Sunday, 11 December 2016

THE TOP WELLNESS TRENDS OF 2017 ARE HERE!

No. 1
WHY INFLAMMATION-FIGHTING FOODS ARE FILLING UP YOUR GROCERY CART
Fighting inflammation with food is quickly becoming a major health priority—and for a good reason, considering inflammation is linked to everything from bloating and acne to life-threatening illnesses, say physicians and researchers.
“We expect to see the market for inflammation-fighting foods to grow 7 percent by 2020 and expect 2017 to be a big year regarding new product announcements and continued research and development,” says Deborah Barrington, a senior editor at Industry Dive.
Inflammation-fighting ingredients are already trending on Pinterest. “Turmeric was one of our trending flavors in our recent Pinsights Flavor Report and specifically turmeric lattes. Ginger tea is also a trending search, up 20 percent,” confirms Stephanie Kumar, partner insights lead at Pinterest.
It’s no coincidence that many healthy food trends—from the zoodle (zucchini noodle) and cauliflower rice to nut milk and vegan cheese—are substitutes for inflammatory ingredients like gluten, grains, and dairy.
Expect to see food brands to capitalizing on the buzz in 2017: Starbucks just planted its flag with a new anti-inflammatory drink made with cayenne called the Chile Mocha.
 No. 2

 MEET WORKLEISURE:  ATHLEISURE IS TAKING ON  THE WORKPLACE

  Thanks to athleisure, life has become a lot more comfortable. But the one place fashionable fitness clothes have yet to fully infiltrate? The office. And major brands are taking note, designing what Well+Good has termed workleisure—activewear’s answer to machine-  washable, office-appropriate business attire.
 From new lifestyle brands like Aday, Betabrand, and Kit and Ace to activewear stalwarts like Lululemon and Under  Armour, the companies that dress you for the gym now want to dress you for the office. “For years, I’d been bugging our design team to make pieces that were athletic, on-trend, work appropriate, machine-washable, and beautiful,” explains Katie Warner Johnson, co-founder of Carbon38.
“Women who hop on planes like they’re taxis and race between meetings need workwear with activewear DNA. So for each new collection, we include pieces that can transition from the bicycle to the boardroom,” says Johnson.
It’s an entirely new category of clothing: While these pieces aren’t designed with a half-marathon in mind, they incorporate the technical specs of your favorite leggings and tanks (anti-stink technology, no wrinkling) and use them to create office-appropriate silhouettes—from trousers and dresses to blouses and blazers.
“People are living more active lives, explains Lululemon Lab’s director of future textiles, Pascale Gueracague. “We aspire to stay ahead of that and artfully blend the best performance textile innovation with a sense of beauty, artistry, fashion, and craftsmanship.” Expect your work week to get a lot more comfortably chic.
  No. 3

 CANNABIS GETS  SERIOUSLY  COMMERCIAL

 Retail brands now want to be your cannabis dealer, with pot-infused foods, beauty products, and other consumer g  goods that bottle the plant’s much-buzzed-about healing benefits.
 These very legal products won’t make you high (sorry!).  They use non-psychoactive extracts from the plant—most notably, cannabidiol or CBD. (The psychoactive THC  content is also below the US legal limit of .03 percent.)
“A growing body of scientific research shows CBD has the power to reduce anxiety and stress, lower inflammation, relax the body and mind, and subtly lift the mood,” explains Whitney Tingle of Sakara, which recently introduced CBD-oil chocolates to its line of superfood snacks.
CBD is also showing up in skin-care brands, like CBD For Life and Lord Jones, which make anti-inflammatory creams. Aceso’s cannabinoid drink powders and sprays help reduce anxiety, while For Relief’s suppositories soothe menstrual cramps.
And as states continue to legalize marijuana, you’ll see it moving into cooking, winemaking, and even fitness. “Look for cannabis use to become part of people’s wellness routines,” says Lord Jones’ co-founder Cindy Capobianco, who predicts “cannabis workouts.” (LA’s Goda Yoga already offers a 420 class for medical marijuana card holders.)
“The taboos associated with cannabis are falling away,” says Capobianco. “Soon the market will be legitimized.”
 No. 4

