When experts talk about health trends, it’s easy to focus on what’s new. But what matters far more is what lasts, and how those ideas actually translate into daily life.

In this episode of 1,000 Waking Minutes, Dr. Wendy Bazilian breaks down the newly released U.S. News & World Report Health Trends Survey for 2026, drawing on her firsthand experience as one of the expert panelists. Rather than chasing headlines, she explores what these trends reveal about how we’re thinking about health right now, and what that means for our everyday choices.

From the rapid rise of GLP-1 medications, to the explosion of wearable health technology, to the renewed emphasis on food as medicine, this episode offers context, clarity, and practical perspective. Dr. Bazilian explains where these tools can be helpful, where they can create confusion, and how to use them in ways that actually support a well-lived life.

Throughout the conversation, she returns to a central idea: health doesn’t happen in reports or devices — it happens in kitchens, on sidewalks, in routines, and in the repeatable moments that shape our days. Instead of rigid rules or endless optimization, this episode invites listeners to think in patterns, over time, and with intention.

This is a grounded, evidence-based look at modern health - without hype, fear, or extremes - and a reminder that our most valuable resource is still time.

FROM THE EPISODE

WE DISCUSS:

(0:00) Why health trends matter — and why context matters more than headlines

(1:13) What the 2026 U.S. health trends really reflect about how we live

(10:19) GLP-1 medications: appetite, muscle, and why nutrition per bite matters

(21:03) Wearable health tech: patterns, not scorecards

(30:50) Food as medicine, fiber, and what consistently supports long-term health

(35:11) Why the future of health isn’t extremes — it’s integration over time

(36:51) Bringing it home: choosing what fits your life and your waking minutes

RESEARCH & REFERENCES

Urban, A. (2026, January 5). Top health and nutrition trends for 2026. U.S. News & World Report. https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/top-health-and-nutrition-trends-for-2026

CONNECT WITH WENDY:

Follow me on Instagram: @1000WakingMinutes

Visit my website: wendybazilian.com

Email me topics you want covered on the podcast: 1KWM@wendybazilian.com

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Thank you for tuning in to 1,000 Waking Minutes and being part of this journey–together. A huge thank you to our amazing collaborators including our production and marketing teams and Gabriela Escalante in particular. To the ultra-talented Beza for my theme music, my lifelong friend and artist Pearl Preis Photography and Design, to Danielle Ballantyne, Jen Nguyen, Joanna Powell, and of course, my family and everyone working tirelessly behind the scenes.

HEALTH DISCLAIMER:

The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be considered individual medical or health advice. Always consult with your trusted healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet, exercise, or medical treatment.

When experts talk about health

trends, it's easy to focus

on what's new, but what

matters more is what's enduring

and how those ideas translate

into the choices we make

every day.

Today we're looking at what

the U.S. News Health

Trends Survey for 2026 is

really telling us.

We experience 1,000 waking

minutes on average every day.

How are you spending yours?

I'm Dr. Wendy Bazilian and

you're listening to 1,000

Waking Minutes.

I can't wait to connect

with you here with practical

ways to eat well, move

daily, and be healthy, to

optimize every waking minute you

live for a happier, healthier

life.

Thank you for sharing some

of your waking minutes with

me today.

Let's get started.

Hello and welcome to

1,000 Waking Minutes.

I'm Dr. Wendy Bazilian and

I'm really glad you're joining

me here today.

Today we're talking about the

new Health and Nutrition Report

that just was released by

the U.S. News and

World Report Health looking ahead

to 2026.

Each year they convene a

panel of experts across medicine,

nutrition, and public health that

weigh in on what's shaping

health right now and where

things appear to be heading.

This past year in the

fall time I was honored

to be a part of

that group alongside 57 other

professionals whose work spans clinical

care, research, and real world

practice.

And I want to say

this up front because it

matters to me.

This kind of work takes

time and it's thoughtful not

only in how they select

the process but how they

develop the survey and conduct

it and then summarize it

and bring information out.

And so in the final

report that came out it

reflects a collaboration and a

lot of careful consideration, not

quick takes on things or

quick answers.

