2026 Wellness Trends

Anything But Mid is hosted by Amy Edwards and Whitney Stropp. Neither host is a doctor and nothing here is medical advice. Lightly cleaned for readability.

Amy: I'm Amy.

Whitney: And I'm Whitney.

Amy: And this is midlife, which are anything but mid.

Whitney: Amy Amy Amy, I am so impressed with you because we talk about anything being, you know, anything but mid, and part of that is taking chances, doing risky things, or getting out when, you know, your body is telling you that it's too old. So, I think we talked about this bus

Amy: Yes, the bus.

Whitney: The bus.

Amy: Yep, the bus.

Whitney: And you went and picked up the bus.

Amy: Yes, so anyone that doesn't know, my husband bought a bus and he's been dreaming of it for years.

Whitney: It's more than a bus. It's not like a school bus. It's

Amy: It's a tour bus.

Whitney: It's a tour bus.

Amy: It's a Prevost coach tour bus. It is what they make Greyhound buses of, yeah.

Whitney: Did you feel like a rockstar in the bus?

Amy: A little.

Whitney: It looked so cool on the outside.

Amy: It's cooler than some of the other ones that are like you know, they have swirls on the outside and pop-outs and stuff. It's cool.

Whitney: No, this is like bright, sparkly red.

Amy: It's deeper in person. It's like more of a dark red, but

Whitney: Okay, then never mind. It's a horrible bus.

Amy: It's got a lot of chrome, a lot of silver, which I love anything mirrored. The inside has a ton of mirrors and mirrors on the ceilings and these cool lights that like give it a really vibey Yeah, I sent you a video of it.

Whitney: Yeah. Yeah, I loved it.

Amy: Yeah. And so, I know. Yesterday he goes, "Thanks for not saying no to it." And I was like, I guess I have that power as we're married, you know, to say no, but I was like, it's your dream. Like, he told me that in high school, he asked his parents if he found this ice cream truck, this old ice cream truck, and he asked if he could buy that and just like, sort of live in that.

Whitney: And then be the ice cream guy? Oh, and live in it.

Amy: No, he wanted to like He wanted to like drive it to He he went to school. They ended up getting an apartment in Dallas his senior year because he lived so far from school cuz wrestling or whatever. And so, he wanted this ice cream truck so he could like deck it out, you know, like people do Sprinter vans or something these days.

Whitney: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Amy: And so, I mean, I was like, oh god, when he told me that, I was like, wow, you've wanted this a long time. And so, anyway, he really he's been dreaming of it, dreaming of it. I didn't know it was going to happen this soon, but here we are. I guess I could have said no, but I was kind of like

Whitney: Well, and even to go, so he wanted to go he wanted to go pick it up and then you fly out there and drive it back with him.

Amy: Oh yeah. Yeah, so this yeah.

Whitney: And so, that's also a part of midlife. We tell ourselves, "Uh, I'm too tired. I'm too old. I don't want to do it." you know. And so, you don't step out of your comfort zone as much anymore, I feel like.

Amy: No. Yeah. It required a different skill set of planning and we have a dog. I had to figure out the dog. And then so, I type out this whole message to him like on uh the 30th, right? So, he left and went and he's like, "I hope you'll come," or whatever and I'm like, "I'm going to stay here for New Year's Eve." So then I'm alone on New Year's Eve.

Whitney: Right, right, or

Amy: I think we recorded that day,

Whitney: Yeah, we did.

Amy: and so we talked about it, and I was just like, I don't know. I typed out this long text to him that was like, this is I have to figure out the flights and then then then, on and on, and I sounded like a whiny baby.

Whitney: Too hard. Yeah.

Amy: And I was like, I reread it, and I was like, I can't What am I doing? Put your big girl pants on. Figure out Get that dog on a flight. Figure out how to fly a dog. It's not rocket science.

Whitney: And go be with your man on the tour bus.

Amy: And go be with him. Yes. So, you know what? I did. One day in advance, I found a Delta first class flight for 500 bucks.

Whitney: And you did. Oh, yeah.

Amy: I know. Well, it was one-way, so I was like

Whitney: Oh, that's true.

Amy: Oh, my god, fucking Southwest was like $700 or $800 for a flight the next day.

Whitney: That's crazy.

Amy: And I was like on New on Christmas New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve.

Whitney: And then what was the dog's experience?

Amy: Oh, my gosh, Delta's so easy. All you do is like they say, "Oh, you're going to have to call after you book it and make sure there's room for the dog," and I'm like, "Oh, fuck. Okay." So, I booked the flight and then I just used the chat thing and I was like, "Oh, hey, I need a representative," and then they were like, "There's room for your dog. Okay." You have to pay at the counter. I had to pay $150 at the counter. Kind of expensive.

Whitney: But then she was under your seat?

Amy: She was I had certain dimensions of her carrier, which she barely fit in, God bless her. She was pushing maximum capacity and I followed their instructions for the size. They have to clarify it and everything or whatever, consent. And it didn't fit, and so I got it in the middle. I don't know if the seats were just bigger or something first.

Whitney: Yes, it No, I think in uh I had this happen to me when I've flown first class, the middle compartment cuz it's two seats and then that middle compartment is big and then each seat has something small.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah. So, I had to put her in the middle part. Luckily the guy next to me was fine with it. He drank a bunch of drinks and there was a screaming baby behind us, so God bless him. God bless.

