WHAT’S HOT, WHAT’S NOT

The diets, the apps, the fad foods... all that’s trending in wellness

BITS & NIBBLES

THE FOURTH MEAL

Goodbye breakfast, lunch and dinner, hello fourth meal. Yes, more and more people are busy adjusting their eating schedules to suit their busy lives: be it a healthy snack, a light one between lunch and dinner or an energy-boosting salad mid-afternoon.

DON’T WANT TO EAT MEAT?

Go for algae. It’s the hottest plant-based meat substitute of the moment. It’s also the ultimate source of omega-3 fatty acids and amino acids, essential in our diet. A nearly untapped resource found in both freshwater and marine aquatic systems, it can apparently solve the planet’s impending food crisis.

THE ALT-SWEETS

With sugar topping the list of dietary watch-outs, there’s a hunt for alternative sweet flavours with lower glycemic impact. Syrups made from dates, sorghum (jowar), yacon (a sweet potato-like root vegetable) and the zero-calorie monk fruit are good substitutes.

Date syrup

is sweeter than granulated sugar, but less sweet than honey

Sweet sorghum

is the world’s fifth largest grain after rice, corn, wheat and barley

The syrup

from yacon root may also help you lose weight

Used to make medicinal teas,

monk fruit sweeteners

are made from the fruit’s extract