The 7 health fads of 2014 (and whether they were worth your time).

Almost every week there’s another new ‘secret to good health’ – one week it might be green smoothies and the next it’s standing desks. It can be difficult to keep up.

Not only are many of these trends likely to cost you a significant amount of money and time, there’s often very little evidence to show they will improve your health in any way.

So we’ve taken a look at some recent health trends to see which ones are worth holding onto, and which we should leave behind.

1. Ridiculously hard obstacle races

While you’re spending your Sunday morning crawling under the doona, a growing number of fitness freaks are crawling under barbed wire, trudging through mud and even risking electrocution – all in the name of good health.

No longer content to get up at 5:00am and head off for a bike ride or run, these weekend warriors join their mates for a 20-odd kilometre obstacle course that traverses land, water, mud and an adult-sized jungle gym.

But is this really a good idea for Average Joe the office worker?

Carly Ryan, exercise physiologist at Exercise and Sports Science Australia, says for many people this can be a great way to set fitness goals and shake up a sedentary lifestyle. However, she strongly urges you use common sense – as going from zero to 100 too quickly can be a fast track to more than bruised knees and a bruised ego.

“Make sure you’ve been regularly active for at least a few months beforehand and get checked out by your GP,” she urges. “These courses are designed to be a test of everything, so do a mix of cardiovascular, strength and flexibility training.” That means regularly walking, running, lifting weights, doing group fitness classes and even yoga… you want to be flexible enough to move quickly when crawling through live wires.

The verdict: If you’re already fit, go on and get muddy. If not, start with a weekend walk, ride, run or swim.

2. Activating your nuts

If you haven’t heard about activating almonds this year, you’ve been living under a rock.

Proponents of activated nuts say you need to soak your almonds for 12 to 24 hours and then dry them at a low temperature (in an oven or a food dehydrator) for another 6 to 24 hours. Why, you ask? Almond activators say there are chemicals in nuts called phytates, which help the germination process, and these are anti-nutrients that cause digestive issues and can stop us absorbing minerals from our food. Soaking is supposed to reduce the amount of these phytates and make your nuts more nutritious and easier to digest.

But if nut-soaking sounds like one kitchen chore too many, you can relax. Advanced accredited practising dietitian Lisa Yates, who looked at the science behind soaking nuts, says there’s zero evidence to support it.

“In fact, there’s actually a lot of evidence around the health benefits of phytates, including a possible role in reducing the risk of bowel cancer,” she says. “Bowel cancer is one of the highest forms of cancer in Australia with one in 12 Aussies likely to develop it before the age of 85 years. If phytates can help reduce that risk, why would we want to remove them?”

So how did this all start? “There’s evidence about the phytates in grains and legumes, so people have made the leap,” Yates explains. Soaking helps break down phytates and some of the fibre in legumes, making them easier to digest. (Although some legumes, most notably kidney beans, must be soaked and well cooked before eating as they contain a toxin called lectin, which can cause extreme nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.)

Soaking grains, however, is unlikely to be an issue unless your diet is high in staple grains such as sourghum or millet. “For most of us in Australia in 2014 this is less of an issue, including vegetarians.”

The verdict: Nuts are great just as they are.

3. Wearables

Activity trackers. Smartwatches. Pedometers. Plenty of us are using wearable technology to track everything from our blood pressure and heart rate, to our sleep cycles and the number of kilojoules we consumed at breakfast.

Exercise physiologist with Exercise and Sports Science Australia Katie Williams says wearables are a great tool to measure your fitness and performance. “After four weeks of a running training program you’ll see your average heart rate is lower than when you started.”

The information you get via devices can be a powerful tool for motivation, she says. “No matter what your goal is, whether you want to be able to walk ten minutes longer than you currently can or run five kilometres further, these tracking devices help you measure that and see your progress,” Williams says.

Wearables can also give you an objective measure of how active (or inactive) you really are. “These tracking devices help people realise how little they are currently moving and it also helps motivate them to look for more opportunities to move throughout their day. So they might opt to take the stairs and see that step count increase.”

The verdict: These devices can help keep you stay on track with your health goals.

4. Standing desks

Stand-up desks are increasingly popular as we learn more about the dangers of our sedentary lifestyle. Research clearly shows extended periods of sitting increase your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancers and premature death.