Whitney: Oh, man. And how did your doggie do?

Amy: She did fantastic.

Whitney: Did you give her anything?

Amy: No.

Whitney: Aw, that's awesome.

Amy: I know. She did fantastic I'm still amazed cuz I thought she was going to be a nightmare. Yeah, so she did great and um, and then we Well, I had a long day of travel. It was other things went wrong, but whatever. Overall, I was in a great mood and just we showed up at the bus and did it.

Whitney: You're like, I can do this. Yeah.

Amy: And then we were on the bus the whole time and I mean it was kind of a hassle having her cuz if we're rolling down the highway, one time she almost shit on the bus and we were like,

Whitney: Oh no.

Amy: I don't know. This is so gross. Have you ever had like a dog when they're going to poop, like their butthole kind of opens up?

Whitney: Yeah, you can see it kind of like it's like something's coming. Oh.

Amy: But you smell something. It's a very distinct smell. It's not like a poop smell exactly. It's like

Whitney: It's the anal gland.

Amy: It's the anal gland!

Whitney: It's the anal gland!

Amy: Yes! That's what I said. It was the anal Like, we got a whiff and we were like

Whitney: It needs to be expressed.

Amy: I had to basically like hold her and we got her out. But anyway, I was just being a baby and it's weird for me to think that's a mid moment, but I guess I'm glad you said that it is because

Whitney: Oh my gosh.

Amy: we'll hold ourselves back in weird ways and then I was like, what the hell am I talk I was just being limited mindset or

Whitney: Right. Well, I think there's some fear involved a lot of time as we get older. I see it with my mom and my aunts and uncles like, you know, they don't want to drive anymore, things are scary to them now because they kind of stop doing them frequently and then it becomes a big thing. And like you've never traveled with the dog before and that can be scary. Like,

Amy: Yeah. Yeah.

Whitney: younger brains are just like, "Well, let's just go for it. Let's do it." Right, exactly. My kid I just dropped my kid off for a study abroad program and he is doesn't care one bit about planning for anything.

Amy: Just figure it out. Yeah. He's literally just off with the clothes on his back, or something.

Whitney: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I'm like, "Um, do you want to take a pair of tennis shoes or something?" I mean, he literally He's gone for four and 1/2 months. He only packed one pair of shoes and one pair of sandals.

Amy: Oh, my god.

Whitney: And, I'm just like, I'm sure I'm going to see a ton of stuff around the house that he was going to bring and didn't bring. But, I have to let go of it. My brain is like, I'm literally printing out, "If your passport gets stolen, here are the steps you take. If your cell phone gets stolen, here are the," an emergency contact sheet that he's never going to look at.

Amy: Wow. Right. Right. You think that's fear?

Whitney: Yes, I I think that it For me, it's it's fear of the unknown. So, I'm trying to know every possible outcome to make myself feel safe.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah.

Whitney: And when you have a younger mentality, I think it's just like, "You know what? Let's just see what happens. Let's just go for it and see what happens."

Amy: Yeah. You're right. You're right. And that's Justin's attitude. I mean, he is younger. He's like 30 in his 30s still, so he's he's got that. And I'm like,

Whitney: And we we actually have it. I mean, you've done that many times over the course of your years, even in midlife because, you know, you pick up the guitar, you decide to write a book, you date a younger man. I was about to say married man. That was me. Anywho, um, you know, you're still taking risks, but I do think it gets a little bit harder, so good for you.

Amy: And it's so It's this resistance like that Yeah. creeps up out of nowhere and it's just like this feeling of resistance. It's so weird. And I was that's what I was coping with, this mega resistance based in fear, and it was just it was just like, once I stepped outside myself and looked at it, I was like, "Oh, what a crybaby."

Whitney: Well, and especially after you're actual now you're doing it and you're like, "What was what was such a What was it that I was so worried about? Yeah, this was no big deal." And then you got to hang out with your man on a bus.

Amy: What was the big deal? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, he is just over the moon happy.

Whitney: He's so happy.

Amy: Oh, my god. He's so happy. But, I will say the bus was nicer than I expected and I was thrilled about that, and he was like, "I wanted one that you would feel comfortable on. I had to get like some nice stuff to make sure." I mean, like the showers

Whitney: Yeah, you would not have been shacking up in an old ice cream truck.

Amy: a shower. It's totally totally doable.

Whitney: Well, that's how That's why you're saying

Amy: I've been in Airbnbs that had worse showers.

Whitney: That's why you're saying it's a tour bus, because it's actually created for people going musicians and and performers going on tour and they have to and they're used to luxury. I mean, not everyday

Amy: It has a full-ass fridge, like a like a whole

Whitney: What about closet?

Amy: The closet's not bad. There's one long closet and then the back, it's got like this mirrored thing with a whole closet across and I mean, I'm not really going to keep that much stuff in there, so it's I'm not going to live in it full-time.

Whitney: Yeah, yeah. I was just thinking from performer standpoint, you would think that the closet would have

Amy: Oh. Yeah, you know what? It would work. If it was just If I was the performer and I was traveling, I'd be fine.

Whitney: You were Dolly Parton and you had to fit your dresses in there.

Amy: I think I'd be all right. Isn't that crazy? The shoes would be a little tougher, but I would change the other closet to be just a shoe closet. So, anyway, whatever. It was It was good.

