Clear your mind (and guts) with 2016’s health trends

Some call it a wellness revolution, others a pain in the backside. Whatever you think of the obsession with all things natural and healthy, one thing is certain — it’s not going anywhere.

In 2015, we had wearable fitness, green juicing, kale and avocado with everything and mindfulness everywhere. In 2016, we face jacked - u p versions of all that plus a host of trends promising to make us feel better and live longer. Indeed, in this month’s global food and drink trend report for 2016 from market research company Mintel, eight out of the 12 trends identified related to health and wellbeing. “Consumer demands for natural and less processed food and drinks are forcing companies to remove artificial ingredients,” the report said. Here are the health trends to watch in 2016.

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Exercise: Fitness Prozac

New feminist icon Lena Dunham, star of the hit TV series Girls and force behind the new women’s chat website lennyletter.com, recently gushed about how much she loved her trips to A-list trainer Tracy Anderson’s New York studio. Dunham’s objective was not weight loss, she said, but alleviating anxiety. “To those struggling with anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, I know it’s mad annoying when people tell you to exercise, and it took me 16 medicated years to listen. I’m glad I did. It ain’t about the ass, it’s about the brain.” Get ready for a host of classes and books on the trend, kicking off with The Feelgood Plan: Happier, Healthier and Slimmer in 15 Minutes a Day by Dalton Wong and journalist Kate Faithfull-Williams.

Nutrition: The carb comeback

Rice, oats and even — whisper it— bread are back on the menu as we get smart on carbs and learn to distinguish the types that provide nutrients and lasting energy and those that make us fat. One study of 5 000 consumers found that one in two could tell a “good” carb from a “bad” carb. Body Fuel, a book by ex-US forces operative Mark Lauren, separates carbs into “slow fuel” (vegetables, fruits, whole-grain rice, oats, pasta, et cetera) and “fast fuel” (sugars, processed and refined foods) and puts both back on the menu, albeit in controlled amounts.

Technology: Get fit -- get rewards

In the UK, a swathe of start-ups is applying the air miles concept to fitness and health. Free app Earthmiles links with fitness tracking devices such as Jawbone Up and Fitbit or step apps such as Strava, RunKeeper, Moves and Map My Run and allows you to earn discounts and offers depending on how active you are. (This is happening in South Africa, too.)

Eating: Go ’veggan’

In 2012, when vegan Ellen DeGeneres came out about eating eggs, the vegan community came down on her with a ton of tofu-fuelled rage. But there are no hard and fast rules on veganism, and a growing number of vegans now eat eggs — if they know they’re cruelty- free. “I like the philosophy and health benefits of veganism, but I like to add extra protein into my diet, so I choose organic free-range eggs,” says nutritionist Rick Hay, a veggan — a vegan who eats eggs.

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Medicine: Faecal transplants

Out guts are home to gardens  of bacteria, the balance of which is essential to good health. The idea behind poo transplants — faecal microbiota transplantation — is to extract healthy bacteria from the faeces of a healthy person and transplant them to repopulate a not-so-healthy person’s intestinal garden.

Diets: Souping -- the new juicing

Green juice fasts and detoxes are set to be replaced with cleanses and diets that use healthy soups as a weight-loss tool. In their book The Soup Cleanse, Angela Blatteis and Vivienne Vella bring you soup detoxes on which you can lose weight and feel nourished.

Drinks: Kombucha, a new coconut water

Fermented  foods are the big news of 2016 as it becomes clear that our gut bacteria can benefit from foods such as sauerkraut, kefir (fermented milk) and miso paste. Kombucha (pronounced kom-boo-ka), made by fermenting black or green tea with bacteria and yeast, is replacing coconut water as the drink of the moment. — © The Daily Telegraph, London