10 Health and Wellness Trends to Look Out For in 2024, According to an RD

From specific foods and beverages like buckwheat and cacao pulp juice to more general fitness and wellness trends to adopt, 2024 is the year of upcycled food, little luxuries, full-body skincare, and *finally* kicking our caffeine habits (well, we’ll see about that one).

1. Bring on the Buckwheat

Is buckwheat milk the new oat milk? Despite its name, buckwheat is, in fact, a wheat-less pseudo-grain that is becoming more popular with the gluten-free crowd. (Like quinoa, “pseudo-grains” are not actually grains but behave like them and are often lumped together.) Loaded with fiber, protein, B vitamins, and zinc, buckwheat is a tiny seed making big waves in the nutrition world. From buckwheat milk to noodles to waffles to bread, buckwheat is the “grain” of 2024.

2. Mastering Mobility

People are trading in their CrossFit and Barry’s memberships for pilates, stretching, and foam rolling exercises to boost mobility and flexibility. With benefits including better range of motion, joint health, coordination, and even better performance during strength training, mobility exercises are worth the hype. (By the way, this type of training is not just for women—just check out the #realmendopilates hashtag on social media, and we’ll see you on the reformer.)

3. Little Luxuries and “Glimmers”

The opposite of triggers, “glimmers” are those little things throughout your day that make you smile, calm you down, or bring a sense of joy and safety. With everything going on in the world, people in 2024 will try to find glimmers or little luxuries throughout their days to improve their mental wellness. Buy a French pastry and fancy latte on a weekday morning, take your lunch al fresco to feel the sun on your face, or do any other small thing that brings you peace. 

4. Hot-Cold Contrast Therapy

Anyone who listens to Huberman Lab already knows this: hot-cold contrast therapy is going to become mainstream in 2024. Will it become totally normal to see your neighbor hop into a cold plunge or ice bath in their yard in the morning? Yep. Will you start seeing sauna studios pop up in your neighborhood? Wouldn’t be surprised! With a basis of alternating between hot and super-cold temperatures, the benefits of hot-cold therapy include reduced inflammation, increased energy, speedier recovery, and maybe even cognitive benefits.

5. Functional Beverages at the Forefront

Plain water? We don’t know her. Just about every beverage on the market in 2024 will have some sort of functional ingredient added, from prebiotics in soda to adaptogens in tea to nootropics in energy drink alternatives.

6. Upcycled Food

Say what you want about Gen Z, but they certainly have sustainability at the forefront of their minds—and upcycled foods will be on the rise because of that. Upcycled foods reduce food waste by using byproducts or otherwise-trashed ingredients and food parts to revamp them into something “new.” To hop on the upcycled trend, try cacao pulp juice (a lightly tropical and hydrating drink using the pulp from cacao processing) or avocado seed brew, which takes those post-guacamole tossed avocado pits and makes them into an antioxidant-rich tea-like beverage.

7. Unique Alternative Protein Sources

If the past couple of years taught us anything, it’s that people are not so down with the ultra-fake vegan meats anymore—unless they’re made of real food, that is. Health-conscious people started looking at ingredient lists, and Impossible Burgers just don’t cut it anymore. In 2024, keep an eye out for alternative plant-based proteins, like lemna, watermelon seeds, and sacha inchi, or whole-food-based veggie burgers like The Actual Green Burger.

8. From Half-Caff to No-Caff to Clean Caffeine

Gone are the days of chugging Celsius drinks or downing Venti iced coffees. In 2024, people are looking to lower their anxiety and improve their sleep by reducing—or eliminating—the need for caffeine. If you can’t give up your coffee jolt, “clean caffeine” drinks are also trending. Although this is definitely a non-regulated term, it generally entails caffeine from natural sources (like green coffee beans or green tea) rather than synthetic caffeine and may lead to fewer jitters—but this might just be due to the L-theanine in green tea, not any difference in the caffeine itself.

9. Mastering the Art of Craft Mocktails

Just a couple of years ago, mocktail sections on menus were nonexistent—good luck getting anything other than soda water or Diet Coke. Now, entire bars are alcohol-free or have growing sections for craft mocktails loaded with botanicals, teas, bitters, and fizzy additions that will have you questioning whether or not you need the booze. At-home mocktail making is also trending for 2024—according to Pinterest, searches for pineapple mocktail recipes are up 70%. Yum!

10. Skincare: Not Just for the Face Anymore

We know that facial skin care and SPF are essential, but now, people are making sure that everything below the chin gets some TLC, too. From luxury lotions to full-body exfoliating and at-home spa treatments, skin care is moving body-wide. And Pinterest searches for “body skincare routine” are up a whopping 1,025%—no more ashy knees, dry elbows, or lackluster legs in 2024!