October 03, 2018 at 06:08AM The struggle of having frequent urinary tract infections is real. Not only are UTIs incredibly disruptive—who wants to have to pee 24/7?—but they’re also straight-up painful. If you want to stop them in their tracks, ditch the cranberry juice: According to new research, the real solution might just be upping your daily water intake. In a study published in JAMA of 140 participants—all with recurring UTIs and a typical daily water intake of less than 1.5 liters—researchers had one portion of the women stick to their normal routines and the other portion increase their daily water intake by 1.5 liters a day for 12 months. It might not seem like upping their amount of fluids would make that big of a difference, but the women who drank the extra water—which comes down to around six 8-ounce glasses a day—were 50 percent less likely to experience another UTI compared to those who stuck with their old habits. The women who drank an extra 1.5 liters a day were 50 percent less likely to experience another UTI compared to those who stuck with their old habits. Cutting your chances of another UTI in half is a pretty solid accomplishment, especially since drinking more water is pretty easily achievable. But how does it work so well in diminishing the infections? According to the study’s authors, the extra fluids simply make you pee more throughout the day, which flushes all the UTI-causing bacteria out of your body. So sure, eat cranberries to give your
Year: 2018
The best thing on the internet today? Noah Centineo joining the multi-masking club
October 03, 2018 at 05:55AM Ever since Noah Centineo stole the internet’s heart playing Peter Kavinsky in Netflix’s To All the Boys I Loved Before, he’s also taken on a secondary role as “America’s boyfriend.” But just when you thought you couldn’t possibly dream up a better pretend S.O. to share drinkable yogurts with, the actor appeared in a video by Allure partaking in one of your most-treasured self-care rituals: multi-masking. In the video, Centineo actually follows the ABCs of this beauty practice (whether he knows it or not), by applying the various hued masks next to rather than on top of one another. After smearing a dark grey product on his right cheek, a lighter one on his left, and a white one across his forehead, the actor looks at the camera and says, “This is modern art. It’s going to be showing at MoMA.” Just call him the Jackson Pollock of face-masking. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddbecUaew04?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281] While waiting the required 20 minutes for the respective beautifiers to work their magic, Centineo snaps a few selfies (because, of course). And finally, before taking a much-deserved bow, he sums up all your feeling about multi-masking in one sentence: “Guys, I have stuff on my face, and I’m loving it.” Same, same, Peter K. Now the only question is: How do we score an invite to the multi-masking and chill sesh? Before layering on your masks, make sure to cleanse. Here are the merits of milk-based options and exfoliating ones. Continue Reading… Author Kells McPhillips | Well and Good Selected by iversue
Kindbody is on a mission to reinvent women’s healthcare—starting with a fertility clinic on wheels
October 03, 2018 at 05:00AM It’s 9:30 a.m. on a weekday, and a growing line of women is forming on a busy Midtown block in New York City. Is a celeb graciously posing for pics? A café handing out free matcha? Nope. These women are waiting their turn to climb aboard a buttercup yellow van to have their fertility tested. “We’re reinventing healthcare for the modern woman, starting with fertility and wellness services,” says Kindbody co-founder Joanne Schneider. In conjunction with opening its first clinics (one is now open in NYC, with a second planned for early 2019, while a San Francisco location is in the works), she’s overseeing the company’s pop-up, a mobile fertility van offering free fertility testing to women. “One of our big missions is to start normalizing the conversation around fertility,” Schneider says. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF9dJqAryCU]Fahimeh Sasan is a board-certified OB-GYN and one of Kindbody’s founding physicians. She’s been practicing for 12 years and says it’s rare that women ask about fertility during appointments. Usually, they get their pap smear done or their birth control prescription written and that’s it, appointment over. But if you aren’t thinking about getting pregnant right now—as in, it could not be more off your radar—is the conversation even worth having? Can’t it wait until you’ve figured out your 401(k) or at least, you know, don’t have roommates? Dr. Sasan says if you’re over 25, it’s absolutely worth bringing up with your MD. Photo: Kindbody “I often have patients who are 39 or
Why artificial sweetener is worse for you than sugar
October 03, 2018 at 04:23AM If you’re cutting back on sugar and replacing it with artificial sweeteners, as many people do, I have bad news for you: Those pink, yellow, and blue packets are even worse for you than sugar—and this is coming from me, the guy who calls sugar “the devil.” While that package of Equal, Sweet‘N Low, or Splenda (yes, even Splenda!) may dump fewer actual calories into your morning coffee, there’s little research to support the idea that this is healthier. The taste of sweet—be it artificial or actual sugar—appears to play a significant role in increasing appetite. (In fact, multiple large-scale studies over the last 30 years have repeatedly found that artificial sweetener users gained more weight or had higher BMIs than those who didn’t use them.) The taste of sweet—be it artificial or actual sugar—appears to play a significant role in increasing appetite Here’s the deal: Virtually all the popular, non-caloric sweeteners have one thing in common—they’re significantly sweeter than sugar. Now logically, you’d think all that sweetness would enable you to use less or eat a smaller amount of an artificially sweetened product. But guess what? These super-sweeteners seem to have the opposite effect, in part by flooding your taste buds with sweet, dulling them to the taste, pushing your sweetness threshold ever higher, while never actually satisfying the craving. Some studies indicate that the super-sweetness of the artificial stuff may interfere with the release of satiety hormones, slowing your body’s ability to send signals to the brain that you’ve had enough—which leads to
Chia seeds versus flax seeds: What’s the big difference?
