It’s time to ring in 2020 with the new you. Each new year brings a wave of new trends — some that should end in 2021 and some that should last forever — that you can pick and choose from to help form a happier, healthier version of you.
Here are our favorite trends of 2020, courtesy of the Gardenuity team.
Holistic Wellness
If 2019 was about the fanaticism of fitness and diet trends, then 2020 will be about holistic wellness. We predict holistic wellness will be one of the top trends of 2020.
At its core, holistic wellness is simply about being well — about participating in a well-rounded, regular, and balanced lifestyle.
For us, wellness includes (but is not limited to) eating more plant foods, a consistent fitness schedule, getting outdoors, and mindfulness as part of your daily life. The point of holistic wellness is to avoid limits or burnout and to engage in wellness across all fronts — physical health, mental health, and emotional health.
Gardenuity team member Thomas Corr says, “I really want to bring more plants into my living spaces — research indicates that plants in living spaces are beneficial for moods and emotions, as well as can improve healing and cognitive function.”
Digital Detox
In the past few years, detoxing has become a big part of the health world. Sugar detoxes, alcohol detoxes, juice detoxes…the list goes on and on. The new detox of 2020? Digital detox.
Gardenuity’s COO Doug Platts guesses that our society will increasingly look for tangible experiences — moments away from our phone. A digital detox can range from taking a 6-month break from social media to simply putting our phones and computers away during personal or family time.
The point is to look away from our phones to discover those experiences we’re constantly seeking — whether that’s taking the trip you’ve been talking about for years or taking 15 minutes every day to tend to your herb garden. Rather than jumping on social media every spare chance we get, take a moment to unplug and enjoy your life more.
Seasonal Eating / Plant-Based Diet
Gardenuity’s SEO specialist is Max Boswell and, trust us, he knows trends. His trend prediction for 2020 is diet-based and two-pronged: seasonal eating and plant-based diets.
Seasonal eating is the practice of purchasing and consuming foods in the season they are harvested in. Foods that are in season are often more nutritious and tastier. Plus, eating seasonally helps reduce food miles and often supports local farmers who choose to grow sustainably.
Plant-based diets are often adopted for the same reasons as seasonal diets: they’re more nutritious and more sustainable. Plant-based diets are not necessarily vegetarian or vegan (although veganism is certainly a trend that’s rising significantly).
Plant-based diets just mean you eat mostly things that grow in the ground.
This includes vegetables and fruits, but also legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds. Animal products become an occasional thing, rather than the main source of your calories. It’s quite akin to the diet of the hunter-gatherers and thus leans on the theory that our body is well-equipped to digest a diet like so.
Don’t worry — seasonal or plant-based eating doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice flavor. Try these meatless eggplant recipes to begin.
Dopamine Fasting
Dopamine fasting is one of Ellie Lemak’s predictions for top trends of 2020. It’s the avoidance of things that produces quick bursts of dopamine — a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, reward, and motivation. It includes eliminating things like Instagram, Netflix, pizza, sex, music, and even exercise for just a period of time.
Then, when the pleasure returns, you feel a more lasting and intense pleasure and are motivated to tackle your to-dos with vigor. Ellie guesses, “People are wanting to become more present with self and one another. Dopamine fasting will be a way to loosen our addiction to instant gratification.”
Experiences Over Stuff
Or as CEO of Gardenuity puts it, “Face time over FaceTime.” Both Donna Letier (CEO) and Julie Egger (CFO) guessed that experience-based lifestyles will abound in 2020.
Technology and “stuff” often promise to make our life easier and to provide us with me time, but studies show we are actually working more. And despite all the promised convenience, more people feel anxious, exhausted, and overwhelmed.
Whether or not we’re conscious of it, experiences introduce us to new worlds and shape our identity. Our experiences are highly formative and influential for us— more so than anything we consume on a screen. So why not curate meaningful and positive experiences for ourselves? Our bet is that 2020 is full of experiential products, experience-based museums, and people seeking out ways to create exciting moments off the screen.
Donna’s New Year, New You recommendation is to get a little dirty in the garden and, in the meantime, experience little things that bring you gratitude and joy.
Sustainability
Team member Kimberly Escobar’s 2020 trend prediction is sustainability — and we certainly hope she’s right. Inspired by Greta Thunberg and the youth climate impact movement, she expects sustainability to become one of the most discussed topics of 2020.
In 2020, we predict that sustainability initiatives will permeate every area of life — from politics and policy, to how we run our households, to what we eat and drink, to what we teach our children. It is poised to involve all of us, and it needs all of us in 2020.
Gut Health
It may seem specific, but take a moment to reflect on 2019’s focus on probiotics.
We predict 2020 is the year people really focus on gut health, and Gardenuity is kicking it off by making it easy for people to incorporate home-grown produce into their daily lives.
So much is centered and controlled within our digestive system. There are 10 times more bacteria in our gut than we have cells in our body! When there’s a consistent imbalance of harmful bacteria and other microbes in the microbiome, we are at risk for infection, inflammation or disease.
Poor diets that consist of mostly processed foods are both factors that contribute to an imbalance in our digestive system. Having access to freshly grown herbs and vegetables encourages us to eat healthier and thus develop healthier guts.
Mocktails
It only makes sense that a 2020 full of detoxes, holistic wellness, and gut health would be a year full of mocktails. Just because you’re detoxing from alcohol or attempting to drink less doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy every single thing you drink. Gardenuity’s event planner Beth Susens suggests making it available during gatherings (in addition to cocktails if you like) so yourself and your friends can enjoy evenings while maintaining their resolutions. One of my favorite Mocktail mixers – Topo Chico.
Mocktails are a way to get a tasty and exciting flavor that’s appropriate for the whole family (and your fitness regime).
Begin your 2020 with a Fizzy Rhubarb Mocktail.
We hope that you create your own top trends for 2020 and stick to them. Remember each year is a time to reinvent yourself for the better. Cheers to the New Year and the New You!