So I'm proud to be

a part of this and

I admire and respect the

many other expert panelists who

were selected alongside me this

year.

So what I appreciate about

reports like this isn't just

like giving me a list

of trends, it's an opportunity

for me to see where

we are as a group,

as a nation, so to

speak, a representative sample certainly.

And it's an opportunity to

step back for a moment

and notice what keeps bubbling

up across different disciplines and

what we're collectively paying attention

to, what questions we're trying

to answer for our patients

and clients in research and

other places, and where there

seems to be momentum and

growth as well as continued

or new uncertainty as the

case may be.

So today I want to

walk through what stood out

to me from this year's

findings.

So I will share those

with you but I want

to add some context from

science, from real life, and

most importantly I want to

talk about what it means

to our, your, and mine

everyday waking minutes.

Because the health doesn't happen

in the report, it happens

where we live.

It happens in our kitchens,

happens on our sidewalks and

in our parks, it happens

in our conversations, and it

happens in our routines that

we repeat again and again

and become habits or those

routines that may not require

so much thinking, too much

thinking about them over time.

And when we look at

the trends through that lens

they tell a much more

interesting story in my estimation.

So where we are.

What struck me as I

was reviewing this year's findings,

so it was it's not

a surprise because I chimed

in on the areas, I

took a good amount of

my day to review, and

I came back to it

a couple times to complete

the survey, but I hadn't

seen them until they came

out.

I'm sure maybe there were

a couple things like checked

in or registered, but I

hadn't seen what the collective

had said.

And when I was reviewing

the report that came out

there were no shortage of

tools, but there is a

little bit of a gap

or a bridge to walk

on the integration of those

tools.

So there's some not new

but some trending tools for

health that I'll talk about,

but how we'll use those,

how we are using those,

and how those will evolve

over time is what was

interesting.

And here's an image that

kept coming to my mind.

Health feels right now like

standing in a super well

-stocked kitchen.

The pantry is full.

The fridge is full.

The fruit bowls are full.

You know, all the things

are full, but there are

too many cooks calling out

instructions all at once.

Do this.

Try this.

More this.

Less this.

Track everything.

Don't track anything.

Medication is the answer.

Another says food is the

answer.

Some say food is medicine,

which we'll get to in

a few minutes.

Someone else is wearing their

favorite wearable technology and saying

check your watch, check your

Apple Watch or your Whoop.

It'll tell you what's really

going on.

None of these voices are

wrong, but they tend to

get a little confusing on

how to tease them out

without someone stepping back and

saying how do they actually

work in a real life?

How do they work in

my life?

Is there guidance that can

be gained to help me

use what I see or

have in front of me?

And it can become otherwise

overwhelming pretty fast.

And so that's why I

think these particular set of

trends sort of matter because

you'll see they shape up

to give us some things

that are really happening.

You'll probably say uh-huh

I've seen that or I'm

aware of that, but you'll

see them and we'll talk

a little bit about integrating

them because when they're taken

together they're not pointing us

toward extremes and that was

a cool thing that I

discovered as I was looking

at them.

But they are pointing us

toward a different way of

thinking about health altogether.

So we're seeing a shift

away from health as like

a set of rigid rules.

Amen to that.

But toward health is an

ongoing conversation.

You've heard me say before

that health or achieving health

is not static.

It's dynamic and it's a

conversation between your body, your

environment, and your choices over

time.

So that's a big change

and I'm starting to see

that reflect in this year's

trends.

And it means less about

the rigidity, less about the

script that you have to

follow or the severe menu

plan or exercise routine, and

more about learning how to

listen and see what fits

for you and what the

evolving like what the data

shows so that you can

flex with it in real

time.

So we're starting to look

at patterns and signals and

what can be sustainable over

not just a day or

week but over years.

Not just those days but

over time.

Life's currency as you know

I love to refer to

as time.

So when we start to

look at health through the

lens of time we do

realize something really quickly.

We can't do everything.

We don't get to optimize

every single variable that we

put into our routine.

And you don't get unlimited

attempts.

Though we get a lot

of nice restarts.

But what we do get

are moments that we can

repeat.

