Episode 114 | Jan 23, 2025

2025 Wellness Trends Every Health Coach Should Know

How can we better take charge of our health in the rapidly evolving wellness landscape? In this solo episode of Health Coach Talk, Dr. Sandi explores three transformative health trends for 2025, each with the potential to empower individuals to take control of their well-being. From the growing awareness around ultra-processed foods to advancements in direct-to-consumer lab testing and wearables, this episode is a deep dive into the tools and knowledge that are shaping the future of health.

“We are living in a day and age right now where people need to build resilience. They are lonely, they are isolated, and they’re confused by so much information coming at them. They don’t know what’s real and what’s fake. And health coaches can help them sort it out and be that person that is their support in their lives, help them to thrive and feel resilient and strong.”

Dr. Sandi

The pandemic may have triggered a global awakening to the importance of health, but the momentum continues to grow. In this episode, Dr. Sandi discusses how public conversations about food quality, driven by media attention on topics like ultra-processed foods, are leading more people to question what they’re putting into their bodies. She also covers two other exciting developments: the rise of direct-to-consumer lab testing and wearables. Dr. Sandi discusses her experiences with lab tests that offer a comprehensive look at markers like inflammation and biological age, emphasizing their potential to drive lifestyle changes. She also delves into wearables like the Oura Ring and continuous glucose monitors, explaining how they empower individuals to monitor their health in real-time. Whether it’s identifying stress patterns or optimizing sleep, these tools are changing the way we understand and manage our health.

For health coaches, the implications of these trends are profound. Coaches play a pivotal role in helping clients interpret data from lab tests and wearables, guiding them toward informed, sustainable choices that align with their unique health goals. Dr. Sandi highlights how health coaches can serve as trusted allies, helping clients navigate confusing health information, personalize their wellness plans, and build resilience. As these trends continue to shape the future of wellness, health coaches remain essential in translating complex data into meaningful, actionable steps for better health.

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Episode Transcript

Dr. Sandi: Welcome to a solo episode of “Health Coach Talk.” In this episode, I wanted to come on and talk about what I see as the trends for 2025. And I’ve identified three that I want to discuss today.

The first has to do with this growing awakening about health and wellness. The second is about the growth of access to lab tests as a consumer, where you can just go and you can get your own testing done where you can take charge of your health. So, we’re going to dig into that. The third, which is related, has to do with the growth of wearables. So, the common theme here is to take charge of your health, to have access to your own data, to become an informed consumer.

So, let’s dig into the first one. What we are seeing is an awakening in terms of health and wellness. This started during the pandemic, but it has intensified. One of the things going on right now, you may have heard of MAHA, Make America Healthy Again. And what has happened as a result of all this talk about, for example, what are the ingredients that we’re putting into our food supply, that you’re seeing in the press front-page stories about this. The New York Times had an article about ultra-processed food. And then yesterday, which was at the time of this recording, this was January 8th, this was from the Wall Street Journal. And here is, if you’re watching, you can see this was the personal journal section. And what is the title here? “Researchers Dig into the Risks of Ultra-Processed Food.” Wow. This is a full-page story, and they describe what ultra-processed foods are and how they are different from foods that are minimally processed, foods that just are from nature. Like you have an apple, you eat a banana, you have a steak, for example. And so it was not processed. But processed are things that come in bags, and boxes, and cans.

And so I was thrilled to read this article. However, there were some problems. And, usually, when a reporter from a magazine or from a newspaper like the Wall Street Journal, they cover a topic, but they cover it from one angle and it’s often very slanted and it is often missing important pieces. And so it’s easy to come away with a lot of misconceptions.

So, what was the biggest takeaway here that I thought could be problematic? Well, they were emphasizing calories. So, they were back in a very old way of thinking—a calorie is a calorie. And so one of the conclusions was you should look for foods that are… It’s okay to have some processed foods. Like, for example, if you have some fruit cocktail that comes in a can, they’re saying, “Well, it didn’t have many ingredients and it’s low calorie.” My thought is: What is the problem with that? What they don’t talk about is the sugar content. And so one of their conclusions was look for the lower calorie, have low-fat flavored yogurt as a processed food instead of frozen meatballs. And I thought, “Nope, not for me.”

In fact, just the night before, I had frozen meatballs, and I happened to get them from a company that is called Force of Nature. This is not a paid advertisement for this company, but they are a ranch in Texas, regenerative agriculture, and I get this incredible meatball from them that is an ancestral blend. So, it has organ in there, and it’s yummy. And so that is… Yeah, they can consider that a processed food, but I wouldn’t consider it necessarily a processed food. What they put in there are natural ingredients like mix it with salt, for example. But that low-fat flavored yogurt? Well, what’s in that, and how many grams of sugar would that be?

