Month: June 2019

June 03, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC What you probably pictured after deciding to breastfeed: You and your baby, snuggled up in a warm embrace during feeding time. The reality of that image may not be so accurate. Every mom has a different experience with breastfeeding, but to weigh the odds in your favor of producing an abundant milk supply, many moms will tell you to take fenugreek. But…what is that, exactly? Fenugreek is an herb; the seeds are ground into a spice, or it may be taken as a supplement, most famously to aid breastfeeding. Culinarily, if you eat curries that contain the spice blend garam masala, you’ve had fenugreek. Among some of fenugreek’s benefits: It’s a known inflammation fighter, and it’s a potential galactagogue. (Try saying that three times fast!)  “This is a substance that promotes lactation,” says Caroline West Passerrello, MS, RDN, LDN, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The herb is a popular natural remedy for low breast milk supply, and new moms have anecdotally sworn by it for years. But here’s what everyone should know before trying it themselves, according to Passerrello. Are there any actual fenugreek benefits for new moms (or anyone else)? It’s completely understandable for people to want to make as much milk as possible when breastfeeding. “As a mom who exclusively breast-fed my daughter for four months, I remember wanting to be sure I was, and would continue, producing sufficient milk,” says Passerrello. This can be challenging for

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June 03, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC What you probably pictured after deciding to breastfeed: You and your baby, snuggled up in a warm embrace during feeding time. The reality of that image may not be so accurate. Every mom has a different experience with breastfeeding, but to weigh the odds in your favor of producing an abundant milk supply, many moms will tell you to take fenugreek. But…what is that, exactly? Fenugreek is an herb; the seeds are ground into a spice, or it may be taken as a supplement, most famously to aid breastfeeding. Culinarily, if you eat curries that contain the spice blend garam masala, you’ve had fenugreek. Among some of fenugreek’s benefits: It’s a known inflammation fighter, and it’s a potential galactagogue. (Try saying that three times fast!)  “This is a substance that promotes lactation,” says Caroline West Passerrello, MS, RDN, LDN, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The herb is a popular natural remedy for low breast milk supply, and new moms have anecdotally sworn by it for years. But here’s what everyone should know before trying it themselves, according to Passerrello. Are there any actual fenugreek benefits for new moms (or anyone else)? It’s completely understandable for people to want to make as much milk as possible when breastfeeding. “As a mom who exclusively breast-fed my daughter for four months, I remember wanting to be sure I was, and would continue, producing sufficient milk,” says Passerrello. This can be challenging for

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June 03, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC In many ways, there is no “understanding” the loss of a loved one, but in her 1969 book, On Death and Dying, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross introduced a model aimed to demystify the grieving process with the 5, now sometimes 7 stages of grief: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, guilt, depression, and acceptance. The big myth, though, is these steps build up to a staircase that leads to acceptance. Anyone can get stuck in or regress to any stage of grieving, and, anecdotally, I’ve seen a lot of friends boomerang back to the third stage: anger. One of my friends passed several months ago, and in my social circle, anger seems to be the home-base grief emotion. I now field a lot of out-of-the-blue all-caps texts about how “SOMEONE SHOULD’VE DONE SOMETHING” and wondering “HOW COULD HER HUSBAND POST THAT ON FACEBOOK?” I’m not immune, either: I recently found myself in a shout-y “IT’S NOT FAIR” breakdown. My friends and I are all screaming, always. It turns out there’s a psychological reason we’re all marooned in anger: It’s an easier mask to wear than other, more vulnerable-leaning feelings. Like grief as a whole, anger is complicated to explain and easy to feel. “Really, anger is just a shallow way of expressing grief,” says bereavement-care specialist Virginia A. Simpson. “It’s because it’s too hard to touch those softer emotions. We’ve all been taught…that strength is shown through being very rigid or angry. Anger is okay, because we

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June 03, 2019 at 01:34PM by CWC If someone tells you to drop down and knock out some ab work, nine times out of ten a person is going to lie down on the floor, bend their knees with their feet flat, put their hands behind their head, and start crunching. It’s the quintessential, most basic ab-busting move that exists, and the hands-behind-the-head aspect has been given as a modification for ages—but, when done incorrectly, this position can wreck your whole ab workout. “Trainers—myself included—often cue supine spinal flexion because it gives such a satisfying burn and you can really feel like you’re doing something—and I find that it’s actually helpful with posture correction if someone’s locked in spinal extension,” says Helen Phelan, trainer and creator of Pilates Rebel.  But there are a number of ways that the most fundamental ab move can be sabotaged—which can result in all kinds of unwanted pain and injuries. “First, you aren’t supposed to pull your head up,” says Phelan. “The classical Pilates terminology for a crunch is ‘chest lift,’ which I think is a really helpful visual.” She notes that if you’re using your arm strength to yank your head off of the ground, you probably aren’t actually working to activate your rectus abdominis—AKA your six-pack muscles—so likely are’t doing a whole lot to make them stronger. If you still need some assistance to get your head off of the ground, she recommends reaching your hands out in front of you to get

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