The 2026 Q1 media round up gave me a chance to look back on a quarter shaped by thoughtful conversations around wellness, food innovation, women’s health, performance nutrition, and the everyday choices that influence how we feel. One of the things I love most about media work is that it creates room for nuance. It lets us go beyond hot takes and get into the real questions people are asking about health, habits, and the systems shaping our well-being.
This quarter included a mix of bylined Forbes articles, podcast reflections, and expert contributions across major publications. Some pieces explored what it takes to build a better-for-you food brand. Others looked at fueling female athletes, shifting alcohol habits, supplement innovation, and the practical science behind issues like protein timing, fiber, sleep, and healthy aging. In this post, I’m sharing highlights from my 2026 Q1 media round up, along with a closer look at the themes that connected these appearances and why they matter.
Forbes Stories That Explored Wellness From More Angles
A major part of this 2026 Q1 media round up was a series of Forbes pieces that examined wellness through a wider lens. These stories were not just about what people eat or buy. They were about the personal experiences, market shifts, and real-world needs driving innovation in food and wellness.
These articles included:
- Meet The Moms Who Built Food Brands To Solve Real Problems, which highlighted businesses created in response to unmet needs in everyday life.
- What It Really Takes To Launch A Better-For-You Food Product, with founder stories that showed how much persistence and clarity it takes to build something that lasts.
- Fueling Female Athletes At The Winter Olympics, which explored the importance of recovery, carbohydrates, micronutrients, and long-term performance support.
- As Americans Drink Less Alcohol, Low-Dose THC Faces New Federal Limits which examined how more consumers are looking for alternatives to alcohol.
- How Women-Led Supplement Brands Are Driving The Next Phase Of Wellness, which looked at how these brands are shaping wellness through trust, lived experience, and evidence-informed product development.
The Bigger Themes Behind This 2026 Q1 Media Round Up
Looking across this 2026 Q1 media round up, a few themes came up again and again. The first was that wellness has become more personal, but also more discerning. People are asking sharper questions. They want better information, better products, and better context.
A few of the strongest patterns this quarter were:
- Women’s health is finally being taken more seriously
From supplements to sports nutrition to menopause and colorectal cancer research, more conversations are centering women’s lived experiences instead of treating them as an afterthought. - Consumers want function, not just branding
Better-for-you products are not getting a pass just because the packaging is pretty or the language sounds clean. People want usefulness. They want transparency. They want to know whether something actually fits into their lives. - Health habits are being viewed through a more realistic lens
Whether the topic was caffeine, fiber, magnesium, protein timing, or intermittent fasting, many of the media features this quarter reflected a shift away from rigid rules and toward practical, sustainable behavior. - Wellness is increasingly connected to broader systems
Food, regulation, recovery, stress, performance, and consumer trends do not exist in separate little boxes. They overlap. That overlap shaped many of this quarter’s most interesting conversations.
This showed up not only in my own writing, but also in expert commentary across outlets like Women’s Health, Prevention, SELF, Real Simple, Men’s Health, EatingWell, Everyday Health, and more.
Featured Contributions Across Major Media Outlets
Another important part of this 2026 Q1 media round up was contributing expert insight to stories across a wide range of media platforms. I was featured in articles covering everything from caffeine and dementia to colorectal cancer, protein timing, fiber, magnesium, menopause, bone health, and high-protein convenience foods.
Featured outlets this quarter included:
Women’s Health:
- Your Caffeine Fix Might Do More Than Wake You Up. Could It Actually Help Prevent Dementia?
- Women Are Driving the Global Protein Interest Surge. Here’s Why That Matters
- Scientists May Have Found One Explanation For The Rise In Colorectal Cancer In Women
- Intermittent fasting fans obsess over timing – new research says it does not matter
- This Hot Drink Could Impact Bone Health Through Menopause And Beyond
Prevention:
- Scientists Find When to Stop Eating Before Bed to Boost Heart Health
- Scientists Find Taking Magnesium Alongside Vitamin D Has Surprising Side Effect
- Does Fiber Help With Weight Loss? Dietitians Explain
- Scientists Say Making These 3 Simple Changes May Add Up to 4 Years to Your Life
Health Central:
Real Simple:
Self:
- What’s the Best Time of Day to Eat Protein?
- This Popular Diet Probably Won’t Help You Lose Weight
- The Super Fruit You’re Probably Not Eating
Eating Well
- The Best Time to Eat Dinner for Better Cognitive Health, According to Dietitians
- We Asked 4 Dietitians Their Favorite High-Protein Chick-fil-A Order—These Are the Top 2
Parade
- I Tried 13 Quest Protein Chip Flavors and the Winner Won by a Landslide
- Never Take These 4 Vitamins With Coffee, Registered Dietitians Warn
Independent
- Experts recommend the best collagen supplements for 2026
- We asked experts to share the best magnesium supplement to take
Food & Wine
- This Is the Best High-Protein Snack of 2026, According to 40,000 Shoppers
- Is Kraft’s New Protein-Packed Mac and Cheese Actually Better for You? Here’s What Dietitians Say
Lose It!
The Last Show with David Cooper
Men’s Health
Everyday Health
What I appreciate about these features is that they let me meet readers where they actually are. Sometimes that means talking about bone health or brain health. Sometimes it means helping someone make sense of a wellness headline before it turns into unnecessary confusion. Sometimes it means answering a very specific question like when to eat dinner, when to stop eating before bed, or whether a popular diet is worth the hype. Honestly, I love that range.
Why “Hitting Pause” Belonged in This Quarter Too
Not every meaningful media moment is about publishing more. Sometimes it is about stepping back and saying something honest.
In Episode 249: Hitting Pause, I shared why I decided to pause the podcast for now. That episode mattered to me because it reflected something I think a lot of people feel but do not always say out loud: momentum and alignment are not the same thing. Just because something is moving does not automatically mean it still fits.
That conversation belonged in this roundup because it added a more personal dimension to the quarter. It was a reminder that health is not only about what we eat or what supplement we take. It is also about how we relate to our time, energy, and internal signals. Sometimes the healthiest move is not pushing harder. Sometimes it is getting quiet enough to notice what needs to change.
You can listen here: Episode 249: Hitting Pause
Overall, this 2026 Q1 media round up reflects a quarter of meaningful conversations across writing, podcasting, and expert commentary. From women-led wellness innovation to the realities of behavior change, performance nutrition, supplement trends, and practical everyday health decisions, the common thread was curiosity grounded in real life. Misinformation in nutrition has real clinical consequences, and the antidote is precise, accessible, credible communication. That’s what I aim to bring to every piece I write or contribute to.
If you want to catch up on the latest articles, explore related blog posts, or listen to recent podcast episodes, this is a great place to start. If you’d like to keep up with future media features, new writing, and wellness insights, subscribe to my Substack jessicacording.substack.com or browse more content on my website.