Top Healthy Eating Trends You’ll Want to Munch On in 2022
After nearly two years of immunity boosting products, wine and indulging in the art of making banana bread, 2022 is allegedly bringing in a host of tried trends and soon-to-be new obsessions. Here’s our shortlist of healthy food and drink poised to create a movement in the upcoming new year.
What a difference a year makes, and there’s more to discover in 2022 when it comes to healthy eating. In 2021, pandemic-geared isolation forced people into new ways of cooking and enjoying food. While it seems as though fried and sugar-filled concoctions via Tik Tok virality are here to stay, there’s many fresh foods and drinks on the horizon to keep fit.
Plant-based food and drink
In 2022, plant-based foods and beverages will continue to see an uptick in sales, with some specific new additions to the established trend. According to U.S. News & World Report, the pastrami and goat cheese on those charcuterie boards in your Instagram feed has a high chance of being replaced with seitan and cashew cheese in the near future. U.S. News adds that we’ll also likely witness “boards piled high with fresh vegetables, nuts and whole-grain crackers, accompanied by plant-based dips like hummus, baba ganoush, olive tapenade and mushroom pate.” The publication also notes other plant-based food such as sea farms and plants (think seaweed and kelp) and dairy-free milk from macadamias, pistachios, and tiger nuts becoming fashionable as well.
Reducetarianism
First there was vegetarianism, veganism, flexitarianism, and in 2022 reducetarianism will sit in the minds of those looking for other healthy eating and drinking alternatives. A reducetarian diet includes minimal intake of animal products and Whole Foods predicts this trend will ramp up. Applegate Farms’ Well-Carved burgers and Epic Provisions’ Bison Bacon Cranberry bar have been touted by the magazine as products to look out for once reducetarianism seemingly takes hold.
Non-alcoholic beverages
The arrival of alcoholic seltzers like White Claw and Truly Hard escorted a new wave of drinking (somewhat) responsibly with health in mind. Yet for 2022, alcohol will be chucked to the wayside for non-alcoholic fare, as Whole Foods reports, via a 35 percent uptick of people enjoying the likes of Ritual zero-proof whiskey and spirits-free Ghia apéritifs. As for why there’s been a recent surge in non-alcoholic beverage drinking, Esquire UK credits rising mental and physical health awareness and a marked difference in how Millennials and Gen Z socialize.
Sunflower Seeds
Sunflower seeds are slated to pack a punch in a number of foods, including crackers and cheese, per Whole Foods. Expect to see sunflower butter stocked on grocery store shelves and on the tip of many tongues, according to Delish. Ben & Jerry’s already ahead of the curve with the release of four non-dairy flavors this year, all made with sunflower butter — Creme Brulée Cookie, Colin Kaepernick’s Change The Whirled, and “Milk” & Cookies. For those with nut allergies, sunflower seed butter could be a very welcome alternative.
Anti-aging foods
Eating Well says eating healthy for slow aging will be a thing of the present in the coming year. Nutritious foods like salmon, strawberries and nuts will hold the keys for glowing skin, lustrous hair, and clear nails as more people look to find ways to look younger and healthy from the inside out. Eating Well’s deputy digital editor Victoria Seaver, M.S., RD says, “Some of the best nutrients for hair, skin and nail health include vitamins D and C and healthy omega-3 fats.”
