Skip to content

Top Navigation

Health.com Health.com
  • Health Conditions A-Z
  • News
  • Coronavirus
  • Diet & Nutrition
  • Fitness
  • Beauty
  • Mind & Body
  • Lifestyle
  • Weight Loss
  • Newsletter
  • Promo

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences this link opens in a new tab
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Health.com

Health.com Health.com
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Is Your Doctor Gaslighting You? Here's What to Do

      How to handle a physician who doubts or dismisses your symptoms. Read More Next
    • 9 Signs It's More Serious Than the Common Cold

      Doctors explain how to tell if you have a head cold or something more serious that requires medical attention, such as the flu, strep throat, meningitis, or mono. Read More Next
    • How Your Period Changes During Your 20s, 30s, and 40s

      From easier cramps to a heavier flow, here's a guide on what to expect decade by decade. Read More Next
  • Health Conditions A-Z

    Health Conditions A-Z

    See All Health Conditions A-Z

    12 Anxiety Symptoms That Might Point to a Disorder

    The symptoms of anxiety can be hard to detect. Here are the ones you need to pay attention to, and how to know if you may have an anxiety disorder.
    • Allergies
    • Anxiety
    • Birth Control
    • Breast Cancer
    • Coronavirus
    • Chronic Pain
    • Cold, Flu, and Sinus
    • Depression
    • Digestive Health
    • Diabetes (Type 2)
    • Eczema
    • Eye Health
    • Fibromyalgia
    • Heart Disease
    • Headaches and Migraines
    • Oral Health
    • Pregnancy
    • Psoriasis
    • Sexual Health
    • Skin Conditions
    • Sleep
    • Thyroid
  • News

    News

    See All News

    Shannen Doherty Reveals Stage 4 Breast Cancer Diagnosis—Here's What It Means

    "I'm petrified," the actress said when she shared the news that her breast cancer came back. Here's why a stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis can be so frightening.
    • Celebrities
  • Coronavirus
  • Diet & Nutrition

    Diet & Nutrition

    The Best (and Worst) Diets of 2020, According to Experts

    FYI: The keto diet isĀ not number one.
    • Food
    • Nutrition
    • Vitamins and Supplements
    • Groceries
    • Restaurants
    • Diets
    • Keto Diet
    • Mediterranean Diet
    • Whole30
    • Recipes
  • Fitness

    Fitness

    See All Fitness

    10 Moves for a Cardio Workout at Home—No Equipment Required

    Stay in your living room and still spike your heart rate.
    • Cardio Workouts
    • Strength Training
    • Yoga
    • Ab Workouts
    • Arm Workouts
    • Leg Workouts
    • Butt Workouts
    • Fitness Gear
  • Beauty

    Beauty

    See All Beauty

    These 13 Women Prove Every Body Is a Bikini Body

    We're loving their inspirational, body-positive messages.
    • Skincare
    • Makeup
    • Hair
    • Nails
  • Mind & Body

    Mind & Body

    See All Mind & Body

    Why Do People Lie? We Asked an Expert

    Here's the truth about lying.
    • Body Positivity
    • Self-Care
    • Misdiagnosed
    • Invisible Illness
    • LGBTQ+ Health
    • Health Diversity and Inclusion
    • Resolution Reboot
    • Wellness Warriors
  • Lifestyle

    Lifestyle

    20 Things You Should Throw Away for Better Health

    Clean out expired products and clutter to make way for a healthier you.
    • Healthy Home
    • Pets
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Style
    • Holidays
    • Sex
    • Gifts
    • Money
    • Tech
    • Medicare
    • Best Life Now
  • Weight Loss
  • Newsletter
  • Promo

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences this link opens in a new tab
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home Chevron Right
  2. Weight Loss Chevron Right
  3. Best and Worst Health Trends of 2013

Best and Worst Health Trends of 2013

By K. Aleisha Fetters
Updated January 28, 2021
Skip gallery slides
Save Pin
Credit: Getty Images
Take a lesson from this year's diet fads, fitness flubs, and expert-approved movements.
Start Slideshow

1 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Hot health trends

Credit: Getty Images

Each year comes with its own unique brand of health trends. Some wind up being passing fad diets, while others prove surprisingly on point. The key to healthy living is knowing which trends are worth your time. To that end, here are the year's shape-up and slim-down trends we'd like to forget—and the ones we hope will stick around into 2014.