October 03, 2018 at 04:14AM The F word gets throw around a lot in the wellness world. (That would be fiber. Why, what were you thinking?) A run-down of some of what it does for you: helps boost gut health, lowers inflammation, supports heart health, and even speeds up metabolism. Fruits and veggies are great primary ways to get your fill, but one easy way to up your intake: Pour on the seeds (chia and flax seeds, that is). Besides being a great source of fiber, chia and flax are nutritional powerhouses in their own right. So what exactly is the difference between chia and flax? For starters, chia looks like small seeds (yes, exactly like the ones you used to grow your chia pet) and have a distinct mild yet earthy taste. Flax seeds are most often found ground (although you can buy ground chia too if you don’t want the seed texture) and have more of a nutty flavor. Photo: Stocksy/Babette Lupaneszku The whole chia pudding trend has made chia a lot more popular the last five years, but they’ve actually been around for a long time—since 3500 BC in fact, when they were considered food of the gods. Like chia, flax goes back to ancient times and has been used forever in food and for medicinal uses. When it comes to their nutrient breakdown, they have some similarities and differences. Here’s the 411 on what you need to know about the nutrition in flax versus chia seeds: Nutrition breakdown Chia
I caught a skin fungus from working out, so I asked derms how you can avoid living my nightmare
October 03, 2018 at 03:44AM Listen up, sweat fanatics: I’m about to tell a tale about a very sexy topical topic—skin fungus. Early this summer, a small population of cream-colored splotches cropped on my chest and upper back, slightly paler than the rest of my body. I responded with what was more or less a shrug. Hey! I live in the great concrete jungle of NYC, where the new species I’m exposed to tend to be more of the pizza rat variety. And since my dermis’ new inhabitants didn’t itch or anything, I kinda just figured: “Eh.” Flash forward a few months to when my family and I took a trip to the seaside of Massachusetts where I had the first occasion of the summer season to wear a bathing suit. As I headed to the shore with my younger sister, she took one look at my back and said, “Oh, I’ve seen that before. It’s a fungus.” And that was enough: I promptly got to my dermatologist’s office. There, I learned that, A) my fungus is called “tinea versicolor,” and B) people like me—who spend a good portion of their lives in a sweat-soaked sports bra—are particularly susceptible. (The fungus thrives in damp conditions.) “Oh, I’ve seen that before. It’s a fungus.” Even though my derm prescribed me a special foam cleanser to rid my body of the stuff, I still had a ton of lingering queries about skin fungi. Like, what causes an outbreak? Are there different types besides tinea versicolor? Do
4 big Orangetheory upgrades that will make your workout even more competitive
October 03, 2018 at 03:28AM With over 1,000 studios (in 17 different countries, no less) and 800,000 members, Orangetheory is one of the fastest-growing boutique fitness franchises in the country. Clearly, they’re doing something right. A big part of that is their science-backed heart rate-driven workout: The key is to get your heart rate past its maximum threshold (an effort of 85 or above on a scale of 1 to 100) for 12 to 20 minutes during the 60-minute class to get a metabolic response, AKA to reap the benefits of an after-burn. Regular OTers know that this is referred to as the orange zone. (Oh and don’t worry, you’re still working out plenty hard the rest of the time, too.) The brand has been busy quietly perfecting a whole slew of new tech features to give the stats even more real-world application. “The idea is to give people more information about how well they’re progressing on their journey, whether it’s for weight loss, strength, endurance, or something else,” Chief Brand Officer Kevin Keith says. “We’re just trying to make it more simple and accessible for people.” There are four big tech upgrades being rolled out in studios everywhere, now through the end of next year. Keep reading for the scoop, straight from the brand’s exclusive, sneak peek event. Photo: Getty Images/Dave Kotinsky 4 big tech upgrades Orangetheory is making right now: 1. All the machines will be outfitted with tablets, tracking your results. You’re used to looking up at the big