Whitney: That's so great. Yeah. Good for you. Good for you!

Amy: Sweet.

Whitney: So, you had an anything but mid moment. I had a mid moment because I read somewhere once like, you know, you start to lose your balance as you age. And so, you can do things to help keep your balance, like standing on one leg. So, I have tried to like when I brush my teeth, I stand on one leg. And then when I blow-dry my hair, I go back and forth. Well, I fell.

Amy: No!

Whitney: I lost my balance while I was blow-drying my hair and I think I broke my toe.

Amy: Oh my god. Oh, no.

Whitney: No! This is a couple of days old, but um see?

Amy: What? Oh. Oh, Whitney. Ow.

Whitney: Anyway. This That actually looks a lot better. It used to be a lot more purple. But, my mid moment was trying to trying to practice my balance and losing my balance and breaking my toe.

Amy: And you just fell over all the way or

Whitney: Well yeah I mean Well what no what happened was I was blowing dry my hair and you start to kind of lose your balance, but I was trying not to put my foot down. But then it became obvious I had to put my foot down, and it just came down on the edge of the cabinet.

Amy: Oh gosh.

Whitney: It just I just hit it in the wrong

Amy: Oh my god. Did you cry?

Whitney: I did not cry, but I did say the F-word like Screaming it. multiple times. Yeah.

Amy: Anyway. Multiple times.

Whitney: Multiple times. All right. So today

Amy: Today?

Whitney: we're going to be talking a little bit about trends. We're in a new year. Are we in a new year? Yes. We're in a new year. We're in a new year. Wait, mid moment.

Amy: Yes. I wrote 2021 the other day on something.

Whitney: That's so funny. I did that once when I was writing a check and then this is when I was on Facebook more and I made a post like, you know, something like, "Up, still having trouble getting used to the new year. Just wrote my check for 2022." And somebody commented, "Are you sure you're not living in 1998? Nobody writes checks anymore." I was like, "Good point." "Excellent point, sir." Anyway, we're going to talk a little bit about some specific trends that are exploding. They exploded in 2025 and they're continuing

Amy: Explosions.

Whitney: into 2026. And then we're going to talk a little bit about a couple of trends to ditch in 2026.

Amy: Ooh, I love what's in, what's out.

Whitney: All right. But before we start that, I have a new segment, Amy,

Amy: Ooh.

Whitney: and it's called Biohack or Biowhack. Okay? So what I'm going to do is I'm going to tell you about a new biohack and then you're going to tell me if you think it's a biohack or a biowhack.

Amy: Oh, great. I'm here for it.

Whitney: Okay? All right. Here's the first one. The AI Nap Assistant, a headband that uses AI to monitor your brainwaves and injects pink noise at specific frequencies to force your brain into deep sleep state in under four minutes. What do you think? Hack or whack?

Amy: God, I don't really like the pink noise that much. Isn't that great?

Whitney: I don't understand all the colors. I mean, my daughter listens to brown noise.

Amy: Brown. Always brown.

Whitney: I only know white noise. I mean, I don't understand all the different colors.

Amy: I did read something about pink. I'm going to go with hack on that. I like that.

Whitney: You are correct. It is. It's a Wait. Is it right or wrong?

Amy: Yeah.

Whitney: Oh, whack is fake?

Amy: Yeah.

Whitney: Oh, I thought you just meant like do I think it's dumb. Oh, no, no.

Amy: Oh, okay. Okay.

Whitney: I'm asking you, is it real or is it fake? Biohack or biowhack.

Amy: Oh yeah, that's real. That's real. That's gotta be real.

Whitney: Yes, it is real. It's a real-time EEG sleep mask and it's essentially a DJ for your subconscious spinning beats to stay unconscious.

Amy: I like the sound of that. I think that sounds great.

Whitney: So you don't wake up. I may have to try it. Anything, I don't know. It's weird. All right, here's the next one.

Amy: Okay. Okay. All right.

Whitney: Biohack or biowhack?

Amy: Okay.

Whitney: Rewilding your gut, AKA the dirt pill. A probiotic supplement made from sterilized soil samples from the blue zones, places where people live to be over 100, designed to reintroduce ancient bacteria into your modern, overly sanitized gut.

Amy: Oh gosh. I mean, you know, they do poop

Whitney: I know, the poop pills or whatever.

Amy: transfers. Yeah. They're not pills, but they'll put poop in your gut.

Whitney: No, you actually can have pills made.

Amy: That is so gross.

Whitney: from other people's poop. I know, it's whole

Amy: I think this is whack.

Whitney: You do?

Amy: Yeah.

Whitney: You are correct.

Amy: Ah.

Whitney: Mostly, because there's no real dirt pill from the blue zones, but they do have supplements, you know, They do have supplements, real supplement category, but it's not like dirt from Sardinia.

Amy: Oh. I just, I just don't think you could put actual dirt in your Mhm. Okay.

Whitney: Dude, you can make anything into a pill. If I could take my husband's ashes and make a diamond.

Amy: Oh. Oh, I thought I thought you were about to say you're going to make pills.

Whitney: Eat him? Oh, no. I was like, "Aw, that's so sweet." To eat my dead husband? No. Although, you know, they you eat your own placenta. I don't know, we're getting off track. Anyway,

Amy: I wanted to and they

Whitney: The gut the dirt pill is a biowhack. All right, here's the next one. Smart Light circadian contact lenses. So they're contact lenses

Amy: These are all so ridiculous.