1 of 16

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best: Water workouts

Credit: Getty Images

Whatever your favorite workout—be it Zumba, spinning, yoga, or jogging—you can now probably do it in a pool near you. And it's not just for show. By getting your sweat on in the water, you eliminate the joint-jolting and tiring impact of many exercises while adding all-over resistance for greater strength and weight-loss gains, according to the Stockholm University College of Physical Education and Sports. Bonus: People who do pool exercises enjoy their workouts more than those who stick to dry land, per research from Baylor University Medical Center.

2 of 16

3 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best: Fun runs

Credit: Getty Images

Whether it involves running through foam-covered obstacles or getting splattered with colored powder, fun runs have it right: Fun is the ultimate motivator, according to Edward L. Deci, PhD, a motivational researcher and professor of psychology at the University of Rochester. People who work out for the pure joy of working out rather than for a result (think: lose those last five pounds) actually stick with workouts longer and reap better results, he says. So grab your girlfriends and sign up!

3 of 16

Advertisement

4 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best: Going vegan

Credit: Getty Images

Somewhere between PETA's annual list of the sexiest vegan celebs and renowned food writer Mark Bittman's VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health…for Good, 2013 became the year of the vegan. Vegans tend to be thinner and have lower cholesterol and blood pressure than omnivores and vegetarians alike, according to a 2009 review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. If you want to try an animal-product-free lifestyle—even just part time— make sure you get enough protein daily, advises Martica Heaner PhD, a nutritionist and exercise physiologist based in New York City. Try these vegan and vegetarian protein sources.

4 of 16

5 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best: Hybrid yoga

Credit: Getty Images

Ropes, hula-hoops, kickboxing moves, and even trampolines made their way into the yoga studio this year—and the combination caters to more than your attention span, says Melissa diLeonardo, an American Council on Exercise-certified personal trainer and a Life Fitness Master Trainer. By integrating non-yoga moves into your routine, you can train a wider variety of muscles for better total-body sculpting.

5 of 16

6 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best: Bike-sharing programs

Credit: Getty Images

Now, in dozens of cities across the United States, exercise can actually save you time. So bypass traffic and get a bike pass: One four-year study of 822 adults found that bike commuters gain less weight over the years than car commuters. Besides toning your legs, increasing your heart rate, and strengthening your core, biking can seriously boost your energy. One study in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics found that biking decreases fatigue by 65%.

6 of 16

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best: Playground workouts

Credit: Getty Images

Girls (even grown ones) just want to have fun! And playground workouts—from adult playground fitness parks across California to the jungle gym-inspired Synrgy360 stations in gyms—are designed to help them have just that. "As adults, we just don't play enough. Play is good for your body and mind. These workouts give us an opportunity to let loose and explore new ways of burning calories while having fun," diLeonardo says. Plus, with bars for climbing, ropes for pulling, and platforms for jumping, playground workouts strengthen your entire body through natural, multi-joint exercises to improve your fitness both in and out of the gym.

7 of 16

8 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best: Exercise-specific footwear

Shoe fanatics, rejoice! Now stores stock Zumba, indoor cycling, and even CrossFit shoes—and they do more than make you look like a pro. "Footwear designed for specific activities can help improve performance and provide additional support when executing certain movement patterns," diLeonardo says. For example, shoes designed for dance-inspired classes generally have more lateral support and less tread so you don't twist your knee mid-spin. If you are starting a new class, talk to your instructor about the right footwear for the exercises involved.

8 of 16

9 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best: Intermittent fasting

Credit: Getty Images

The Fast Diet

, The IF Diet, and The 5:2 Diet might sound like gimmicks, and they are definitely unintuitive, but a 2013 review in the British Journal of Diabetes and Vascular Disease suggests that fasting diets not only aid in weight loss but actually may help people with cardiovascular disease by decreasing inflammation, reducing blood pressure, and improving blood sugar and triglyceride levels. The key is following a healthy protocol, as some can lead to a binge-purge mentality, says dietician Alexandra Caspero, RD, owner of weight-management and sports-nutrition service delicious-knowledge. She advises talking to a nutritionist or healthcare provider to find the one that's right for you.

9 of 16

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Worst: Open-bar gyms

Credit: Getty Images

Increasingly more gyms are serving their cool-down with a side of spirits: Finish a class and you get an all-you-can-drink pass. "Alcohol during or following an exercise class is a definite no in my book," says diLeonardo, who emphasizes the need to drink water, not alcohol. Why? According to one study in the Journal of Applied Physiology, alcohol drains your muscles' levels of glycogen, their primary source of fuel. The effect: Your muscles don't have the energy they need to repair, grow stronger, and increase your metabolism. Basically, post-exercise sips negate your workout.

