By Jayde Lens

Healthy Food Trends That You Can Try At Home

The rate of obesity in America has risen to 39% and boils down to two main reasons: not getting enough regular exercise and not eating a healthy balanced diet. Going on a fitness retreat can certainly help kickstart your weight loss journey. You can learn about the types of foods that can help you control your weight better and eat as part of a balanced diet. The good news is that healthy eating isn’t about dry cereals and boiled vegetables. There are some tasty health food trends that you can try at home and really enjoy eating as part of your new lifestyle. 

Tasty treats from the ocean

The ocean provides for us in so many ways and one of the latest healthy food trends is eating sea greens as part of a meal, or as a snack. They are a great way of injecting flavor into a dish like noodles or soup, as well as being packed full of vitamins and minerals. Sea greens are low in calories and sodium, yet high in taste. They also contain chlorophyll, fibre and are a good source of antioxidants. These are needed to help protect the cells and heal injury. Sea greens are also used to improve thyroid gland function and iodine deficiency. Common types available at grocery stores are:

• Sea asparagus

• Brown, green and red algae

• Kelp

• Kombu

• Nori

• Bladderwrack

Sea greens are incredibly versatile as an ingredient - you can eat them dried, cooked or raw. Many different food subscription boxes include them to enhance cook at home restaurant-style dishes, or as a healthy office snack choice. It is also possible to incorporate them into your diet in many different ways. You can sprinkle dried flakes into dishes as a substitute for salt, or just serve them raw as part of a delicious salad. Next time you cook a noodle dish, how about trying kelp noodles instead? They are packed with flavor and a fraction of the calories. 

Tasty Vegan Jerky

Jerky is a dried meat-based snack that is traditionally made from beef, pork, chicken, and even kangaroo and alligator. It is certainly not on the menu for vegans and vegetarians. Fortunately there is some delicious vegan jerky available, it is low in calories, low in fat and is a tasty snack as part of a healthy diet. If you are after that chewy, crunchy smoky textured delight, there are plenty of choices, without needing meat. Jerky is easy enough to make yourself, it can be air-dried, or alternatively you can use a food dehydrator, or the lowest setting in your oven.

If you want your jerky to taste like beef, mushrooms work well, soy curls, or a paste made from black beans. You simply marinade your ingredients - try using liquid smoke, soy sauce and chillies for that classic spicy taste, then you dry them out. There are also plenty of vegan jerky brands you can pick up in stores including Louisville Vegan Jerky, Primal Meatless Jerky, Unisoy Jerky and Cocoburg Coconut Jerky. 

Vegan jerky made out of fruits and vegetables have been taking the food world by storm too. You can make these yourself, safe in the knowledge that they are made from unprocessed ingredients, just relying on natural flavors. Eggplant works well in thin slices, jackfruit is nice and chewy and you can even make jerky out of watermelon - it has your full daily allowance of vitamin C and A. 

Healthy frozen treats

When we think of ice-creams and popsicles, high fat, high sugar brand names generally spring to mind. These are a once in a while treat, but if you are trying to lose weight, or follow a balanced diet, they don’t make a good snack. One of the biggest food trends hitting the market are frozen treats made from dairy alternatives, fruits, vegetables and nuts. Frozen avocado popsicles and soft serve ice-cream that is actually made from coconut water have been a big hit. 

The new wave of frozen treats are taking inspiration from all over the world in terms of flavor, herbs and spices. For instance the Mexican nieves de garaffa and snow ice from Thailand are popular in ice-cream parlors. Look out for the strangely chewy Turkish ice creams that get their texture from mastic. A lot of the frozen treat recipes are using ingredients that we would usually associate with dips, such as tahini, almond butter and hummus. The tastes and textures are incredibly unique and a lot healthier than reaching for that gallon tub of cookies and cream. 

Wrapping Up Healthy Food Trends

Going on a retreat is a great start to your healthy living journey. Then when you get home, you can think about how to continue with this lifestyle change. Substituting your high fat, high sodium snacks with some delicious alternatives is a great start. 

We hope this blog post inspires some healthy inspiration for new food trends. Get creative with your food. Try new things and don’t be afraid to explore different cuisine from other cultures as well. You never know where the next undiscovered superfood lies. If you have any questions about this blog post, feel free to leave them in the comment section below.

GET THE LATEST RETREAT UPDATES + FITNESS TIPS
Sign Up For Our E Newsletter