30 Fascinating Health and Fitness Podcasts to Download in 2022
It’s time to plug in and get inspired
Between navigating busy schedules and balancing friends and family, it’s hard to find time for self-care let alone to stay on top of the latest health and fitness trends. Luckily, health podcasts are the multitasker’s best friend. They let us listen to the most entertaining and trusted voices in the wellness industry stress-free while we walk the dog, run, commute, or even cook dinner. And as a testament to their accessibility, they’re more popular than ever.
Not sure what a podcast is? A podcast is a series of audio episodes dedicated to a specific theme, story, or topic. Think of it like a pre-recorded radio interview.
Health and fitness pods are an expanding category within the already booming medium. And as much as we love a good old-fashioned paperback, the best podcasts are just as informational, and they provide us with the satisfaction of educating ourselves at almost no cost. Plus, the often frank and *quirky hosts can make serious topics hilarious and relatable. You can sit down with Hoda Kotb and Oprah Winfrey as they discuss long-lasting friendship or step into Esther Perel’s office as she works through the intimate problems of anonymous couples.
While simply listening to a podcast may not have an impact on your health, they can offer expert-backed guidance and inspiration to help us live our healthiest, most balanced lives. No time for a personal trainer, life coach, or nutritionist? Here are the best food, fitness, sex, and health podcasts to tune in to in 2022.
Science Vs
If you’ve ever wondered whether essential oils can really cure your migraines or if the 7-minute workout is actually effective, then Gimlet Media’s spunky Science Vs is for you. In each episode, host Wendy Zukerman tackles a hot topic and breaks it down, providing science-based facts so you can form an educated opinion.
Food Psych Podcast
Food Psych Podcast, hosted by Christy Harrison, R.D., M.P.H., C.D.N., aims to breakdown women's disordered relationships with food, body image, size acceptance, and more. She opens up about her own journey with disordered eating and offers tips to help others improve their relationships with food and body image. Harrison also calls out the fad diet and weight loss gimmicks that fuel the diet culture in America.
The Trend Reporter
If you're ready to get serious about wellness and beauty but don’t have time to sort through all the fast-passing fads, then let Mara Schiavocampo do the work for you! The four-time Emmy award-winning tv personality and journalist wades through the most recent trends to deliver a fun and fresh look at everything wellness from the “No Shower Trend” to the best “CBD Sleep Mints.”
Ali on the Run
Whether you’re an avid runner or just starting out with dreams of running a marathon, you'll find Ali on the Run both useful and inspiring. Host Ali Feller sits down with everyday runners, professional marathoners, and entrepreneurs in the running world to learn what has driven them and glean some applicable life lessons.
Optimal Health Daily
The overwhelming amount of health and wellness content out there these days can be hard to sift through. If you’d like your health news a little more curated, then check out Optimal Health Daily, which scours the web for the best blog content, then reads it (with author permission). They address the latest health trends and your most pressing questions on topics like intermittent fasting, flu vaccinations, flossing, and more.
Hurdle
In each episode of Hurdle, host Emily Abbate chats with someone who has overcome an obstacle or tough times by incorporating wellness into their lives. Guests have included the co-founder of Headspace, the creator of TRX, magazine editors, and athletes, who share valuable insight into how they’ve overcome hurdles in creative ways, from meditation to cycling in the Swiss Alps.
Modern Love
While not a traditional health and fitness podcast, the New York Times column "Modern Love" is an excellent choice for those interested in mental health and the complexities of interpersonal relationships. For its podcast format, the heart-wrenching personal essays are read by celebrities and delve into real human stories—sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes funny or uplifting—about experiences like grieving a loved one or online dating.
The Rich Roll Podcast
For some serious health and fitness motivation, who better to inspire than an ultra-marathoner like Rich Roll? Featuring intimate, intense conversations (not interviews, he insists) with health experts, nutritionists, and even artists and entertainers, the podcast seeks to empower listeners to “unleash your best, most authentic self.”
10% Happier with Dan Harris
What happens when you have a panic attack live on Good Morning America? For ABC newsman Dan Harris, he turned—skeptically—to meditation. In the podcast, he interviews executives, musicians, and even a former Guardian Angel to learn about what drew them to meditation, what their own practices look like, and whether it’s helped them become a little happier.
