It’s coming up on Fashion Week in New York and while that’s all about styles of clothes, foods come into – and go out of – fashion, too.  A previous post dealt with foods that nutritionists never thought would become popular, yet they did just that. 

Now think of the foods that were “in” — for a while.  I actually heard or read these comments recently:

• “I’m so over kale, already.”  I read this comment by a former editor of a prominent food magazine. (Cauliflower is the new kale, if you’re wondering, but beets are gaining.)  
• “Cottage cheese? What are you, like, 80?”  (This was said to me and no, I’m not 80 — but hey, nothing wrong with 80!)
• “A baked potato?  A white one? Are you serious?”
• “I don’t’ do bread.  All that gluten.  Quinoa is my thing.”
• “She wants a Cosmo? No one drinks those anymore.”

All the above foods (excluding the Cosmo) are delicious and healthful.  They’re also “out of fashion” (including the Cosmo).  If this sounds a little ridiculous, read on.

Food Fashions Fade, Food Value Doesn’t

People may be “done” with kale, but is it less healthful than it was when it was “in”?  Of course not. It’s a superfood.  A baked potato is one of the best sources of potassium, even better than a banana, and has as much vitamin C as a tomato!  It always has!  Even so, all the buzz is that white potatoes are bad and sweet potatoes are a little better, but still a “starchy vegetable” to be eaten in minimal amounts. (Thanks, Harvard.)  

Fashion eating aside, the nutritional qualities of these foods have ALWAYS been there.  Whether it’s kale or cauliflower, or They’re as nutritious today as when they were first “discovered” by food fashionistas. 

Consider the following:

• Kale is every bit as good for you now as it was when you first tasted it.  It may even taste better now, since all that attention motivated chefs to develop inventive ways of eating kale.  Bravo.
• White potatoes. Before you were told of their “horrors”, they were a staple food for millions of people from Paris to Poughkeepsie to Peru.  The nutrition they had is the nutrition they still have.  (Check out www.potatogoodness.com for a ridiculous number of facts and recipes. 
• Bread?  It takes a hit for having “carbs” and gluten, which celebrities tell us are both bad (proof you should never get nutrition advice from celebrities).  Yet, it’s been a staple, indeed, the “staff of life” in many cultures throughout history.  Made with whole grains, it’s also loaded with fiber, vitamins and minerals.  It’s versatile, oh, and people like it. 
• Cottage cheese?  PLEASE!  If you think it’s only for elderly ladies who lunch, experts disagree. registered dietitian nutritionist and exercise physiologist Jim White is one guy trying to set the facts straight about the value of cottage cheese. “If your goal is to increase lean muscle, mass try cottage cheese with a serving of your favorite fruit after a hard earned workout,” he says. He educates clients that a typical cup of low-fat cottage cheese boasts a walloping 27 grams of protein for those muscles, plus 200 mg of calcium to support bone health.

Sometimes fashionable eating can have benefits.  I love anything that gets people eating more veggies, yogurt, and whole grains of any kind.   But I get concerned that people strop eating these foods when the trend fades and the benefits also go missing from their diets, especially if they replace them with something less healthful.  (Example: plant-based “milks” are more hype than benefit.)

Cut-To-The-Chase Advice

Work it.  Let food fashions motivate you to try a new food.  If you like it, keep eating it!    If it’s nutritious and out of fashion, it’s still just as good for you as it was when everyone else was eating it to be “in.”  Never be intimidated about eating healthy food you like.