Urbanization has given birth to a class of people who are clamped to their corporate life and stay away from their homes which drastically demolishes the freshness of life. Amidst the hustle and bustle of urban life, it is very tough for us to eat home-cooked healthy food. Thus, mostly we rely on the easily available unhealthy junk foods, packaged foods and sacrifice our health in the hands of such detrimental and destructive food items. Weekdays are tough with tightly packed meetings and projects having doodles of deadlines and weekends are brighter with cocktails, beer, fried-chicken, pizza, burger and so many junky stuffs. In order to remove stress, we are giving more stress to our body which is becoming the birthplace of various diseases like, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, cardio vascular diseases, fatty liver and the list seems to be unending. With the increasing level of pollution, we humans are getting trapped and loosing healthy lifestyle, but if we continue munching the unhealthy food, it will surely trigger unhealthy lifestyle.

Drop the fries & Dive deep into the nutrition rich healthy food for switching into a disease-free Life

The whole process was cycling and recycling like this and then the pandemic came and reshaped the whole design of the landscape. It made us realize the true value of health and healthy habits. People understood, eating healthy and living healthy is the last resort of life to stay alive in this vast cherishing world. The number of health-conscious consumers is expected to rise to 176 million in 2026 from 108 million in 2020. One of the reasons of this bulging demand is influencer marketing through different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, & Youtube.

Though the urban population is inclined to fizzy drinks, salty snacks, fried foods, but an international survey of food revealed that after 2020, a lot more options of healthy and nutrition-rich substitutes have hit the market like zero sugar coke, roasted seed mix, dried cranberries, salted almond, peanuts, chickpea salad with millet bread, multigrain bread, quinoa, gluten free chips, oats cookies. These nutrition-rich substitutes have already hit the hot sellers list of today’s consumer goods market. 70 percent of the Indians have shifted to a healthy lifestyle with clean and healthy eating in this post pandemic era. There is varied scope in this nutrition rich food industry. Dietitians are prescribing to take superfoods like seeds, millets and fruits with required amount of protein and carbohydrate according to each person’s BMI.

In the last two years, the market of superfood like flax seeds, chia seeds, goji berry, gluten free oats, quinoa, gluten free dalia, muesli, granola, nuts, fruits and vegetables have become the first choice of the mass. Millions of new companies have appeared in the market and the wide availability of such healthy options has restrained people from eating those toxic perilous foods every day. Many startups have grown like mushroom to hit this industry and have achieved success with their nutrition rich products. Oziva is a startup brand which is offering nutrition rich supplement for detoxifying your skin and body has got very famous in last couple of years through their protein powder, juices, and tablets. They also have different products for different age groups with different diseases.

Healthy Business Ideas which are floating in the Recent Market:

Vegan Food: The era of Veganism, in which we are living, this concept of vegan food and product has emerged very effectively. Vegan is regarded as special kind of food that is only plant based. For the vegans, slaughtering or harming of animals for food is undeniable offence. So, there is a vast market of food products which are dedicated to this group. Cruelty free is a term that is quite famous these days, originally leveraged to target for vegan consumers. The advancement of food technology and dietary science has given us opportunity to experiment with various products to attain the desired result. Recently, many startups are producing vegan egg, vegan meat, vegan drinks, almond milk, pea-based milk, gluten free, plant based, sugar free, nut free and artificial additives free snack bar.

Protein Rich Food: Protein is very essential for building our body. We need protein of 0.8 grams per kilogram of our body weight. The fitness enthusiasts, middle aged men & women, elderly people, and adolescent boys & girls everyone needs few amounts of protein which we do not receive from our daily meal. Few companies are targeting this protein-based food industry and have created revolution with their wide range of products like protein bars, protein powder, vitamin & multivitamin capsules, nuts, packaged chickpea salad, chicken salad, slices of ham, sausages, salt free packaged chicken and the list is on.

Smoothies, Detox Drinks & Beverage: Green-tea has become one of the buzzwords of this era and from remote area to sky-rising urban society, the reach of this drink has expanded exponentially. Recently, with the reach of internet and social media ginseng tea, chamomile tea & matcha tea have also come and already won over the market with their magical effects. Smoothies and juices are the most favorite of this tightly packed and busy urban life. It is one of the first choices of the dietitians because of their time saving convenience and easily digestible feature. Very recently, smoothies have reshaped the whole world and created a renaissance in healthy eating and healthy living. Smoothies are very useful for losing weight, detoxifying body, rejuvenating skin, improving gut health and hair. Many companies have introduced ready to eat smoothies and juices which are sugar free, gluten free, cruelty free, and preservative free, Kapiva is one of them.

Dietary Supplements: To lead a healthy and disease-free life, to let our organs work perfectly we need various elements like iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, sulfur, magnesium, vitamins, and antioxidants in required amount. We often don’t get such elements from our staple foods and mostly become deficient of those elements which leads to various crucial diseases. Amway’s Nutralite is one of pioneer brand which has produced dietary supplements for various age groups and segmented the market according to diseases, age group and food habit. Many startup brands of India are working targeting this market and earning millions.

Government Initiatives towards Healthy & Disease-free Country

At the end of the day, it is certain that, more than 31.2 percent of the population is living in the green villages in comparison to 68.8 percent of urban population. This backward class of people is often denied education, proper food and nutrition and fall prey of malnutrition. Without, uplifting them with proper food and nutrition for alleviating malnutrition, our country cannot achieve good position in Global hunger index, currently which is 107th out of 121 countries with a poor score of 29.1. So, to safeguard the vulnerable groups like elderly people, growing child, nursing mothers of BPL category, Government has introduced numerous schemes and missions such as POSHAN Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, National Health Mission (NHM), Wheat Based Supplementary Nutrition Programme, UNICEF Assistance for Women and Children, World Food Programme Project and so on.

In a nutshell, we can say that, Healthy Life and Healthy Mind are desirable and delightful, but it is not a cakewalk as it looks. Healthy and nutrition rich eating is the only option left for us to survive with sound strength and incredible intellect. As an Asia-pacific Country, India has abundant supply of garcinia, green coffee, berries, flax seed, chia seeds, sunflower seeds and millets, which will grow bigger in upcoming days in national and international market. The recent trends and market show that, Indian households are likely to double their spending on health-focused foods and beverages in the next five years to keep pace with this healthy life style. There will be a 2x increase in per capita spending on healthy foods by 2026. Healthy and nutrition rich food will hit nearly $30 billion in the next five years and India will be the fastest-growing health food market with CAGR of 20 percent. The healthy food and beverage products were more than 11 percent of the $88 billion packaged foods and beverages market in India which will poise a growth of $30 billion by 2026. To promote and uplift the importance of millets as proposed by India, UN has declared ‘2023 as the International Year of Millets’ in its 75th session in Italy.