Page 81 - EatingWell Special Edition Superfoods 2019

THE TRUTH ABOUT

HEALTH HYPE AND

SUPERFOODS

Which buzzworthy diets are actually good for you? And how do

trendy superfoods fit into real-life healthy eating?

BY EMILY JOSHU

A basic Google search for “most popu- diets, ranking the versatile and well-established
lar diets” garners a wealth of results Mediterranean diet as the healthiest overall, with
dubbed with catchy names, trendy a 4.2 (out of 5) “healthy” rating and the DASH

fi
supermarket
nds
repeated
and
at number 33, and keto and Whole30 tied at 38.
claims to be the “best yet.” Paleo, diet as a close second. Meanwhile, paleo trailed
ketogenic (or keto), Whole30 and Mediterranean And while some über-trendy superfoods have

all fill recent headlines and cookbook titles, and the become increasingly popular, traditional main-
fad-diet phenomenon shows few signs of slowing stays could have just as many, if not more, nutri-
down. According to NPD Decision Key, searches for ents . From low-carb to 30-day to protein-packed,
the “Pegan diet,” a hybrid of paleo and vegan eat- here is a look at the health and hype of the most
ing patterns, rose 337% in the second half of 2018. popular diets .
Additionally, 2018 showed a 228% increase in sales
of low-carb cookbooks, such as The Complete Keto- The Truth About Elimination Diets
genic Cookbook for Beginners. Also known as the “caveman diet,” the paleo diet

Not all of these popularized eating patterns are prioritizes eating the foods of our ancestors in
created equal, and some may not have earned the the Paleolithic era, such as unprocessed animal
same health halos as others. In 2019, U.S. News and proteins—beef, chicken and salmon, for instance—

World Report evaluated 41 of the most renowned oils and nuts. Yet its low-fiber philosophy results in

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