The trend over the last few decades has been for people to join the latest ‘food tribe’ linked to their values, beliefs or fashionable trends such as gluten free, sugar free, vegetarian, freegans, paleo, ketogenic and vegan. Being part of a food tribe is not about losing weight but more about lifestyle. Instead of being personal, its linked to your social life and feeling connected to like minded people. However, in 2020 nutrition and dieting will become more personal. It makes sense! We are more likely to stick to a healthy eating plan long-term if it is personalised and based on your lifestyle, body, taste and your biological makeup.
From Tribal to Personalised
Influencers are a big part of dieting and nutrition in 2020. 27% of us rely on social information for our eating choices. This has fed into the more tribal way of nutrition, following what an influencer does rather that personalising it to yourself.
The recent trend is that health, wellness and nutrition needs to be more individualised, embracing who you are inside and out. It’s an extension of the body positivity and self-love movement.
Personalised diets end the frustration of committing to lifestyle changes that are difficult to sustain. Cutting out sugar, dairy, coffee or gluten to follow a certain diet or lifestyle might not be something that works for you, your body or your lifestyle. Weight loss from these fad diets can also can be drastic which isn’t good for our bodies. Embracing more personalised choices of food and drink as well as having broader wellness goals rather than just focusing on weight loss is a more healthy way to look at nutrition.
Researcher David Bosshart says that there has been a lot of confusion over what we should eat – we dont know what to eat, where to eat and when to eat!
“We define ourselves by what we’re eating, but, even more so, by what we don’t eat. Food may have moved to the centre of our lives, but we are overwhelmed by our choices.
People keep searching for one diet right for them, from high carb/low carb, high fat/low fat…one day eggs are good, the next they are bad. the reality is that there’s one prevailing question: ‘what foods are right for me?’”
Nutrition Plan vs Diet
With a nutrition plan, the goal is health and wellness as a whole rather than weight loss. Although when people eat in harmony with their body and eating healthy, a natural result is often weight loss.
Many nutrition plans take a look on what is happening inside you, look at your DNA, blood biomarkers and genotypes. Research is showing it works, with a study of more that 1000 consumers showing improvement in health including blood sugar, cholesterol and inflammation.
This all seems very sciencey, and it is, but solutions are moving that way and more advanced solutions are on their way. One such company, Nutrigenomix, is available in 22 countries and delivers personalised nutrition advice and physical activity recommendations based on generic profiles. DNAFit and Fitness Genes are both UK based companies that use your genetic makeup to determine the most effective workout and provide nutritional advice and supplements. There are even Spas that work with DNAfit to help guests develop personalised plans.
Personalised nutrition is likely to get more and more popular as more research proves it really works. Science and technology can really help us find out what food is really right for us to improve our overall health and wellness.
