--- title: 6 Offbeat Foods You Should Add to Your 2015 Diet description: These unique flavors will help you mix up your weight loss plan. canonical: https://time.com/3665950/offbeat-healthy-foods-diet/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-13T21:14:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:21.185Z og:title: 6 Offbeat Healthy Foods You Should Add to Your Diet og:description: These unique flavors will help you mix up your New Year's diet plan og:url: https://time.com/3665950/offbeat-healthy-foods-diet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt713c7ae5f99947b1/698779a8428a9ee236cc68c6/oysters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3872 og:image:height: 2178 og:image:alt: Oysters og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 6 Offbeat Healthy Foods You Should Add to Your Diet twitter:description: These unique flavors will help you mix up your New Year's diet plan twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt713c7ae5f99947b1/698779a8428a9ee236cc68c6/oysters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 6 Offbeat Healthy Foods You Should Add to Your Diet > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Worth Your Time: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Worth Your Time is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more. Worth Your Time is a curated guide to the culture worth knowing, from the biggest conversations of the moment to the books, shows, ideas and discoveries worth your attention. Culture editor Eliza Berman taps TIME's collective taste and perspective to surface what is worth watching, reading, talking about and sharing, and why. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=dd68145b-0448-4af6-b0fe-c12dfc5aa391&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Truth About Fat [Watch (HLS stream): The Truth About Fat](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uYGhfNfS.m3u8) (5:15)  _Published 2014-06-12. When you want to lose weight or get healthy, what is the first thing you would normally cut from your diet? If you said fat, you're not alone_ by [Larissa Zimberoff / Food & Wine](https://time.com/author/food-wine-2/) ## Larissa Zimberoff / Food & Wine Jan 13, 2015 9:14 PM UTC  Oyster Oyster Getty Images by [Larissa Zimberoff / Food & Wine](https://time.com/author/food-wine-2/) ## Larissa Zimberoff / Food & Wine Jan 13, 2015 9:14 PM UTC Dieting and losing weight are, by leaps and bounds, the No. 1 New Year’s resolution in America, with 13 percent of people saying they plan to do it. But most don’t manage to keep those resolutions, and we think it’s because they don’t have enough interesting food to add to their newly resolved diets. So in an attempt to help those of you planning to change what you eat next week, FWx is bringing you six hot foods that will perk up those resolutions to eat right in 2015—at least for the first week. 1\. **Kelp noodles:** These crunchy, clear noodles made from sea algae have the wonderful benefit of being crazy low in calories, gluten-free, fat-free and easy to dose with big flavors, such as a [spicy peanut sauce](http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/spicy-peanut-sauce) or a simple lemon-and-pepper sauce. While kelp doesn’t have any protein, it is an excellent source of iodine, vitamin K. The noodles come in a bag and are easiest to [buy online](http://www.kelpnoodles.com/), but they’re beginning to crop up in local markets. 2\. **Green tea yogurt:** Many people claim that green tea is the healthiest thing you can drink because of its high concentration of catechins—antioxidants that are said to fight and prevent cell damage. Now you can eat your green tea. This January, Chobani is launching their newest limited-batch flavor: green tea Greek-style yogurt. Green tea and dairy actually go well together (no surprise to anyone who has had green tea ice cream). One container has 140 calories and is made with 2 percent milk fat yogurt. Look for it in most major markets—or, if you’re in New York, at their yogurt bar in SoHo. 3\. **Savi seeds:** The savi seed isn’t a nut, but it tastes like one, which means it’s perfect for anyone with a nut allergy. These seeds grow from star-shaped pods and are native to the Amazon rain forest, where they’ve been consumed for centuries. One ounce of savi seeds delivers 9 grams of plant-based protein, 5 grams of dietary fiber and 6 grams of omega-3, which is more than you’ll get from salmon or fish oil supplements. 4\. **Cricket anything (flour, powder, bars):** Some call this the gateway bug because with the various ways they are processed, they are the insects that are the least likely to make you recoil. These cute creatures are typically roasted and then ground up, making for an excellent source of protein and fiber. They also provide more iron than beef, but unlike beef, they’re low in cholesterol and saturated fats. The bugs come in all kinds of diet-friendly concoctions: flour and cookies from [Bitty Foods](http://bittyfoods.com/buy/), powder from [All Things Bugs](http://www.allthingsbugs.com/), protein bars from [Exo](https://www.exoprotein.com/?&utm%5Fmedium=cpc&utm%5Fcampaign=SearchExoBars&utm%5Fsource=Google&utm%5Fkeyword=exo%20bars&utm%5Fcontent=ExoBars&gclid=Cj0KEQiA8f6kBRCGhMPFtev8p58BEiQAaMLmqaRi43I0FxjYQPJFVGb07ysSAqwsnmVsfgmiyQFDYtoaAnhg8P8HAQ) and [Chapul](http://chapul.com/) and chips from [Six Foods](http://www.sixfoods.com/#products). 5\. **Oysters:** No. 5 on our list should bring cheers all around, if only for the sheer number of oyster-based happy hours cropping up. As long you limit your alcohol, you’ll find oysters to be a super healthy appetizer or snack. Six medium raw oysters range from 43 to 58 total calories, and these delicacies are high in both zinc and omega-3\. The best news? January is an exceptional month to be eating these guys because, like the rest of us, they’ve been putting on weight to keep warm in the winter. 