Do you love to stay abreast of all the hottest health and wellness trends? If yes, then this brief article will undoubtedly delight you. Read on!
With many health trends, new diets, and fitness regimes being rolled out every other day, keeping up with all the media flurry and hype is quite a tedious task. While most of the so-called health trends, ideas, and products come and go unnoticed, others seem to go the extra mile.
We shortlisted some of the leading health trends and came up with these top 7 effective health trends that are here to stay. If you are a tech fascista or an alternative therapy lover, this article has spectacular insights for you.
7 Health Trends That Are Here to Stay
1. Intermittent Fasting
Several scientific studies have verified the health benefits of intermittent fasting. Typically, intermittent fasting can be classified into several broad categories, such as:
- Fasting for 16 hours and having food only during a 6- to 8-hour window in the day
- Fasting every second day
- Eating for five days and then fasting entirely for the remaining two days of a week
- Fasting entirely for two days once in every ten days
- Fasting for a complete 24-hour cycle once or twice a week
- Warrior diet: eating only one large meal at night
Several science-based studies have concluded that intermittent fasting has many health benefits. It helps to reduce inflammation, lowers the risk of cardiovascular disorders, helps lose weight, slow down the aging process, and improve sleep.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting:
Weight loss is the most apparent advantage of intermittent fasting(1). When combined with a regular exercise regime, the weight-loss benefit of intermittent fasting increases considerably. Fasting helps your body switch from burning carbohydrates to burning fat.
On adding exercise to the equation, the physical activities help boost the fat burning potential of your body along with counteracting premature aging and muscle wasting. Also, intermittent fasting helps stabilize the effects of ghrelin, an active hormone that regulates hunger, to help you lose weight effectively.
Other Benefits of Intermittent Fasting Include:
- Improves brain health
- Promotes insulin sensitivity
- Fights free radical damage
- Helps flush out toxins from your body
- Reduces triglyceride levels
If you are breastfeeding or pregnant, underweight, diabetic, or have some eating disorder, consult your physician before going for an intermittent fasting program.
2. Healthy Eating
Healthy eating has always been a priority plan for people looking to maintain good health and overall wellness. Also known as non-diet diets, healthy eating is based on the concept that it is vital to eat for vitality, energy, strength, and overall wellness. However, this concept tends to take a different shape for different people.
For some, it can be based on veganism or vegetarianism, while others may prefer one of the following:
Keto: Also known as a ketogenic diet, a keto is a high-fat and low-carb diet(2) that resembles the Atkins and the low-carb diets in several ways. It comprises of significantly decreasing carbohydrate consumption and replacing it with fat-based products. Typically, this reduction in carbohydrates pushes our body into ketosis, also known as a metabolic state.
DASH: DASH or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension is a diet suggested for people looking to regulate their blood pressure and fend off their risks of cardiovascular heart disease such as stroke. The DASH diet focuses on lean meats, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.
Mediterranean: The intake of diet that concentrates on plant-based foods, such as vegetables and fruits, whole grains, nuts, and legumes. Substituting butter with healthier fats such as canola oil and olive oil is a significant part of the Mediterranean diet.
Also, the Mediterranean diet focusses on the use of spices and herbs in place salt for flavoring the foods, while the use of red meat is also limited to only a few times a month.
Some programs work on a healthy-eating concept instead of a weight-loss idea. Numerous scientific evidence exists for both of these eating programs, so it is up to you to figure out which one chooses your body better.
[Read: Keto Diet for Weight Loss]
3. Conscious Consumption
Conscious consumption has much more to it than mere mindful eating. Typically, conscious consumption focuses on gaining awareness about the environmental impact of our food, fitness choices, and beverages. Also, it concentrates on making redistribution, recycle, reuse, and sustainability a significant and integral part of our daily lives.
Conscious consumption encourages you to:
- Avoid excess packaging,
- Choose organic and local products
- Say no to plastic
- Adopt composting
- Support eco-conscious producers
- Limit food wastage
4. Meal Delivery
Our hectic schedules are the main reason why meal delivery services are in trend now. This way, a large number of people are choosing healthier eating options instead of fast food junks.
Amidst a busy schedule, most of us do not get time to prepare nutritious and fresh meals every day, and that’s where these meal delivery services come in handy.
Meal delivery services provide you fresh homelike food at the most favorable prices. Pick your pleasure: smoothies, juices, vegan, paleo, organic, veggie platters, snacks, breakfast, lunch or dinner – and your meal arrives at your doorsteps in no time.
[ Read: Say No to Plastic ]
5. Plant-Based Diet
Whether you are a vegan (no animal products) or vegetarian, there has been a drastic increase in the number of people adopting this lifestyle.
As a result, sales of vegan and vegetarian foods in restaurants and supermarkets have seen a rapid surge, with many individuals going for these options.
As per the Nestle brand, the demand for plant-based products will continue to increase, and this healthy eating trend is “here to stay.”
6. Fun Fitness and Playful Workouts
As per a study by the American Cancer Society (ACS), 40% of women would engage more in physical activities if it felt less of a chore.
In That Case, Why Not Look at the Scope of Fun Fitness as a Wellness Trend?
Health clubs and gyms are now providing a wide range of fitness programs that focus on recreating your childhood games. These games help you enjoy the activity and get the fitness benefits out of them without feeling monotonous and bored.
Give hula hooping, ballet-inspired workouts, and cheerobics (a fitness regime prepared by combining the cheerleading activity with aerobics) a try. If you are hesitant at doing them in the open, do it at home. Go for a hula hoop, skipping rope, or a trampoline to get a playful yet significant workout.
Other fun fitness activities may include:
- Zumba
- Taichi
- Snowboarding
- Roller skating
- Aerial yoga
You can practice any of the fun activities given above to stay fit.
[Read: Foods to Eat Before Running]
7. Healthy Travel
We are in a fast-paced society where it is difficult to make a trip and eat healthy while we are at it.
Fortunately, a large number of resorts and hotels are now addressing these needs, particularly for business travelers. Before planning a vacation, do some research to figure out if your destination has local or organic food choices, stress relief massages, or in-room fitness options.
Some of the ways to make your travel healthy include:
- Make sure you carry probiotics with you. Probiotics help avoid sugar cravings, maintain regular bowel movement, and boost immunity.
- Say “no” to bread. If you can’t avoid bread entirely, consider eating it plain (without butter).
- Order poached or steamed foods rather than fried.
- Limit the consumption of caffeine and alcohol.
- Prefer healthy snacks such as homemade muffins, fresh fruit, dry figs, yogurt, trail mix, dry roasted beans, and wasabi peas.
Amidst our hectic schedules and a growing number of health risks, the importance of health and wellness becomes imperative. While many health trends are introduced every second day, only a handful of them are useful and meant to stay.
From eating a healthy diet, intermittent fasting, conscious consumption, and fun activities, several health and wellness trends ensure you stay fit and active.
The 7 effective health trends discussed in this post will help you adopt a healthy lifestyle. Staying fit with these is no more an unachievable feat.
However, not every trend discussed above can guarantee the same result for everyone. Therefore, you should consult a registered medical practitioner before going with any new health trend.
