January 25, 2019 at 01:04PM by CWC Unlike other healthy things you can hoard, like crystals or essential oils, there’s a relatively low limit to the number of plants a city-dwelling gal can amass. After all, the typical apartment only has so much free floor and tabletop space, and an individual pot can bogart a lot of this square footage depending on its shape. But there is one solution that’ll allow you to continue feeding your botanical obsession once you’ve run out of room in the usual places: Start a vertical garden. Houseplant Masterclass and Homestead Brooklyn founder Summer Rayne Oakes is a huge fan of this tactic, having created multiple vertical gardens for her New York City home. “The concept of a vertical garden is simply growing plants vertically on a wall, as opposed to horizontally, like in a planter on the shelf,” says Oakes, author of the forthcoming book How to Make a Plant Love You: Cultivate Green Space in Your Home and Heart. “You can cultivate so many more plants since we’re often short on space, horizontally speaking.” What’s more, she adds, this type of planting is super striking from an aesthetic perspective. “I fell in love with the concept of vertical gardens ever since I saw French designer Patrick Blanc’s vertical displays. It’s so cool how you can create a beautiful work of living art in your home and watch it change and grow.” Plus, the process of actually creating a vertical garden isn’t as intimidating as you might
Day: January 25, 2019
22 mocktail recipes that prove booze is irrelevant
January 25, 2019 at 12:51PM by CWC A typical Friday night might include a little laugher, some great conversation, and a big pitcher of margaritas. Sounds perfect. By morning, though, you might be wishing you hadn’t sipped on something so strong. Ditching alcohol doesn’t mean skipping out on the rest of the fun, but you’ll need a few mocktail recipes to keep the party going. Mocktails don’t have to be boring or short on flavor. They’re easy and inexpensive to make, and most offer some health benefits to boot. We’ve gathered more than a few party-perfect recipes that won’t cause a hangover. Keep it classy with these mocktail recipes. Photo: Stocksy/Tatjana Zlatkovic 1. Red splash mocktail This drink features basically all of your favorite fruits: blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, apples, and cranberries. Together, they create a sweet mix everyone at your gathering will enjoy. Photo: SweetPhi 2. Cucumber melon spritzer No matter the time of year, a mix of cucumber, watermelon, and LaCroix is always refreshing. Photo: Like Mother Like Daughter 3. Sunrise grapefruit mocktail Tart grapefruit gets a sweet twist from the splash of grenadine in this bubbly concoction. Photo: April Golightly 4. Frosted lime spritzer This beverage requires nothing more than lime, lemon-lime soda, a little salt, and a thyme sprig for garnish. Photo: The Wooden Skillet 5. Spicy jalapeño margarita mocktail Like your ice-cold drinks with a little heat? Jalapeños spice up these citrusy margaritas. Photo: The Merry Thought 6. Watermelon mojito mocktail Ready for a drink that will meet all your hydration needs?
Curious about acupuncture? Here’s what you should know before trying it
January 25, 2019 at 12:47PM by CWC Acupuncture can be daunting for the uninitiated. After all, who wants to willingly submit themselves to a session of poking and prodding? Take it from me, the Biggest Baby in the World: I’ve experienced more pain flossing my teeth than going to acupuncture. As nervous as I was initially to willingly submit to being a human pincushion, I’m glad I stuck it out that first time—because I left the session feeling a little calmer, a little more limber, and a lot happier than when I came in. It wasn’t just a placebo effect, either. According to Dr. Elizabeth Trattner, doctor of Chinese and integrative medicine, an acupuncture session can raise levels of specific hormones, boost immunity, and stimulate the secretion of endorphins and neurotransmitters that act as natural painkillers and mood boosters. While it isn’t necessarily intended to replace medical care (especially in cases of serious disease like cancer), it can be a useful tool in promoting wellness. Acupuncture can “harness the body to assist itself in healing versus giving a medication,” Dr. Trattner says. It’s been shown to help with stress and anxiety, sleep issues, fertility, and even sex drive. So yes, there are absolutely a lot of benefits. But acupuncture, like any other health-related procedure, requires some more research (and risk assessment) before just showing up to your nearest clinic. Here’s what you need to know before your first session. How acupuncture works “Acupuncture is based on ancient Chinese theories of
A bottle of this drugstore serum sells every minute, so I tried it to see if it’s worth the hype