10 of 16

11 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Worst: The Whole30 Diet

Credit: Getty Images

As if the Paleo Diet wasn't strict or unsustainable enough, this year people turned to the Whole30 Diet, which is basically an extremist "caveman" plan. The month-long program prohibits the consumption of fiber-filled legumes and whole grains, calcium- and vitamin D-rich dairy, and even some Paleo-approved foods like coffee, alcohol, and honey, all of which have been linked to improved health and longevity, Caspero says. While the strict plants-and-meat diet will surely spur weight loss by eliminating unhealthy refined sugars, the diet is far from sustainable—and isn't designed to be that way. So what happens after the month ends? You yo-yo. And while weight lost from extremely restricted diets is typically from a combination of fat and lean tissues, weight regained is typically 100% fat, she says.

11 of 16

12 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Worst: Hot classes

Credit: Getty Images

This year, hot Pilates, hot barre, and even hot weightlifting classes have joined Bikram yoga in cranking up the heat. But for what? "You don't need the heat to get a good workout," says diLeonardo. One 2013 American Council on Exercise study found that increasing the temperature does not make you work any harder or burn any more calories. All of the sweat just makes you think you do, all while putting you at risk of dehydration, she says. Also, while the ACE study found that temperatures of up to 95 degrees are safe for a person with zero health issues, researchers warn that many classes turn up the temps as high as 115 degrees.

12 of 16

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Worst: Going gluten-free for no reason

Credit: Getty Images

About one in three Americans are cutting down on or completely eliminating gluten, per a 2013 survey from The NPD Group. If you're one of them, read your nutrition labels. "Gluten-free foods aren't automatically better for you, and plenty of them can make you gain pounds," says Seattle-based certified nutritionist Deborah Enos. "Gluten helps to hold food together. When food manufacturers remove gluten, they add in fat and sugar to help the food maintain its shape." Plus, a 2012 review in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics shows that a gluten-free diet has no benefit—and can even harm gut health—in people without celiac disease or a gluten intolerance.

13 of 16

14 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Worst: Vibration machines

Credit: Getty Images

Remember watching your mom jiggle her fat away with vibrating belts? Well, the vibration fad is back, but this time you stand on a pulsating platform to tone muscles, boost your metabolism, and reduce cellulite…or not. In one International Journal of Sports Medicine study, women who completed 24 weeks of whole-body vibration training did not lose fat.

14 of 16

15 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Worst: Too-intense workouts

Credit: Getty Images

Pushing yourself is great. But pushing yourself beyond your ability is counterproductive and dangerous. Unfortunately a slew of workout classes and DVDs tout exhaustion as the ultimate goal, sacrificing form for intensity and increasing your risk of injury, says performance enhancement specialist Martin Rooney. What's more, when working out at home to DVDs, it's challenging to know if you are keeping form even before fatigue sets in. Before signing up for any high-intensity interval classes (which we love!) or popping in a DVD, develop proper form with a personal or small-group trainer.

15 of 16

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

16 of 16

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Worst: The Bulletproof Diet

Credit: Getty Images

An example of why you should read into who's behind your eating plan, The Bulletproof Diet wasn't drafted by an MD or nutritionist. It was designed by a Silicon Valley investor and computer security professional who lost more than 100 pounds, according to the diet's website. While his personal weight-loss is certainly inspiring, it doesn't provide rock-solid scientific evidence to support recommendations to eat 4,000-plus calories a day, not exercise, and scoop butter into their morning coffee. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

16 of 16

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By K. Aleisha Fetters

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 16 Hot health trends
2 of 16 Best: Water workouts
3 of 16 Best: Fun runs
4 of 16 Best: Going vegan
5 of 16 Best: Hybrid yoga
6 of 16 Best: Bike-sharing programs
7 of 16 Best: Playground workouts
8 of 16 Best: Exercise-specific footwear
9 of 16 Best: Intermittent fasting
10 of 16 Worst: Open-bar gyms
11 of 16 Worst: The Whole30 Diet
12 of 16 Worst: Hot classes
13 of 16 Worst: Going gluten-free for no reason
14 of 16 Worst: Vibration machines
15 of 16 Worst: Too-intense workouts
16 of 16 Worst: The Bulletproof Diet

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Login

Health.com

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • About Us
  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Contact us
  • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en EspaƱol this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Health.com is part of the Meredith Health Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved. The material in this site is intended to be of general informational use and is not intended to constitute medical advice, probable diagnosis, or recommended treatments. All products and services featured are selected by our editors. Health.com may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.health.com

View image

Best and Worst Health Trends of 2013
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.