with adventurous eaters looking for more sustainable protein sources,” explains McGlynn. A recent survey suggests that global demand for alternative proteins is set to double by 2024.

2. Back to basics. Nutritional information and food labelling are hot-button topics, resulting in more people taking an interest in the value of what they’re eating. More of us are looking for additive-free ingredient lists or simpler ingredient decks. Programs like Guiding Stars make it easy to gauge the nutritional value of products and will continue to be popular among time-strapped shoppers who may not know how to interpret nutrition tables.

3. Healthy entertaining. Nutritious food is playing a greater role in the world of dinner parties and social occasions, but healthy entertaining will go beyond unabashedly serving nutritious meals to our guests. “Whether it’s a post-workout snack with your running group or alcohol-free parties with other fitness-oriented friends, social eating is taking on a new face in this health-conscious era,” says McGlynn.

4. Mindful eating and eating with purpose. Although we don’t think Instagram culture is going anywhere, we’re seeing greater attention paid not just to what people are eating, but how they’re eating it. McGlynn predicts that slowing down during meal time, turning off Netflix, and really understanding our food and where it comes from will make us happier and healthier in 2017.

5. Naked eating. Raw and unprocessed foods look like they’re going to be in vogue this year. We’re seeing an upward trend in Google searches for the term “cold-pressed” and interest in foods like seaweed. It sounds like there’s a lot of curiosity around cold-pressed juices, oils and coffee versus other juicing and oil extraction methods which heat up or blend the item.

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