As we close the door on 2025 and step into a new year, it’s the perfect time to pause and take a clear-eyed look at what’s been happening in the diet and wellness world. 

Some trends genuinely supported health, others were recycled diet culture in disguise, and a few landed squarely in the complicated middle.

In today’s post, I’m reflecting on the diet and wellness trends that dominated 2025: what I liked, what I loathed, and what left me conflicted. I’m also sharing my predictions for what I believe we’ll see more of (and hopefully less of) in 2026.

If you’ve felt overwhelmed, confused, or skeptical about wellness messaging lately, you’re not alone. Let’s break it all down through a non-diet, intuitive eating lens.

Wellness Trends I Liked in 2025

Let’s start with the short list. (And yes, the fact that it’s short says something.)

Cottage Cheese’s Comeback

I did not have “cottage cheese renaissance” on my 2025 bingo card, but here we are.

Cottage cheese re-entered the spotlight as a high-protein, versatile food that people actually enjoy eating. And unlike many wellness trends, this one wasn’t wrapped in fear-mongering or extreme rules. It was simply food.

That’s a win.

A More Practical Focus on Protein

Protein continued to be a major focus in 2025, but what shifted was how people were consuming it.

Retail data showed an increase in ready-to-drink protein beverages and protein-fortified foods, alongside a decline in traditional protein powders. 

Translation? People were looking for realistic, accessible ways to meet protein needs-not just chugging chalky shakes.

From an intuitive eating standpoint, this is a step in the right direction. Protein plays an important role in satiety, blood sugar stability, and muscle maintenance, especially for women.

Fiber (and Beans!) Getting the Spotlight

Fiber finally started getting the attention it deserves, and beans had a bit of a glow-up moment too.

Fiber supports gut health, blood sugar regulation, cholesterol levels, satiety and digestion.

And beans? They’re affordable, accessible, and nutrient-dense. Watching them come back into favor felt like a quiet rebellion against ultra-restrictive wellness culture.

Strength Training for Women

I loved seeing more conversations around strength – not shrinking, burning, or “toning,” but strength.

More women are lifting weights for bone density, muscle preservation, longevity, energy and confidence. This shift away from cardio-as-punishment toward strength-as-support is a meaningful cultural change.

Wellness Trends I Loathed

Now for the longer list.

CGMs, Biohacking, and Obsessive Data Tracking

Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) and biohacking tools exploded in popularity, but not always for the right reasons.

For people without diabetes or medical indications, these tools often fuel food fear, obsession with numbers, and disconnection from hunger and fullness cues.

Health is not meant to be micromanaged 24/7. When “optimization” turns into anxiety, it’s no longer supportive.

Electrolytes Everywhere

Electrolytes became the new wellness accessory, but most people don’t need them constantly.

Unless you’re endurance training, experiencing excessive sweating, or dealing with specific medical needs, your body likely doesn’t require daily electrolyte supplementation. This trend often masked appetite suppression and restriction under a “hydration” label.

Colostrum, Beef Tallow, and Bovine Everything

Colostrum supplements and beef tallow skincare pushed wellness into truly bizarre territory.

Not only is there limited evidence to support these trends for the general population, but they’re also expensive, unnecessary, and often rooted in fear-based marketing.

Just because something is “ancestral” doesn’t mean it’s appropriate or beneficial.

Fasting and the Carnivore Diet

These trends aren’t new, but they remained loud in 2025. Fasting and carnivore-style eating continue to worsen relationships with food, increase binge-restrict cycles, exclude essential nutrients, and glorify deprivation

For most people, these approaches harm metabolic and mental health far more than they help.

Longevity, Cellular Health, and Anti-Aging Panic

The wellness industry’s obsession with longevity often crossed into fear-mongering territory.

When wellness messaging suggests you’re constantly one wrong meal away from cellular damage or early death, that’s not health – that’s anxiety dressed up as science.

Religious Diets

Trends like the Apostolic Diet or the David Diet were especially concerning.

These diets are manipulative, morally loaded, and dangerous for vulnerable populations. When food choices are framed as righteousness or sin, harm follows.

The Trends I Both Liked and Loathed

GLP-1 Medications

This conversation is nuanced, and it needs to be. I love GLP-1 medications for people with diabetes or pre-diabetes, PCOS, fatty liver disease, insulin or leptin resistance, or high cardiometabolic risk.

These medications can be life-changing and protective for the pancreas, heart, kidneys, and potentially even brain health.

But I loathe how diet culture has co-opted them.

Using GLP-1s solely for thinness reinforces weight = health myths, fuels body comparison and pressure, and leads to malnutrition, muscle loss, and nutrient deficiencies when unsupported.

I’m not mad at you if you’re on a GLP-1. Many of my clients are. My concern is the lack of nutrition education and guidance, which I believe we’ll see the fallout from in the coming years.

AI for Food and Wellness

AI can be a helpful tool for meal ideas, education, and accessibility. But when AI replaces body attunement or becomes another rigid authority telling you what to eat? That’s where it becomes problematic.

My Diet and Wellness Predictions for 2026

So where are we headed?

1. GLP-1s Are Here to Stay

The conversation will continue, but I hope it becomes more responsible, nuanced, and health-centered rather than weight-obsessed.

2. A Full-Blown Fiber Frenzy

Expect a wave of fiber-forward products in 2026-especially beverages.Fiber aligns with gut health, satiety, blood sugar stability, and GLP-1-adjacent outcomes. I think brands will lean hard into this.

3. Protein Gets More Specific 

We’ll see “protein for a purpose,” including midlife muscle preservation, perimenopause framing, GLP-1 muscle-protection messaging, and more targeted education instead of generic “20g protein”.

4. UPFs and Cleaner Marketing

Brands will respond to consumer skepticism with simpler ingredient lists, careful health claims, and strategic labeling. It’s not perfect, but it’s a shift in the right direction.

5. 5. My Biggest Hope for 2026

Women realizing they don’t want to diet anymore. That they want strength, energy, and sustainability, and health is a long-term process-not a quick fix

I see more skepticism, more discernment, and more trust in the body.

And if you’re reading this post? You’re already part of that shift.

2025 showed us both progress and persistence of old diet culture in new packaging. As we move into 2026, my hope is not for a “New Year, New You”, but a New Year, SAME You…just more supported.

You don’t need fixing. You don’t need optimizing. You are worthy exactly as you are.

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