Sardines have never exactly been considered glamorous. They are tiny oily fish packed into tins, sometimes with their skin and bones intact, and opening a can at work is one of the easiest ways to offend your coworkers. Apparently, none of that matters anymore.
Sardines are having a viral moment in 2026, driven in part by “sardinemaxxing,” a social media trend centered on intentionally eating more sardines. The term is being used pretty loosely. For some people, sardinemaxxing simply means adding canned sardines to meals more often because they are high in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and several important micronutrients. For others, it has become tangled up with the much more extreme “sardine fast,” where sardines are essentially the only food consumed for a short period. Those are not quite the same thing.
Sardinemaxxing also does not appear to have an official diet plan, required number of cans, or precise length of time. Despite some very enthusiastic interpretations of the memetic term “maxxing,” you do not need to spend seven days living entirely sardines. Here is what the trend actually means, why sardines are suddenly everywhere, how it overlaps with keto and fasting, and whether there is any good reason to start eating more of them. Continue reading “What Is Sardinemaxxing? The Viral Sardine Diet Trend Explained”