Whitney: that automatically filter out blue light after sunset and gradually brighten with a sunrise glow. Kind of like those, you know, those glasses you can get, the transitional glasses. So it But these are contacts and it helps you with waking up and your circadian rhythms and all of that.

Amy: That sounds legit. I'm going hack.

Whitney: It is a biowhack.

Amy: No, that doesn't exist?

Whitney: It does not exist.

Amy: It should. It should. Somebody go invent that.

Whitney: Putting a sunrise directly onto your eyeball, I'm not sure that's a good idea. Anyway, I don't know. It is not true.

Amy: But the filtering the light.

Whitney: Yeah, that's They have to sound legit, or it wouldn't be a hard game. All right, here I've got two more. Here's the next one. The you know what the vagus nerve is?

Amy: Yes.

Whitney: Okay. So, the vagus nerve vibrator. It's called The Singing Necklace. It's a sleek, pendant-style wearable that sits on your chest and sends low frequency vibrations to stimulate your vagus nerve, tricking your body into thinking you just finished an hour of Zen meditation.

Amy: I'm going hack.

Whitney: You're right.

Amy: Yeah, cuz you know they do those vibrational plates that you can stand on.

Whitney: Yes, I have the They have those at Upgrade Labs.

Amy: Yeah. So

Whitney: And then with crystals, they can calm your energy and stuff, so I would have said it was a hack, too. Yes, devices like the Sensate or Apollo are huge right now. It's basically a mute button for your anxiety. I needed to be wearing that today when I dropped Hayden off.

Amy: I want that. You did.

Whitney: All right. And the last one, biohack or biowhack? Metabolic breathalyzers. It's a pocket-sized device that you blow into that tells you instantly if your body's burning fat or carbs for fuel. So you can decide if you're allowed to eat that sourdough toast or whatever you're wanting to eat.

Amy: Okay. I'm going whack.

Whitney: Biohack.

Amy: Shit.

Whitney: This is Lumen and its competitors. It's perfect for the person who wants to turn their basic biology into high-stakes math equation. "Sorry, I can't go to dinner. My breathalyzer says I'm currently 82% carb-dependent."

Amy: For real?

Whitney: That's what it says, yeah. It tells you

Amy: That one's ridiculous. That's fucking ridiculous.

Whitney: how your body is handling the food, and then you know what you can eat. That's kind of interesting. I mean, think of all the things we're tracking already. Like, people are doing the glucose tracking and

Amy: You talked about your voice. Yeah, yeah, for Red Light. What was that for?

Whitney: Red light, the red light bed. Weird.

Amy: I know. Okay, that was fun. I like the new segment.

Whitney: Yeah, there you go. It's fun. New segment.

Amy: Fun new segment.

Whitney: All right. Now we're getting down to the five specific trends that exploded over the past year in 2025 and they're also heading in. We talked about the first one in one of our earlier episodes: fiber maxing.

Amy: Yes! Fiber maxing.

Whitney: It was huge last year, and it's continuing to gain speed. It's

Amy: I'm so on trend.

Whitney: You are. In 2024 it was about protein, protein, protein, protein,

Amy: Protein.

Whitney: protein, about protein. In 2025 became the year of fiber maxing and influencers started treating psyllium psyllium husk like nature's Ozempic.

Amy: Okay. I What?

Whitney: It's nature's Ozempic.

Amy: No way. I make a really good life-changing bread, it's called, with psyllium husk in it.

Whitney: Oh. Where do you get psyllium husk?

Amy: I think I I think I

Whitney: It's actually a husk, like corn husk?

Amy: Nope, just little tiny bits of something. Little bitty grains of something. And maybe I ordered it, or bought it at Whole Foods or something.

Whitney: Yeah, but isn't it, basically, fiber maxing is just saying, "I eat a lot of beans."

Amy: Beans? No, vegetables.

Whitney: Beans, beans. Everyone's a musical fruit.

Amy: But, what, fiber Vegetables.

Whitney: When they're fiber maxing.

Amy: Vegetables. Vegetables.

Whitney: You eat legumes.

Amy: Legumes, yes.

Whitney: Legumes, and seeds.

Amy: Yes, but really, if you eat a lot of vegetables, you're good to go.

Whitney: Oh, really?

Amy: Yes. Yes.

Whitney: I was just thinking about this the other day. Like, I'm starting a new supplement routine, and it's still a lot of pills. And I'm like, "I wonder if it would be cheaper if I just bought better foods?" You know? Instead of all the supplements, I just went to And I do a lot of grass-fed beef and stuff like that, but like, really go to the farmers market and get all of the stuff that I'm going to eat, and then I'm getting the nutrients that I need without eating all these supplements.

Amy: I know. And But they say like we we don't have nutrient-dense dirt now, or soil, so.

Whitney: But if you're doing it in a in a farm, like, I don't know, yeah.

Amy: I think that would work. I think that would work.

Whitney: Well, that's why Sting looks so good, because they they grow all their own food in Wales, or wherever they live. He looks incredible.

Amy: I mean, you know he has a staff.

Whitney: What? No.

Amy: He has a staff that does it. He doesn't have He's rich! So, yes, like

Whitney: I'm imagining him picking his own beans, or whatever.