Like repeatable moments let's call

them.

Meals that you can make

again.

I talk a lot about

the pattern.

Like the reason you can

keep a food diary is

not just to track how

well you're doing or how

many calories you ate.

But you get to identify

meals and maybe on great

days or great meals or

great seasons you can refer

back and you see patterns

over time.

You get ideas.

Meals you can make again.

Walks that you can take

or don't take.

We've talked about walking after

meals.

I've even mentioned before that

in our old home we

have a different route now

but we used to call

it the cloverleaf.

We have certain routes that

just became like second nature

to us.

We knew how long it

took.

We knew where to go.

So we could sort of

just like tune out on

having to pay so much

attention and just go do.

We find that there are

ways of sleep that we

can create unwinding down patterns

or how to improve our

sleep with some of these

repeatable moments.

And there are things that

you really have to pay

attention to and you find

that there are things that

maybe are less important as

well.

So the trends that rose

to the top this year

from medications hint hint on

one of them to wearables

and we're going to talk

about that.

I mentioned the Apple Watch

and the Whoop before the

whoop band to food as

medicine.

Those are the top three

trends and they point back

to I think one question.

How do we use these

powerful tools in a way

that actually supports a well

-lived life?

How do we use them

to support and promote our

health so that the years

we have are well-lived

quality years rather than crowded

with so much noise and

the next new shiny object?

And that's sort of the

perspective or the lens I

want to use as we

walk through these a little

bit.

So first, can you guess?

The top trend that rose

to the top this year

was GLP-1s.

The weight loss, the weight

management medications.

The expanding role of these

medications was and is on

everyone's mind.

It's a topic that's showing

up everywhere right now.

It's showing up as you've

seen I'm sure in doctor's

offices, in families talking about

it, casual conversations, people saying,

you know, can I ask

you something?

Have you heard of this?

Did you see that story

on?

And what the U.S.

News Report panel reflected on

is that these medications are

no longer being viewed singly.

They're part of a broader

conversation about chronic disease, not

just weight.

I mean, they started as

diabetes or metabolic health medicines,

well-tested for many years,

but the conversation has expanded

about chronic disease, cardiometabolic health,

how people are trying to

feel better in their bodies,

and they're often carrying a

number of risk factors, and

the GLP-1s seem to

be central to many of

those conversations.

But here's the part that

I think we need to

talk about and think about

a little more carefully and

thoughtfully.

When our appetite decreases, which

is one of the main

things that the GLP-1s

accomplish, nutrition doesn't become optimal

unless you really work at

it.

It becomes more concentrated because

your appetite is smaller.

You've got to really make

those bites count, and I

talked about that in a

previous episode when we were

talking nutrition per bite or

value per bite, and your

body doesn't suddenly need less

support.

It actually needs smarter support.

One of the practical concerns

that comes up again and

again with individuals on the

GLP-1s, not just in

clinical practice but real people

out there trying to live

well, is what changes in

the body when someone's on

GLP-1 medications, aside from

maybe reduced weight, which is

a hoped-for side effect

or benefit or result.

The data that we now

have from clinical research shows

that people who are on

GLP-1s, they lose lean

mass.

They lose, in other words,

muscle and nonfat tissue while

they're also losing weight, and

it can make up a

significant portion of the weight

loss.

Depending on a study, and

there have been several to

date, roughly one quarter to

as much as 40%

of the pounds lost when

individuals who are carrying extra

weight are on these GLP

-1s, between 25 and 40

% of the pounds lost

can be lean tissue.

That's muscle mass.

That's incredibly important muscle mass

for metabolism, but for quality

of life, the ability to

live strong and live well,

live fit, and be able

to do things and avoid

injuries.

This isn't itself a crisis,

but it's really critical to

pay attention to.

Part of muscle loss is

expected anytime you go on

a diet, on a weight

loss diet that is, but

there's a real reason to

think of it a little

bit differently with these medications,

because muscle is not just

about tone, and being lean,

and fit, and the cosmetic

appeal of good strong muscles,

but muscles help regulate blood

sugar.

They help support our strength.

