In the world of food and nutrition, change often happens pretty incrementally.

And then sometimes it really feels like the ground is shifting beneath your feet.

And 2025 felt decidedly more like the latter.

Today I'm taking a look back at the biggest food and nutrition trends of the last year

and peeking into my crystal ball to see if I can detect what the future might have in store for us.

Hello and welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast. I'm your host, Monica Reinagle, and as we prepare to turn the page on 2025 and welcome a new year,

I've been reflecting on the food and nutrition news and trends of the last year to see if I can detect any big themes.

And here are a couple of things that jump out at me.

After more than a decade of viewing everything through the lens of

our gut bacteria, our microbiome obsession seems to be leveling out. And instead, GLP-1s

and their impacts on both medicine and culture have become the dominant forces in the conversation about food

and nutrition. For example, the focus on fiber has given way to the prioritization of protein.

Dramatic weight loss, through any means, tends to result in fairly significant loss of lean muscle tissue. And if you're over 50,

you're probably already losing lean muscle tissue. In either case, the best way we know to prevent

this is to have people increase the amount of high quality protein they in. And, by the way, that strategy works

much better when you combine it with strength training. So between the growing number of people

utilizing anti-obescd medications to lose weight and an aging population that's worried about muscle loss, protein has become the dietary

darling of the decade. Virtually every food you can think of, from your latte, to your granola,

to your pasta, now comes in a high protein version. Which brings me to the next big theme that I've noticed. You know,

this time last year, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before UPFs or ultra-processed foods

were officially written into public health policy as the source of all evils.

But a growing drumbeat of dissent, including from this podcast, has finally managed to

...