Amy: Oh, he might walk out there and pick a few, but he's got people.

Whitney: All right. Well, still.

Amy: on staff. So it's not like he's not like normal people.

Whitney: Right, he has a a gardener that

Amy: Sting.

Whitney: Right. It's Sting. All right. Okay, here's the second trend.

Amy: How old is Sting?

Whitney: I don't know, but I saw him in concert like last year, and he

Amy: He's hot!

Whitney: I would do him.

Amy: Hold on, let's see. Hold on. I

Whitney: I would do him.

Amy: Sting age.

Whitney: Is he like 80? 78?

Amy: No, he's like 70, 68 maybe or something. Well, my phone's being super slow. Let's see here. 74!

Whitney: Yeah. My mom could do him, too, cuz she's 79.

Amy: Oh, fun. That'd be a fun threesome.

Whitney: Super fun, three She'd get a cramp in the middle, so I would just push her to the side. Okay, the second trend that popped in 2025 and is continuing is called Japanese walking. Have you heard of that?

Amy: Tell me more. I have not.

Whitney: It's basically interval walking. It's It's It's something that we've already heard of, but for some reason they've labeled it Japanese the the Japanese people do it. So you walk for 3 minutes like you're running late for a flight, for three full minutes, and then you stroll like you're looking for your keys for the next three minutes.

Amy: This is my walk workout. And it has

Whitney: On your treadmill?

Amy: trained me. I do it at the gym on the treadmill. I do interval walking. I basically do this and I I kind of vary what my intervals are, but I do it at a 10% incline for 30 minutes, and I mainly do 3.0 walking, or 4.5 walk.

Whitney: But you're doing it interval like every 3 minutes, not 30 minutes running, and then.

Amy: Sometimes I do 2 minutes fast, 2 minutes slow. Sometimes I do 1 minute fast, 1 minute slow. Sometimes I do 2 minutes fast, 1 minute slow. It depends. It varies a little, and depends on my day, but when I now when I go walking with anybody else, I am fucking blowing them away. Like, I walk so fast, and I'm in such better condition. What did I do the other day? And I was like shocked at the condition I was in. I was like, "Wow, I'm like that walking training's working."

Whitney: Oh. I sometimes get on the bike

Amy: I didn't know that was a trend! Boom! I'm winning this.

Whitney: Yes, you are. You're winning.

Amy: What What were you going to say?

Whitney: I was going to say there's a bike at my gym that you get on and you put on headphones, and this woman is talking you through an interval set, but it's as if you were a Neanderthal, so she's like, "You're a Neanderthal and you're walking you're you're walking in the jungle, and everything is peaceful, but you're surveying the land and making sure that your people are safe. And then, all of a sudden, out of the corner of your eye, you see a lion! And you run, you run, you run!" And I'm pedaling as fast as I can, and she's like, "Hurry, hurry! Hurry, hurry," you know. And then she'll be like, "Ugh, and you made it." You know, but it's like that. It's like 3 minutes of fast

Amy: That's so Maybe that's why it works for us as humans.

Whitney: It's science backed, yeah. Yeah.

Amy: Yeah, exactly. It's from our ancestors. I use music. I have a really good playlist, I am happy to put in the show notes. And and I just kind of And I just go to the next song with everyone, and it just keeps me going. And I am like so perky at the end of that.

Whitney: Oh! Oh, my playlist. All right.

Amy: I know. Today, I did intervals on my Peloton, but I'm a big fan of interval training, period.

Whitney: Well, and this is something that you don't need a Peloton for, you don't need a bike for. You just put on your shoes, and you go outside. Or, you know, if you're walking the mall or something, just any, you know, you can do it anywhere. Is that always? Old people walk the mall.

Amy: That's right. All the people that walk the mall.

Whitney: But yeah, it is science-backed interval training from Japan that improves aerobic capacity without the joint pain of running. It improves metabolic flexibility. Your water Your body gets better at switching between burning carbs and burning fats.

Amy: Cool.

Whitney: So,

Amy: I've done intervals for years. When I was in the best shape of my life, like 2012-ish, I, like, was I had like My body fat was like really low and stuff, and I just did intervals. I would warm up, then I would work do like a weight circuit, and then at the end, I would only do 10 minutes of running and I think I would jog for the slow one, and holy shit.

Whitney: Well, sprinting, I know a lot of athletes do that. Yeah, it's it's

Amy: I would sprint.

Whitney: Yeah, it's about getting your heart rate up as quickly as possible. Yeah, running as fast as you can for a certain amount of time.

Amy: I would run hard.

Whitney: But you don't have to run. You can just walk, walk fast like you're going to miss your flight.

Amy: Yeah, I In fact, don't run. It's not great for your body.

Whitney: Right, it's better for your joints to do this Japanese walking.

Amy: Oh, the Japanese.

Whitney: Oh, the Japanese are so smart.

Amy: They know what's up. I love it.

Whitney: I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning

Amy: Oh, my gosh. Justin started listening to that song on the bus this last week.

Whitney: No way. And now, we've come full circle.

Amy: I was like, "Why is this on your bus playlist?" But it was for some reason. And I told him what it was really about, and he was like,

Whitney: Oh, yeah. It's not Is it about masturbation or something?

Amy: I believe so.

Whitney: I mean so many songs are.