They help support our balance

and help keep us from

falls, calling on our body

to keep us upright.

They play a role in

metabolic health, and they're increasingly

important with every passing decade.

Sarcopenia, which is a medical

term about muscle loss or

muscle wasting, is a medically

diagnosed term in the last

decade.

It's about a decade now.

It's a real concern, especially

as we age.

So this number, the muscle

loss that can happen, really

matters because it's not, again,

just how strong you are,

how you look.

It's really, really important.

This is where it's important

to really consider about what

it means to have these

GLP-1s so high on

the registry, on the mind,

and in the clinical practice

right now, because suppressing the

appetite does not turn our

biology off.

And this is where the

idea of nutrient density is

something that I've talked about

before and I'll probably talk

about again soon.

Nutrient density is outside of

the survey, but it becomes

especially relevant for me to

bring up.

You know, when your appetite

is lower, the bites need

to mean more.

They've got to have more

going on.

They've got to carry more

weight, so to speak, literally

and figuratively.

And when you eat less,

you need to expect more.

So making sure things like

protein, fiber, your micronutrients.

We hear so much about

macros these days.

That's carbs, protein, fat.

The micronutrients, your vitamins, minerals,

the phytonutrients, and nourishing foods

need to show up consistently.

It's one of the biggest

practical shifts that can help

right now with people who

are on the GLP-1s

to help contend with side

effects that may be things

like digestive side effects, constipation

and otherwise, but side effects

that can be like muscle

wasting, much more dramatic over

time.

You may have seen also,

but Oprah has shared her

experience with GLP-1s and

being treated by GLP-1s

recently and over the past

couple of years and her

experience with it.

She was on the cover

of People Magazine recently.

I saw an interview on

Today Show where she was

talking about it very openly.

And also sort of she

was there with her doctor

and co-author of her

new book that's just out

called Enough, Your Health, Your

Weight and What It's Like

to Be Free.

She talked about recognizing obesity

as a disease and not

a failure of willpower.

That may seem to you,

I would imagine, like something

maybe you've heard before, but

this is the new era

of really recognizing this.

And I think that Oprah

talked about how it transformed

her relationship for real with

food and her own body.

She's spoken about like the

everyday aspects of this reality,

that her exercise and food

choices matter.

She even went off it

to disprove.

She said, you know, now

I'm going to keep it

off with just lifestyle, with

my diet and lifestyle.

And then her weight crept

back up, she talked about.

So she recognizes that she

is going to be on

it through medical supervision with

her doctor.

And she compared it to

like an ongoing need of

medication for a chronic condition,

like blood pressure medication.

So this is an important

thing for us to think

about.

Medication can support our changes,

but it doesn't replace everything

else.

So with the GLP-1s,

the hot trend in the

report comes reduced appetite.

We know that.

And when we change eating

patterns, we need to recognize

now and for the time

ahead, this is not just

a day, a week, but

hopefully across many well-lived

decades to come, that it

might be a back to

basics that those still matter.

Really that we need strength,

preserving protein, smart fiber to

keep our digestion regular.

We need strategies and movement

to help keep our cardiometabolic

health and our muscles strong.

And the nuance is important.

Of course, Oprah doesn't reflect

all of us.

Oprah is not everyone, but

her story and the fact

that it's out there when

she talks about it openly,

you know, it's on the

radar and it's happening to

so many.

And it really does reflect

what is happening right now

and that we need to

handle it thoughtfully.

For real people living real

lives, if it's you, if

it's someone you know, it's

critical that they're under the

monitoring and guidance of their

health professional, their doctor, their

prescribing doctor for that.

And second, maybe secondary, but

also very important in my

estimation is suggesting maybe they

see a registered dietitian, someone

who can really assess their

nutrient needs, help them with

any symptoms that they may

be experiencing while on the

medications that may be related

to constipation or nausea or

any of the things related

that could be assisted by

nutrition, but also really to

sort of check in and

maybe tweak their diet to

get the most bang for

the buck, the most bang

for the bite, the most

nutrient density to accomplish not

only the weight loss, but

maintain muscle mass and keep

your energy high, manage your

digestion, all the things that

are critically important that become

even more so on the

GLP-1s.

