The Annual January Spike in Paleo Diet Interest

In 2010, 2011 and 2012, there was a spike in interest in the Paleo diet online in January (when people make New Year's resolutions to lose weight), and 2013 was no exception. Each year the spike gets larger. You can see it at Google Trends:

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=paleo%20diet&cmpt=q

You can also see that the "Paleo diet" search term eclipsed "vegan diet"

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=paleo%20diet%2C%20vegan%20diet&cmpt=q

and "vegetarian diet":

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=paleo%20diet%2C%20vegetarian%20diet&cmpt=q

and even "Atkins diet". There's still quite a ways to go before "Paleo diet" reaches the level that "Atkins diet" was at in January 2004, though:

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=paleo%20diet%2C%20atkins%20diet&cmpt=q

Interestingly, the interest in "Paleo diet" doesn't drop off substantially after January like it does with most other diets and dieting in general:

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=diet&cmpt=q

Could this suggest that people find that the diet works, stick with it, and continue to be interested in learning more about it for a long time afterwards? Is this one of the few diets that really does become a long-term way of eating instead of just a quick-fix fad?

CrossFit has contributed greatly to the growth in the Paleo diet trend and it too has experienced extraordinary growth in interest:

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=crossfit


1.24.13 update: "Paleo diet" was the top diet search term for the week ending January 5th, 2013: http://www.experian.com/blogs/marketing-forward/2013/01/08/the-paleo-diet-is-top-2013-diet-search/ "Gluten free diet" was also popular. The broad concept of the Paleo template is rapidly eclipsing all other diets.