September 11, 2019 at 10:00AM Sustainable travelers—your life just got way easier. Continue Reading… Author Bonnie Culbertson | Life by Daily Burn Selected by CWC
Month: September 2019
The Science-Backed Benefits Of A Good Night’s Sleep
September 11, 2019 at 08:00AM These are the immediate and long-term effects of quality sleep (or the lack thereof!) Continue Reading… Author Krista Soriano | Life by Daily Burn Selected by CWC
Confession: I only have one pan in my kitchen and I use it for everything
September 11, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC When I moved out of the apartment I shared with my ex, I basically started from scratch when buying for my new one. If you’d like more details about how woo woo decor helped me cope with my loneliness, here you go. But one thing I didn’t realize I had going for me in my old place (aside from a dishwasher and in-unit laundry, sigh) is that I had full access to a chef-worthy assortment of pots and pans. Now, I have exactly one pan—and I use it to cook everything. I know that in practice there are specific uses for different pans, and some pans are better suited to cook eggs or stir fry vegetables. But realistically, even with approximately 100 pans at my disposal, I wasn’t using them. I would just pull out a new pan because it was the one that wasn’t still sitting in the sink with cauliflower gnocchi stuck to the bottom. Having tons of pans did not make me a better cook, or inspire me to try harder to be a better cook. It just meant I ended up having to do more dishes (well, make my ex do more dishes, but potato potahto). When I moved into my new apartment, I had to get a whole new kitchen set—and that stuff is expensive. Since the breakup was new, I figured I’d probably be subsisting on a diet of Postmates for a few weeks (#toosadtocook), but I
Learn how to stand up for yourself with a psychologist’s top 5 tips for setting boundaries
September 11, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC For many, it’s not quite second nature to know how to stand up for yourself. This is especially true for people who are branded as pushovers, regardless of whether they were self-appointed to the title or the reputation grew over time as a result of experiences personal and professional that colored them as veritable human doormats. Regardless of how people come to be walking, talking embodiments of those well-known “WELCOME” mats, sticking to your opinions and speaking your truth is no small task. Perhaps as a result of a deep-seated belief of being a pushover, you’ve come to associate friction as conflict and conflict as The Worst Thing You Can Ever Come Up Against. What some may find surprising here, though, is that root problem at play isn’t so much a struggle with asserting your beliefs so much as setting boundaries regarding what you’re willing to accept from others. “When I work with people on this issue, women in particular seem to struggle with setting healthy boundaries—and solidly standing up for themselves—if this was not modeled for them as children,” says clinical psychologist Carla Marie Manly, PhD. Though standing up for yourself doesn’t need to be scary or something to psych yourself up to do, Dr. Manly does note that many do grow fearful that they’ll be perceived as rude or aggressive if they take the steps to do it. “Thus, a piece of the work is learning that a person can stand
6 confidence tips and tricks career experts practice themselves
September 10, 2019 at 09:46PM by CWC It’s a complete myth that some people come out of the womb just bursting with confidence. You’re not born with or without it; it’s learned. This is important to remember if you have a tendency of sitting in your office chair, stewing with imposter syndrome, wishing you were a bit more like the calm and collected woman giving off total boss vibes to your left. According to life coach and author of What If It Does Work Out? Susie Moore, there are small rituals you can do every day that in time lead to increased confidence and self-assurance. Both Moore and Joanna Stahl, CEO of Go2Practice, put their own confidence tips into practice every day, and it’s easy for you to follow their lead. Tips for confidence 1. Smile like you mean it “Yes, even f you don’t feel like it,” Moore says. “Roll your shoulders back, tilt your chin up, and put a smile on your dial. Studies show that acting the way we want to feel can impact our mood and confidence levels, fast.” She’s right: A study out of the University of Kansas found that smiling actually works to reduce the body’s response to stress. And when you aren’t stressed, it’s much easier to give off chill vibes. 2. Throw out a Compliment While you want to make sure it’s genuine—giving out compliments you don’t really mean is and seems insincere, Moore says that complimenting someone else is a quick way
Why experts want you to give a hard pass to the OMAD diet
September 10, 2019 at 09:44PM by CWC Another day, another acronym, another questionable diet. Today, it’s the OMAD diet, which is shorthand for the “one-meal-a-day” diet. I’m admittedly not a fan of fad diets in general, but just the name of this one makes me roll my eyes way back into my head. Limiting oneself to one meal a day sounds right off the bat like a deeply questionable idea. On the other hand, there are some potential benefits to intermittent fasting (IF), and limiting yourself to one meal a day would qualify as such. “The OMAD diet seems to be intermittent fasting to the extreme, where you fast 23 hours [per day] and eat one hour,” says Dana Hunnes, PhD, MPH, RD, senior dietitian at UCLA Medical Center. “The argument for it is that you will be eating fewer calories over the course of a day…and that you would dip into your fat reserves for energy utilization—meaning you’ll preferentially burn fat over carbohydrates.” As with other types of intermittent fasting, Hunnes says the main potential benefit to this diet is weight management. “Research shows that restricting eating to a smaller time window than the average American currently eats within may provide benefits for [healthy weight management], metabolic risk factor reduction, and chronic disease prevention,” adds Whitney English, RD. What’s intermittent fasting, exactly? Here’s the low-down from an RD: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkGmfcg4Epc] With that said, English offers the first of several caveats to the OMAD diet. “The research in humans is
How 2019 became the peak era of society’s infatuation with personality types
September 10, 2019 at 09:03PM by CWC These days, many dating profiles include the person’s Myers-Briggs type. And it’s tough to find any sort of publication that doesn’t cover astrology—though those pieces of content now have to compete hard with all the dedicated apps and platforms cropping up to serve the growing zodiac sect. Enneagram is also going more mainstream: 2019’s Millenneagram by Hannah Paasch speaks to a millennial audience that’s very interested in introspection, understanding why they do the things they do, and how that intel can inform where they fit in the world. I am among those millennials, and this cultural craze for tests and indicators that diagnose different personality types is indeed of high interest to me. Of course, personality tests themselves aren’t new and have had an audience for quite some time. “There has always been a lot of interest in quizzes that (purport) to tell us something deep about ourselves,” says Art Markman, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin. Pre-internet, these quizzes appeared for the most part in monthly magazines and weekly newspapers, with horoscope offerings being available daily, depending on the publication. But the internet has changed the way we consume these systems in several ways. “First, online quizzes can give what seems to be more personalized scoring, because they don’t involve using a simple score sheet like they had in the magazines,” says Dr. Markman. “As a result, you only see the results applicable to you and not
In a battle between hummus and guac, which healthy snack dip wins?