Taking my husband’s last name was a wild bureaucratic marathon that I wish I never ran
October 03, 2018 at 03:00AM Let me get this out of the way up front: I adore my husband. We’ve been happily married for two years, and he’s the best thing that ever happened to me. But making his last name legally my own? That’s hands down one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made. When we were dating and even engaged, I thought that sharing the same last name would make me feel like we were more of a family. I thought the outward-facing world would regard us as more of a united front if our house appeared more, well, united. Not in a Game of Thrones House Stark kind of way, but just in the sense that I couldn’t wait to be this man’s family, and I wanted the whole world to know it. The pressure was entirely of my own making—my husband never cared whether I took his name, and he respected my choice to add to my career’s worth of editorial work under my maiden name (I still use my maiden name as a byline). Still, on the day we went to City Hall in New York City to get our marriage license, it took me by surprise when the clerk informed me that if I wanted to eventually take his name, even a year or so down the road, I’d have to decide right then and there, on the spot. I balked at the suggestion. Surely she was wrong. Not everyone who takes a married name has
With billion-dollar evaluations and million-dollar investments, streetwear is the boutique fitness of fashion
October 03, 2018 at 02:57AM Athleisure might have started out as a trend, but it’s now the fastest-growing category in fashion. And its staying power is trickling down to another style of casual dressing: streetwear. At this point, the two words are basically synonyms to most people, because we use them interchangeably to describe a more everyday form of fashion than what you’d find on the runways. One that’s tinged with athletic undertone or overtones, if you will. Streetwear is as much a community, however, as it is a style category. In a lot of ways, it feels like the boutique fitness of fashion. Not only have brands such as Supreme, Kith, and Off-White amassed cult followings and gained reputations for successfully disrupting the traditional fashion model. They’ve also attracted the attention of major investors. Supreme received a $1 billion valuation last fall, making it the Peloton of streetwear startups. The estimate seems to answer the question: Are streetwear brands worth it? In a word: yes. In fact, investors have seeded about $180 million to streetwear startups in the last few years, according to Fashionista. And just like the boutique fitness industry, which expanding at an exponential rate, this influx of interest and capital has some already wondering if it’s creating a bubble around streetwear brands. And if so, will it burst? The resale market for coveted items like Off-White sneakers can see them going for double (often more) of the suggested market value at online consignment. Fashionista notes that sites focused on women’s
The big questions to ask yourself at 25, 30, 35, and 40
October 03, 2018 at 02:30AM Every so often, says Well+Good Council member Kelsey Patel, it’s time to slow down and ask yourself a few important questions—about work, love, career, and everything else that adds up to your big, beautiful life. Here, the spiritual empowerment coach shares some of the questions to ask at four milestone ages: 25, 30, 35, and 40. Each of us has a past that includes choices, places, people, pain, joy, and many other things between. Now that I’m 37, I’ve been thinking about my own past and the choices I’ve made—how everything leads to the next place and the next moment. No matter how big or small a decision seems to be, our life is one long thread of these connected choices. In reflecting on my past, I started to realize how beautiful it can be to look at your life at any age and start asking some deeper questions about where you are now, where you want to go, and what actually matters most to you at these different stages of life. Reflecting on these has helped me grow, and I’m sharing them in hopes that they’ll do the same for you. Here are the big, important questions to ask yourself at 25, 30, 35, and 40. Photo: Lucas Ottone/Stocksy Age 25 At 25, so many new things and realizations start to come forward. You’re likely living on your own, getting by with a tight budget, splitting the bill down to the exact dollar, possibly hating