While I am not exactly a “Foodie”, I enjoy following trends about food and eating. I started growing my own veggies several years ago and read Barbara Kingsolver’s book: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral. So I was eager to see our latest set of data on healthy food fads because it seems like a lot of the latest trends are clicking (at least over this past year), though I was surprised to see more people saying they now buy less gluten-free products versus year-ago than those who say they’re buying more . The data in parentheses shows the percentage point difference between what people say they do today versus year-ago.
- Whole grain (+28)
- Fresh rather than pre-packaged or frozen (+26)
- Low fat/reduced fat/fat free (+12)
- Low cholesterol (+10)
- Locally grown (+11)
- Low sodium (+11)
- Low sugar/sugar free (+9)
- Organic (+4)
- Gluten-free (-5)
- Reduced caffeine/caffeine free (-6)
- Red meat (-15)
- Fried (-32)
It will be interesting to see how long these trends hold as we continue to follow the data over time. But just as much as whether your strawberries are organic and your romaine lettuce is locally grown, it is equally important that we:
- Eat a balanced diet (and only 56% of us do)
- Read nutrition and ingredient labels before we buy something (and only 64% of us do)
So are these fads really helping us get focused on what’s really important in our diet – or just finessing the margins? And are these fads just here for the moment until we move on to something else (like foam food, or edible insects, or fancy donuts) – or are they signs of genuine progress that have changed the American diet for the good? How have you altered your eating habits in the past year if at all?
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