Many years ago, I would do talks about sugar impact, and I would take pictures of labels of yogurt. And usually, the low-fat and non-fat had the most sugar in that. So, that wouldn’t be something that necessarily would be better for you. So, on the whole, it was promising that they talked about ultra-processed foods. And we want to really pay attention to not have those as a major part of our diet.

But one of the best ways to do that, which the article didn’t mention, is to shop the perimeter. So, the perimeter is where you would find the fruits and vegetables, you’d find the meats, you would find the dairy, but you would not find things that come in bags, and boxes, and cans. But do you want to say 100%, “I will never eat ultra-processed foods”? No. I make protein shakes every day because I need to get in a lot of protein in my diet. And so I have a whey protein, and I use companies like Kion, for example. I switch off my whey protein powder. I make sure that they come from good sources, grass-fed beef, for example. But I will also want to be cognizant of the fact that, yeah, this is a processed food. Or if I’m traveling, I may have a protein bar occasionally.

But what I look for is ingredients that I can’t pronounce, chemicals that I don’t know. I can’t even pronounce them. I don’t know what they are there for. And on the whole, I try and imagine my great-grandmother walking with me in a supermarket. And if she couldn’t recognize it as food, then that’s a good bet that it is ultra-processed.

Now, why is this important for health coaches? Because you can help people. They may bring to you articles like this, and they’ll be confused. I remember when I was a health psychologist, and I had many clients that I saw. Back in the day, that was before coaching really had a name as health coaching, but that’s really what I was doing as a health psychologist. And they would say, “Oh, look here, Dr. Sandi, it says that this is a good food to eat.” And I would have to explain what was the problem with that article, for example.

And so, here, where someone may have come to you and say, “Look, it’s fine to have the low-fat flavored yogurt. That’s a great breakfast.” But as a health coach, you would want to ask those questions to them about, “Well, is this the best choice for you if you want to boost your protein intake, for example? Or let’s look at the label. Let’s bring in that carton, or we can share it. If it’s a Zoom call, go in your kitchen, get a carton, let’s see what’s in it.” And then come to a decision whether that is good for you.

So, the bottom line is that, on the whole, you can say that it’s better to eat foods that are whole foods and not ultra-processed. But we also want to look at a personalized approach. And that’s what health coaches are there for, so that you don’t have people just reading articles and concluding that this is right for them based on their biology, based on their lifestyle at the time, their unique nutritional needs. But health coaches are the ones that can help people be discerning readers of articles like this.

So, that but on the whole, I do want to emphasize that it is great that we’re having conversations about this. We’re increasing awareness about ultra-processed foods because, a few years ago, we didn’t talk about ultra-processed foods, except if we were in health and wellness and we were attempting to educate clients. So, it’s great to see that it is getting into the popular press. And then let’s discern how this can be used in a beneficial way for people.

The second area I want to talk about, which is related, has to do with direct-to-consumer lab tests. So, let’s say you do read this article in The Wall Street Journal or find the other one that was in The New York Times about ultra-processed food, and you are wondering about my lab markers. So, I could go to a company like Function Health. And the Function Health lab assessment is based on a membership. It is $499 a year, and you get testing twice a year. I’ve done it, and everything under the sun is assessed.

You go to Quest in your neighborhood for your blood draw, and then a few weeks later, you get an email back. And it is very comprehensive results. You get things like your biological age. I was happy to learn that I was about 12 years younger than my chronological age. But it also told me things that were not so good. There were markers there that I have to monitor and watch. But it can get overwhelming, and many things I didn’t understand. And that’s where a health coach would come in where, if you have people who are getting these tests done, some of the results might freak them out, and they might be going on Google trying to find answers and unnecessarily scaring themselves.

So, health coaches can help people sort out what it means. And so the results are AI-driven. And so going over those results with your coach, they’re not going to be interpreting those results, or making a diagnosis or direct recommendation. But they are going to help you find the courage to talk about these things with your doctor, find a functional medicine doctor if that’s the direction that’s most appropriate and the client wants to do that, or it can be used as a starter conversation for making lifestyle changes.

So, for example, let’s say somebody’s markers of inflammation are high, and maybe they can start an anti-inflammatory diet, or they can start a different fitness routine, or they can start to incorporate more stress management into their lives. Well, those things are going to have an impact on their lab results, and so they can compare the next time that they are getting these tests done.