September 10, 2019 at 08:24PM by CWC If you’re throwing a party and you don’t plan to serve hummus and guacamole, don’t bother sending me an invitation. Just kidding. However, I will cease to trust your snacking prowess and will bring my own avocado and chickpea dips from here on out, thank you very much. When it comes to what healthy dips reign supreme, there’s no question: guac and hummus come out on top. Registered dietitian Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, RD, the host of You Versus Food, says that while both dips deserve a spot in the lineup, each packs its own nutritional strengths. “Hummus and guac are sitting pretty at the top of the snacking hierarchy,” says Beckerman. “Hummus is smooth and creamy, whereas guac is chunky and refreshing. And most importantly, they pair well with basically everything.” (Crudités! Pita chips! Hard boiled eggs! Whole wheat crackers!) What is the healthiest dip? Hummus “When comparing two tablespoons, in standard, store-bought hummus and guac, there is a tad more unsaturated fat and protein in hummus than guac. That means you may stay fuller longer if you go for the hummus over the guac,” says the dietitian. As the author of The Better Period Food Solution, Beckerman also strongly believes that your food choices should sync up with your cycle. And when Aunt Flo comes calling, she says hummus may prove a better choice than guac. “If it’s your time of the month, reach towards the hummus over the guacamole to replenish
I tried J. Lo’s Hustlers pole dancing workout, and I’ve never felt sexier or stronger
September 10, 2019 at 08:02PM by CWC As a fitness editor who spends a significant portion of her time either working out, thinking about working out, or writing about working out, there’s always something intimidating about walking into a class that I’ve never tried before. Multiply that by 10,000 when that class is pole dancing…with Jennifer Lopez‘s trainer from Hustlers…surrounded by work colleagues. I spent two full days stressing out about what to wear. I emailed a publicist, texted three friends who had taken pole dancing classes before, and posed the question to my entire office. “Don’t stress!” the publicist assured me, but even so, I strongly considered sipping a pre-workout glass of wine to take the edge off. When I walked in wearing my usual black sports-top-and-leggings combo and saw a woman in leopard booty shorts and a lacy tank top, I immediately felt like I’d made a mistake, both in showing up and in deciding to skip the wine. Mental strength meets physical toughness The class, which was taught by Johanna Sapakie, was meant to put a group of editors through the exact training regimen that Jennifer Lopez went through as she prepped to play a stripper in Hustlers. Take one look at the movie’s trailer—in which J. Lo, her no-bullshit attitude, and every well-defined muscle in her body can be seen hanging every which way on a pole—and it’s clear that whatever she did to prep was no damn joke. On the day of the event, my sexless black outfit
5,000 retinol products have launched in the past 3 years, but we’re most excited about this drugstore diamond
September 10, 2019 at 08:01PM by CWC With years of dermatologist intel under our belts, we’ve always said that retinol is one of the few skin-care products that’s almost always worth splurging on. But with the launch of Olay’s Retinol24, which you can get at the drugstore as of today, we’re seriously reconsidering that sentiment. Retinol is having a major moment: In the last three years, more than 5,000 new retinoids have been released onto the market, according to research done by Olay. But despite its popularity, the skin-transforming ingredient generally tends to get a bad rap for being irritating… which is something Olay is trying to do away with in its latest formulation. “Retinoids don’t have to irritate—it’s not a part of their mode of action, like a laser or chemical peel where injuring your skin is actually a part of the process,” says Frauke Neuser, MD, Olay’s principal scientist that spoke with a group of editors at the launch event. “It’s literally a side effect, and you want to get rid of it.” The brand’s three newest retinol products—which include a nighttime serum, moisturizer, and eye cream—have officially raised the bar on what we can expect from affordable, over-the-counter retinoids. They combine retinol and retinyl propionate, which are small vitamin A molecules that penetrate the skin deeply in order to thicken the epidermis and help smooth the texture of the surface, with soothing ingredients like glycerin, peptides, and niacinamide that help nourish the skin on top of that.