How Costa Rica Changed My Understanding of Wellness

July 14, 2026

When most people think about wellness, they think about green juice, supplements, workout routines, and the latest health trends. After living in Costa Rica, I’ve come to realize wellness has a lot less to do with those things than I used to think.

Before moving here, I would have told you I was naturally a pretty healthy person. I’ve been a vegetarian for almost 20 years, I love walking, and over the years I’ve done a bit of yoga here and there. I didn’t really follow wellness trends or feel pressure to count calories. I just lived in a way that felt natural to me.

But like a lot of people, everything shifted during COVID. For a few years, I really put my own needs on the back burner. I was taking care of other people, trying to stay afloat financially, and working more than I probably should have. My health wasn’t something I actively prioritized, even if I still assumed I was “fine” compared to the average American lifestyle. Looking back, I wasn’t thinking much about wellness at all. I was just getting through life in the United States.

When I moved to Costa Rica, I wasn’t coming here for a wellness reset. I came for a fresh start and to fulfill a lifelong dream of living in another country. What I didn’t expect was how much it would change the way I see everyday life.

One of the first things I noticed here was the food. Fresh fruit is sold on the side of the road everywhere. Most of what people eat is grown locally, simply because there isn’t the same infrastructure for importing everything like there is in the U.S. I also noticed something I really didn’t expect: there is a lot of sugar in the local diet! But it is mostly unprocessed and comes from real food sources, like sugar cane just down the road.

Another surprise was gallo pinto (the local rice and beans dish) eaten for breakfast. At first it felt unusual to me, like it should be more of a lunch or dinner dish, but now it’s one of my favorite meals! Ordered with a side of avocado, it’s chef’s kiss!

Over time, I also started noticing the difference between how locals and expats approach wellness. Expats tend to lean more into trends, gyms, and structured wellness routines. Locals are much more likely to be outside. Surfing, dancing, moving their bodies naturally throughout the day, or using outdoor gyms instead of indoor ones.

But what stood out to me most wasn’t food or movement. It was community.

Life here is deeply community based in a way that feels very different from the individualism I grew up around in the United States. It is common for multiple generations to live together, and people prioritize time with family and friends over logging in more work hours. There is less emphasis on rushing, hustling, or constantly optimizing time. There is a different relationship to life here. It feels more like living to experience life rather than living to produce it. And as I settled into life here, my own habits started to shift without me forcing anything.

The biggest change is that I am now vegan, and it happened completely naturally. I have been a vegetarian for most of my life, but I used to eat cheese regularly. It was something I enjoyed, even if part of me always felt like it did not fully align with how I wanted to feel in my body. For the past few years, I would regularly challenge myself to have vegan meals, then vegan days. I noticed I always felt better when I did that. Then once I got to Costa Rica, I started doing more and more vegan days without even thinking about it. Eventually, it just became my way of eating and now, I don’t even miss cheese. Never thought I’d say that but it’s true!

I eat mostly fresh foods every day. It is rare for me to eat anything processed or packaged, and when it is, it is local. I drink smoothies and fresh juices regularly, which is something I never really did before living here. My staples are things like tofu, avocados, bananas, tortillas, beans, gallo pinto, and jalapeños.

The most surprising part is how much my body has responded to these changes. I wake up naturally at 6 or 7am feeling rested. That alone still feels surreal to me. I have never been a morning person. In the past, I would need at least an hour, plus a gallon of coffee (not really but almost), just to feel functional. Now I can wake up and be out of the house in ten minutes without thinking about it. Granted, my first stop is usually the local coffee shop, but still.

I am also in the best physical shape I have ever been in, and I feel genuinely good in my body. I do yoga 6 days a week, and I feel strong, healthy, and happy. However, the biggest sigh of relief is that my anxiety has all but disappeared. In years past, anxiety was part of my daily life. I did not think much about it because it felt normal. Now it is incredibly rare. In the past ten months, I can count on one hand the number of times I have felt truly anxious.

What I am actually learning here is that wellness is not just physical. In the United States, wellness often gets reduced to the body, food, exercise, routines, pushing yourself. But here I have seen how much it also includes mental, emotional, spiritual, and energetic wellbeing. Community matters. Slowness matters. Connection matters. The way you spend your days matters just as much as what you eat.

The most impactful shift for me has been realizing that wellness is not something separate from life. It is the structure of your life itself. I used to think being healthy meant doing the right things. Now I think it has more to do with how your life is designed, and how you organize your priorities.

Living here has not made me perfect, and it has not turned me into some health guru who has it all figured out. But it has made me more aware of what actually supports me and what does not, in all aspects of life.

And that’s the real lesson. Pura vida!

How do you view wellness post-covid?

Photos by Chaz & Co and Tavo for Bodhi Tree Yoga Resort.