To Your Health!

Reader, hear my confession…

I am not the healthiest of people.

I really love pizza.

I adore sitting on the sofa watching Love Island.

Sometimes I can’t be bothered to go for a run or to the gym.

And despite co-founding ?corn Drinks , a non-alcoholic aperitif brand, I still love a Martini. And beer. And wine.

Yet when it comes to health, my curiosity for all things wellness-related knows no bounds, which is why I have spent the last decade sharing everything I have learnt about health and wellness with anyone who will listen. Because like most of us, I really want to have my cake and eat it.

My own journey into the wellness world is perhaps a little unconventional. Back in 2010 I was burning all the candles, spending more miles in the air than on the ground, and eating a diet that could only be described as ‘mainly beige’. At the time I was living in New York and travelling the world to talk about luxury vodka, ostensibly living a #blessed existence. Yet I was tired and anxious, and I simply didn’t know how to balance the demands of my job, maintain my lifestyle, and fulfil my seemingly simple desire to feel better.

As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one.

?The modern expression of wellness is a relatively recent concept. The term is a fusion of the words ‘well-being’ and ‘fitness’ and it was first coined in 1961 by the physician Halbert L. Dunn in his seminal book High-Level Wellness, which had a novel approach to the space between these two worlds. While Dunn’s book received little attention at the time, his ideas were later embraced by an informal network of individuals who went on to create the world’s first wellness centre and establish the National Wellness Institute and National Wellness Conference in the 1970s over in the U.S. By the 1980s, the wellness movement started to gain real momentum (hello Jane Fonda in leg warmers), so much so, that by the year 2000 the world was awash with workplace wellness programmes, an expansive fitness industry, and celebrity wellness and self-help experts to bring the world of wellness firmly into the mainstream. By 2010, the modern concept of wellness infiltrated every industry from food and beverage to travel, with one notable (and understandable) exception: the beverage alcohol industry.?

In 2010, I wasn’t really aware of the wellness revolution happening around me. At the time, I was simply noting how much better I was feeling with a bit of exercise, better sleep, less sugar, and a greater appreciation (and awareness!) of green leafy vegetables. I started to see that with some small tweaks to my lifestyle, not only could I stay in my role at work, but I could also flourish within it. It felt like an awakening for me, and one that I was desperate to share. I probably would have remained that annoying person who sits next to you at a dinner party and wants to tell you everything they know about sugar or kale, were it not for the fact that I was living with one of the world’s greatest cheerleaders, and experts in all things related to health and well-being, Georgia van Tiel .

Equipped with a new found passion and a platform to talk about it, and bolstered by the belief that our industry really needed some tools and the permission to openly want to take better care of itself, in 2011 we created our bartender wellness programme Drink, Eat, Live. We used it to educate and inspire (and sometimes to irk!) as many people as possible about the importance of health and wellbeing, and the myriad ways it can be protected when you work in an industry that prides itself in putting others first.

Look, I’ll admit that it wasn’t exactly rocket science. Much of the information we shared was based in common sense, but even that can be a game-changer for many. What began as a simple idea mushroomed into bartender bootcamps, our wildly popular sugar seminar, a feature in the Sunday Time Style magazine (thank you Kate Spicer ) and yes, even a Pina-KALE-ada. Some of it was fun and light-hearted, some of it deadly serious. All of it was rooted in our desire to want to move beyond the ‘responsible drinking’ platitudes into something that was more action orientated. To look beyond the assumption that those of us who worked in hospitality couldn’t also be healthy. To empower more of us to create the barriers required to help protect ourselves better, and to look at businesses and corporations to be more explicit in their duty of care. After all, where were our workplace wellness programmes?

As it turned it, once we started having these conversations about the importance of bartender wellness, or why we should consider the amount of sugar we eat or how to approach lower ABV drinks, our industry started to enjoy its own wellness watershed moment. ?Suddenly it was OK to want to know how to do what we love and feel good doing it. We started to acknowledge just how physically demanding time behind the stick can be and accept that all those late nights will finally catch up with us. We recognised that we were feeling mentally fried and wanted to know how to feel a little bit calmer, find ways to drink a little less, or simply drink ‘better’. As a result, more resources started to become available, more experts became involved, and the conversation expanded into platforms dedicated to a healthier hospitality industry (thank you Healthy Hospo , Healthy Pour , La Maison Wellness , & The Drinks Trust )

Ten plus years on, our industry looks very different, and our own health and wellbeing is certainly something we’re all more aware of and, hopefully, trying to do more to protect. Last year, through the #BeyondTheBar track, I lost count of the number of health & wellbeing inspired events, talks or brand activations that we welcomed a Tales of the Cocktail Foundation . So much has been done to create greater access and awareness for how we can bring health and wellbeing into our industry and into our own personal lives. Of course, there is always more that can be done, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the Beyond the Bar track expands this year, as we celebrate the 21st anniversary of Tales of the Cocktail.

So, what's does the future look like for a more 'health-conscious' drinks industry? A 2022 report by McKinsey ([1] https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/wellness-in-2030) suggests that by 2030, the global wellness industry will be worth an estimated $3tn, with the majority of growth coming from six wellness categories: health, fitness, nutrition, appearance, sleep, and mindfulness.

Might any of these growth areas have an impact on our industry? Personally, I hope we see wellness move from an individualistic pursuit towards something that is broader, so we start to view wellness through the lens of how we include our relationships and our communities. To place a greater focus on the health of our relationships and the importance of #social #wellbeing. To acknowledge the role that our industry plays in ensuring we always have somewhere safe, exciting and entertaining to go to, so that we can spend quality time, together.

Today, we’re only just beginning to understand the restorative effect that these relationships and communities have to not only keep us happy, but also to provide a powerfully potent protective barrier to an array of physical and mental ailments. As an example, the detrimental health effects of loneliness and social isolation has been likened to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Viewed in this way, perhaps the best new year's resolution is to stay social?

As we look to the next ten years and beyond of health, happiness and hospitality, my advice is to keep raising a glass to your friends and loved ones. There are so many options at all ABV's that even at this time of year, there can always be something delicious in that glass.

Stay connected, keep going out-out, find ways to prioritise relationships, either at the pub, bar or down the gym. The places where we meet, mingle, flirt, chat, laugh, move and - if its a really good night - perhaps even sing, are the places that remind us how to be human.

Wellness is one thing, but socialising really does save lives.

(this article first appeared in 2021 in THE COCKTAIL LOVERS LTD )

(https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/mental-health-awareness-week-2022-loneliness/#:~:text=Loneliness%20and%20other%20areas%20of%20public%20health&text=Findings%20include%20risks%20of%20premature,blood%20pressure%20and%20heart%20disease.)