Every year there are new health trends that take over the nation (and world).
So today, I'm sharing six health trend predictions that I think will be very big in 2025.
Some are pretty awesome, some are not so great, and others come with caveats.
Let's dive into the details so you can get prepared for what's to come.
High Protein Everything
For a long time we in the nutrition world were focused on either carbs or fats, hence the era of low fat/high fat diets and low carb/high carb diets.
But in all of that talk, we sort of "forgot" about protein.
Now, with increased awareness of the importance of protein for satiety, hunger prevention, sweet tooth reduction, metabolic health, bone health, weight loss and weight maintenance, more and more people are trying to up their protein intake.
Here's what you need to know:
Many companies will try and lean into this, but not in a way that supports your health or wellness goals.
Protein has been shown to help make achieving weight loss goals much easier while also preventing a slow metabolism, but not all protein is created equal.
For example, expect to see a rise in "high protein" junk food items. Think of foods like protein cookies, crackers, ice cream, pastas and chips.
Although these might have some added protein (probably in the form of poor quality pea protein), they also are still highly processed and nutrient poor.
They also likely have added sugars or artificial flavors that can hijack your satiety cues and get you to eat more than your body needs.
This counters the main satiety boosting benefit that protein provides in the first place.
Plus, these "high protein" snack food items are nutrient poor and still highly processed, meaning it's not ideal for gut health or wellness goals.
This is why although we make our own pasture-raised protein powder, we have never (and will never) made and sold protein bars, protein cereals or other protein treats.
We recommend using protein powder alongside other nutrient dense ingredients like greek yogurt, chia seeds, nuts, fruits and leafy greens.
So as we come into this era of "high protein everything", keep in mind that just because something is "high protein", it does not necessarily mean it will also support your goals.
GLP-1
You've probably heard of GLP-1's by now. If not, it's a line of prescription peptides that was previously used for Type 2 Diabetes but is now highly advertised for speedy weight loss.
Its advocates promote the fast weight loss and reduced hunger as the main benefits.
Because of this, weight loss companies like Weight Watchers have jumped on the bandwagon to help make these medications more widely available.
Here's what you need to know:
GLP-1 is naturally created in your body when you eat foods rich in protein, fat and fiber.
This is one of the reasons why higher protein diets have become so popular, because it makes you feel full and satisfied while also losing weight.
When you naturally raise GLP-1 with food, you feel full while also reaping the benefits of important micronutrients such as iron, vitamin A, folate, calcium and zinc.
These are required to ensure your immune, skeletal and metabolic systems are working efficiently.
But when you externally get GLP-1 from a shot, you get the "benefit" of satiety without the necessary micronutrients or protein.
This could lead to severe muscle loss, decreases in strength, and possibly an increase in micronutrient deficiency diseases.
In fact, we're already seeing severe muscle loss in those using GLP-1.
So as GLP-1's become more widely available, keep in mind that you can nutritiously raise your own GLP-1 by eating foods rich in protein, fat and fiber while also supporting wellness goals, too.
Digestive health
Digestion related issues such as IBS, constipation and SIBO continue to be on the rise. Plus, with increased awareness of the gut's impact on the rest of the body (ex: the gut-skin and gut-brain axis), there has been an increased interest in digestive health.
This has lead to a multitude of probiotic and prebiotic rich products, such as soda, to flood the market.
As people continue to struggle with gut health, you can expect to see more and more products that are centralized around this theme.
Here's what you need to know:
It's important to understand why prebiotic and probiotics can help gut health so that you can properly use it.
Bacteria (aka probiotics) can help to breakdown food and make it more digestible through a process called fermentation.
As it breaks food down, bacteria multiples and creates more of these "probiotics".
As a result of this fermentation, something that previously would have been difficult to breakdown in the gut (such as wheat, milk or cabbage) is suddenly made much more digestible (naturally fermented sourdough, yogurt and sauerkraut).
This is one of the main reasons why probiotic rich foods can be helpful for gut health: it reduces the stress on the GI tract by assisting with digestion.
It's not necessarily the bacteria that is the primary benefit per se, but the impact that bacteria has on the food we eat.
Probiotics themselves have also been found to have other benefits, but by just adding probiotics into food without also fermenting the tough-to-break-down food products, you're missing out on one of the major benefits that probiotics have to offer.