6\. **Wood ear mushrooms:** This common Asian ingredient is also called tree ear mushroom. In Chinese medicine, these are said to improve breathing, circulation and well-being. The ear-shaped cap is stemless and dark brown to black in color, and you can find them dried, like you would shiitake mushrooms. The beauty of wood wear mushrooms—and others like them—is that they’re a perfect way to add texture to any dish without unwanted calories. We can get behind anything that ups our well-being and not our weight. _This_ [_article_](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/food/6-offbeat-foods-you-should-add-your-2015-diet?xid=PS%5Ftime) _originally appeared on_ [_FWx.com_](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx)_._ _More from FWx:_ * [5 Worst Excuses for Not Eating Gluten](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/secrets/5-worst-excuses-not-eating-gluten?xid=PS%5Ftime) * [Diet Fads Show No Evidence of Long Term Benefits](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/secrets/diet-fads-show-no-evidence-long-term-benefits?xid=PS%5Ftime) * [7 Ways to Use Avocados that Go Beyond Guacamole](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/food/7-ways-use-avocados-go-beyond-guacamole?xid=PS%5Ftime) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] There's something we all enjoy about staying for dinner. You ever thought why? What was on your dinner table when you were younger? Chances are it had a lot to do with, what your doctor was telling you is healthy. Building a strong healthy body is like building a strong, beautiful building. If the foundation is weak, the whole building will be weak. It takes five fingers to point the way to healthful eating habits. Well, here we go. For years, the government published dietary guidelines. Meant to keep Americans healthy. There's a great deal to learn. Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you what you are. The body needs certain substances to live and grow. And remember, your body isn't just like an automobile. For years, the key measures of those guidelines were the same, cut fat from your diet. The committee's original report urged Americans to reduce their risk of heart attack. By reducing their intake of cholesterol down to the equivalent of about one egg a day. And those guidelines had an effect. From 1977 to 2012, per capita consumption of eggs fell by 9 %, beef by 37 %, whole milk by 72 %. Calories from saturated fat fell, while calories from supposedly safe carbohydrates increased. As one expert put it, it was a vast nutritional experiment. With nearly a million American's a year dropping dead from heart disease in the mid 80s, we had to try something. Nearly four decades later results are in. The experiment was a failure. Americans are sicker than they've ever been before. The prevalence of diabetes has gone up 157 % from 1980 to 2011. Nearly one in ten Americans now has the disease. Causing the public health system $ 245 billion a year. Heart disease is still the number one killer in the country. Americans are as obese as ever. So, what went wrong? Good old granola. Great for taste but loaded with fat. It doesn't take much of imagine a leap to assume that fat would make us fat, clog our arteries and raise the risk of heart disease. It turns out that saturated fat is a lot more complicated than we think. Carbohydrates and fats are nutrients. Like man, you need nutrients to live and grow. [ MUSIC ] Firstly, there are two kinds of cholesterol. LDL which is linked to heart disease and HDL which can be protective. Fats that course through the blood are known as triglycerides and high levels of those are linked to heart disease. Saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol but also raises HDL. Moving LDL buildup on arterial walls. So raising both, makes saturated fat a cardio wash. One key piece of information is that LDL seems to come in two forms. Large and fluffy, small and dense. Those smaller particles are linked to heart disease, while the larger ones are mostly benign. Saturated fat increases the number of large particles. The opposite happens with carbs. I don't get it. Researchers have long since discovered the kind of fats found in olives and in fish like salmon. Are actually heart protective. Now it turns out the fats found in meat and dairy, aren't as bad as we feared before. So that means by focusing so much on fats. We may actually have been making ourselves sicker. So, she brings up the subject of reduced- fat cheese. It's a fat- free [ UNKNOWN ]. Fat- free, cholesterol free. Low- fat granola. Reduced- fat Kettle chips. Reduced- fat Chips Ahoy. Lowfat cottage cheese. Non- fat yogurt is the perfect example. The thinking for consumers was simple. Fat was dangerous. This product had no fat. Therefore, it must be healthy. It's non- fat, which means less calories. [ MUSIC ] But amid the confusion about fat, we end up replacing it in our diets with sugars and carbohydrates, which meant our calorie intake was actually going up. When carbs and things like corn and white bread are ingested into your body, their converted into sugars. Those sugars convert to insulin cuz it's fat cells go into storage overdrive, leading to weight gain. Since fewer calories are then left to fill the body, you begin to feel hungry it means our metabolism begins to slow down in effort to save energy, we eat more and we gain more weight, never quite feeling full. As this process repeats, our cells become more resistant to insulin, which causes us to gain more weight, which increases insulin resistance in a vicious circle. Cut calories, and people just get hungrier. Obesity, diabetes, high triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol can all follow. Study after study has found it's very difficult to lose weight on a very low- fat diet. Possibly because fat and meat can produce a sense of satiety, that's hard to achieve with carbs, making it easier to simply stop eating. But it isn't just the increase in carbs that affects us. These processed, low saturated fat alternatives, come loaded with sugars, salt, preservatives, and even some unhealthy fats. So what's the real alternative? As one extra puts it, the cold hard truth about diet is that the only way to eat well, is to eat well. You'll be happier and you'll be healthier, if you focus on real whole foods, whether they have fat or not. Got it. 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