Food trends come and food trends go, but thankfully the greater trend of eating well is no flash in the pan. While some food trends, like chia seeds, have really taken off lately, others have dwindled. Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw someone drinking wheatgrass? A greater understanding of nutrition plus an overall awareness of our diets has proven that eating well is here to stay. Our friends at Panera are equally committed to helping families eat well, proven by recently removing artificial preservatives from their food (where they don’t belong) and putting them to good use instead, by providing a fireworks display for a small town in need.
Cutting out artificial preservatives is just one way to eat well, but there are a whole bunch of other exciting new food trends about to be all the rage. From powerful proteins to creative carbs, we rounded up the hottest new food trends.
- Blue-Green Algae
Packing a surprisingly high dose of protein, blue-green algae is already popping off in Australia. Also known as Spirulina, this superfood is great for blending into nutritious smoothies and will be making serious waves stateside soon.
- Drinkable Vinegar
If smoothies aren’t your thing, perhaps you’d like a sip of vinegar? The value of drinking apple cider vinegar has long been known, but now new recipes are incorporating other vinegars, such as fruit vinegars or Japanese black soybean vinegar into health-conscious recipes with a variety of beneficial physiological effects, including antibacteria, anti-infection, antioxidation, anticancer activities, blood glucose control, lipid metabolism regulation, and weight loss.
- Low FODMAP Foods
For a while now gluten has been scapegoated as the bane of bellies everywhere, but if rice pasta hasn’t helped you out, you may want to try a low FODMAP diet. FODMAP is an acronym for six different short-chain carbohydrates that have been identified as causing stomach issues for millions of people. Limiting these specific carb chains may help solve stomach ailments from Crohn’s disease to IBS.
- Coconut Flour
Known for the delicious flavor of its soft meat, and its heart healthy oil, and in recent years in the form of trendy hydration coconut water, this tree nut (which is actually a fruit) has even more to offer. Coconut flour is an alternative for baking, containing a whopping five grams of fiber per two tablespoons with only two grams of total and saturated fat. And did we mention it’s gluten free? And if you’re looking to cut blood sugar (almost always a good idea) coconut flour lowers the body’s glycemic index.
- Skyr
Similar in taste and consistency to Greek yogurt, but less caloric with only 85 calories per 100 grams, skyr traditionally comes from Iceland and is made with skim or low-fat milk. You can use it wherever you’d use Greek yogurt to help hit your macros.
- Jackfruit
Rounding out our list is the delicious Asian delicacy, jackfruit. With a cooked consistency similar to pulled pork, jackfruit has become a favorite meat replacement in the vegan and vegetarian communities.
If you’re like so many of today’s foodies making an effort to eat better, be sure to try a few of these yummy options, and when looking for a more familiar taste that you can still trust to be clean and free of artificial preservatives, Panera has always got you covered.