Ahead of the New Year, Frida Harju, nutritionist at the health app Lifesum (www.lifesum.com) talks about the health, food and fitness trends that we can expect to see taking the UK by storm in 2017.
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Food trends
The 'ube' and Filipino cuisine
Ube, a root vegetable common in the Philippines is set to be the new flavour (and shade) of the year due to the purple colour it creates when used to flavour foods. New York has already served up 'ube bae' doughnuts with ube flavoured frosting, lava cakes that ooze purple ube filling were soon to follow and now ube ice cream. The vegetable and Filipino cuisine have caused a stir in the U.S. and we can soon expect the trend to hit the UK. London already has a pop-up British take on Filipino cuisine called 'Luzon' and the two London Hawksmoor restaurants are offering a Philippines-inspired burger during a limited-period of time.
Aubergine
Aided by the 'ube' trend, purple foods look set to become the next big thing. In keeping with the power of purple, the aubergine looks like it will have a major resurgence in the next year. Aubergine skin is high in phytonutrients and chlorogenic acid, and as part of the Mediterranean diet is believed to be very good for the heart.
Vegetable cereal bowls
Breakfast bowls made up of granola, fruit and yogurt have long been the popular and Instagrammable breakfast food, but now we can expect to see this morph into a vegetable cereal trend. Already big in Australia, the idea is that since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it provides the perfect opportunity to get your five a day of greens. By combining veg with grains and yogurt, or milk on top ensures that you are getting a day's fuel in one bowl.
Drinks Trends
Souping
Following the popularity of clean eating diets, souping is set to be the new juicing. Cold pressed juices and the juice cleanse diet have been popular in the last few years due to claims that it could aid weight loss and help detox the body. However, the new trend- souping takes this one step further. 'Souping' uses vegetables rather than pressed fruit or vegetable fruit, meaning that it has a lot more fibre than juice drinks and can therefore be said to help your good gut bacteria thrive by providing a fuel source. Vegetable soups are normally low in calories and cheap to make, additionally they contain lower amounts of fructose than juice drinks, which is an added health bonus as high fructose levels in juices can lead to sugar crashes and sugar cravings. Additionally, research has shown that cooking vegetables rather than eating them raw can release far higher levels of nutrients. In keeping with the souping trend is the recent popularity of broths as a great health boosting liquid. Said to protect joints, help support your immune system as well as your gut, broth has become very popular this year and is likely to continue alongside the souping trend.
Plant water
Coconut water has been on trend for a while, but we will now see a rise in plant waters as people try to find a new equivalent. A popular choice recently has been 'birch sap water', which like coconut water is said to be a very good drink due to its high levels of antioxidants, natural minerals and Xylitol (a natural sugar). Additionally, cactus plant water may be the new go-to choice, in particular 'prickly pear' form of cactus which has an impressive list of health benefits such as helping fight high cholesterol levels and curing hangovers.
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