TED Health
TEDTalks are known for providing big ideas in short timeframes, and the TEDTalks Health podcast curates some of the best health-related talks from their conferences and events. One episode dives into a fascinating explanation of how cancer cells communicate; another highlights a program that trains grandmothers in Zimbabwe to treat depression. Each enlightening episode is brimming with ideas to inspire and uplift.
The Mental Illness Happy Hour
With an eye toward the high rates of depression and addiction within the creative community, comedian Paul Gilmartin interviews comedians, artists, writers, friends, and doctors about their experiences to normalize and de-stigmatize mental illness. For those who struggle with a mental illness, The Mental Illness Happy Hour is a space for people to openly discuss fears and traumas they don't feel comfortable discussing anywhere else.
Sleep With Me
Think bedtime stories are just for little kids? Think again. Inspired by his own childhood insomnia, host Drew Ackerman (also known as "Scooter" to his listeners), started the Sleep With Me podcast, in which he tells long, meandering stories that are funny and interesting, but designed to lull you to sleep. Considering the podcast has been going strong for six years now, it's clearly helping people catch their Zzz's.
The Wellness Mama Podcast
As most moms know, trying to balance motherhood with fitness and self-care (and, well, everything else) is challenging to say the least. That's why Katie Wells—host and founder of popular mom blog Wellness Mama—started a podcast to share tips for healthy eating, exercise, stress, sleep, and more, all while managing life with kids as well.
The Doctor’s Kitchen
Love food and listening to people talk about food science? Tune in to Dr. Rupy’s fascinating interviews with farmers, neuroscientists, cooks, and nutritionists. Through this holistic look at food and medicine, you’ll better understand how to improve your health with each delicious bite.
The Nutrition Diva's Quick and Dirty Tips for Eating Well and Feeling Fabulous
If you want to pack in a short podcast rather than commit to hour-long shows, then check out The Nutrition Diva. In bite-sized, 10 minute episodes, Monica Reinagel, a licensed nutritionist and culinary school grad with an MS in human nutrition, addresses the science behind the latest health trends, like mushroom coffee, and offers simple tips on how to guard against common illnesses, increase your intake of certain nutrients, and more.
The Dumbbells
This is a comedy podcast for people who like fitness (or is it a fitness podcast for people who like comedy?). Either way, hosts Eugene Cordero and Ryan Stanger—improv comedians with professional fitness backgrounds—take a refreshingly lighthearted approach to wellness. They manage to be both entertaining and motivating at the same time, delivering useful information without sacrificing their fun tone.
Found My Fitness
For those interested in the scientific links between diet and health, tune in to the Found My Fitness podcast. With a PhD in biomedical science, host Rhonda Perciavalle Patrick aims to challenge the status quo while promoting wellbeing by using cold hard science. She interviews experts on fascinating topics like how Alzheimer’s disease could be reversed and whether the keto diet can increase lifespan.
The Food Heaven Podcast
You can tell from their conversations that Food Heaven Podcast hosts Wendy and Jess are best buds IRL. As registered dietitians with master’s degrees in nutrition and certified diabetes educators (yes, both of them), they know their stuff when it comes to healthy eating and bring that wealth of knowledge to their weekly podcast in the form of healthy living tips and interviews with experts.
All About Fitness
Calling all fitness nerds! If you want to hear experts and researchers weigh in on everything from the importance of fascia to how the fitness landscape is changing, then this is the podcast for you. By focusing on both the business of fitness and the science behind it, Pete McCall gives a true behind-the-scenes look at the world of fitness.
Bulletproof Radio
Whether you take your coffee blended with butter or not, Bulletproof Radio from tech entrepreneur and biohacker Dave Asprey is worth a listen as he takes listeners along on a journey of upgrading the human body through the use of technology. Speaking with a range of guests from CEOs to scientists, Asprey explores intriguing ideas like living longer and pushing the boundaries of conventional medicine with technology.
Katherine Martinelli is a freelance journalist who covers health, food, travel, parenting, and more for publications like The Atlantic, The Washington Post, New York Magazine's The Cut, Bon Appetit, and Food & Wine. A native New Yorker and mom of two, she and her family recently relocated to Ann Arbor, MI where they've become about 900% more outdoorsy and can now be found gardening, fishing, and kayaking on the Huron River in their free time.
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