January 29, 2019 at 11:17AM by CWC We all have those days when getting out from behind your desk isn’t really an option. Leisurely afternoon walks in the sunshine feel months away and there’s no way in hell you’re going to risk frostbite on a run to Starbucks with North America in the grip of a polar vortex. (Even though a chai tea latte sounds so good right now.) While you’re warm and cozy in your cubicle, you might have noticed all that sitting takes a serious toll. And that’s why an easy post-work stretching routine—one that includes some of the best hip flexor stretches we could find—is just what you need after a long day. If you’re somewhat immobile for extended periods of time, your hip flexors—the muscles on the front of the hips—”shorten,” shifting your pelvis and creating that awful nagging pain in your lower back. Amanda Bisk, an Australian exercise physiologist and yoga instructor, explains that it doesn’t take much to regain lost flexibility in the hips. Each stretch requires only a few minutes and minimal movement, but her recommendations are just enough to really make a significant difference in the way your body feels. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Amanda Bisk (@amandabisk) on Jan 18, 2019 at 11:50pm PST //www.instagram.com/embed.js Hold these stretches—explained by Amanda Bisk—for 10 long, deep breaths each. 1. High kneeling lunge This is great for directly targeting your hip flexors. Make sure your lunge is long with your legs split wide
Month: January 2019
Why buying Girl Scout cookies is the ultimate act of wellness
January 29, 2019 at 11:06AM by CWC In my opinion, January is the most wonderful time of the year. Yes, cold weather, short days, and minimal sunlight all get me down. The glow of Christmas is gone and my skin has never been drier. But none of that matters to me, because it’s officially Girl Scout cookie season. From January through April, Girl Scouts go door-to-door and post up outside your local grocery store, selling cookies to raise money for their local chapters. It seems simple (and honestly, not that exciting). But I get as excited during cookie season now as ever I did on Christmas Eve as a kid. When I see girls and their parents hocking boxes of Samoas, Trefoils, Do-Si-Dos, and Thin Mints on the sidewalk, I make it a point to buy as many boxes as I can carry. When my former roommate’s little sister was still a scouts, I’d buy eight to 10 boxes of Thin Mints from her every year. (Yes, all for myself.) But try explaining this to someone who didn’t grow up in the U.S. (or who grew up without a local Girl Scout troop) and you get met with some skeptical looks. They can’t be that good, people say. Can’t you just get Oreos and call it a day? No I can’t, Kathy. Girl Scouts cookies are sacred and special and perfect in basically every way. However, it’s tough to articulate exactly why these little confections are so special. As my colleague
A trampoline workout with Busy Philipps unleashed my inner 10-year-old
January 29, 2019 at 08:57AM by CWC When I was 10 years old, 3 of my favorite things were Dawson’s Creek, Special K Red Berries, and my best friend Lily’s backyard trampoline. We used to spend our weekly sleepovers perfecting our backflips and watching Joey try to decide between Dawson and Pacey over bowls of cereal. With that in mind, it’s safe to say that I had a major “pinch myself” moment last Friday morning when I found myself bouncing on a trampoline next to Busy Philipps. It’s like I was 10 again. Let me back up to provide a little context here: Philipps partnered with Kellogg’s for the launch of their new gut-friendly line of probiotic cereals, Happy Inside (ICYWW, her favorite flavor is strawberry, too). To celebrate, the brand invited a group of editors to work out and hang out with Philipps, which is how I found myself jumping along beside her. After a quick trampoline session, I wasn’t just sweating, I was smiling. And for Philipps, it’s the second part of that sentence that really matters. The actress, who shares her sweaty trampoline workouts from LA’s LEKFit studio to Instagram every day, has been vocal about how just how important exercise is, not only to her physical fitness, but also to her mental and emotional well-being. “I sweat every day, I have to,” she says. But when we sit down to chat and sip on post-workout smoothies (again: pinch me), she admits this wasn’t always a case. “In my 20s
The shutdown is over, but people who keep us healthy and safe got hit the hardest