January 25, 2019 at 12:48PM by CWC If I had to pick a “favorite skin-care ingredient” (beauty nerd alert!) it would be hyaluronic acid. The moisture-binding agent may not be as trendy as vitamin C or be able to settle the qualms of quite as many skin woes as the ever-sexy retinol, but as someone with dry skin, it keeps water in my complexion on the driest days. Its most significant claim to fame is that it can hold a thousand times its weight in water, which makes it a major hero for instilling life into dehydrated skin. “Hyaluronic acid is a humectant, meaning that it draws moisture into the skin,” says Austin dermatologist Ted Lain, MD. “It is an important ingredient, since this time of year the dry air tends to dehydrate the skin. Having a humectant helps to combat the actions of the winter climate.” Long story short: It’s amazing, and I am completely into it. That’s exactly why I had to get my hands on the best-selling, mass-market serum L’Oréal Paris Revitalift Derm Intensives Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum ($24), a bottle of which sells every. single. minute. in the United States. After testing it out, I can see why. The jelly texture is super slick—almost like a primer—and it goes on seamlessly. It isn’t greasy, but it is a little bit sticky post-application, so I like to apply a layer of moisturizer on top to really seal it in. After using it, my skin felt hydrated, smooth, and slightly plumper
How many times a week can you have arm day? We asked a trainer to find out
January 25, 2019 at 12:17PM by CWC The other day, I was lifting weights to work my arms when I stopped to wonder: How many days a week should I be isolating them as I lift? We’ve all seen those #armday memes on Instagram, but how many times a week is too many times to work out a single part of the body? “If you have limited time, that’s when you should do body-part specific moves because you want to focus on what you want to get stronger,” says Lacey Stone, celebrity trainer and founder of Lacey Stone Fitness, which offers virtual fitness training. Here’s the deal, though—different body parts get their own days because, well, training is hard. “Strength training damages your muscle fibers and causes them to break down,” says Andrea Somer, Equinox tier 3 personal trainer at Equinox Santa Monica. “During recovery, these muscles can repair themselves and grow stronger than before.” Hence why after a hard workout day, you’re sore and/or limping around like you’ve just gotten beaten up (just me?). It’s because of that soreness that people train different body parts on different days. “If you break down your workout days by body parts, you can allow those muscles to recover for 48 hours while still being active and training a different muscle group the next day,” Somer explains. At the same time, of course, everyone’s recovery time and lifestyles are different. “If you have great recovery abilities because you eat well, supplement your diet,
In the aftermath of a fight, here’s how to calm your mind and body
January 25, 2019 at 11:42AM by CWC Whether you get into a verbal fist fight with someone you love, witness a disagreement that turns physical on your morning commute, or become a virtual bystander to a heart-wrenching viral video, emotional fallout can feel like a dark cloud you just can’t get out from under. In some situations, opting out simply isn’t an option (like, say, when family member is scrutinizing your life choices), but psychologists say that learning how to deal with conflict and taking a few steps to care for yourself in the aftermath can alleviate future trauma. “Depending on how stressed you were before the event, it can take 20 minutes to three hours to come down from that high-alert status,” says Mellisa Sherlin, author of Offensive Compassion: 24 Things You Can Do Today to Combat Hate in the Real World. Since both physical and emotional factors are at play here, you’ll need the know-how around both components before you can really start to show up for yourself in the healing process. Below, the experts share exactly how to do that. What’s happening physiologically after a fight—and how to deal According to the Sherlin, physical and verbal altercations alike can trigger a fight, flight, or freeze response. When you fight, your heartbeat speeds up, your adrenaline kicks in, and blood rushes to your muscles to prepare you to throw a punch. In flight, your breathing turns shallow as you prepare to run. A freeze response is similar to “playing dead.”
In modern day yoga, should we be valuing function over 5,000-year-old form?
January 25, 2019 at 11:38AM by CWC Western yoga studios take many forms. They’re modern day oases equipped with light therapy, old-school shalas bedecked with Hindu deities, and every shade of “Om” away from home in between. That Sanskrit “Namaste” sculpture keeping watch over an iPad at check-in, though? It could be viewed as an interesting metaphor: How do 21st century, American bodies—which spend pretty much all day standing up and sitting down—adapt an ancient (and still awesome) practice engineered for lifestyles we just don’t live anymore? As of 2016, an estimated 36.7 million Americans practiced yoga, 72 percent of whom were women. But if you turn back the clock to the earliest record of the practice in 2700 BCE, the lives of early yogis were much, much different. “If we look at the origins of yoga asana and look at the population that was practicing it, it was not mostly women. It was mostly young boys, and their lifestyle was probably significantly different than our lifestyle today,” says Lara Heimann, a physical therapist and yoga teacher in New Jersey. “So there are things that bodies can do that they used to do back then, and there are some things that—yeah—don’t make sense.” Yet, the practice endures and it just. keeps. iterating. As of 2016, an estimated 36.7 million Americans practiced yoga, 72 percent of whom were women. Google “yoga near me” in any metropolitan hotspot across the U.S., and your browser will be flooded with options: hot, Kundalini, aerial, and this list
It’s not apple season, so just how old are the ones at your local supermarket?
