Food Trends of 2017

Each year sees fads, whether its diets, fashion, technology or haircuts, a lot of it is short-lived and most of it comes back around eventually. Diets are particularly good at sticking around, especially going into the New Year.

You’ll hear Atkins, Veganuary, Keto and Alkaline thrown around the supermarket as you try to buy your essentials, perhaps you’re even participating. If you’re not sure what these diets are, and where they’ve come from, here’s a quick tour de dieting.

The Atkins Diet

This diet has been around for yonks now, it’s essentially a quick fix for weight loss originally promoted by a physician called Dr Robert C. Atkins who wrote a book about the diet in 1972. This diet follows a strict plan which is split into four phases including; Induction, Balancing, Fine-Tuning and Maintenance. It’s a gradual process so that your body can get used to the dramatic reduction in carbohydrates.

According to Into The Gloss, it’s why Kim Kardashian looks ‘so damn good’ and is exclusively for ‘people with tremendous willpower who want to lose a dress size fast.’ Anyone can lose weight by cutting out carbs from their diet, but we recommend you visit your GP first to check that it’s a safe option for you.

The Keto Diet

The Keto diet is actually short for ketogenic and shares many similarities with the Atkins diet. Again, carbohydrates are the devil which means participants must sway their carbohydrate intake with healthy fats. The massive reduction in carb intake results in your body reaching a metabolic state called ketosis. Ketosis is where instead of your body burning carbohydrates for energy, it burns fats instead.

A writer from Women’s Health Mag tried the Keto diet after being told she had high blood sugar levels and wasn’t happy with her current body shape, “I lost nine pounds within two weeks!! That’s much more than I hoped for, and maybe a bit more than is healthy, but whatever.” It wasn’t without its difficulties though, writer Amy Sowder had to change the way she shopped, cooked and deal with cranky mood swings and even illness. “The most common side effects are constipation, flu-like symptoms in the first few days, reduced physical performance, and bad breath that smells like nail polish remover”, says Amy.

The Keto diet shouldn’t be taken lightly, it’s more of a lifestyle change than a quick fix otherwise your body is likely to transform back to its original shape as soon as you reintroduce carbohydrates, proceed with caution.

The Alkaline Diet

Apparently Victoria Beckham’s favourite diet, the Alkaline Diet is one of the more modern fad diets to take the world by storm. This diet involves eating predominantly alkaline foods with a goal to keep the body’s pH between 7.35 and 7.45, which you can measure ever so glamorously by testing your urine.

The Alkaline Diet was set up by nutritional therapist Vicki Edgson and organic chef Natasha Corrett, you have to be strict with your diet and keep it 80 per cent alkaline, 20 per cent acidic. According to their research, this diet can help with all manner of problems from arthritis, diabetes and general ageing. Alkaline foods are also more easily digested which means you’ll have a happy, healthy gut too.

The Independent looked into the claims of the Alkaline Diet in-depth and similarly to most diets that focus on fruit and vegetables, it’s really just what you’re eating that gives you the benefits, but the pH if your blood hasn’t really got anything to do with it.

Looking towards 2018 Food Trends

After the excitement around all of these diets this year, a hype for kale and protein, what is 2018 going to bring us? Waitrose has predicted in their Food and Drink Report that it’s going to be a big year for Plant Proteins, “The demand for high protein foods continues, and with more of us choosing a flexitarian diet it’s no wonder there’s such a buzz around new plant-based proteins. Whether with pulses, shoots, grains, seeds, soy or even algae, everyone from tiny start-up companies to big brands is looking for clever new ways to add a protein punch.”