January 29, 2019 at 08:36AM by CWC Many federal employees happily returned to work this week, but millions of Americans are still feeling the effects of the government shutdown, which stretched for 35 days to make it the longest in history. While all 800,000 or so career public servants are set to receive back pay, not every federal employee is breathing a sigh in relief. Fair treatment is far out of reach for more than one million of the people who work to keep us safe, healthy, and fed, The Washington Post reports. The majority of these contractors who find themselves ineligible for back pay are among the lowest-paid government employees, earning between $450 and $650 a week. They’re the cooks, janitors, and security guards, among others, who perform labor-intensive jobs that create the backbone of government offices, and museums, and agencies. And with another potential shutdown looming in mid-February, many of them will contend with a dent in their savings and little hope beyond their next paycheck. “I did have a little money in the bank—now that’s all gone,” a Smithsonian employee tells The Washington Post. “I don’t have any help. My electricity might be turned off any day.” It’s clear that the effects of the government shutdown are far from over as her words echo sentiments of countless others shut out across the United States. Last month, three Democratic senators proposed legislation that would ensure pay for contract workers up to $965 per week of lost income and reinstate the sick days many
Here’s what happened when I spent 48 hours at a fancy wellness commune in the woods
January 29, 2019 at 08:12AM by CWC When I first opened my inbox and saw an email about Serenbe—a wellness community located 30 minutes outside Atlanta that that promotes an active lifestyle, face-to-face interaction, organic food, and eco-friendly living—my mind instantly conjured a ’60s-era hippie-dippie commune where people live with the sole mission of spreading peace and love. I quickly realized the neighborhood wasn’t exactly that (for starters, this place seemed upscale), but intrigued I remained. Here’s the deal: Back in the early ’90s, founders Steve Nygren and Marie Lupo Nygren moved from Atlanta to a quiet, countryside respite in the woods. But when bulldozers started razing surrounding forest land for development, disrupting their serene slice of life, it broke ground for a big idea: Develop a sustainable community to not only preserve that 40,000 acres right outside the major city, but to also create a place unlike any other where people can thrive. After working with other landowners, developers, and conservationists, they devised a plan to keep 70 percent of the land as green space and work with the natural landscape to develop on the rest. The first house was built in 2004, and since then, Serenbe has grown into an increasingly self-sustainable place with essentially everything you need to live comfortably. And technological advancements have made never leaving even easier. While plenty of residents work in or around Atlanta, many have full-blown careers right inside the comfort of the community, either by working remotely or owning businesses and shops. Now
If you’re rocking a hair tie on your wrist 24/7, pay attention to the mark it leaves
January 29, 2019 at 08:03AM by CWC If one thing remains true about my everyday wardrobe, it’s that you’ll always find a simple black hair tie around my wrist. I don’t know when this beauty essential became such a steady part of my look—it doesn’t even come off in the shower, TBH—but I like to be prepared in case I want to pull my hair back at a moment’s notice. But without fail, after a few hours of wearing my trusty black “bracelet,” I’ll wind up indent around my wrist, which makes me wonder if I’m maybe cutting off the supply of blood flow to my hand. On the extreme end of the spectrum, I’ve even woken up with the tell-tale indent on my wrist and some slight tingling in my hand to wonder what’s going on. To finally figure out what the heck is the deal is—and to confirm whether I’m doing something bad to my circulation—I sought a cardiologist’s advice. In the most obvious news: “If you have numbness or tingling in your hand, or it becomes cold and pale, your hair tie on your wrist is probably too tight,” says Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, a volunteer medical expert for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women movement and director of women’s cardiovascular prevention, health, and wellness at Mount Sinai. She says your hair elastic-related numbness is generally caused by a lack of blood flow. (However, arm and hand numbness can be caused by a number of other factors,
True progress in erasing mental health stigma means giving everyone a seat at the table
January 29, 2019 at 07:39AM by CWC I remember the barren look in my mother’s eyes when I told her I was diagnosed with depression and was also taking medication to treat it. It was as if the words that had left my lips were too weighty for her to carry. Full of too much pain for her to even try to digest because it might make her sick to her stomach and upset the taste of truth. This is my story, but it’s also the story of many black women. Women with mahogany skin are constantly having to hide their pain because they are told that it’s too much, too serious, too exaggerated. I had always been told and taught that my pain could go away if I worked a little harder, slept a little later, ate a little more, or complained a little less. Being depressed while wrapped in black skin is difficult not only for my kin, but for the society that I live in. Someone asked me once if I think progress is being made to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health in our society. I didn’t know how to answer. One part of me believes the answer is yes, we are making progress. Yes, because years ago, the word depression seemed a little dirty. Like it was a foreign language that only the hurt and broken understood. But now people are having open conversations about depression and anxiety. Celebrities are openly talking about going to