Amy: That's That song doesn't hold up like It doesn't pass the "is this racist" meter.

Whitney: No. Oh, you think it's racist?

Amy: Yes.

Whitney: Oh, because it's Turning Japanese?

Amy: Yes! Yes! Yes!

Whitney: I I just enjoyed singing it and didn't really think that they were speaking poorly of Japanese.

Amy: That's most people. I don't think they're speaking poorly of them, I just think it's a tacky reference.

Whitney: Sure, sure. Yes, okay. Moving on.

Amy: And moving on.

Whitney: All right. Trend number three, have you heard of the Wolverine Stack?

Amy: If it's BPC-157, I have.

Whitney: Yes, it is. It's the peptide mania. Yeah, BPC-157.

Amy: My god, I'm qualified for this show.

Whitney: Body protection compound. It's basically and it used to be for athletes only, and now it's

Amy: That's what BPC stands for?

Whitney: Yeah. Body protection compound.

Amy: Huh, didn't know that.

Whitney: It helps with healing.

Amy: Yes, and that's why it's Wolverine, cuz he heals really fast.

Whitney: Yes, exactly. It's the superhero, yes. You're so smart.

Amy: It's really good for women. I have not tried it myself. Justin has, loves it, but I have heard good thing from women, menopausal women who've tried it.

Whitney: Yeah. I've tried it. Is it in the glow stack? I think that it is.

Amy: Probably.

Whitney: I have tried it, but I don't know if you can get it in a I'm sure you can probably get it in a pill. I'm I'm about the injections, yeah.

Amy: It's an injection. It's an injection. It's an injection. At least as far as I know.

Whitney: So, Wolverine Stack, it it was blowing up in 2025, and it is still riding high in 2026.

Amy: Okay, okay.

Whitney: Okay, next trend, we've got two more, this one is called somatic shaking.

Amy: That's been a thing, too. That's like you it'll calm your nervous system if you get the shaking out. Like a deer.

Whitney: Yeah. Yes. So, I last year, I started like looking on YouTube for different you know, exercise or whatever, and I came across There There are several channels, but like, yeah, you just they called it something else like the happy bounce or something, but like you you just you're just shaking your whole body and and and it's waking everything up. It's kind of like what we were just talking about with the the vibration

Amy: vibration?

Whitney: Yeah, the vibration plates or PEMF. Yeah, it's just getting everything waking everything up.

Amy: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Whitney: So, it's supposed to be

Amy: I've done like ecstatic dances and stuff where they did that and like just different

Whitney: legit.

Amy: like spiritual people will do that. Like I think that was a thing in the spiritual community.

Whitney: It's supposed to regulate your nervous system and get you out of that freeze state.

Amy: Cool.

Whitney: So, it's it's actually legitimate.

Amy: All right.

Whitney: All right, and then number five is the wearable smart rings for everything. That was big in 2025, it's heading into 2026 as well. I'm not really a big fan.

Amy: I thought that was over.

Whitney: No, we've moved from bulky watches to the smart rings. They track your temperature, your blood oxygen, your red even your readiness to have a conversation.

Amy: It's getting a little ridiculous.

Whitney: But the technology is so small and so accurate that people now use it for cycle syncing. It literally will give you where you are in your menstrual cycle, and then tell you what you need to do because of that. Like there's a rest cycle, there's an active

Amy: Like luteal and

Whitney: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. So,

Amy: Oh, wow.

Whitney: I know. We're getting into the nitty-gritty into the crooks and nannies, as I've said before.

Amy: I don't Crooks and nannies, I don't want to wear a ring at night. I don't I don't wear my watch when I sleep, I don't I know that there's a lot of value in tracking your sleep and all that, and I used to wear Oura Ring, but I could feel like the

Whitney: Yeah, that's right. You've said that.

Amy: Yeah, and so

Whitney: The heat of it, or something.

Amy: I don't know. I felt like an electrical tinge twinge.

Whitney: Well, here's my question. I understand maybe wanting to know where you are in your cycle or something like that, but why I think I know if I slept well.

Amy: You do.

Whitney: Like I think so. I've never had an a ring on, but I mean like I pretty much know when I wake up and feel like shit that I did not sleep well.

Amy: You think so.

Whitney: You know, or if I stayed asleep all night, I feel like rested. I don't understand

Amy: Oh, my gosh. Last night, I dreamed I dreamed that I got drunk.

Whitney: No way. How did it feel?

Amy: It was really fun. It was really fun. And I was like, "Oh, I guess I got to start over now." But I was like

Whitney: Did you wake up feeling for a minute like it had actually happened?

Amy: Yeah, it was confusing.

Whitney: And you're like, "Oh, no."

Amy: I was like, "Oh, my god. I got drunk." And then I was like, "No, I just dreamed. I got the satisfaction of feeling like I got drunk, and then I didn't."

Whitney: Well, where were you getting drunk?

Amy: I don't know. With my friend Tony.

Whitney: in your dreams.

Amy: Yeah. And I had I know I had three strong drinks, 3 1/2 or so.

Whitney: That is hilarious.

Amy: Okay, sorry. I got off-topic.

Whitney: No, I love it. I love it. All right, so those are the top trends that were bringing from 2025 into 2026. That doesn't mean that's the only trends, obviously there are a bazillion. But there are a couple of things, Amy, that you need to leave behind in 2025.

