Right now the hot topic in fitness is trends. What were the best, worst and weirdest trends of 2011 and what trends will continue into 2012?

On a few of the trend lists I found was Paleo…of course it was listed with alternative therapies and cleanse diets….but I guess at least its popularity is being recognized?

I was both happy and sad?, confused? that it was being include in these “trend” lists.

Why did it slightly upset me? Because I don’t consider Paleo to be a trend.

I consider a “trend” to be something that is “in style or in vogue,” which means that if you call Paleo a trend, you think that it will eventually go out of style.

And Paleo, aka a healthy lifestyle, won’t ever go out of style.

Yes, diets become super popular and then fizzle out as a new faster, easier diet pops up. But the diets that I would define as “trends” are all weight loss diets. People do these trend diets because they are looking to lose weight quickly and don’t necessarily care about long-term consequences or their overall health. They want to lose weight and they want to do it fast – that is all that matters.

So no, Paleo isn’t a trend. Yes, it has just recently been getting a ton of attention and growing in popularity, but it will never go out of style.

How could being healthy ever go out of style?

Haha ok I guess you could argue that being healthy has gone out of style for the last 50 or some years and that is why we have an obesity epidemic….BUT you could also argue that we’ve been TRYING to be healthy all along and have just been misled by the government and corporations who’ve been telling us that low-fat, high carb is healthy!

I’m going with the second one. As more research comes out Paleo has been gaining popularity. We are now realizing that a high protein, high fat, only healthy carb (like veggies and fruits) diet may be the RIGHT way.

So it isn’t a trend rapidly gaining popularity only to fizzle out. Paleo has actually been around for a while, slowly gathering momentum until finally it has only recently gained mainstream attention.

And with its solid nutritional guidelines, backed up by LOTS of research (contrary to what Conventional Wisdom would have you believe), Paleo will only continue to become more and more popular.

What do you think? Is Paleo a trend?