News flash: Soy milk isn’t the devil, according to these experts
January 29, 2019 at 07:28AM by CWC In 2019, drinking soy milk is about as cool as Cady Heron at the beginning of Mean Girls. (Translation: Not very.) Newcomers oat milk, almond milk, and even sesame milk have taken precedence on store shelves and in alt-milk drinkers’ hearts. So why has the OG dairy-free milk missed out on the glory of the current alt-milk revolution? “I think the main reason soy milk isn’t as trendy as some of the other options out there is because it’s been around for decades and people always want the latest and greatest thing,” says Mark Messina, PhD, MS, the executive director of the Soy Nutrition Institute, a research organization created by the US Soybean Association and industry executives. But there are other elements beyond the “cool factor” at play too, he says. Dr. Messina, who has studied soy’s health effects since the 1990s, says that there have been a lot of misconceptions about the plant (and its associated products like soy milk) over the years. But some of those concerns…well, they aren’t totally justified. Here’s the low down on what you should actually believe about soy milk. 1. Soy milk is one of the most nutritious alt-milks A 2018 study found soy milk to be the most nutrient-dense plant milk compared to rice, almond, and coconut milks. Soy is actually the plant-based option that mostly closely resembles dairy milk in terms of its nutrient profile. “It can be a source of protein and calcium, especially for people that are
12 sexy AF pole dancing classes to take in LA
January 29, 2019 at 07:15AM by CWC This past summer, I attempted to take a pole dancing class in Portugal. It didn’t exactly go as planned. I was bummed about this, as I’d never taken a pole dancing class before and it’s one of those things only an assignment would make me brave enough to actually do. Months went by and I forgot about this short-lived ambition, but since my New Year’s resolutions center around finding things to spark joy in my always-bored life, I figure it might be time to get myself onto the pole at long last, assignment be damned. (Also, I secretly want to be in a Cardi B video, so there’s that….) Luckily, I live in Los Angeles, where you can find innumerable classes in just about anything, especially if said “anything” puts you at center stage. Keep reading for all the deets on the city’s best (of many) pole dancing studios—including one run by the actual pole dancer from Cardi B’s “Money” video. 1. The Pole Garage Westside girls need look no further than The Pole Garage, one of the friendliest pole studios in town. The family-owned (by founder/instructor Drea Roers and her husband) space offers “pole teaser” classes for beginners; however, if despite the space’s cozy vibes, you’re still scared to go it alone, consider getting 5–7 of your best girls together for one of the box’s standard-issue private pole parties instead. 1720 20th St., Suite 205, Santa Monica, CA, 90404; (310) 392-2605 2. Evolve Dance
3 tips to avoid frostbite—because, yes, you could totally get it
January 29, 2019 at 06:41AM by CWC As a kid, my mom always bundled me up A Christmas Story–style when temperatures even threatened to drop below freezing. She dressed me in 100 layers of thermals, snow pants, and scarves with a warning: Anything less, and I’d be at risk for frostbite. And just like with so many other things in life, Mom was right. Sigh. While the whole frostbite threat may have seemed like a clever tactic to get you inside in time for dinner after hours devoted to building the perfect snowman, it’s a real thing—and it could seriously hurt your body. With the ridiculously cold temps that have already hit a large portion of the country this winter, some attention to the condition is totally warranted. “Third-degree burns look a lot like frostbite, and fourth-degree frostbite can affect nerves down to the muscle and bone.” —Dr. Chris Hogrefe Sports medicine and emergency medicine Chris Hogrefe, MD, told Vogue he saw a handful of people with frostbite come into the ER within a week at the Chicago hospital where he works. Usually the condition affects the cheeks, ears, nose, fingers, and toes, and if you feel numbness or notice a change in your skin color or texture to something rubbery or waxy-feeling, you should go to urgent care immediately, he said. “We treat it a lot like burns; third-degree burns look a lot like frostbite, and fourth-degree frostbite can affect nerves down to the muscle and bone,” Dr. Hogrefe said. So how can frostbite be prevented in