January 25, 2019 at 11:30AM by CWC There are some foods that seem to go bad the second you get home from the grocery store. (Looking at you, mushy brown bananas.) But others, like apples, seem to last forever. And actually—you ready for this—it turns out that apples at most supermarkets can be over a year old. What?! Considering that we’re currently at peak apple season, I decided to do some investigating not only to learn how long apples last, but if eating supposedly year-old apples is actually safe. Is it true that grocery store apples are old AF? Well…yes. Your standard grocery store apple can be as old as 10 months if you buy them out of season. But they don’t naturally last that long—untreated apples only last for a few weeks. So what gives? This vampire-esque lifespan is partly because of chemicals used on apples before arriving in stores, says Alex Formuzis, the vice president of communications at the Environmental Working Group. “Unlike some other produce, insecticides and fungicides are both applied to apples,” Fourmuzis says—up to 16 different kinds of pesticides in all. The fungicides protect the apples from bad bacteria, and the pesticides protect them from insects and other pests (since, as Fourmuzis says, they naturally attract bugs). Some producers also add a food-grade wax made of fatty acids and long-chain alcohols. “There are also fungicides in the wax film applied to conventional apples that is used so those apples can stay in cold storage facilities for long periods of
I just want a doctor who can explain safe queer sex. Is that too much to ask?!
January 25, 2019 at 11:15AM by CWC My 2010 web history is the only thing more personal than my list of visible-to-sender-and-recipient-only Venmo charges. The Google search bar was first to know when I was I was planning to have sex with another woman for the first time. Sure, I learned some important information, but I had a lot of questions—specifically about how to have safe queer sex (no banana, no condom, ya feel?). At my next appointment, I asked my gynecologist for her advice. Her response? Basically, bleerblbleeebllblbeeelblbleeelbbbl (or, the sound you can make when you put your finger on your lips and move it up and down really fast). Talking about my specific sexual experiences with my gynecologist usually has me asking, “Am I teaching you, or are you treating me?” Within the last nine years I’ve visited to the doctor enough to know this is hardly an anomaly. Many healthcare professionals—especially those of the cis, hetero, and male-identifying variety—are about as clueless about LGBT healthcare needs as I am about walking in barbie heels. (Read: very). Even now, I have a gynecologist who is totally knowledgeable when it comes to most things regarding the state of my vagina, but talking about my specific sexual experiences with this particular physician usually has me asking myself, “Am I teaching you or are you treating me?” (Yes, I’m in the market for a new one.) Last week, a survey published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found what I (and I’d argue most queer folks) have learned through lived experience:
Why fitness influencer Morit Summers decided to open a body positive gym in Brooklyn
January 25, 2019 at 10:01AM by CWC Here’s a novel thought: What if gyms were places that people could go to feel *good* about themselves? For fitness influencer Morit Summers, this was the impetus behind opening Form Fitness, a brand-new, body-positive gym in Brooklyn. “I wanted to make a space that was safe for people, and that people, when they walk in, feel comfortable, and not intimidated and afraid that people are looking at them,” she tells me, bouncing on a medicine ball in the corner of her space. Behind her, two people are working with trainers to the sounds of vintage Michael Jackson blasting over the sound system, and as I watch them hit the equipment, I’m jealous I didn’t bring my sneakers. The mission to create a space like this one was personal, inspired largely by Summers’ own fitness journey that began when she was in high school. “I was 14 and I was really overweight, and I hated gym class. I was embarrassed. I had coaches put me in situations where it was even more embarrassing,” she tells me. That summer, she joined a gym and fell in love with it. She went on to study exercise science and epidemiology in college and found a career in personal training. But even when she was spending most of her life in the gym, she was still being shamed about her size. “I was always the trainer that people would call fat and say: ‘You’re not going to have clients’ and stuff like that,” she