What this looks like in

a real life could be

like prioritizing some protein and

fiber at breakfast, for example,

something like yogurt, fruit and

nuts, or eggs and beans

with spinach, something so each

bite, even if it's smaller,

does more or, you know,

gets the work done for

you.

Thinking about simple ways to

keep strength up and keep

the muscles preserved may not

be just hitting the gym

two days a week for

strength training, but it might

be building in some resistance

moves during the day, doing

lunges to and from different

places like your office bathroom

or your house, working in

intentional squats, you know, making

sure that you're using your

muscles meaningfully and thoughtfully, and

also managing, you know, other

things in your chronic disease

risk profile and your health

overall, how you manage your

energy, your sleep, your digestion

overall.

And that's why nutrient density

is going to be something

I'll be talking about more

of.

The quality of what you

put into and do with

your body makes and remains

super essential.

So that's really what this

trend is pointing toward to

me.

And I think it's interesting

and surprising, maybe just a

little bit, but not surprising

in that you've been reading

it all over the place.

You've certainly been hearing about

it.

And it's probably been dinner

conversation a time or two

in your household or around

a restaurant dinner table.

Number two, the other second

highest trend in the report

were wearables, wearable technology.

And this is really about

information.

You know, I think information

that can be power, strength

and knowing things, but we've

got to contextualize this as

well.

So what they're good for,

you know, there's so much

wearable technology now, it's really,

really cool.

But I really think about

like, how are we using

them?

What is it telling us?

In fact, so much so

that I talked to someone

recently who was sort of

not baffled by it was

wearing them, enjoying them, but

almost felt like they were

competing with them, you know,

or disagreeing at times.

What do you do when

you disagree with what it

tells you you just did

or how good or poorly

you slept or how your

recovery is?

And you're like, no, that's

not what my body's feeling.

What do you do with

that information?

I think that's the whole

context.

So the second major trend

that the experts highlighted across

the board and continued to

rise is this idea of

wearable technology, watches, rings, straps,

some of the CGI, continuous

CGM, the continuous glucose monitor,

CGM, continuous glucose monitors.

And some of them are

becoming more and more integrated

with AI and giving personalized

feedback along the way.

I still think human feedback

matters.

I say this contextually.

There's a lot of things

that you can sort of

have fun with and monitor.

I don't think that you

necessarily have to go to

the doctor every minute with

your Oura Ring and download

the findings.

But I think that there

is something powerful in sort

of showing some, I guess,

objective data when you go

visit a health professional.

Maybe you even have one

of these like an Apple

Watch, a Whoop band, which

is another type of fitness

monitor, sort of like the

Apple Watch, the Oura Ring,

you know, the different monitoring

rings that you can wear.

Maybe you've even experimented with

the glucose monitor for a

few weeks out of curiosity

or you wear one now.

People ask me about these

all the time and I've

experimented with some of them

and I don't have any

of them on right now.

But the question is sort

of which one should I

get or what should I

be paying attention to?

Is this telling me something

useful?

How do I use this?

How should I think about

this?

What does this mean?

I think my answer to

that, generally speaking, is that

wearables are very good at

showing patterns over time.

I think they are much

less useful when they're trying

to explain a single moment

in time.

I often think of like

driving to an unfamiliar city

with GPS.

It gives you like every

possible route at once.

And that information isn't wrong.

It's just like too much

information altogether without context.

Like unless you know, like

I know which route I

like to take for my

favorite destinations.

If you don't know, you

might be inclined to take

the fastest route versus the

most scenic route when you

would have enjoyed the scenic

route better.

And maybe there's a cafe

on the way.

So anyway, these devices, they

collect valuable signals.

They see your heart rate

trends, activity trends, sleep patterns,

monitor glucose fluctuations, even certain

stress markers.

But those numbers are sort

of just numbers, right?

Unless they're put into a

pattern and to you, you

know, someone else's pattern may

be very different than yours.

And if you took their

pattern, it wouldn't really make

sense.

Sleep is a good example

of this.