So, this is growing. The interpretations are becoming more and more sophisticated. And the number of add-on tests that you can get are increasing. And sometimes, you don’t want to necessarily get the full battery, but what I did for example, as I’ve had these tests done, and then I have an underactive thyroid, and so I need to monitor that more frequently. So, I went back to my dashboard on Function and I checked off just the box, “I want a thyroid panel done.” And if somebody is confused and doesn’t know, once again, a health coach can help people to understand what these tests are measuring as well as help them secure appointments with their follow-up physician if needed.

So, Function Health is one. That is a comprehensive testing where you can get all the functional medicine tests, and it’s a lot less expensive than if you were to go to a doctor to get this done. But this is not ruling out the doctor because it’s very important that you take these results, for example, to a functional medicine doctor who will know what to do with them. And they might even say, “Well, yeah, I would like even an additional test,” that might have been lacking. So, that’s number one.

The second would be the growth of microbiome tests. These are stool tests, and FMCA has partnered with Jona Health. That is another company where you can have an assessment of your microbiome, and you also get AI results. I found, when I did this test, that I needed more diversity in my diet. And so I’m attempting to have a broader range of foods, incorporate different spices, different vegetables or fruits that I don’t typically eat. And so I was stuck in a rut with what I was eating, and many people are and many people can do that kind of experiment. How many phytonutrients can you get in a given week? And coaches can guide people and help them to have a broader range of foods, can help them to increase the diversity of their microbiome if that’s what they need, or perhaps there might be some areas that are pinpointed from this test that, again, a health coach can help them with.

So, if you’re a coach, you can educate your clients that these tests exist. Another one that I’m quite excited about is called Tiny Health. And this is testing for infants, for babies, for new moms where you are looking at the health of your child’s microbiome. And it’s a cool test. Again, it is a stool test, and this is something that, at FMCA, we are going to provide more education on.

There are other cutting-edge tests that are direct-to-consumer that have to do with genetic testing. And we’re not talking about things like 23andMe, which has been around for a long time but we’re talking about really going much further to looking at your genetic makeup. Once again, as a health coach, you can educate people that these tests exist. And when the results come back, you can help people sort out what the recommendations are on these tests and help them find the appropriate support that they may need. So, that was the second area: the growth of direct-to-consumer testing.

The third area is related and it has to do with the quantified self—the rapid growth of wearables. So, it used to be… And I was an early adopter of my Oura Ring, and now they have small enough sizes because I have very tiny fingers, and I was wearing it on my thumb. Well, now I can wear it on my index finger, which I just heard is the best place to wear your Oura Ring.

An Oura Ring is a tracker that is primarily for sleep. You get your percentage of deep sleep, of REM sleep, your total time asleep. It’ll assess your breathing during the night, your HRV, which is your heart rate variability, which is a marker of basically the beat-to-beat variations. It’s a measure of your resilience, your stress levels. And the Oura Ring also gives us an idea of your stress during the day. You can have your steps counted, and it is also getting more and more sophisticated. For women who are menstruating, you can also tell when you’re ovulating, and you can also tell when your temperature is increasing overnight, which is a marker often when you’re starting to fight an infection. So, many uses.

And what I’ve been thrilled to see is more and more people recognizing the Oura Ring. I was in a store recently, and the sales associate said, “Oh, is that an Oura Ring you’re wearing? I really want one.” It was around the Christmas season, and she said, “I want one for Christmas. That’s what I’m asking for.” Well, this is exciting news. This is people who are not in health and wellness, because previously it was just our inner circle of people who are in this field who would say, “Oh, I love my Oura Ring. I see you’re wearing one as well.” But now, I’ve had more and more people who are not in this field, and they are recognizing the Oura Ring. They are saying they want one or they’re familiar with other similar devices.

And associated with this is the Apple device, Apple watch, is really becoming a house device, and so many things can be measured. This is very good news for health coaches. In fact, there is even a CPT code, that is the procedural terminology that is used for billing encounters through insurance, and there is one for remote physiological monitoring. And many medical practices are incorporating this. They are hiring health coaches. The health coaches are the ones doing some physiological monitoring. Your wearables, it has to be an FDA-approved device, and then they are getting reimbursed for those services through their practice. And I think we’re going to see the growth of this. So, this is very exciting, where you can only see the future as very bright, that more and more things will be able to measure.

