Erin O'Hara: naturopath and wellness expert unpacks the top health habits from 2025

Social media and the internet is full of health advice, but what's real, practical and helpful, and what's hogwash?

Many popular health habits have been exposed as myths without scientific backing or straight-up harmful, while truly healthy habits focus on moderation, balance and self-care.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara explains further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'd be joining us now to talk wellness. Is Erin O'Hara.
Good morning, Good the money. You've got a good one today.
You're going to review the health trends that we saw
in twenty twenty five and tell us which ones are
actually healthy and which ones were just myths that we
kind of got slightly attached to.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Every year, there's always some fantastic health trend that's supposedly
going to make you healthier and change your life skin
and live long. And there's a lot that you're like
question and I think a lot of people who don't
know a lot about health, or they seem really good
in the theory and that what they put on social
media or in the media that you think, oh, that

(00:48):
sounds good, might give that a go. And some of
them are things like detoxes and cleansers. They seem to
come out every year, especially in the New year. People
will be like, I got to do a detox, I've
got a cleanse. But actually the thing about the body
is that it's amazing it cleanses every day. You've got
all these organs that do cleansing that we don't need
to be so excessive about doing things like that. And

(01:09):
the respect is things like malnutrition and electrolyte and balance
it actually disordered eating. So I think just being mindful
around that as we kick into the new year, that
just brings some healthy, healthy ideas that you can bring
in that you can actually achieve throughout the year rather
than just a detox that you do for seven days
and then that's the end and back to what you
were doing before. The other big thing in twenty twenty

(01:30):
five has been protein everything. Protein, Eat your protein, heat
your protein. Yeah, yeah, and it's been a big thing
and I.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Think for people that are certain age and stage, it
can be helpful to check how much protein you're eating,
but you don't need to make everything.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
And that's the thing is that it's about keeping that
balance of macro nutrients of the carbohydrates, fats, fibers, starch, protein,
keeping the balance that it doesn't need to be protein everything.
And just because it has a big protein contains protein
on the label doesn't necessarily mean it's also healthy.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
So something to watch out for a lot of marketing
involved with that isn't there yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
And then with the big AI growth, I think a
lot of people think AI is the experts, so when
something's not quite right for them that instead of going
to their doctor, they seem to go onto AI and
ask AI what's wrong with their body? Which AI can
give you all sorts of answers, and I can remember
even back to when I was at university, you can

(02:24):
be really quick to diagnose yourself with all sorts of
things by reading the diagnosis. And I think that's where
AI can actually be a little bit complex when it
comes to health, and I think be cautious. So if
you're if there's something not quite right with your health,
instead of asking AI, maybe you could check in with
your doctor or health practitioner and get some better advice

(02:44):
rather than just following whatever misinformation you might find online.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
One health trend that I seem to miss this year
is no days off mentality for exercise. Was that a
thing that bad?

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Yeah, that's a big TikTok fad is don't don't cut
the brakes and exercise instead, keep the consistency for mental health.
But actually the risk of doing that is you're not
actually getting yeah, and you forget to listen to your body.
You push yourself beyond your limits, you're going to increase
the risk of injury. And I think that's where, yeah,
keep the balance of keep the exercise flowing, but also

(03:19):
when you know you need a rest, have a rest here.
You're going to get a lot of gains from having
arrests from exercise with some repair and muscle growth as well.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
I know that this year supplement stacking was quite big too,
wasn't it.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, supplements always seem to be in there, and there's
always the fair supplement that's out there, which I always
find really interesting because people always tend to ask me
in consultations, what do you think about this, particularly things
like collagen and mushroom powders and whatever is the trending thing?
And if you think back through history, I think everyone
can think of the different trends that flow through. Whether

(03:54):
it's spurling a powder, non ey juice and coconut water,
there's always something that's there that seems to have extreme
amounts of marketing.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
I might have fallen for a couple of those.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, whether it's the wonder thing that actually help you
and heal you is questionable, and I think that's where
the supplements, be mindful of what you're taking. I think
some people can take a little bit of everything but
not much of anything. And that's where it's like, why
are you taking this uplement? And always ask yourself what
am I taking this for? What is it going to
do for me? And am I getting the right dose?

(04:24):
And sometimes that's a matter of getting a bit more
advice on it.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Look mindful eating's really become something which is quite popular,
and I suppose maybe a little part of that is
being really mindful of when you're hungry and only eating
when you're hungry. Is that sensible?

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, it can be can be sensible, But also I
think that you can take it to extremes as well.
And that's that sort of theory of only eat when
hunger strikes, which means that if you're not very good
at sort of listening to your body, you actually won't
eat at all, which is not going to be very
helpful for you and your health either. And that's where
it's about, Yeah, listen to your body, but also keep
some foundations. And I always say you can't go past

(04:59):
the old fashioned eating of three meals a day.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Thank you so much. Erin will catch up next week.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it Be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio