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Hot New Food Trends for 2016

By Debbie Mandel

Have you noticed some of the great food changes already taking root? More honest ingredient and calorie disclosure, less sodium and less processing. Food is being transformed into healthier and more natural versions. Manufacturers are finally listening to nutritional science because the consumer is alert to a more natural approach to health. Editors at Food Technology magazine, published by the Institute of Food Technologists, announced their predictions on hot food trends for 2016 and you are going to be happy when you read them.

To be healthy most people hear the words diet and exercise. This means a more holistic and organic approach to health because it is much easier to prevent than to treat. And if one already has a disease, the key to successful treatment is a more targeted approach of medicine plus a healthy lifestyle to boost the immune system to partner treatment. No one has yet duplicated in pill form the phytonutrients found in broccoli, apples, avocado – well, you get the idea. Food will be targeted as a health and wellness product.

According to Executive Editor Mary Ellen Kuhn, “Foods and beverages that deliver on both health and convenience will proliferate and gain wider distribution as consumers look for easy ways to incorporate more good-for-you products into their lives. Think portion-controlled snacks and ready-to-eat salad kits complete with slightly exotic ingredients like hemp seeds and edamame. We’ll see more of these kinds of products on retail shelves as entrepreneurs continue to get creative and major food companies acquire or partner with innovative niche marketers.”

Here are 5 new food trends for 2016:
  • Morally conscious foods – Consumers want foods from farm to table with ethical values which align with their own.
  • Gourmet foods for all – Fancier foods will become more democratic and easier to access for the consumers’ convenience.
  • Food safety – Because of the number of pathogen outbreaks this past year, food growers, distributers and manufacturers are making sure that food complies with FDA standards.
  • Less processing - Consumers want foods closer to their natural state with far less processing and multi-syllabic preservatives and they are going to get it.
  • Techno food - The smartphone will become a valuable utensil to order and purchase food, find grocery and restaurant deals, count calories, provide nutrition knowhow, suggest recipes, etc.
Remember you are what you eat. So you can count on being more natural, healthy and ethical in 2016.
Debbie Mandel, MA is the author of Addicted to Stress: A Woman's 7 Step Program to Reclaim Joy and Spontaneity in Life, Changing Habits: The Caregivers' Total Workout and Turn On Your Inner Light: Fitness for Body, Mind and Soul, a stress-reduction specialist, motivational speaker, a personal trainer and mind/body lecturer. She is the host of the weekly Turn On Your Inner Light Show on WGBB AM1240 in New York City , produces a weekly wellness newsletter, and has been featured on radio/ TV and print media. To learn more visit: www.turnonyourinnerlight.com