So, I wear a continuous glucose monitor. This one is by FIA. They are the ones who are offering it through a membership, and I buy these sensors. And this one is a FreeStyle Libre. It’s made by Abbott. There is Dexcom as well. And one lasts for 14 days. The Dexcom, I believe, is 10 days, then you replace it. And I monitor this all day long, and I see what causes a spike.

And what I find is that it’s not the food so much as my stress levels. For example, I had to go to the DMV to get my driver’s license renewed, and it said I needed a vision test. And I got to tell you that my levels of my blood glucose was sky high. I had a huge spike. It was like 150. Why? Because I was stressed going to the DMV, and I was thinking, “Oh, what if I fail the vision test? And I’ll have to have a restricted license?” And of course, it turned out to be a super easy test. You just read one line and see where the flashing dot is, but I was expecting a really complicated vision test. I thought, “Oh no, I’m turning 75, and maybe that is why they’re going to be really hard about this vision test.” And so I was getting all stressed out, and that was really showing up in my readings from my continuous glucose monitor.

So, it increases awareness, and as a health coach, you can help people understand the value of wearing these kinds of devices. And then you talk about it. What do you think was responsible? How can you change next time? For example, for me, I knew that all I had to do was get back home and take a walk, and then the reading plummeted. Or, every time I do some quieting techniques, it can be at 130, and then I open my eyes after 10 minutes of meditating, for example, and it’s gone way, way down. Huge drop. And so those are the kinds of things that health coaches can be really instrumental in helping people understand, helping people get the device and use it appropriately, and most importantly, change things in their life based on this data.

But I want to say one more thing about the use of this data and the growing use of AI. What we heard all last year was the growing…really there’s this phenomenon of AI health coaches. And some articles even alluded to the fact that we don’t even need humans as health coaches anymore, because you can get an AI health coach. You could have your watch. You can have your Oura Ring. And you can have ChatGPT. You can have a health coach. And one of the big, big announcements last year was that OpenAI had partnered with Thrive Global to develop a really remarkable, state-of-the-art health coach. And this was going to be revolutionary, and it was going to be the best thing that people could do to change their behavior. And there were quotes from heads of these companies saying, “Yeah, this is great. People are really going to get healthier because we will have this AI health coach.”

Well, I saw a few weeks ago that not so fast. They’re running into lots of problems in the development of this health coach. And one of the questions was, “Is it going to be any different than using, let’s say, ChatGPT ask a question like, “Hey, what are my trends for my sleep?” Things that, for example, the Oura Ring might already be doing where it will say, “Hey, here’s your average,” or your watch can do the same thing. You can see in your Apple health data, that, “Oh, this is the trend for the last few weeks.” So, it’s already leading you in that direction.

And so everything I had heard about this particular OpenAI-Thrive Global merger to develop a health coach, was that it would be about giving you advice. Well, that’s not what health coaches do as we know. They are the ones who inspire you. They don’t tell you what to do and just provide advice That doesn’t work. They help you become inspired to take charge of your health.

That’s what I’m really talking about today—taking charge of your health. Whether that means being a discerning reader when you have an article about ultra-processed foods, being able to say, “Wait a minute, like low-fat yogurt? That’s not really what I would choose over those meatballs,” for example, if I need to have good sources of protein in my diet. Or, you might be able to be a discerning consumer because you are monitoring your health through these direct-to-consumer lab tests, and you are using your wearables. The final most important step is you are working with a health coach who’s helping you put all the pieces together, most importantly, is acting as your ally, your support, your accountability partner.

And we are living in a day and age right now where people need to build resilience. They are lonely, they are isolated, and they’re confused by so much information coming at them. They don’t know what’s real and what’s fake. And health coaches can help them sort it out and be that person that is their support in their lives, help them to thrive and feel resilient and strong. And that is what it’s all about.

So, I hope that you’ve enjoyed this solo episode of “Health Coach Talk.” If you are thinking about becoming a health coach, there has never been a better time. Watch for my new upcoming book. It is called “Your Health Coach Will See You Now: Creating Healthier Lives Together” is the key word. That book should be released soon. You will be hearing more about it.

And we believe, we at FMCA, and I believe personally, that health coaching is where it’s at in terms of healthcare. Our system is truly broken, and we cannot get healthy again without support. And that’s what health coaches are here for. If you’re thinking about becoming a health coach, this career literally can be personally transformative. It brings you joy to be able to partner with someone else and help them have this life-changing experience.

So, I will see you on the next episode of “Health Coach Talk.” Bye for now!