Whether it's part of your New Year's resolution or just a way to keep health care costs down, here are 10 healthy habits to take on in 2017.

The new year always brings new resolutions, and as health care becomes an ever more prominent factor in people's lives (not to mention budgets), its importance often leads to greater interest in ways to get, or stay, healthy, rather than having to resort to medical treatment.

According to Natural Grocers, which interviewed a panel made up of the company's category managers, nutrition experts and editorial staff, there are 10 trends in nutrition and health that are expected to be top of mind in 2017.

Headlines surrounding not just what we eat, but how it's sourced and how we consume it have made people far more interested in where the contents of their dinner plates (or glasses) come from.

More creative ways to expand our diets have led to the potential for more nutritionally sound meals — and sometimes a taste of the exotic brings more to the table than flavor.

Here are the 10 trends Natural Grocers predicts will be the most influential in the coming year.

10. Supplements — not always pills — can improve diet

Although most people recognize that they're probably lacking some nutrients in their diet, thanks to an overly busy lifestyle and possible fondness for unhealthy processed foods, that doesn't mean that they look forward to downing a fistful of vitamin pills every day.

That's where the inventiveness of manufacturers comes into play; Natural Grocers points out that “new and often less intimidating forms of dietary supplements” such as “tasty fish oil liquid swirls, multivitamin gummies, superfood-rich smoothie mixes and collagen powders” can fill the gap.

9. Fats are no longer evil

Recent research is showing that “healthy” fats are actually an essential part of the diet — or should be.

A Washington Post article last year highlighted a study done on the so-called Mediterranean diet by Hannah Bloomfield, associate chief of staff for research for the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and a professor at the University of Minnesota, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It found that the evidence was strong enough to have individual doctors bring up such a diet on a case-by-case basis to their patients.

Says Natural Grocers, “Fats from coconuts, olives and avocados are appearing in a variety of products and full-fat dairy is also making a comeback. This is a positive trend as fat-soluble vitamins like vitamins E and A are frequently missing from Americans' diets.”

8. Snacking can be a healthy way to eat

One would hope that snacking can be healthy, since, according to a study from Private Label Manufacturers Association, 62 percent of millennials snack throughout the day.

With so much eating done via snacks instead of sit-down meals, Natural Grocers says snacks in the form of low-sugar, non-GMO and/or gluten-free products such as meat bars, hummus, vegetable dips and sardines will drive the snack trend.

7. Naturally fed cattle produce healthier meat, milk, and supplements

It's a step in the right direction to eliminate from your diet any milk produced with the use of bovine growth hormone, but going it one better is to use only milk from grass-fed cows and goats, says Natural Grocers. Grasses are their natural diet, thus healthier for the cows.

But rather than just stopping at dairy, Natural Grocers says grass-fed meat and even dietary supplements like whey protein are now being sourced from grass-fed cattle.

6. Cutting food waste is good for people and for the environment

We waste a huge amount of food — nearly 40 percent a year in the U.S. alone. Globally, it's approximately a third of all food produced, which translates to approximately 1.3 billion tons, according to Food and Agriculture.

Taking steps to reduce food waste not only means that the food we produce will go farther and feed more people, but will also cut greenhouse gas emissions — which, according to National Geographic in 2015, amounted to more than 3.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (from energy that goes into the production, harvesting, transporting, and packaging of wasted food) and which, if it were a country, would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter after the U.S. and China.

5. Wheat noodles are being displaced by spiralized veggies

Is it a craze? Maybe not. “Zoodles,” as they are dubbed, are zucchini squash spiralized with a specialized cutter to resemble regular noodles and used as a substitute for them in all sorts of dishes.

But it's not just zucchini; everything from sweet potatoes to beets to jicama and daikon is spiralized these days, as reported by Epicurious, and substituted in all sorts of dishes.

For folks with gluten intolerance — and even those who just want to get away from over-processed wheat pasta — this suddenly broad field of substitutes offers the opportunity to indulge in dishes that perhaps have been off the menu for years, as well as the chance to invent new recipes and add more vegetables into their diet.

4. Turmeric offers a lot more than flavor

Long known for its delicious flavor, turmeric can do more than brighten a dish; it's been used for more than 4,000 years to treat a number of conditions. Studies have shown that it has anti-inflammatory properties, can help fight infections, arthritis and ulcerative colitis and, according to Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center, even assist in the battle against cancer.

3. Mocktails could tempt those trying to cut down on alcohol's calories

Mocktails are just cocktails without the booze — but for folks looking to cut calorie consumption by refraining from alcohol, they can be tasty and festive at the same time without the dietary concerns introduced by fermentation.

And for folks determined to start off the New Year by cutting alcohol from their diets, whether for the short or the long term, the fact that even prominent bars and restaurants are starting to cater to abstainers by offering a selection of mocktails is a welcome encouragement.

They do seem to be gaining steam, with both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reporting on their prevalence in places better known for serving the more potent versions.

2. Organics lead to better health, and a healthier environment

Although there's been considerable debate over whether organic food is actually healthier, substantial research has been done on the matter, and a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, reported on earlier this year by NPR, has weighed in in favor of organics, finding that higher concentrations of nutrients exist in organically grown vegetables.

And if that's not enough, remember that organic foods won't contain pesticide residues (or at least, not as much as conventionally grown produce).

Organic farming is also easier on the environment, since it abstains from pesticides and chemical fertilizers and instead employs methods that restore nutrients to the land naturally. Ongoing USDA studies, as reported by the Washington Post last year, found numerous benefits to organic agriculture, including more fertile soil, less use of resources, and no contamination from pesticides.

1. Ethical eating boosts humane treatment of farm animals

The elimination of inhumane confinement methods for farm animals, as well as inhumane methods of slaughter, is a matter of common sense.

The high use of antibiotics in the feed of overcrowded farm animals used to be justified by agribusinesses as cutting down on disease, but what it has done is the opposite, increasing the existence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that not only endanger people when found in meat, but also pass through animals' systems to present the potential for contamination of other food products, such as eggs, fruits and vegetables.

According to the CDC, there are plenty of opportunities for contamination from the field to the henhouse and the slaughterhouse.

Many of these can be eliminated by treating animals more humanely, adhering to standards of cleanliness, eliminating inhumane methods of confinement and increasing oversight of slaughterhouses and processing plants to ensure contamination does not occur and diseased animals are not entering the food chain.

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10 nutritional health trends for 2017

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