The Best (and Worst) Nutrition Advice of 2019 – Outside Magazine

This was a weird yearforfood. Scientists grew (surprisingly good) plant-based meat products in labs, some people decided to eat nothing butmeat, other peoplebarely ate anything at all. Seltzer had a comeback,researchers developed wearable tech that could tell you when you needed to hydrate, and an Outside editor experimented with drinking an entire gallon of water a day. Amid the madness, a few ideas drifted to the top, ones that were evidence based and reasonable and could actually help you live a littlemore healthfully. Read on to learn whichtrends you should forget about in the new yearand the few that you should carry with you.

In May, wellness guruAnthony William published a book claiming that daily celery juice could detoxyour body and provide all kinds of dubious health benefits, like flushing toxins from your brain and curing asthma, addiction, and Lyme disease. It caught on in certain circles, but none of his claims were backed byscientific evidence.

The idea that any food can detoxyour body is garbage. As Robin Foroutan, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,previously told Outside, The body detoxifies on its own, or we would be dead in days. And while drinking celery juice wont do any harm, it likely wont do any goodeither. The closest thing to an endorsement of the stuffis a 2013 trial during which 30 adults with high blood pressure took celery-extract supplements (pills, not juice) for six weeksand reported slightly lower blood pressure at the end of the trial. Caveats? The extract was far more concentrated than juice, there was no control group, and the lead researchers worked for the company that made the celery extract.

The gut microbiome is a relatively new area of study, but theres promising evidence that the unique makeup of healthy bacteria that exists in each of our bodies is a key factor in overall health. A 2019 reviewfound that ingesting both probiotics (bacteria) and prebiotics(a type of dietary fiber that feeds bacteria) can support a healthy microbiome.

Butgetting probiotics and prebiotics in supplement form probably isnt your best bet. Currently, theres no evidence that long-term, continued consumption of supplemental probioticsmaintains wellness, saidJack Gilbert, a researcher at the University of Chicago, in a previous interview.Instead, its best to get probiotics through fermented foods. Prebiotics, on the other hand, can be found in fruits, vegetables, beans, and other high-fiber foods.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a time-restricted diet during which you only eatfor a set period of time each day. Its more of an umbrella term than a rigid protocol: one popular approach is to eat during an eight-hour window each day;another is to eat normally except for one or two days ofextremely low-calorie intake perweek. But this year, the more extreme one-meal-a-day (OMAD) approach gained some traction. Experts warn against OMAD for a variety of reasons. One small 2007 randomized control trial of 21 adults over eight weeks found that eating one meal a day resulted in lower body-fat percentagebuthigher hunger levels,blood pressure, and cholesterol levels compared to subjects who ate three meals a day. And that doesnt take into account the emotional and social toll ofsuch an extreme diet.

The benefits of any kind of IF are still up in the air, but if youre curious about it, stick to a gentler approach. Eating within a 12-hour windowfrom 8 A.M. to 8 P.M., for examplewill likely deliver many of the same potential benefits, nutrition scientist Stacy Sims previously told Outside.

Intuitive eating has been around since 1995, whenregistered dietitians Elyse Reich and Evelyn Tribole published a popular book on the topic. But it gained mainstream traction this year:we wrote about it in May, The New York Times published an op-edin June presenting it as an antidote to toxic wellness culture, and dozens of nutritionists encouraged their clients (online and off) to start eating a little more freely.

Thisrelaxed approach to foodis guided by ten principles,like honor your health, respect your body, and challenge the food police, and its all about tuning in toyour own preferences and needsand tuning out messages about what you should or shouldnt eat.While more research is needed, theres evidence that intuitive eating is good for both mental andphysical health, and it might even be associated with a more nutritious diet overall.

Going ketomeans getting 75 to 80 percent of your calories from fat, 15 to 20 percent from protein, and less than 5percent from carbs. Its also one of the most popular extreme diets out there at the moment. There is significant evidence that ketosisa metabolic state wherein the body starts using fat as a primary fuel source due to a lack of carbshelps reduce seizures in people with epilepsy. But there arent many evidence-backed benefits beyond that.

Amy Gorin, a registered dietitian in the New York City area, explainedthat while short-term weight loss often happens on the keto diet, it generally isnt sustainable. Maintaining ketosis is difficult, since going over your carb allotment just once can trigger your body to start using glucose (carbs) as fuel againinstead of fat. And many people gain back any weight they lost once they begin to eat regularly, Gorin said. Low-carb diets arent an inherently betterchoice than any other calorie-restricted diet, but if you think they might be rightfor you, Gorin suggests a more moderate approach thanketo.

Plant-based burgers blew up this year. You can now get an Impossible Whopper at Burger Kingor an Impossible Slider from White Castle, both engineered to look, cook, and taste like meat. If that isnt proof enough that plant-based foods are here to stay, consider the fact that, according to one report, the global plant-based meat market was valued at $10 billion in 2018 and is forecasted to hit $31 billion by 2026.

These new plant-based meats arent intended to be a healthier version of beefthe nutritional profile is actually quite similar; instead, theyre meantto be a more environmentally friendly way to eat what tastes likemeat, explainedJonathan Valdez, a registered dietitian in New York.

The research on the health benefits of limiting your consumption ofanimal products is still evolving, but itspromising. A 2019 review of several randomized control trials found that vegan and vegetarian diets are linked to improved metabolic health. You dont have to go full-on vegetarian, according toShivam Joshi, an internal-medicine physician at the New York University School of Medicine. Even swapping out a handful of animal-based meals every week will benefit you.

Using plants for healing purposes is an ancient practice, but Western wellness culturereally dug its teeth into the idea this year. Adaptogens, defined by scientists as plant-based substances thought to enhance the bodys resistance to variouskinds of physical and mental stress, are showing up all over: keep an eye out for ashwagandha on your popcornormaca in your smoothie bowl.

Any wellness claims that brands make about these ingredients are hopeful guesses at best. Ashwagandhas many purported benefits (pain relief, diabetes management, and anti-aging, among others)have yet to be consistently proven by research. Andalthough some people believe that maca can improve reproductive health and fight cancer, these claims also have no real evidence behind them.That said, adaptogens are unlikely to hurt you, so if you dont mind the taste (or the cost), keep on eating them. Butdont claimthat theyre magic.

Sushi has been popular for years, and crispy seaweed snacks are available everywhere from Whole Foods to Trader Joes. Still, most of us dont yet think of seaweed as a comparable alternative to green vegetables like kale and spinach. An April New York Times articleexplained that seaweed is a much lower-impact crop, sinceit doesnt use any land, fresh water, or fertilizers. In fact, it can evenhelp the environment: kelp has been shown to drastically improve water quality. Like other green vegetables, seaweed is packed with micronutrients, but its not your typical green. The richumami flavor can add depth to many dishes.