No One’s Eating ‘Superfoods’ Now! Got the New Health Food Memo?

Forget all you knew about calorie counting and eating superfoods – and start with a new food lingo!

Here’s a list of 5 new fashionable buzzwords in the health world. (Photo: iStock)

The health lingo is changing, and suddenly a lot of spanking new food trends have taken over worldwide. We need to follow suit in India too, considering we’ve always been on top of the food game.

Below is the list of 5 new fashionable buzzwords that are hot world over today – to help all health enthusiasts to stay on the same page.

Pick a ‘Biodynamic' Tea or Wine

Pick a biodynamic version of wine, pasta sauce and tea. (Photo: iStock)

Organic food is passe, the new nutrition buzzword is Biodynamic.

Biodynamic is actually the next step to organic and this practice – popularised by the Australian philosopher Rudolf Steiner (famous worldwide for his contributions to education) – is the most environment-friendly form of farming in the world today.

It is a combination of biological and dynamic practices – "bio" meaning life and "dyn" meaning force. Here crops are not just free of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, but are grown in farms that are entirely self-sustaining. That means while an organic farm may purchase organic seeds or organic feed for farm animals, a biodynamic farm produces everything on the premises.

Wine, olive oil, frozen entrees, pasta sauce, juice and tea – biodynamic versions of all these and more are now getting available and popular.

Welcome the Age of the Vikings

Fatty fish from Iceland can be counted in this diet. (Photo: iStock)

Wake up dieters! Paleo is being discarded for Nordic.

While the Paleo advises that we, like our ancestors, only eat foods that can either be hunted or gathered – such as meat, vegetables and berries – the new Nordic diet is inspired by the eating habits of people from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland, and focuses on their local produce, canola oil and fatty fish, and ingredients like high protein skyr (Icelandic yogurt).

It is all about eating seasonal, sustainable and super healthy food, and the food is eaten predominantly raw or is cooked by smoking, fermenting or curing, keeping the taste as close as possible to natural to avoid depleting the nutritional benefits.

Good reports are already coming in as research is piling up, linking it to reduced blood pressure and weight loss.

Move Aside Superfoods, Say Hi to Superherbs

Moringa curry. (Photo: iStock)

Stop running after superfoods. Meet adaptogens instead – the new stress-fighting superherbs.

Some plants have superpowers that can help the body adapt to stress and handle it in a healthy way (instead of letting it run us down). These wonder foods are called adaptogens, and they help tone up the body, strengthen it, rebuild it and nourish it. We are talking about moringa, ashwagandha, licorice root, holy basil, some mushrooms, rhodiola, and Ginseng – and it seems that they will soon begin to show up in juices, chocolates and more.

Researchers and health food companies worldwide are excited about the potential of these stress-fighting super herbs, and are working to max their usage.

Eat Your Purples!

Purple it up with these delicious options. (Photo: iStock)

We grew up being told to eat our greens, but now it seems purple foods are taking over and how! So is purple the new colour of health? Well, going by the popularity of the pigment anthocyanin, a super antioxidant which gives some foods a distinct purple-black-reddish colour, it definitely seems so! And why ever not? There are proven potential health benefits of this compound against heart disease, diabetes, cancer, ageing, inflammation and neurological diseases.

Wine, blueberries, purple grapes, eggplant, beets, pomegranate, red rice, purple cabbage, cherries… the list is long and delicious. Time to dig in!

Move Over Calorie Counting

Calorie counting is almost dead (thank the Lord) – the focus is now on nutrient-rich food. (Photo: iStock)

Calorie counting is almost dead (thank the Lord) – the focus is now on nutrient-rich food. Casting aside dieting, calorie counting, and food-weighing, a new wave of healthy eating is gaining ground – slowly, but surely!

This way of eating starts with your attitude (tuning in and really enjoying what you are eating), focusing on food that makes you full and really satisfies you (not just your taste buds), and opting for more nutrient-packed foods – which give more nutrients per calorie.

A certain mindfulness is creeping in, as far as food is concerned, and that is indeed a good sign.

(Kavita Devgan is a weight management consultant, nutritionist, health columnist and author of ‘Don’t Diet! 50 Habits of Thin People’.)