Every year, dozens of health fads come into fashion. Some stick around, while others recede from memory, never to be heard from again. As we enter 2016, here are some of the health trends on our radar for the upcoming year.
Wearable tech — wearable tech will be more popular than ever this year, going from being used by health-conscious early adopters to having a wider acceptance by the rest of the population. In addition to this, wearable tech will begin to blend more fully with a variety of health apps, enabling users to not only keep track of daily calories expended, but also to log long-term health data for future uses that may not even have been invented yet.
Power bowl meals — a new trend that’s popular on the two coasts right now is meals entirely contained in a bowl. The basic premise is that a bowl is a convenient way to hold a meal, it prevents us from overeating, and helps to us eat healthy when it includes all the food groups—vegetables, grains, and protein. The trend started out with breakfast and smoothie bowls, but has now branched out to lunch and dinner as well. There’s even a bowl-centric cookbook coming out, which is a sure-fire marker of a health trend.
Seaweed — as the health-minded continue their search for the new miracle food, seaweed has emerged as the next hot vegetable. With their high nutritional content and relative abundance, seaweeds will surely be making a name for themselves this year.
Ancient Grains — another trend that started in 2015, ancient grains are going to continue growing in popularity this year. Grains like quinoa, millet, amaranth, spelt, and farro went out of fashion with the advent of modern agriculture, but are now making a strong comeback with consumers who are trying to steer away from genetically modified grains.
Indoor Running Groups — essentially a kind of SoulCycle for runners, these classes feature a room full of treadmills and a coach to talk you through the sprints, inclines, and jogging sections. As with cycling groups, having a coach to talk you through that particularly difficult section of the workout (and also having others doing the same course alongside you to shame you into trying your best) can mean all the difference in pushing yourself and getting the most of your workout.
With these recent health trends, you should have plenty of things to try out this year. But remember: the key to good health is rarely the latest fashionable diet; more often, it tends to be a simple, healthy diet and regular exercise, in whatever form you enjoy.