As well as getting you out of the chair, Ryan says stand-up desks are an excellent way of making you more aware of your posture. “When you’re sitting you tend to slouch forward over time – but the same thing can happen when standing,” she explains.

“The key is to go from sitting to standing every 30 minutes or so and break that up with a few stretches or laps around the office. You could end up with sore legs or feet if you stand all day, just as you’d have a stiff back after sitting all day.”

The vedict: Stand up for your health.

5. Going gluten-free

No longer is a gluten-free diet just for people with coeliac disease, these days it seems as though every other person has given up gluten.

While this trend isn’t necessarily limited to 2014, it does seem that every year an increasing number of us are intolerant to gluten.

However, Yates is concerned that most people are self-diagnosing their gluten intolerance. “They could have another serious problem causing the bloating, such as cancer, that hasn’t been picked up yet because they haven’t had it properly looked at by a qualified doctor,” she says.

As well, those who go gluten-free often don’t realize gluten-free foods are full of other unhealthy ingredients. “They’re also generally higher GI because of the choice of gluten-free replacements and level of processing. A high-GI diet can increase your risk of type II diabetes and heart disease,” Yates explains. Going gluten-free also puts you at risk of missing out on important nutrients, as well as fibre, if you don’t make a particular effort to balance your diet. “You can’t just eat rice and corn alone because it’s gluten free,” Yates explains. “You also have to increase your fruit, veg, legume and nut intake because they’re sources of fibre.”

The verdict: only go gluten-free if you’ve been diagnosed by a qualified medical practitioner.

6. Functional fitness

This year, have you been ‘getting fit’ or have you been getting ‘functionally fit’?.

If you’re not sure what functional fitness is personal trainer Nardia Norman explains: “It’s exercising using movement patterns that our body naturally makes… For example squats, lunges, pushing, pulling, bending and twisting. We’re also designed to move in multiple different directions: forward, back, down, up, side-to-side.”

These are all otherwise known as our “primal movement patterns”, the moves we make in everyday life – carrying the groceries, bending over to pick up the kids, crouching down in the garden – so it makes sense to become strong in them, Norman says.

So no more standing in front of the mirror doing biceps curls; instead we’re doing those biceps curls while lunging at the same time. We’re also using more muscles and joints at once, which means you’ll be getting multiples benefits at once. “If you want to be healthy, move well and be lean, you should absolutely be training like this,” Norman urges.

But that doesn’t mean you need to get a gym membership – they are plenty of ways you can do this at home using inexpensive pieces of equipment, or even your own bodyweight. Why not try our 30-minute strength program.

The verdict: Fitness is one area where multitasking has benefits.

7. Green drinks

From juices to smoothies, the green drink has become synonymous with clean living. Dietitian Dr Naras Lapsys says there aren’t many downsides to incorporating green drinks into your diet.

“Most people don’t eat enough vegies, so it’s a really effective way of getting them into your diet,” he says. “If you’re hungry in the arvo and rather than a muffin you grab a green drink containing kale, silverbeet and other whole, seasonal vegies, it’s a great thing,” he says.

However, they should be considered an “adjunct” to an already healthy diet. “If you have a poor diet and think a green drink’s going to be your saviour, that’s definitely not the case.”

A green drink containing just vegies will be low in calories and high in important vitamins and minerals, but start adding fruit and you start adding kilojoules. “If you add half a green apple for some sweetness, it then contains a bit of fuel and carbohydrate, but still hasn’t been overdone,” he says.

It’s when you start adding extras that it can go downhill. “If you put in lots of fruit, you’ve overshot the mark – it’s becoming a high-sugar drink that’s closer to a soft drink,” Lapsys says. “Then if you add raw protein powder, Maca powder, chia seeds and everything else, it has become a meal replacement. It’s calorie- and nutrient-dense, but not something you drink at 3pm as a snack. It’s now a meal in a glass.”

The verdict: Green is good, but be realistic about the kilojoules involved.

This article was originally published on the ABC and was republished with full permission.

*Lisa Yates works for Nuts for Life, a health education initiative of the Australian Tree Nut Industry and Horticulture Australia.

So. Tell the truth now. How many of these did you try?