Gut health is also more than just probiotics. It is severely impacted (either positively or negatively) by our sleep, stress and activity.
An imbalance of any of those can result in a slowed MMC (gut cleaning process) and further gut health issues.
So as we enter into 2025, it's important to consider all aspects of gut health and not just rely on probiotic filled sodas.
Strength Training Over Cardio
In recent years there has been a huge shift away from cardio and toward strength training, especially for women.
Strength training helps support metabolic health, sustainable weight loss, strength and bone density. There's also research supporting that it helps reduce anxiety levels.
Considering women tend to suffer more greatly from osteoporosis in later years than men (about 80% of cases are from women), this is an especially impactful trend for women.
Strength training also helps to prevent muscle loss while losing weight, which prevents the metabolism from slowing down.
Here's what you need to know:
This is a very positive trend.
Although cardio has it's perks, strength training is equally as important for different reasons.
We need to have a balance of both cardio and strength training for best weight loss and longevity benefits.
But it's important to understand that strength training is different than cardio.
You don't want to strength train every single day, as this can lead to muscle loss (the exact opposite of what you're looking to achieve).
Unlike cardio which can be performed more frequently (in theory), strength training should only be used about 2-4 times per week.
When done properly, you should also be feeling progressively stronger every week.
If you don't have a history of strength training, it would be a good idea to either hire a trainer to create a program for you and show you the basic lifts, or to find a mentor to make sure you're doing it right.
Walking Outside
With Tiktok, there has been a massive increased interest in walking, especially walking outside.
The search for "local walking groups" has seen a 300% increase in the last year.
There has also been increased interest in big nature walks like the "Seven Sisters Hike" in the UK. (Look it up, it looks absolutely beautiful.)
More people are looking to get their steps in while also getting in nature.
Here's what you need to know:
This is another very positive trend.
Walking outside has been shown to help decrease stress levels and the stress hormone cortisol.
Considering stress is strongly tied to weight gain around the belly and heart disease, we could likely all benefit from doing more of it.
But you also don't need to go from zero walking to suddenly doing the Seven Sisters Hike (it is a 5-7 hour hike, after all).
Instead, I've found it best to first figure out your baseline and slowly increase your steps by 1,000 every few days or week until you hit at least 8,300 steps per day. You can use a step-tracker (like a FitBit) to help track your daily progress.
This will slowly condition your body to the increased activity and make it more doable for the long term.
From there, you can determine what your walking "sweet spot" is. For me, it's about 12,000-15,000 steps per day.
Eating For Nutrients
For decades, we've mostly been focused on macronutrients: protein, fat and carbs.
However, in all of this bustle, we've lost sight of what nutrition was originally built on: micronutrients.
These include things like iron, zinc, vitamin A, folate and vitamin B12.
These are required for the immune system, skeletal system and metabolism to function. A deficiency in these can lead to long term consequences like osteoporosis and nerve damage.
Because each of these don't necessarily drive weight loss, it's not been front of mind for quite a while.
However, lately more and more people are starting to become interested in the foods that are naturally rich in these important micronutrients.
You can expect to see more people interested in meals with liver, sardines, green leafy veggies, soaked and sprouted legumes, shrimp, lamb and whole milk.
Here's what you need to know:
This is one of my favorite trends (and I hope it sticks around!).
Properly balancing our macronutrients (protein, fat and carbs) and eating blood sugar stabilizing foods is very important.
However, we also need to eat foods that provide the micronutrients that keep our body running for the long term.
With the increase in ultra processed foods, we've been able to get our macronutrients but are sacrificing our micronutrients, to many of our detriment.
This might be one reason why anxiety is on the rise, as some researchers have seen that micronutrient deficiencies could cause increased anxiety and depression. (I can personally attest to this one. My anxiety was at my worst when I was eating a diet low in micronutrients. It significantly improved once I started to eat more red meat and dairy.)
As a consumer, it's important for you to know which foods are not only great sources of protein, fat and quality carbohydrates, but also micronutrients, so that you can reap all of the benefits that your meals have to offer.
It'll be interesting to see which of my health trend predictions come true next year!
Until next time.
❤️, Autumn
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