Amy: Ooh, okay.

Whitney: Okay. I've never heard of this, the Liver King diets.

Amy: Oh, dear God.

Whitney: You know it. Turns out eating raw organs isn't a personality trait, it's just a health hazard.

Amy: Fuck that. Well, I'm just so not a fan of anything Liver King, but

Whitney: Well, every I've I've heard that you should eat liver, like it's good, although then I get confused because liver is also what is is cleaning your body out. It's it's literally taking all of the bad things out of your body, so then you want to eat that?

Amy: Right?

Whitney: I know, right? That doesn't make sense.

Amy: Detox it. You're right. That doesn't make sense.

Whitney: Yeah. Why would I eat the thing that is filtering out my body?

Amy: You know who he is, right?

Whitney: No, I don't know him.

Amy: Oh, his name is Brian Johnson, as a matter of fact, actually.

Whitney: Oh, I

Amy: Not that Brian Johnson, different one.

Whitney: Oh. Wow, there's two Brian Johnsons?

Amy: And there's two. Yes, and he swore up and down that he only ate liver and organ meats and all this stuff. He's a

Whitney: Uh-huh. He's a whack dude.

Amy: He's a lot, and he

Whitney: Does he have a fake tan?

Amy: He He looks like he's about to burst, his he's so red. But anyway, he was like has this super jacked ridiculous body, and he was like, "No, it's all natural." But he was lying the whole time, and he got busted. He was on steroids and all that. Now he's really kind of gone off the rails. He's And his wife is like the Liver Queen. I'm like, "Ugh." And now he's obsessed with Joe Rogan, like completely obsessed. Like

Whitney: Yeah. He got caught.

Whitney: Well, are you following him? How do you know that he's obsessed with Joe Rogan?

Amy: Justin knows all this,

Whitney: Oh, right, right. Right, Justin's friends with Joe.

Amy: so I And then we actually bumped into the Liver King once, and and

Whitney: Oh, my gosh. And of course he and Justin

Amy: he and Justin were like instant friends. And but I'm like I didn't even meet him because I was like, "I don't want anything to do with that guy."

Whitney: Yeah. Right.

Amy: He just gives me the wrong vibes.

Whitney: The creeps.

Amy: Yes, and so

Whitney: Did he look Oh, so you didn't actually see him in person?

Amy: There's a a show about him somewhere. You should watch it. It's ridiculous. It's just ridiculous.

Whitney: I think I would get mad.

Amy: Oh, I know. There's a good episode of Scamfluencers, and I like that podcast Scamfluencers. There's one about him, and it's really good.

Whitney: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I will check it out.

Amy: Yeah, and so he's now then he got arrested because he was basically stalking Joe Rogan and like coming to Austin, holing up at the Four Seasons, acting like a lunatic. Anyway, yeah, it's out. He's out.

Whitney: Oh, my gosh. He's out.

Amy: And the Liver King diet is not

Whitney: Done.

Amy: I don't think it's healthy.

Whitney: No. Again, I don't see how eating the organ that is literally filtrating filtering out everything is is a good thing.

Amy: is a good thing. I don't, either.

Whitney: Especially raw, cuz I think it had to be raw.

Amy: Oh, no. Yeah, maybe. He would do both.

Whitney: Ugh, no thank you.

Amy: Excuse me. Excuse me. And he looks like he is

Whitney: I'm going to have to look him up.

Amy: much older than he is. He's like our age. He's like 54.

Whitney: If he's beet red, that's a that's the first health indication to me. Like why are you so red? Like something's wrong.

Amy: You know how men get really super red when they're sometimes, like, as they age? It's weird, right?

Whitney: I know.

Amy: I don't think it's a sign of good health.

Whitney: I don't think it is. All right, you're out, Liver King.

Amy: Sorry. Beet red.

Whitney: Next trend in the graveyard is the 75 Hard Challenge.

Amy: Ooh, 75 Hard is out, okay.

Whitney: Did you do that?

Amy: Yeah, I made it about 20 days.

Whitney: So, what it is is doing two workouts a day, right?

Amy: You do two workouts a day, one has to be outside.

Whitney: In the rain? Okay.

Amy: It doesn't have to be raining. One has to be outside, they each have to be 45 minutes. You also drink a gallon of water a day, which I don't think we need, frankly. You give up something. Whatever. You have to like adhere to some kind of diet.

Whitney: A food diet. You can't just give up like

Amy: Whatever you want. If you want to do the Liver King diet, go for it.

Whitney: negative self-talk. It has to be like food.

Amy: No, I'm sorry. Yeah, give up one thing doesn't sound quite right. You have to adhere to a diet. So, like mine was vegan, and so, you know, you choose what you like. And you read, I think. You have to read

Whitney: And did it work for you? Oh, my gosh. I'm already bowed out.

Amy: 10 pages a day, and then you have to something else, I can't remember.

Whitney: And is the 75 how many days you're supposed to do it?

Amy: Yeah.

Whitney: And you got to 20?

Amy: I got to 20.

Whitney: But that's hard to fit all that in, and then still be, you know, working and a mother and

Amy: Yeah, and the two workouts a day, one outside, didn't just that just doesn't work for me. I don't want to do that.

Whitney: Well, good news, he's out. 75 Hard Challenge is out.

Amy: I forget his name, what's his name?

