LOCKDOWNS WERE GOOD NEWS FOR DIET PLANS

When the COVID War was launched over a year ago, on 24 March 2020, we published the article “STAY HOME, EAT, AND DIE,” which forecast that locked-down society would blow up from eating more low-quality foods and exercising less. 
We told Trends Journal subscribers that overeating, particularly unhealthy snack foods, would further increase as Americans were forced to shelter-in-place. We wrote,
As people sit around being fed fear and anxiety by the news coming out of their giant screen TVs, laptops, iPads, and smartphones, they will likely resort to eating increased amounts of snack foods, most of it saturated with sugar, fat, salt, and artificial ingredients.
In forecasting the current events forming future trends we told readers that the “Whole Health” healing trend will find new life, particularly among Generation Z and Millennials who will be forced by economic decline to spend their food dollars wisely and seek alternative health modalities.
Among the winners in the medical profession will be chiropractors who are more natural healing-based and provide more affordable health care.
In addition, the self-responsibility resurgence will mirror what followed the 1987 stock market crash: the ending of the “shop until you drop” era and the ushering in of the “New Age craze,” where people sought a higher meaning to life rather than just spending money.
On 10 November 2020, in our article, “FATTEN UP WITH FAST-FOOD TREND RISING,” we reported,
While the economic shutdown has decimated much of the restaurant industry, the junk food sector has suffered less than most others; some chains are thriving.
Last Thursday, some 16 months later, The New York Times ran a major story with the headline:

Diet Plans Booming in Spring

Junk Food Junkies
During the lockdown imposed in most states for over a year, fast foods filled with saturated fats and little if any nutritional value became more popular than ever. In 2020, Pizza chains Domino’s and Papa John’s each sold about 30 million more super-sized cheese pizzas than the year before. 
Conagra Brands, which had suffered a decline in sales before the COVID War was launched, saw a 50-percent rise a year ago March, and the corporation has continued to do well with its Slim Jim jerky snacks, Reddi-wip topping, and Chef Boyardee canned pastas, The Times reported. 
Heavy Weight
According to the American Psychological Association, almost 50 percent of Americans reported gaining weight since the coronavirus appeared, with the average gain being close to 30 pounds.
And now, like manic pinballs bouncing around between binge junk-food eating and then desperately trying to lose the excess weight, diet plans are spiking in popularity, particularly mobile phone apps like Noom, which offer weight loss plans and access to trainers through your phone. There are now hundreds of diet apps on the market.
The Noom diet plan app costs $59 a month and has been downloaded four million times, The Times noted. Weight Watchers (now called WW International) saw a jump of over 15 percent in its online base of users. Medifast, which, like Noom, provides low-fat meal alternatives along with access to coaches, predicts it will double its income this year to close to $1.5 billion.
The Times article also pointed out that many companies in the $61 billion weight-loss market have shifted their marketing language from the word “diet” to the phrase “health and wellness.”
On 22 March, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study showing that people adhering to stay-at-home orders on average gained about half a pound every ten days.
TRENDPOST: For years, the Trends Journal has been offering solid research into developing healthy eating habits, which not only help maintain a proper weight but can quickly improve one’s emotional state of mind. 
In October 2019, we published definitive proof that the Mediterranean diet, which includes natural foods without excess saturated fat and chemical additives, as a helpful guide. (See our article, “YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT: ‘MEDITERRANEAN’ MOOD SWING.”) 
In October 2019, months before the COVID War began, we wrote in the Trends Journal:
Yes, there will be a continuing growing market in sectors such as organic, plant-based, and juicing, however, it will account for but a small percentage of the total population’s addiction to junk/fast/low-quality food. For OnTrendpreneurs®, a huge market exists for new, innovative weight loss/fitness products and programs.
(For more, see our article, “READY TO EXPLODE, READY TO IMPLODE.”) 
TREND FORECAST: As we have forecast, the “Whole Health Healing” trend will find new life, particularly among Generation Z and Millennials who will be forced by economic decline to spend their food dollars wisely and seek alternative health modalities.
Among the winners in the medical profession will be chiropractors who are more natural healing-based and provide more affordable health care.
In addition, the self-responsibility resurgence will mirror what followed the 1987 stock market crash: the ending of the “shop until you drop” era and the ushering in of a “New Age” movement where people seek a higher meaning in life rather than just spending money.