A lot of people track

sleep and they see dips

night to night.

Sometimes it provides very valuable

information.

But what they don't realize

is that small changes are

a crisis either.

And sometimes we tend to

make them.

All of a sudden, we

open our eyes or we're

made aware of something and

all of a sudden we're

nervous about it.

Small dips and changes is

like life's variability.

Life happens.

I mean, think about work

stress.

Think about kids waking up

in the middle of the

night or a noisy street

or a siren that wakes

you up.

Maybe you had a late

dinner and it kept you

up.

All relevant to this story,

but it informs it rather

than the sleep being the

definitive answer on what's going

on.

So it really is.

If you use these wearables,

the patterns over weeks that

tells you about what's going

on, maybe about recovery, resilience,

where some sticky spots are

that you want to take

a look at closer glucose

monitoring.

Oh my goodness.

That brings up similar reactions

to a single rise after

a meal, especially people are

for the first time tracking.

And I don't know anything

about this.

They are stunned.

They're shocked.

They're nervous because it rises.

But guess what?

Glucose always rises after a

meal.

That's normal biology, but it's

the timing of how we

bring that down, the range

in which that it might

rise to.

Without context, a spike can

feel super personal, can feel

like a crisis.

Like every single food choice

now is suddenly under a

microscope and wrong or poor

decisions for you can happen

as a result of that.

But if it's interpreted with

context, when did it rise?

How high did it go?

How long did that last?

What else was going on?

That same data can become,

oh, informative, interesting, and not

discouraging, hopefully.

I've had, like I mentioned,

colleagues tell me and friends

tell me about their watches

telling them one thing when

they felt different and feeling

perplexed or confused or mad

at their technology.

Or like, what's the update?

Has it updated recently?

Maybe tells them they're rested

when they're totally stressed and

exhausted, or that their sleep

was interrupted and X, Y,

Z, and they were up

purposefully during the night, and

they struggle with that.

It's when people expect them

to tell them the story

that I think that becomes

a little bit of a

struggle when they expect too

much of it, I guess,

the tool, and we need

to keep it in its

toolbox so we don't hang

on every single number like

we're on a scorecard.

I guess that's where I'm

going with that.

Some people start to compete

with their devices, I mentioned,

instead of paying attention to

how they feel, and you

know how much I feel

strongly about a sort of

big connected head and body

and spirit.

Some feel discouraged if the

day and the data didn't

reconcile or live up to

their expectation.

This is what I recommend

if you're playing around with

the wearables and you don't

know where to go or

what to do.

First, pick one or two

things to focus on.

Maybe you want insight into

a lot of things, but

pick one or two.

Sleep or movement.

You know, we used to

have pedometers that would just

measure your steps in the

day.

Now, our phones, another type

of wearable technology, if you

wear it on you, will

do that.

How your body responds to

certain foods, maybe that's the

glucose monitor, and maybe you're

checking one aspect of it.

Because more data is not

always better, it doesn't always

add up to more.

Second, look for trends, look

for patterns, not your daily

score on this.

It is very, in a

gaming world that we live

in, it is very easy

to fall victim to like

the daily scores.

You know, how do you

measure up?

But an odd night, an

unexpected anomaly, that's just noise.

Scientists even look at that

as noise.

You know, that doesn't fall

into the pattern graph, so

to speak.

It doesn't have much meaning

when it stands alone.

And third, use the data

to ask better questions, maybe,

or bring it with you

so you can be informed

and share it with your

clinician and use sort of

conversation and human interaction.

So you can go into

an appointment and say, hey,

I've been tracking this and

I've noticed my resting heart

rate is higher on some

mornings after I eat late,

or I've noticed that my

glucose seems to rise after

this kind of a snack,

but not this one.

That can become useful information,

and that's where personalized care

can start to feel real,

and personalized nutrition, and this

whole idea of more precision

nutrition or personalized care.

That's why I was actually

quoted in this report.

I was saying how this

wearable technology has such a

great potential to change how

we give and follow nutrition

advice, because when people can

see their own data, they

see how their own glucose

or heart rate variability or

activity patterns respond to food,

or sleep, or stress, and

then they get it interpreted

with some guidance.

