Top healthy food trends for 2024.

Whole Foods Market (WFM) has published its “Top 10 Food Trends for 2024” report. Let’s dig in and take a look at the top 5 healthy food trends, analyzing them from a Kindhub perspective.

Healthy food trend #1:
Put the plant back in plant-based.

• WFM has been seeing that plant-based burgers are evolving to include more vegetable-based protein from things like lentils and mushrooms.

• Non dairy milks are expected to become simpler with less added ingredients

• At Kindhub, we love this! Think Lion’s Mane Mushrooms and creamy oat milk.

• Meat reduction especially with increased vegetables is beneficial for animals, the planet and everyone. 

• This is an all round win, especially if we can reduce the number of meat-based we consume with more fiber and veggies.

Healthy food trend #2:
Use the whole Cacao.

• Chocolate is delicious but it is estimated that 70-80% of the cocoa pod is wasted in the process. 

• WFM is seeing that some brands are trying to reduce waste by creating new products which use the whole cocoa pod. Think Cacao trail mix and fruit leathers! There are even cacao fruit powders which are being tested as alternative sweeteners.

• At Kindhub, we love repurposing and reducing wastage. This is beneficial for the environment and will likely create additional jobs in cocoa producing countries. The cocoa industry has traditionally been exploitative of its farmers and we hope that these new companies will be cognizant of this.

• Like all trail mixes and fruit leathers, these can be calorically dense and are  part of a balanced diet – quantities matter. 

Healthy food trend #3:
Buckle up for buckwheat.

• Buckwheat is gaining popularity in flours, noodles, milks and even desserts.

• At Kindhub, we love Buckwheat as a fiber filled grain choice.

• Buckwheat is naturally easy to grow and has many environmental benefits such as being great weed control, improving the quality of topsoil for farmers and attracting beneficial insects.

• Nutritionally, it is naturally gluten free and is a good choice to mix into your diet. Here is a great comparison of buckwheat vs rice vs potatoes and other common carbs. As you can see, there is no one magic grain and underscores the need for a range of complex carbohydrate sources.

Healthy food trend #4:
Fancy Faux Fish. 

• Tinned fish was a trend in 2023 and WFM is predicting that the plant based variety will start to gain popularity in 2024.

• At Kindhub, we love this idea. Think Carrot Lox and Plant based Tuna.

• The problems with fish, especially tuna are well known – overfishing, mercury and microplastic accumulation, and of course things like, habitat degradation and bycatch. 

• Tinned fish has the additional challenges of unknown sourcing and variable nutritional content.

• Plant based fancy fish can be a win-win for the animals, planet and you.

Healthy food trend #5:
Clean and Conserve: water stewardship.

• Water is becoming a more valuable resource with time and companies are promoting water stewardship and regenerative agriculture as values in their products and marketing.

• At Kindhub, we think this is an important idea and water conservation is important all round. Expect to see and pay more for regenerative products such as rice, beans and olive oil.

• The challenge here will be sifting through real impact for the environment from marketing claims. Regenerative agriculture is a developing area which shows promise however it is quickly becoming a buzzword.

• As a consumer, educate yourself on water intensive foods and decide which ones can be reduced in your diet or which ones can be substituted with less intensive alternatives and which ones need the extra price tag for the ones produced via stewardship practices. Try out this water footprint calculator.

Following are the five other trends that made it into the WFM top 10.

Complex heat.

• The exploration of global peppers is increasing as we become more adventurous in our flavor profile.

• At Kindhub, we embrace bold flavors from all over the world. This has the potential to be a fun one – think Trinidadian scorpion peppers with an average scoville rating of 1.2 million compared to 2000-8000 for a jalapeno.

Noodle News.

• The explosion of Ramen will likely continue to grow.

• At Kindhub, what’s not to like about noodles? We suggest going heavy on the flavor and veggies while going easy on the meat as part of this.

Little Luxuries.

• Fueled by Tik Tok’s “little treat culture”, brands are embracing the idea of individual sized “little luxuries” where you can be kind to yourself and the wallet. Think Petit Pot’s pint sized treats.

• At Kindhub, we love the idea of being kind to yourself, as long we are are also kind to others. We would suggest being mindful of what is considered a treat.

Women’s Health.

• Hormone health has certainly become mainstream and food is joining the movement.

• At Kindhub, we believe that healthy and balanced food is an important component of hormone health and embrace the idea. We are also aware that there is likely going to be some creative marketing here and suggest becoming an informed consumer. 

A better boost.

• Coffee alternatives and clean caffeine is a growing trend. 

• At Kindhub, we are all in favor of a better boost. Think Lion’s Mane Mushrooms. This is a rapidly expanding space of nutraceuticals and we suggest doing your research especially if there are new compounds or plants.