{"id":4224,"date":"2019-04-20T22:36:56","date_gmt":"2019-04-20T15:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breezekohtao.com\/?p=4224"},"modified":"2019-04-23T22:13:02","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T15:13:02","slug":"the-rise-in-popularity-of-superfoods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.breezekohtao.com\/th\/blog\/the-rise-in-popularity-of-superfoods\/","title":{"rendered":"The rise in popularity of superfoods"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 21st<\/sup>century we are living increasingly more hectic lifestyles. This has meant that we have no longer been eating a diet that is as nutritious as it should be. We are surrounded by an array of unhealthy foods that are, more often than not, easier to prepare and quicker to eat than healthier foods. As we are ever busier, people look to \u2018eat on the run\u2019 and so don\u2019t necessarily have the time required to prepare a healthier meal.<\/span><\/p>\n

A diet which has a significant amount of unhealthy foods is bad for all aspects of your health. These foods are often full of xenobiotics, synthetic flavours, colours and preservatives, pesticides and herbicides. Clearing these items from the body takes a lot of effort and leaves it under nutritional stress meaning we utilise the minerals and nutrients we do consume much quicker.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"In addition to the effort the body has to make to remove harmful substances, the hectic lifestyles we lead are causing us to live under much higher levels of stress than previous generations and high levels of stress simply strips nutrients from the body.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whilst the modern age has led to these hectic lifestyles, the advances in technology have meant we now have the internet at our fingertips. Information is more readily available to us and we are becoming ever more aware of the need to lead a healthier lifestyle, in order to prevent more serious medical issues in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

More people are wanting to get fitter and older generations are wanting to do more to stay healthy. There are more platforms to assist with the sharing of healthy food recipes and it is becoming much easier to ensure we are consuming the correct foods to fulfil our daily nutritional needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

The initial changes in people\u2019s diets to increase their nutritional intake saw the rise of a group of foods known as \u201cfunctional foods\u201d.\u00a0 A functional food is defined as \u2018a food containing health-giving additives\u201d. In a lot of instances, however, these foods have been modified to provide the additional nutrients e.g. vitamin D fortified orange juice and omega-3 enriched eggs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"breezekohtao.comMore recently, whilst people have accepted the need to eat the correct balance of nutrients, they have begun to shun functional foods in favour of more natural food types. And this is where we saw the introduction of superfoods.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since blueberries were designated as the first superfood in the 90\u2019s<\/a> we have seen a steady increase in the number of foods that are marketed under this heading and that trend is likely to continue with the superfood market expected to rise by 7% between now and 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what is a superfood<\/a>? A superfood is defined as \u201ca nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being\u201d. Whilst there are no set criteria for determining what constitutes a superfood they all contain a variety of nutrients which are thought to help protect you from cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to this they all contain one or more of the following<\/span><\/p>\n