So they play a role,

but maybe with some professional

guidance on what that means,

then behavior change feels more

personal and maybe more doable.

You know what to do

with it, and that's really

cool.

I think that that's really

important.

This is why I think

the expert panel put wearables

as such a significant trend

that it rose so high

for its potential.

We don't need more numbers,

but now that we have

access to some of these

numbers, this information, when it's

paired with interpretation and used

thoughtfully, it may help us

as we pursue health.

And so the difference is

in the technology.

It's really how we use

it.

So those are top two.

Another major theme that came

through clearly in this year's

report, the third one, was

a description in the foods

role in supporting health, something

I talk about all the

time, how foods can support

our health.

The better for you foods,

the super foods, how food

on a plate and patterns

over time and synergies can

support our health.

It's very often described these

days as food as medicine,

and that was the terminology

that was used and that

rose up as the third

top trend.

And I want to pause

here because this phrase lands

differently with different people.

It's controversial to some.

Some find it super empowering.

Others bristle at the idea

of considering food and medicine

as one.

Food isn't a prescription.

Food is so much more,

you know, it's so big

and broad and wonderful, and

it does not replace medical

care.

But nutrition, we can't dismiss

at all.

I think we'd all agree

it absolutely plays a role

in how our bodies function,

how our bodies recover and

repair, how our bodies adapt

over time.

And so the experts reflected

this year, and they really

saw a renewed focus on

real food patterns, not extremes,

and this idea of food

as medicine.

The thing that stood out,

and this came out in

the many past US News

best diets reports, is that

the Mediterranean diet approach continues

to stand out.

Like it stood out, not

because it's trendy, but because

it's adaptable.

And it's something else I

was quoted on in this

report.

It keeps proving, it has

more science than probably any

other diet, and it keeps

proving year after year, it's

flexible, it's plant forward, it

works in the real world,

it emphasizes vegetables and fruits

and beans and whole grains

and nuts and seeds, the

healthy fats, and it works

in real kitchens and real

lives.

And what stood out even

more, the sort of number

one food-seeking or nutrient

-seeking trend that was noted

was fiber, the consistent emphasis

on fiber, especially from legumes

like beans, the vegetables, the

fruits, the whole grains, and

as one of the most

important nutrition strategies to reduce

chronic disease risk.

That was very, very clear

in this report and that

they talked about it.

And it really fits what

we see day to day

as well.

I found across all these

trends, the medication, the technology,

and this personalized care food

as medicine, so to speak,

that fiber keeps quietly showing

up in the background.

It's not like the headline

or the main event, but

it is one of the

most reliable evidence-based supports

that we have for metabolic

health, for heart health, for

gut health, and only 6

% of us are meeting

the daily recommendation.

So when people eat more

whole, minimally processed foods, that's

the food as medicine approach,

not just getting carbohydrates, proteins,

or fats, but the micros

and the phytos.

The micros are the vitamins

and minerals essential to our

diet.

The phytos are the phytochemicals,

antioxidants, polyphenols, this big, huge,

many thousands of complicated names

to mean like sort of

the fighter nutrients, I call

them, in our body to

protect us.

And they all work together.

They support all of the

things that we need, digestion,

metabolic health, heart health, the

whole gamut.

So it's not about eating

perfectly, but intentionally thinking of

adding the fiber sources, adding

the beans or lentils a

few times a week.

I said recently in a

TV segment on Live with

Kelly and Mark, adding about

a half cup on most

days, a half to one

cup of beans a day,

building our plates plant forward

or focus on plants, choosing

foods that do more than

one job, maybe, maybe it's

got the omega-3s and

the fiber like chia seeds,

for example, and supporting our

appetite in a variety of

ways.

So we've seen this when

appetite changes, our food quality

matters more, the data becomes

available, our food choices become

more personalized.

And when our health becomes

more individualized, nutrition becomes less

about the rules, but more

about what it does for

us.

That's sort of the medicine

side of things.