 NEXT-GEN WELLNESS  RETREATS WANT TO ADD  STAMPS TO YOUR PASSPORT

 Wellness travel’s always been a thing, but now curated experiences developed by leading wellness insiders and top tier fitness instructors are trending—and retreats are getting more sophisticated as a result.
 “Women don’t want to go on a vacation that takes them away from their healthy approach to life,” says Kyle Miller,  co-founder of Love Yoga, a bicoastal studio with its own travel program. “Retreats are the answer—and you get to  experience a new culture.”
It’s not just doing yoga for 60 minutes every morning and calling that wellness travel.
Instead, you can join your yoga teacher in Cuba, or spend a week of clean eating, custom workouts, daily massage in an up-and-coming destination like Botswana on Escape to Shape.
Recently, even retailer Free People got into travel with FP Escapes, an  animalencompassing nutrition, yoga, and natural beauty treatments. It’s about shoppers’ “sharing their lifestyles with each other,” says Free People’s director of brand marketing Abby Morgan.
Taryn Toomey hosts several high-touch “Retreatments” a year in such locales as the Dominican Republic, setting a healthy menu for the whole week, bringing vetted healers and experts, and creating bonding opportunities that feel bespoke and authentic.
Without distractions of “to-do lists, families, and responsibilities,” these vacations are where we “meet one’s true self,” explains Toomey, not escape from it.
  No. 5

 WELCOME TO THE ERA OF  MENSTRUAL REALNESS

 Remember the girl from the tampon ads? Wearing all white, and riding a horse? She was a veiled advertiser’s  message—cueing women viewers without offending the sensitivities of the non-menstruating audience. But in 2016,  everyone woke up.
 We’re now moving into an era of menstrual realness inspired by Kiran Gandhi’s free-bleeding 2015  London Marathon run better-for-you feminine product brands that are speaking to directly to young women with in-your-face, laugh-at-the-patriarchy campaigns.

and led by 
Think: Lola’s tongue-in-cheek marketing to “Make Periods Great Again” or Thnx underwear’s too-blunt-for-the-subway ads, which made founder Miki Agrawal a poster child for cool-girl entrepreneurialism this year.
Another thing women (specifically female voters) woke up to in 2016? The fact that tampons and pads were getting taxed as “luxury products” instead of necessities. Forty states had such taxes at the start of 2016, and thanks to the outcry many have since voted to repeal them. So 2017 could be a big year.
With less effort spent hiding the “shame” of a natural bodily function every month, more attention can go to listening to what our periods say about our overall health, says Well+Good Wellness Council member Alisa Vitti, a women’s hormone expert. Our culture “would have us believe that cravings, cramps, and out-of-control emotions are inevitable parts of womanhood,” she says. “I’m here to tell you: It’s just not true.”
 No. 6

 PLANT PROTEIN  BLOSSOMS  IN A BIG  WAY

 Gone is the idea that protein has to an animal. Pea and hemp proteins are popping up everywhere,  in increasingly good powders for smoothies, in  nutrition bars, in potato chips—and also at trendy  restaurants like By Chloe and Momofuku Nishi, where the  veggie burgers seem so real they sizzle and “bleed.”
 Beyond Burger CEO Ethan Brown says plants are the future of protein. “Our sole mission is creating plant-based meats that allow people to eat more of the traditional dishes they love while feeling great about health, sustainability, and animal welfare. We see 2017 as a time where the meat case is going to be called the protein case, and consumers will be able to buy plant-based and animal protein side by side.” Tyson’s recent investment in Beyond Meat is a big sign that meat manufacturers see it this way, too.
“Millennials are growing this market. They want what’s good for them—but also what’s good for the people and the environment,” says Vega’s founder Brendan Brazier. In the smoothie powder aisle alone, he adds, plant protein is growing 2.5 times faster than whey, and will soon outpace it.
Plant protein is no longer a niche market for vegans or athletes, confirms Vega’s Kim McDevitt. Their research shows that 80 percent of households have meatless Mondays.
  No. 7

 "WOO-WOO" WELLNESS  GOES MAINSTREAM

 When you can fill your shopping cart at Target with Crystal  Light as well as crystals, you know something’s seriously changed. But for a generation raised on yoga, meditation,  and green juice, formerly fringe “woo woo” wellness concepts are becoming downright mainstream.
 Crystals are increasingly celebrated as life-enhancing,  whether as jewelry or in home design, by everyone from Jennifer Aniston and hip-hop stars to fitness p  phenom Taryn Toomey. (She’ll soon be teaching The Class on a crystal-embedded floor in her new Tribeca studio “to protect and balance the energetic flow of the space.”)
Acceptance for things like cupping continues to grow, too: Just a few years ago, the world gasped (and rolled their eyes) when Gwyneth Paltrow revealed bruises from a cupping session. And this summer, everyone simply nodded when Olympian Michael Phelps’ shared his cupping recovery session.
Even Reiki, one of the spa menu’s most mysterious items, is becoming an in-demand service, says Lisa Levine, founder of Maha Rose, a Brooklyn mecca for holistic healing. Millana Snow, co-founder of online wellness resource SereneBook, confirms that “more people—and brands—are eager to explore things like energy healing and even shamanic journeying.”
Why? Thank the anxiety-inducing era we’re living in, says Levine: “Intense times call for serious magic.”
 No. 8

