Hungry Hungry Hipsters

They Come And They Go… And They Might Make A Short Revisit! Let’s Sort The Fads From The Stayers.

Remember when mojitos and red velvet chocolate cake were a thing? When café drinks were served in glasses not jars and food was sliced not smashed? When nuts were something you snacked on but didn’t activate or pour in your latte or breakfast cereal?

Food trends come and go – often based more on celebrity backing and food porn merit than nutrition clout. Before you settle in with a cronut dunked in bone broth (is that so weird?), size up the food du jour with our nutrition pros.

PACKET PROTEIN MIXES

Though bliss balls have been around forever, they have been given a clean eating makeover to become a ‘power snack’. They mix ingredients such as oats and seeds with clean- eating super foods such as cacao. And this year saw a rise in protein ball packet mixes to help you fast-track their preparation. How do these mixes shape up?

Protein ball packet mixes are only slightly better than packet cake mixes, but the inclusion of nuts and seeds gives them a slightly better macros profile. What’s quite misleading is that the nutrition panel does not reflect what’s in the food once you add in the ingredients like coconut oil and rice malt syrup, which many of these protein ball mixes contain. The mixes contain coconut oil, which is high in saturated fats, which should be minimised as it can increase risk of heart disease. And rice malt syrup is a sweetener that has a higher glycaemic index rating than table sugar, which means it gives your insulin levels a bigger spike.

COCONUT NECTAR AND SUGAR