What we didn't see this

year in the report, though,

as we looked at the

GLP-1s, the wearable, and

the food is medicine, is

surprisingly, or what caught my

attention, but it's still an

important part of the story,

was plant forward eating didn't

rise to the top.

Plant-based foods, plant-based

eating, it's still important, but

it did not rise to

the top.

Sustainability wasn't way up there

at the top.

And alternative proteins, plant-based

proteins, or the cellular proteins,

different kinds of proteins didn't

rise to the top.

You may have been surprised.

I raised my eyebrows a

little bit, but I wasn't

quite surprised.

It reflects, I think, how

familiar, and this is a

positive, these ideas have become

to us.

Sort of like, we presume

those are important, and so

maybe they're getting woven into

the fabric of our health

picture.

I hope so.

Many people already are leaning

more toward plants, or at

least they're more familiar with

the language of it, and

the science supporting it also,

than they did or maybe

were five or 10 years

ago.

Food choices are becoming more

thoughtful when it comes to

people who are health-inspired

or motivated to make substantive

changes.

And so I think there's

more of an awareness around

balance, how our food supports

our long-term health.

That even if it's not

perfect, and if it varies

week to week and season

to season, that it all

adds up.

I was interested, but not

fully surprised, and I had

to think about it a

little bit.

Why didn't those show up

this year, and why did

the others really rise up?

But I think that it's

become a little bit more

ingrained.

We say it, we know

it.

And when you look across

the entire report, you see

a lot of things that

are approaches that support our

health, not as demanding or

absolute, not as rigid.

It's more toward individualized nutrition

approaches and tools that can

help us get there.

I think that's key.

So this shift may not

feel so dramatic, but I

think it's meaningful.

And as I was reading

through the trends, what stayed

with me wasn't any particular

tool, but the shift in

how we're thinking about health,

how the conversation itself might

be changing a bit.

Maybe we're moving slowly away

from health being something that

we learn because someone's, you

know, here's the latest, greatest

diet to follow written in

a book, and we should

all be on it and

do it to do it

right.

It has to be this

way.

But that health is something

that we build over time

for ourselves, that we get

knowledge through information, not just

from our doctors, but through

different tools that we can

have on hand with us,

accessible.

So we have some agency

in that.

And that the patterns over

time can really impact our

real life.

So this is what I

saw this year, how we

use information without letting it

overwhelm us, we can use

some of these, how we

build our eating and our

movement patterns that can actually

last.

And also why this matters

for our waking minutes.

So before we close, if

this episode got you thinking

about some of these trends

and what they mean to

you, I'd love to hear

actually, maybe they gave you

something new to bring to

your conversations, or I'd love

to hear.

So I'm at wendybazilian.com

.

And on Instagram at @1000WakingMinutes

send it on

to a friend or maybe

talk about it over dinner,

see what's helpful.

Maybe if you are someone's

on the GLP-1s talk

about nutrition per bite or

seeking a referral to dietitian

or thinking about next steps

for you or that individual,

what happens when you go

off it?

Or will you be on

it for a period of

time?

What about that the

wearable technology fascinating stuff that

I'm sure we'll talk more

about in episodes to come.

And thank you for sharing

your time with me today,

sharing what you're curious about,

and maybe how this fits

in your everyday life.

The takeaway, I think, today

is that the future of

health isn't about piling more

on the next biohack that

we can add.

But it's about assessing and

choosing what fits you and

your body, your life now,

so that may shift over

time, and letting it add

up over time.

Because as you know, life's

currency is time, and that's

yours, and yours alone.

So if you've enjoyed the

show, ratings and reviews always

help.

I appreciate it.

I appreciate your time and

support.

Please find me at

@1000WakingMinutes and say hello.

And thank you for sharing

some of your waking minutes

with me today.

I'm Wendy Bazilian, your host

and partner here on 1,000

Waking Minutes.

And until next time, be

well.

Thank you for tuning into

1,000 Waking Minutes.

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Find some simple opportunities to

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I'm saying yes to better

days.

Yes.

I'm on my way.

Yes.

It's gonna be okay.

Yeah.

I'm saying yes to better

days.

Yes.

I'm on my way.

Yes.

It's gonna be okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.