Viral Now - Food and Juice Trends to Watch Out For in 2017

Living the healthy lifestyle will continue to rise this new year and it’s bound to get even bigger and more diverse with new trends coming in for must-try food and juices.

Indeed, being healthy never looked and felt this good, so start leveling up with your foodie-gram skills because these big food and juice trends are bound to whet your appetite for eating clean and eating right in 2017.^[1]

Raw Appeal of Hawaiian Poké

The usual sushi and salad diet might be put aside with the rise in popularity of Hawaiian poké (pronounced as POH-kay), a Polynesian delight consisting of raw fish (usually ahi tuna or salmon) salad marinated with soy, lime, and sesame. You can also find avocado, seaweed, and cucumber in the mixture, all served atop of rice or leafy greens. And just this year, more and more restaurants and healthy to-go food services have been riding on the upward trend of including poké and poké dishes.

Since the beginning of 2016, poké has already been a mainstay in the Los Angeles dining scene, and have since crept up into the Instagram pages of foodies all over New York City as well.^[2] The reason for the rising fascination of health buffs and foodies alike for poké is three-fold: it’s healthy, it’s easy to make (and customizable), and it’s very pretty to look at (and take photos of).

For starters, using fresh raw fish with lots and lots of greens and other veggies thrown in provides a more sumptuous and flavorful option compared to your go-to sushi or green salads. You can eat it with rice or, if carbo-loading isn’t your thing, you can just opt to have it over leafy vegetables.

Another selling point of poké, is how easy it is to make, making it the new go-to lunch and snack for people on the go. It’s the perfect middle ground between quickie salad stops and heavy fillings of Chipotle. You’re getting more for less, and you’re eating healthier minus the bland and boring taste.

In fact, a lot of poké bowl restaurants have popped up from the west coast all the way to the east, where you can have your bowl customized starting with your base (rice or leafy veggies), protein (ahi tuna or salmon), plus the sauce and the rest of the toppings. These bowls are normally priced around $10 to $20, which can be even cheaper than sushi that can go beyond $20 a roll.

Given that most people live on social media these days, the reach of social media influencers displaying their poké dishes also plays a part in promoting this dish. If 2016 saw the beginnings of this humble Hawaiian dish, then 2017 is the year when it’s gonna blow and burst out in the open for the world to eat.

Rise of the Big Red

Enough with the greens, because red is in this year with watermelon juice promising to take the health industry by storm—with special thanks to Beyoncé.

It’s been predicted that watermelon juice, consisting of watermelon flesh and rind with lemon, will be the next big thing in juicing. And earlier this year, Beyoncé even invested in “WTRMLN,” which is a cold-pressed watermelon juice that’s currently being sold in Costco, Whole Foods, and Sobey’s.

It’s about time we give notice to this highly beneficial fruit. The biggest health benefit of watermelon is its hydrating properties, consisting of about 92 percent water.^[3] The leading nutrients that can be found in this fruit include vitamin C, vitamin A, lycopene, potassium, and small percentages of vitamin B1, B5, B6, and magnesium. And get this, watermelon actually ranks as one of the lowest in calorie count among all fruits and is low in sugar (even lower than berries), considering that it’s very sweet to taste.

But the three most important contributions of watermelon in maintaining good health are its link to the prevention of some types of cancer, heart diseases, and inflammation that can lead to chronic diseases. Be sure to consume in moderation because excessive consumption of this sweet and refreshing treat can lead to unnecessary gas and bloating because the naturally occurring sugar in watermelon is not always completely absorbed by our GI system.^[4]

Apart from the cold-pressed variant, you can expect to see more variations of watermelon juices, shakes, and smoothies this new year.

Juicing Recipes to Try in 2017

Juicing is one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen. Through juicing, you are essentially packing tons of nutritive elements into a single refreshing serving. Here are a few recipes that you should try in the new year. I personally use a Vitamix for all of my shakes and smoothies (because it is so powerful and efficient), but since it is more on the pricier side, I recommend you researching juicers and choosing the best one that works for you. It doesn’t have to be the same as mine, just as long as it gets the job done right!

Strawberry Watermelon Juice

Since we’re riding on the big watermelon trend, we might as well serve a watermelon juice. Here we put a bit of a twist on an old favorite by mixing it with another favorite red fruit, the strawberry.

Ingredients (for 2 servings):

1 cup of strawberries (or around 8 large pieces)
5 cups of watermelon (cut into cubes)
2-3 teaspoons of lemon juice
6 ice cubes (or frozen berries)
Water (just in case you want to adjust the consistency)

Instructions:

It’s highly recommended to first freeze the strawberries and watermelon cubes to get that refreshing chilled juice consistency.
Afterwards, throw in the watermelon, strawberries, and lemon juice, and blend it together until you get a smoother consistency—or the consistency you want to have

Banana Pineapple (and Kale) Juice

We can’t ignore that the color of the year is actually green, and more specifically, the nature and earthy kind of green, which is why we still need to have our go-to green juice. This time, it consists of banana and pineapple for that tropical flavor combined with kale leaves to complete the healthy trio.

Ingredients (for 2 servings):

4 kale leaves
1 ripe banana (peeled)
¼ cup of fresh pineapple (cut into 1” strips)

Instructions:

Ensure that the pineapple is frozen before usage.
Juice the pineapple and kale and then add in the banana until you’ve achieved the consistency that you want.

Carrot Treat

Detox your way into the start of the new year on a very positive and healthy note with this carrot juice that includes some greens and yellows in between. Carrot is known to be high in fiber and beta-carotene, and is a great source for antioxidants. What better way to start anew than by cleansing yourself with this healthy concoction?

Ingredients (for 2 servings):

4 carrots (sliced or diced)
1cm fresh ginger
1 green apple (sliced)
½ cup lemon juice

Instructions:

Clean the carrots before peeling them up and slicing. Apply the same process for the green apple.
Blend together the carrots, ginger, and green apple. Add in the lemon juice and blend until you have the right viscosity and consistency.

Featured photo credit: Pexels via pexels.com

Reference

[1]	^	Diet v Disease: The Beginner’s Guide to a DIY Low FODMAP Diet
[2]	^	Huffington Post: Everything You Need To Know About Hawaii’s Widely Popular Poke Bowls
[3]	^	Wonderopolis: How Much Water is in a Watermelon?
[4]	^	Natural Healthy Living: How To Get Rid of Gas Pains Fast – The Definitive Resource