Whitney: I didn't get his name.

Amy: Oh. Yeah, he came up with it, and then it it was trending last year in different ways. Like people started doing 75 Soft, and people were doing like like all these spin-offs on it.

Whitney: Yeah, yeah.

Amy: Yeah, so I could see how that trends out.

Whitney: Yeah, it's out. Plus, I mean we don't need it. We don't want it. 75 days, I Well, I You did more than me, so good on you. People do it, but I don't care.

Amy: No. I know.

Whitney: All right, next next trend that's out are the blue light glasses.

Amy: Oh, those goofy orange glasses?

Whitney: Well, yeah. Some of them Some are orange, some of them are dark. I don't know the the different colors, but yeah, everyone's wearing clear no, they're clear-lens glasses to save their eyes from their computer screen. But major studies began showing that the amount of blue light from a screen is barely anything.

Amy: Really?

Whitney: Compared to say like the sun. So glasses aren't actually preventing the eyestrain or anything. It's not really helping.

Amy: Oh, so it's So the clear ones, okay. Not helping? Boy, those were really everywhere. I owned like several pair.

Whitney: Yeah. I actually bought some and gave some to my children, which I'm sure they wore religiously.

Amy: Oh, I'm sure. 'Cause they always listen to everything you say.

Whitney: Okay, here's the last one.

Amy: No, Gigi Did I tell you this? Gigi was like I was making content. Did I tell you this? I was making content and I was like She was in the other room and I was like, "Don't listen to me in there making content." And she just blankly stared at me and she goes, "I'm really not even listening to you right now." And I was like, "Well, all right. I guess that's good."

Whitney: Okay. Ouch. Ouch.

Amy: Anyway, moving on.

Whitney: Yes, that's hilarious. All right, here's the last one. And you may be sad about this. I think Justin might be, but the ice baths. The ice baths. The biggest blow to the ice bath trend came from research showing that cold water immersion can actually blunt muscle growth.

Amy: Really?

Whitney: One size does not fit all because you think about it, the muscles are inflamed after the workout, and if you put them in ice, it gets rid of the inflammation, and then they they don't actually

Amy: Thought inflammation was bad.

Whitney: Apparently not with muscle inflammation after a workout. I don't know.

Amy: Okay. Ice baths are out.

Whitney: So ice baths are out.

Amy: Where did this come from? Where'd you get this information?

Amy: You did your own digging?

Whitney: I did my own digging, but I don't have my I I don't know. I was on so many different websites.

Amy: All right.

Whitney: Look, just because one person says it's out doesn't mean it has to be out for everyone.

Amy: Well, I I will say this.

Whitney: But there is research showing that cold water does blunt muscle growth.

Amy: He was I mean, he was kind of like a cold influencer.

Whitney: He was, yeah.

Amy: A cold-fluencer? Like, one of his videos of it got like 16 million views, and like a million likes.

Whitney: Yeah, crazy. And he would stay in for a long time.

Amy: He could stay in for a long time, but he doesn't really do it anymore. He very rarely does it. So maybe it really is out. Maybe he's over it, and he doesn't even realize.

Whitney: See? Okay, good. He's even influencing the outness of the ice bath.

Amy: All right.

Whitney: So there you have it, people. Going to 2026, trying out some of these new things. Everyone can try the Japanese walking.

Amy: I highly recommend it. Like, oh, I remembered what I did. I I went to a yoga class. I hadn't been to one in a while, and it was like a yoga class that was with weights and stuff, and I was in such good shape for it, and I credit the interval walking.

Whitney: Oh! That's awesome.

Amy: Yeah, I was stoked.

Whitney: So just to recap that, it's 3 minutes of walking like you're late for a flight, and then followed by 3 minutes of strolling like you're looking for your keys.

Amy: I don't think it has to be three and three. I think it's just like just do the intervals, whatever works for you.

Whitney: Yeah, whatever. Do what you want, but do it.

Amy: You could, you know what would be cool? You could like get a playlist together of like 3-minute-ish songs, two 2-, 3-minute-ish songs, and then just each time the song changes, you slow down or you speed up.

Whitney: Yeah, great idea, Amy.

Amy: It is a great idea.

Whitney: You're so smart.

Amy: God dang, we're just full of good ideas.

Whitney: Your Mensa is really coming through today.

Amy: Yes, you know, I'm taking quizzes and Mensa-ing just getting smarter everyday.

Whitney: You've got a tour bus now. All that's going to like take you to the very next level like smart and cool. That's pretty awesome.

Amy: Oh, my god.

Whitney: And as for all of you out there, you are also cool. Don't get stuck in the midlife of things.

Amy: Yeah. Don't get stuck in the midlife of things.

Whitney: 'Cause you're anything but.

Amy: I love that. You are anything but. Follow us, share this with your friends, please. We're working on growing the podcast, and we want to connect with you and everything. We have an Instagram, @anythingbutmid. You can email us a topic that you think we should do, especially something trending that we haven't even heard of. We love it 'cause I'm already like hearing of new things that I want to do. And so email us anythingbutmidpodcast@gmail, and like the show, follow us, all that kind of stuff.

Whitney: Yes, like us, follow us, comment, share.

Amy: Share. Thank you.

Whitney: Bye.

Amy: We love you so much and remember, when it comes down to it,

Whitney: We do what we want.

Amy: We do what we want.