This year’s hot health trends
Hippy foods and live-streamed workouts are among the latest fitness must-haves, says Jessica Salter
Live-streamed workouts and eating insects
If you’re hanging off the edge of your seat to hear what the new kale is, then wait no further. It’s still kale: sales increased by 66per cent last year, but now it’s being added to baby food and doggy treats, as well as human breakfast smoothie bowls, according to research conducted for Market Watch. You might roll your eyes, but the wellness trend responsible is big business: a £3 trillion and then some industry according to the Global Wellness Institute.
Last year was the year athleisure became admissible workwear, crystal therapy was acceptable dinner party fodder and single exercise classes started costing £25 a pop at boutique gyms. So what does 2018 have in store for a nation more obsessed about health than ever?
This looks like the year that hippy health food will finally go mainstream. Along with a carton of milk (or nut mylk) you’ll be popping the fermented drink kefir into your supermarket trolley, and cricket flour into your Bake Off show-stoppers. And a ready-made curry in front of the telly will be forever transformed when you learn that the meat has been replaced with a high-tech soy product created with the seal of approval from Ferran Adrià, former head chef of the Michelin-starred elbulli. Sound appetising? Well that’s just for starters. Here’s what else will be big in the next 12 months.
PROTEIN HIT INSECTS
If last year was all about protein powder for maximum muscle gain, this year it’s insects you need to be crunching. Many contain up to 80per cent protein, as well as being rich in essential amino acids and omega-3 fatty acids.
Angelina Jolie said her children eat crickets “like Doritos”, and top chefs like Heston Blumenthal and Noma’s René Redzepi have served insects to their guests. You can already buy packets of dried mealworms, or cricket flour to use in cakes, and protein bars from health food shops (try Jimini’s apricot, goji chia and cricket protein bar from jiminis.co.uk). The UN has declared edible insects as the food of the future and as a sector, it is expected to be worth around £600million by 2024, according to Nicola Temple, biologist and author of a new book, The Evolution and Future of Processed Food. Want to inch into the trend? Try Anty Gin, Cambridge Distillery, £210; each bottle contains the essence of 62 wood ants (cambridgedistilleryshop.co.uk).
FOOD VEGAN MEAT
There’s no hotter food trend than veganism. The Vegan Society says the UK now has 350 per cent more vegans than 10 years ago, with almost half of them aged between 15 and 34. Why? “Following a vegan diet will see a reduction in trans fats and processed foods, a healthier gut because of the higher amounts of fibre and prebiotic foods eaten and, of course, it helps the environment and with animal welfare,” explains Angelique Panagos, a nutritional therapist.
But if you are already struggling with Veganuary, take note from Japp Korteweg, a ninth generation Dutch farmer. When he decided he was “sick of seeing animals getting slaughtered” but still wanted to eat steak, he rebranded himself as The Vegetarian Butcher and created meat substitutes that looked and tasted identical to real meat. His soy-based chicken even convinced Ferran Adrià it was the real thing. But the real accolade? Korteweg’s bratwurst sausages finished in a top five of a poll of “best bangers in Leeds”. Now he has just launched a ready meal line with Waitrose; the (virtuous) Thai green curry in particular is a winner.
FITNESS NETFLIX-STYLE CLASSES
Remember the Green Goddess and Mr Motivator? Well the TV instructor has been reimagined, and live streaming of workouts is one of the fastestgrowing area of fitness, according to market researchers Mintel. For access to world class instructors, you still have to book (and pay), but instead of braving communal changing rooms, you can work out at home.
Forte.fit (free month trial) gives you virtual access to a range of swanky New York studios, where you can pick from Pilates to HIIT classes. For supermodel abs, try balletbeautiful. com created by Mary Helen Bowers, the celebrity trainer who worked with Natalie Portman for her role in Black Swan – $39.99 (£30) per month or $9.99 (£7) per class. But best of all is Yogaia, a Finnish studio, where teachers can see students through their webcams and offer feedback during the live classes (£5.92 per month, yogaia.com).
The world’s largest multi-studio fitness membership, Classpass, announced in December that they would be joining the live streaming market. Classpass Live, as the standalone platform will be called, will offer new classes five days a week. Pass the remote.
GADGET THE YEAR OF THE EBIKE
Norwegian and Dutch studies found that people cycle further and more often on an electric bike than on a standard one, while the University of Nebraska found that pedelec users burned the same amount of calories as manual bike riders; they just got around the course quicker. Nearly 30per cent of new bikes in Holland were ebikes, and next year the UK is set to catch up. Pedelec company Volt, with more than 100 dealers around the country, reported a 55per cent increase in volume sales last year, with more predicted in 2018. Try the sleek-looking Infinity, £2,299, voltbikes.co.uk.
DRINK ALCOHOL-FREE “BOOZE”
As our cover story shows, alcohol is fast falling out of fashion and, in response, dry bars are on the up, as are premium alcohol-free spirits, sodas and wines. And even top wine purveyors are muscling in on the trend. Borough Wines and Beers has announced it will be supplying two booze-free brands, Lurvills Delight, which includes a deliciously dry nettle, rhubarb and juniper fizzy soda, and Nonsuch Shrubs, “uplifting drinking vinegar” (the sweet Peach and Basil is weirdly reminiscent of Nineties alcopops) as well as developing a zero per cent gin.
APP MOODY-U
Hormones are suddenly big business. One of the best new innovations is the recently launched wearemoody.com, which calls itself a digital ecosystem for hormones, cycles and moods. Users build a profile, then get a newsletter with personalised advice on how to balance cycle and symptoms. This year it will launch as an app.
“Moody-u will track, predict and forecast your mood and hormone cycles by connecting data such as steps, sleep, sex and cycle directly to your calendar,” Amy Thompson, the co- founder, says. “This will allow every woman to plan their month with moods and hormones in mind.”
GUT HEALTH KEFIR
Yes, kefir has been something the wellness set have been fermenting at home for a while, but it’s now on the high street in healthy fast food chain Leon, and in Tesco and Waitrose.
For the uninitiated, it’s a cultured, fermented drink made by adding kefir grains – cultures of yeast and lactic acid bacteria – to milk. Because it has around 30 strains of so-called “good” bacteria, it’s a potent source of probiotics, which boost our gut health, improving blood sugar levels, cholesterol and digestion.
Those further along their kefir journey are even lathering it on their skin. Try skin lotions (from £8) by Welsh farmers, The Chuckling Goat, chucklinggoat.co.uk.