Month: June 2019

June 11, 2019 at 09:45AM by CWC There’s more and more research that the foods we eat affects more than just our physical health—they can have profound affects on our mental health as well. Just look at the complex relationship between sugar and anxiety levels, or the fact that inflammatory diets have been associated with increased symptoms of depression. But figuring out how to take action on that “you are what you eat” information can be challenging when it comes to mental health. Enter nutritional (or food) psychiatry. It’s a relatively new field—people have only been studying the link between one’s diet and risk (or treatment of) mental health conditions for about 10 years. But the research produced in the past decade of research is extremely compelling. A 2013 study found that following the Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduced risk of depression; a 2017 study found that people with moderate to severe depression who ate a Mediterranean diet for 12 weeks had more improvement in their symptoms than people who didn’t change their diets; a 2018 meta-analysis found that people who improved their diets by replacing high-sugar foods with more nutrient-dense, fiber-rich foods like vegetables saw a small improvement in depression symptoms. ad_intervals[‘400142_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘400142_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’);}); } }, 100); Since the foods we eat affect our well-being more than we realize, more and more mental health professionals are turning to food as part of their diagnosis toolkit to help treat a number

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June 11, 2019 at 08:13AM by CWC Tan lines can be intense. Every single summer, my first outing into the sun inevitably gives me a very uneven tan that lingers until way past Labor Day, despite the fact that I’m wearing copious amounts of SPF. There was the time in Florida where I didn’t properly rub in my spray sunscreen, and wound up with permanently streaky legs, and last year in Tulum, the line of my shorts were etched into my legs until the first snow. Ugh. The thing is, while I’m not a fan of having uneven tan lines, I don’t want to get even more sun exposure to even things out. (Ya know, because of sun damage and such.) So to solve the whole even-out-your-summer-glow dilemma, I looked to the pros for some tips that don’t involve more lying out in the sun. Happily they had plenty of tips for how to smooth things over. Keep scrolling for the dermatologist-approved ways to even out tan lines, minus the sun exposure. Spray tan: An easy answer is to just get a spray tan from the pros. “Spray-on tans done by a professional are one option that can cover the entire body,” says Sheel Desai Solomon, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in North Carolina. “Dihydroxyacetone (DHA) is a color additive that, when it comes in contact with dead skin cells on your skin’s surface, temporarily darkens the skin. It’s been approved by the FDA for this specific use.” Make sure to

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June 11, 2019 at 06:00AM by CWC Although I may look the same every single day—in jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers—my skin-care routine is changing all of the time. So underneath my same no-makeup makeup can be any mix of retinol, chemical exfoliants, hyaluronic acid serums, facial oils, and/or practically any skin-related product you can think of to prep my face before it goes out into the world. But it was only recently that I realized that there’s exactly one single ingredient that remains in my skin-care regimen, no matter what: glycolic acid. After running it by some big-named dermatologists, I learned that my preference is for good reason: Glycolic acid is an OG derm-fave ingredient. Cosmeceuticals tap medically-back ingredients so that includes MVP actives like retinol and peptides, for example. Glycolic acid is special because it was actually the first acid used heavily on the skin. “It was really the first AHA (alpha hydroxy acid) to be discovered and used in skin care,” Dennis Gross, MD, dermatologist and founder of Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare tells me.  “It was used in high doses as an ingredient in chemical peels in a doctor’s office, and then there were lower concentrations for at home use.” ad_intervals[‘399271_div-gpt-ad-7520022-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘399271_div-gpt-ad-7520022-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-7520022-3’);}); } }, 100); It’s truly to our benefit that it became an at-home beauty ingredient—because, originally, it was only used in a clinical setting. “There was once a time where glycolic acid was not being used in skin-care products,”

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June 11, 2019 at 05:00AM by CWC I kicked off last Saturday by running a 10K with a coworker in New York City’s Central Park. The weather was perfection. We wore matching outfits and earned medals of Olympic-lever shininess. But the best part of the 6.2 miles we jogged together is that we both laughed and chatted the whole time. By accident, our ear-to-ear grins fulfilled the “smile test”—a formula for finding your ideal run pace that you can use for any (and every) workout. According to an Instagram post by athletic clothing company Outdoor Voices, the “niko-niko” or “smile” jogging method is the brainchild off Hiroaki Tanaka, PhD, professor at Fukuoka University in Japan. It goes a little something like this: “[A]ccording to Dr. Tanaka, you’ve hit your smile pace when you can sing your favorite song comfortably,” reads the caption. I know—cute, right?!   View this post on Instagram   Slow n’ low — the benefits of Dr. Hiroaki Tanaka’s niko-niko jogging method are various, ranging from mental calm to stronger slow-twitch muscle fibers. Niko-niko translates to “smile” — according to Dr. Tanaka, you’ve hit your smile pace when you can sing your favorite song comfortably (a heart rate of about 138-your age, divided by 2). It’s slower than you think 😉 A post shared by Outdoor Voices (@outdoorvoices) on Jun 7, 2019 at 4:38pm PDT //www.instagram.com/embed.js No, my colleague and I weren’t singing as we traversed the hills of Central Park. But judging by our spirits, we

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June 11, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC Good things come in small packages. It’s an oft-said phrase that applies to jewelry, a six-pack of silk scrunchies, a box holding a shiny new fitness tracker…and the humble blueberry. In season from April through September, blueberries are a perfect, sweet-tart addition to nearly any food—in your morning smoothie, salad, yogurt, ice-cream, or plopped one by one into your mouth on their own. (Unless you’re Violet Beauregarde, in which case you’re probably not the biggest blueberry fan.) Working blueberries into your regular diet majorly benefits your health, too. A new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating up to 150 grams of blueberries daily (about one cup) reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 15 percent—pretty major! Here, Aedin Cassidy, Ph.D, the study’s lead researcher and a professor at the University of East Anglia, explains just why blueberries are such a great heart-healthy food. Keep reading for all the intel. ad_intervals[‘399803_div-gpt-ad-8891272-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘399803_div-gpt-ad-8891272-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8891272-3’);}); } }, 100); Tell me about some big blueberry benefits (besides taste, of course) 1. They can reduce the disk of heart disease. As shown in the study highlighted above, blueberries are great news for your cardiovascular system. The double-blind study—which was performed on 138 overweight people between the ages of 50 and 75— showed that when people ate between half a cup and one cup of blueberries a day, their cardiovascular systems reaped the rewards.

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