 COLLAGEN’S BOOST TO IT-  INGREDIENT STATUS

 Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s collagen? For a  growing number of women, the fibrous protein is the secret to glowing skin—not to mention shiny hair, strong nails,  and healthy digestion.
 “The majority of the body is collagen—our skin, our bones,” explains Kurt Seidensticker, founder of collagen powder brand Vital Proteins. “But after the age of 25,  people are less efficient at making it, so your body has to  get it elsewhere.” Unfortunately, the Western diet offers up f ew such opportunities.
Cue the bone broth boom—and its new grab-and-go versions (via brands like Epic and Bonafide Provisions), and a nascent category of the amino-acid-packed nutrition bars (from Bulletproof and Primal Kitchen).
Collagen-rich powders and supplements are a growing category (sourced from grass-fed cows, chickens, fish, and, in the case of beauty brand Reserveage, vegan-friendly plant sources) as are bottled drinks (both Dirty Lemon and Fountain have collagen “beauty” tonics).
“Consumers are becoming educated about the importance of a long-term approach by beautifying and nourishing from within, versus short-term solutions provided by topicals,” says Reserveage Founder Naomi Whittel. The ultimate sign that collagen is about to go big? It’s a staple in Jennifer Aniston’s daily smoothie.
 No. 9

 NESTING AT HOME IS THE NEW  GOING OUT

 If your dream Friday night involves Netflix and tea in your Instagram-worthy bedroom sanctuary versus getting dressed to go out to dinner or dancing, you’re not alone. Nesting is the new going out.
 Gen Xers may have been too embarrassed to opt out of weekend  social plans, but Millennials are unabashedly dialing theirs back  with more “me time.” Whether to decompress after a crazy work week or prevent early professional burnout, they’re getting cozy and getting down with a self-care mindset, confirms Pinterest researcher Larkin Brown. “Self-care searches are up 121%,” she says.
On social media, we’re glamorizing our nesting habits, and our lovely, carefully designed bedrooms in a way that decor sites like Apartment Therapy might. (Posts about bedrooms are their top performing “by room” types, second only to kitchens.) “Interest in bedroom photos across Pinterest accounts for 450 million searches per year,” confirms Janel Laban, executive editor at Apartment Therapy.
And the nesting mentality has sparked businesses that celebrate homebodies, like the Stay Home Club—”a club that never meets,” and makes traditional hoodies and tees. It’s a lifestyle founder Olivia Mew has seen grow “from creative types in 2012 to the masses.”
And while socializing isn’t going away, “people are a prioritizing personal comfort and a more casual approach to quality time with friends,” confirms Pinterest’s Brown. “Girls night in is trending upwards 35% year over year,” she says. Next year’s going to be all about re-charging.
 No. 10

 THE FUTURE OF FITNESS IS  FRANCHISED

 Cool-kid indie (and now semi-corporate) brands like  SoulCycle and Barry’s Bootcamp started the boutique fitness craze. But the companies using a franchise model are largely the ones scaling it, with hundreds of studios opening all over the world.
 Leading the charge are Orangetheory with 500 studios and Pure Barre with 400, both of which got recent private equity infusions. Orangetheory opened a new studio every day in 2016 and has more under development in 20 countries. Pure Barre opened upwards of 60 studios in 2016 and anticipates similar growth in 2017.
Other franchise-based boutique brands growing like crazy include CycleBar and Australia-based F45 Training, which is in 18 countries. But it’s the barre scene, filled with examples like barre3, Barre Code, and Bar Method where the business model is thriving the most.
“The franchising model offers companies an accelerated, ‘capital-light’ pathway to growth—with an ability to open new locations faster than a traditional owned and operated strategy,” explains Aarti Kapoor, an investment banker at Moelis & Company who specializes in boutique fitness and wellness. The challenge for these unstoppable businesses? Ensuring a quality experience location to location.

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