It’s a New Year! Even if you managed to sleep through the beginning of it (I stayed awake until 9pm, okay?) the world around you will bombard you with expectations. Everything from my email subscriptions to my YouTube channels was declaring that it was time for me to get serious about being healthy. One story declared that cucumbers were the new bread, and you could make cucumber sandwiches that would make you forget about your carbohydrate addictions.

I’m not sure if there is a person out there who would believe that headline.

I certainly have adopted trends along the way, because there was a period of time when I didn’t drink kombucha, didn’t know what hemp seeds were and left the final “re” off of barre. Some trends will die the slow January resolution death but others will become such an ingrained part of our health habits that by 2020 we will find it hard to believe that they weren’t always there.

Behold, your 2019 list of things to try, hopefully well past this month:

1) High tech wellness. For Christmas I bought my man a back massager that he can wear while he is on the computer. It feels shockingly like real hands. Wellness is becoming so convenient, there is no need to leave our homes to seek it. We can become hermits, but healthy hermits, with the use of apps and gadgets like the Mirror which lets you stream fitness classes while seeing yourself perform the exercises.
2) Plant based solutions. Even people who can’t commit to plant-centric eating can’t deny that plants are healthy. A&W committed to the meat-like texture of Beyond Meat for its veggie burger. Vegan jerky lies alongside its meat counterparts. In 2019, expect vegetables to come out of the shadows.
3) Doing nothing becomes the new doing everything. People used to humblebrag about how busy they were. Now we can brag about how clear our minds have become. From mediation apps to studios for napping, 2019 is all about taking the frenetic energy down a notch.
4) CBD in food and beauty products. Soups, salad dressings, mascara…expect to see CBD oil everywhere. (CNN dubbed it USA’s coolest food and drink ingredient!) (1) What a way to treat inflammation.
5) Oat is the new almond (milk). Cow milk sales continue to decline and milk alternatives are gaining traction. Almonds require six times as much water to grow as oats do (2). Oat milk is a more sustainable choice and it also happens to make a mean, super frothy latte.
6) Fitness is slowing down. Workouts seemed to get higher intensity with every passing year. Now fitness is becoming more mindful, with barre workouts, infrared sauna sessions and slow weight lifting gaining popularity.
7) Hormone health will be the new consideration. Startups are offering hormone testing as hormones affect everything from how you sleep to your heart health. (3) Spit into a tube and get back information that used to be only available in the doctor’s office.
8) Reusable packaging will become as important as the product. If a plastic water bottle makes you feel guilty, you aren’t the only one. Companies are finding inventive ways to reduce waste on their products, and wellness minded folks are choosing green products only. Fully recyclable paper cups, bamboo and cassava zero waste packaging and composable coffee are all inventions that are coming to the forefront. (4)