There are major changes coming to the food industry, or at least for those companies that want to stay economically viable. That’s because, according to various studies on consumer trends, there are significant lifestyle changes that are impacting the way we eat.

Dr. Elizabeth Sloan, contributing editor and consumer trends columnist for Food Technology Magazine, has put together a report illustrating what she feels are the top trends in the food industry. Here are some of the highlights:

Eating Out is Not On The Menu for Millennials

Restaurant dining is dominated by older generations, with the biggest spenders being in the 55- to 64-year-old age group. During the last five years, baby boomers and older have seen a six percent increase in restaurant visits while millennials’ visits dropped by six percent.
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See more Empty Calories right here in the blog.
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If you or your kids are regular consumers of Dannon’s Danimals Smoothies, you’ve been taking in about 25 percent less sugar with each serving. Since February they’ve cut back the sugar in their kid-focused yogurt. They purposefully didn’t make a big deal about it as to avoid scaring off consumers.

It’s not the first time a brand has made a change to its formula only to reap the repercussions of consumers who prefer the status quo. McDonald’s faced backlash when switching from an animal fat frying oil to canola over concerns those world-famous fries would taste different. (Today their website boasts the use of a canola oil blend and that all fried foods on its menu are free of trans fats.)

And of course everyone knows the tale of New Coke, when the soft drink company reformulated its soda and became one of the most infamous marketing flops around. So changing something that wasn’t necessarily broken had to be done so in an exacting way by Dannon. It’s no surprise that the brand treaded these sugary waters carefully.

“One thing I have learned is that the main driver of yogurt sales above all is taste,” said Sergio Fuster, senior vice president for marketing at Dannon, to NYTimes.com. “You do not want to send any signal to the consumer that might lead her to believe the taste has changed because she will simply pick up another yogurt — and it may not be ours.”
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Today, people in 192 countries are banding together in peaceful demonstration to celebrate Earth Day. Founded in the twilight of the hippie movement, the first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970 and is now the largest secular holiday in the world. Due in part to events like Earth Day, we’ve learned a lot about our environment and what we need to change to keep the blue marble spinning a while longer.

The word “green”— now an adjective, noun, and verb—is synonymous in our culture for expansive and minute efforts in environmental sustainability. Not surprisingly, there are a number of “green” diets. In celebration of Earth Day 2013, we’ve compiled nine eco-friendly diets that will help you reach your weight loss and fitness goals while reducing your carbon footprint.

The Kind Diet

The Kind Diet is a book by actress and vegan Alicia Silverstone that illustrates the benefits of a plant-based diet. Silverstone uses the book to show that a vegan diet can not only help your body, but help animals and the planet, too. The diet is beneficial because it allows you to progress in stages and preserves animal life on Earth. However, the drastic change to a plant-based diet may be too extreme for some, as no meat, dairy, or animal products are allowed.
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By Naomi Shapiro of SuperDumbSuperVillain.com

Juice cleanses are all the rage these days, with celebrities endorsing the detoxification benefits for beauty, health and, yes, even weight loss. The BluePrint Cleanse is one of the most popular and offers mail-order delivery, as well as a line of freshly made juices available at many retailers nationwide. Essentially, the idea is that you consume only raw, whole foods in liquid form for anywhere from three to ten days. The enzymes in these organic fruit and vegetable juices work to clean your body from the inside out, reducing intestinal bloat and inflammation by restoring your natural alkaline levels and metabolism.

I was curious about trying the BluePrint Cleanse because even though I try to eat healthy and exercise, I have been feeling lethargic this new year. I felt like the three-day juice cleanse might be a way to restart my system. And I was right.

What really surprised me the most about the BluePrint Cleanse was how I never felt hungry or deprived. Between drinking the juices and water, I was totally sated. The flavors were different enough to keep things interesting, too.
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