Let’s face it, 2020 (and now parts of 2021) was the year that brought the whole world crashing down, and with it, our routine and our motivation paid the price.
But here’s to 2021. May we create better routines and better lifestyle decisions that will well and truly kick 2020 into the past. As an example of our good faith in 2021, we have listed what the latest dietary trends are, and the benefits of each trend. You can thank us at the end of your 2021.
1. Postbiotics
Postbiotics may be the key to maintaining your gut at its prime level of health. Postbiotics are any material left over in your food, by the bacteria that ferments the food. This can include anything from substances produced by the bacteria, or even actual parts of the bacteria once it is dead, including cell walls.
The effects that postbiotics can have range from helping to manage inflammation, antioxidant benefits, as well as helping to improve and boost the immune system and the gut’s barrier.
Postbiotic sources include but are not limited to kefir, kimchi, yoghurt, sourdough bread, among others. It includes all food fermented by live bacteria.
2. Plant-based Diet
It appears as though over the years, the desire to live a plant-based diet has increased steadily. With new food technologies and recipes appearing every day allowing vegans and vegetarians to indulge on tasty food that remains plant-based, allows the flexibility, the creativity and the general love of food to exist with plant-based trends.
Eating a plant-based diet can mean that you consume more foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts that often are hard to maintain and upkeep in regular diets. As you are seeking alternatives to meat, you will often find a far greater selection of nutritious and healthy ways to get the protein into your body. It is considered far healthier than the standard diet. As long as you are ensuring all necessary requirements are being met in your diet, living a plant-based diet can have long-term benefits.
According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, it has been shown that a plant-based diet can reduce blood pressure, or hypertension which in turn reduces the likelihood of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
3. Flexitarianism
If the above is too difficult to follow a strictly plant-based diet, what is becoming ever the more popular, is that of a flexitarian approach. This can be considered somewhat of a compromise. Rather than giving up meat and animal products altogether, it is simply a move in the direction of minimizing the animal products consumed.
This means simply putting in the effort to try and swap those meat-based meals, for something leaning towards plant-based. Apparently, this idea is quite popular, up to 60% of millennials have shown an interest in doing this.
4. Keto “Lite”
This version of the Keto diet has become increasingly popular. The original Keto diet has begun to be viewed as too extreme, reducing meals to consist of almost purely just fat (70% or more). This Keto diet would result in the consumer losing weight fast purely because their body switched from burning carbs to burning fat.
However, Keto Lite is a more lenient version, allowing consumers to seek high protein, moderate fat from high quality sources such as avocados and coconuts, and low sugar foods.
Overall Keto Lite may offer much the same benefits as the original Keto diet offered, yet with much more flexibility. These benefits can include a decreased appetite, quick weight loss, and better blood sugar control, particularly for sufferers of type 2 diabetes.
5. Intermittent Fasting
Admit it, we are all guilty of days where we just constantly snack and graze on foods that we can get our hands on.
Sometimes we do it out of boredom, sometimes out of stress, and sometimes just out of convenience. Intermittent fasting aims to break these routines. The 16/8 method is the most popular version. What this means is that, dieters will only eat within an 8 hour period of a day, say from noon until 8pm, then fast the other 16 hours of the day.
It is so popular because there are various ways in which consumers can fast, meaning most will find a method that they can endure and enjoy. I
Benefits are said to be wide-ranging and far-reaching, including helping to manage weight and belly fat, while also treating more serious conditions such as Diabetes Type 2, by helping to manage insulin levels, or if you do not have type 2 Diabetes, it can serve to prevent it by reducing insulin resistance.
We highly recommend that you do a little research yourself before carrying out any dietary trend, regardless of if it is popular or not. You need to decide whether it is correct for you and if you will actually benefit from it. As always, seek a doctor’s advice if you have any underlying health conditions, before starting on a new diet.
