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Some trends from the past decade will easily carry over to the next (silver hair and stylish flats, we're looking at you). But others are best left behind.
Here are 10 things from the last 10 years to ditch before 2020.
A low-fat diet
Judging by the number of avocado toast photos shared on social media, one might assume the days of low-fat diets are over. But the craze that peaked in the 1990s is still around. A recent Gallup poll found that more than half of Americans try to avoid fat in their diet.
The problem: Avoiding fat often leads people to overconsume processed, carbohydrate-heavy foods.
"There was an unanticipated consequence” to the low-fat movement, says Alice Lichtenstein, a professor of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University and director of the school's Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory.
"When fat was taken out of products, it was replaced with refined carbohydrates,” which many health experts blame for the country's obesity epidemic, she explains.
Current advice: incorporate “healthy fats,” such as olive oil, soybean oil, omega-3-rich fish and avocados, into a balanced diet. Saturated fats (cream, butter and fatty meats) should be limited.
"I don't know how we're going to get rid of that low-fat message, but it's something that should be left behind,” Lichtenstein says.
Vaping
When electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were first introduced, they were promoted as a smoking cessation tool and a safe alternative to traditional cigarettes, which cause more than 480,000 deaths each year in the U.S.
But over the last decade, Americans have learned e-cigarettes are not harmless.
Vaping (the term used to describe e-cigarette use) has so far been linked to more than 2,500 hospitalizations and 54 deaths for lung injury, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports. It has also hooked a new generation on nicotine, while showing little evidence that e-cigarettes help adult smokers quit.
There are proven and safe methods for quitting smoking, however, including nicotine replacement therapy and federally approved medications. Public health experts still urge anyone who wants to stop smoking to talk to a doctor, nurse or trained counselor to figure out the best strategy.
Plastic straws
A small tool once ubiquitous to our grab-and-go culture is becoming more uncommon.
Plastic straws are being phased out in many areas of the country, thanks to efforts led by local lawmakers and big businesses, including Starbucks. The bans are part of a bigger push to cut down on all the single-use plastic that's piling up in landfills and polluting wildlife and waterways.
