9 Developments in Food That Can Make This a Great Year for Eating Healthfully

Many food trends seem to come in the form of fads, only lasting as long as the craze over this or that new culinary innovation lasts. So they tend to change from year to year. But this year seems to promise not only the continuation and growth of food patterns from the previous year, but new and fascinating trends as well.


THESE TRENDS INCLUDE:

Home Cooking: As the family food dollar has increasingly been stretched to its max, people are returning to their home cooking roots. It makes perfect sense, because this allows so much more flexibility in food spending.

Digestive Tract Health and Probiotics: Probiotics are bacteria which are helpful to health and well being. Acidophilus which is found in yogurt and supplements, is a common Probiotic. Acidophilus and another friendly bacteria, B. Bifidum are part of the natural flora found in the small and large intestines.

Probiotics help to replenish depletions in gut bacterial flora either lost through antibiotic use, stress, or poor nutrition. They can also help fight pathogens and improve immunity. The marketplace has been immersed with all types of probiotic supplemental choices. Besides yogurt, a great probiotic alternative choice is Kefir, which is usually cow’s milk fermented with the use of Kefir grains, to a creamy ‘liquid yogurt' texture.

Sustainable and Local Food Sources: Eating locally grown and seasonal foods is becoming a growing trend. Individuals and restaurants are taking to preparing foods bought from farmers markets and local small farms. Buying from smaller farmers brings you closer to your food source and forms a more direct relationship with the people who provide your food.

Growing sustainable foods takes into account humane treatment of farm animals, ensures fairly paid workers and farmers, provides safe, healthy food for the consumer, and respects the environment. The definition can be quite expansive, since sustainable agriculture compasses so many elements. Therefore, you are likely to see variations in that definition.

Organic Foods: The new emphasis on locally grown foods has helped to fuel the organic revolution. Often times those who grow Certified Organic foods are forced to operate on a small scale because the process is so much more demanding and requires adherence to many strict stipulations. Therefore the small farm is well suited for organic food production.

Alternative Sweeteners: Alternative sweeteners like Stevia, and Agave nectar have been on the market for years as supplements. These have little to no side effects, which cannot be said for sugar or high fructose corn syrup.
Stevia has recently been approved by the FDA for use as an alternative sweetener. Truvia, a new sweetener on the market, uses Stevia. Stevia itself is available in powder or liquid form from natural food stores or online, has no calories, and is significantly sweeter than sugar.

Taste, Taste, Taste! People are increasingly demanding more exciting and exotic flavors in their foods, whether they are dining out or eating in. Experimenting with different herbs and spices is becoming a bigger part of cooking.

Ready Made Meals: Organic, ethnic, healthy, tasteful are only some of the words to describe the class of ready-made-meals now available on the food market. It’s just fascinating to see the quality and variety of these meals in the frozen food aisle, and with all the other food trends going on, more variety is likely for the near future.

More Food/Nutrition Focused Eating vs. Dieting: Finally. The food industry and individuals alike are at last getting the message that Diet-Driven Deprivation is not the answer. There is a better way, and that way includes focusing on quality, on nutrition, on eating free of guilt, eating with thought and mindfulness etc.

Calorie Information on Menus: New York has been a pioneer in making this a reality by mandating that chain restaurants put calorie data on their menu. We will see how popular this gets and if more cities will follow this example.

Soaring Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup Content in Whole Wheat Bread

We all know that whole wheat bread is the way to go right? But wait, it’s not as simple as you think. Before you go just pulling any old whole wheat bread from your supermarket shelf, look at the label. You will notice on the ingredient list, as I have, that many of the well known name brands have sugar or high fructose corn syrup as the one of the top three ingredients on the list. In fact, I have found some brands which have either of these ingredients as the second on the ingredient list. Right after the flour to make the bread!

Manufacturers for some reason seem to feel that sweet and whole wheat should go together. I’m not certain as to the purpose. Perhaps it’s because sugar and especially high fructose corn syrup can improve the shelf life of the bread. Perhaps it’s to make the bread more palatable, since many people find the taste and texture of whole wheat to be bland. Perhaps the reason is to improve the moisture level of the whole wheat, since sugar retains water, and whole wheat can tend to be dry. And also sugar aids in activating the yeast used as a leavening agent in breads.

Whatever the reason, I still believe that having such a high percentage of sugar or high fructose corn syrup, both ingredients we should not be over consuming, is unnecessary. Often times these are in such high concentrations, that you taste the sweetness of the bread over the whole wheat itself.

Many brands also contain other, more natural sweeteners like molasses, honey, or cane juice. Some contain brown sugar as well. So I have to be honest with you; many whole wheat breads, even from the gourmet store, have some type of sweetener in them. Therefore, when choosing, I would select those with the more natural sweeteners as I mentioned earlier. I would also look to see where those sweeteners are on the list. Preferably, you want the sweetener to be towards the end of the ingredient list or for the very least, somewhere in the middle.

Other options are to become well acquainted with a local bakery where they do not use sugar as a main ingredient in their whole wheat breads; or if you have that ‘baker gene’, to bake your own bread.

Some good brands I have discovered are Vermont Bread Company Whole Wheat Bread and Trader Joe’s Soft Whole Wheat Bread.

Is Realism in Goal Setting Necessary for Success in Weight Management?

Is realism in goal setting important or even necessary? I can’t count the number of times I’ve had well meaning people tell me to "Be Realistic”, and I can’t say how debilitating I feel those two words to be. In a sense, realism produces not only identification with, but also conformity to what is accepted and represented by society or our friends and family; and making that reality our own. It’s a think-inside-the-box concept which makes it difficult to set goals based on personal needs, desires, tastes, lifestyle etc., and can lead to choices which may not be a great fit for us.

I’m really more interested in what is believable for me, and when someone tells me to be realistic, especially about goals, I believe what they are really telling me is to do everything like everybody else. But you can’t set goals largely based on the outcomes of other people’s lives. While you can learn from what others have done, to me goals have to be set according to a person’s own standards and life situation.

For example, many have chosen Zero-Calorie/artificial sweetened beverages as a means of decreasing overall calories in the diet. But for me personally, if I were to set weight management goals and a plan for example, such beverages wouldn’t be a component, because I generally dislike artificial sweeteners.

Yes, they are accepted, act as a sugar alternative and calorie buster and some would say is a ‘realistic’ choice; but it’s not real for me. While realism would incline me to go with the masses, and incorporate such sweeteners in my weight management goal setting, my personal preferences would oblige me to step outside of the box. The focus could possibly be more on using and seeking products with alternative natural sweeteners like honey, agave, raw sugar, molasses etc., and finding natural substitutes for regular granulated sugar.

There is some necessity to be true to yourself when setting weight management or any other type of goals, and to set goals which are most relevant to you. When realism becomes a significant requirement in goal setting however, I believe that we become vulnerable to circumstance. To me that’s what happens with dieting, which still continues to be a multi-million dollar industry, despite the fact that so many don't succeed at it. A person stands to be a victim to this circumstance, but going on a diet to loose weight is still popular as it's considered the ‘realistic’ thing to do.

The greatest things which have been done, all of the conveniences we experience today like the phone or air travel, weren’t achieved by realistic people. In fact these were perhaps the most idealistic and original people out there. They prove that change and success needs some stepping away from cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all ‘realism’, being true to ourselves, and getting into forming our own personalized goals.