November 12, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC If you ever happen to spy on me as I work out, you’ll undoubtedly see me gasping to catch my breath whenever I finish a strength training set. Once I hit my arbitrary reps quota, all I can think about doing is dropping my weights or collapsing onto the mat so that I can mentally and physically prepare for the next round. Now, I know better: that break time should really be spent stretching. “It’s using time while you’re resting to get energy for your next exercise—you might as well be stretching, because you’re every second of your time in a smart way,” says Sarah James, a certified Pilates instructor and founder of Pilates by Sarah James. I trained with her the other day, and in between hardcore ab exercises, she had me do various stretches before we went into our next set—and it felt really good. James, who used to be a dancer, notes this is something that ballerinas do constantly. “You’re still stretching while watching the teacher give you a new combo—you never take a break from doing something productive, and the most beneficial thing you can do is stretch,” she says. Not only is this a sneaky and time-effective way to get your stretches in (especially if you’re like me, and don’t exactly prioritize it as a part of your routine), but doing them mid-workout when you’re already warmed up helps increase flexibility. In our sweat sesh, James had us
Month: November 2019
Eat like a caveman at these 5 Paleo-friendly restaurants in NYC
November 12, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC The Paleo diet has a lot of pros in its favor. It’s high in protein and healthy fats (always a good thing), it can help fight off inflammation, and many doctors love it. However, its very particular rules can make ordering Seamless or meeting up with friends for happy hour a bit complicated; the eating plan prohibits all grains, legumes, dairy, and processed foods for the sake of truly eating “like a caveman.” Meaning that the strictest of Paleo followers will have to ask even about what cooking oil the restaurant uses to make sure their entire meal is compliant. Living Paleo, of course, isn’t impossible. Heather Mangieri, RDN and author of the book Fueling Young Athletes, emphasizes that the Paleo diet’s “message is not that different from what other nutrition experts have been shouting for years—less sugar, more fruits and vegetables, less processed foods.” As with any eating plan that proposes wholesale eliminations, she says it’s cruicial to ensure you get your nutrients from other sources. “The diet forbids all dairy foods, which can make it hard to meet the recommendations for calcium and vitamin D,” Mangieri says as an example. (Some people make exceptions for grass-fed butter or ghee.) That’s why she suggests folks on Paleo consider supplementing their calcium and vitamin D to ensure they meet their daily nutritional requirements. Want to bone up on your Paleo diet know-how? Here’s the lowdown from an expert: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGvJ61nBFBo] The eating plan
New Report Reveals A Disturbing Underbelly In The Yoga Community
November 11, 2019 at 11:35PM Only with action can we build the path forward. Continue Reading… Author Ray Bass, NASM-CPT | Life by Daily Burn Selected by CWC
A Psychiatrist Shares Why It’s Good For Instagram To Hides “Likes”
November 11, 2019 at 10:55PM It’ll revolutionize what it means to truly seek your own validation. Continue Reading… Author Jamie Schneider | Life by Daily Burn Selected by CWC
If you’re acupuncture-curious, but scared of needles, you should know about Moxa
November 11, 2019 at 10:30PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRrarktKfI0] Curious what getting a Moxa treatment really entails? Watch what happens, here. Lighting incense is fun and all, but have you ever had your entire body turned into an incense garden? (Me neither. Good on you, if so.) But Ella Dove, our senior video producer, is here to do just that in our latest episode of What the Wellness, Well+Good’s YouTube series where she tries the most out-there treatments the industry has to offer. In this week’s episode, she tries out Moxa treatmen at Los Angeles’ Vie Healing, a holistic wellness spa. It has many of the same benefits of acupuncture, except the treatment relies on dried herbs instead of needles. Moxa is a Traditional Chinese Medicine practice that uses lit incense “towers” at certain meridians along your body to active your blood flow and nervous system (a treatment like this one runs about $85 ICYWW). “Moxa is a heat therapy, and what it does is it draws heat into the muscles, veins, and capillaries into the body,” explains Mona Dan, acupuncturist and owner of the spa, noting that oftentimes people store coldness in their bodies, which constricts our blood vessels, leading to inflammation. So this heat from the Moxa—which is an herb that’s dried and lit—works to relax the entire body, resulting in purported wellness perks galore. But having lit, dried herbs placed all over your body can sound a little nerve-wracking, to some (especially when you’re a Moxa novice). What
The scientifically-proven reaction you need to bring out natural sweetness of vegetables
November 11, 2019 at 10:00PM by CWC When vegetables are prepared correctly, they can make your tastebuds sing. Using a scientific approach to cooking can help you succeed more often than you fail. And, when it comes to how to make vegetables taste good, one trick in particular stands above the rest. Valerie Duffy, PhD, a professor at the University of Connecticut who specializes in the study of food taste, tells CNN that the trick to serving delectable vegetables lies in bringing out their natural sweetness. To accomplish that, just set your oven to “roast” and wait for your tray of winter produce to turn crispy and caramelized. You can thank the “Maillard Reaction” for making carmelized vegetable taste so good. The chemical reaction occurs between amino acids and the sugars in a given food that completely transforms both aroma and flavor. When someone compliments you on your roasted vegetable platter, make sure to send out a silent thank you to Louis-Camille Maillard, who first described the reaction in 1912. Of course, there are other ways to add pizzaz to your cauliflower, parsnips, and asparagus. Spanish smoked paprika can give them a smoky, meat-like flavor. Everything but the bagel seasoning adds that extra-satisfying crunch. Or, if you totally forget to season your veggies (oops), try drizzling a special sauce on top to make your nutrient-rich side dish stand out from the crowd. The 12 vegetables you need to buy organic—and 15 you don’t: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHSaA0-Chg] This “liquid gold” sauce also pairs
LGBT discrimination denies 400,000 children the unconditional love of family
November 11, 2019 at 09:30PM by CWC Nineteen years ago, when Greg Thomas and Ron Preston adopted Samantha, they didn’t expect the process to run so smoothly. “A lot of that had to do with the attorney we had,” says Thomas, who lives with his family in Wichita Falls, Texas. “His wife was one of our best clients. And she was rooting for us and pulled every string in the system to make sure this was going to happen.” Same-sex couples looking to adopt in the future might not be in so lucky. On November 1, the first day of National Adoption Month, the Trump administration issued a notice of nonenforcement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposing to override the Obama administration’s anti-discrimination law, which included gender identity and sexual orientation as federally protected classes. If the rule becomes final after an upcoming 30-day comment period, department-funded faith-based adoption or foster care agencies would be within their rights to deny same-sex couples or LGBTQ persons from adopting a child, a decision many believe treats children as commodities to be traded rather than people deserving of safe and loving homes. When we talk about selective adoption, we often concentrate on the injustice of denying the rights of same-sex couples. But more than 100,000 children in foster care cannot be returned to their biological families and thus await adoption. Is their right to the best chance at a family not also denied when adoption agencies are allowed to
Today’s Grounding Full Moon Could Help Lower Your Baseline Anxiety
November 11, 2019 at 09:00PM Feeling anxious? Earthy Taurus can get your feet back on terra firma. Continue Reading… Author The AstroTwins | Life by Daily Burn Selected by CWC
Derms want you to double down on these 3 ingredients for dry winter skin
November 11, 2019 at 09:00PM by CWC The minute November weather hits, dry skin becomes as annoyingly pertinent a part of the conversation as “holiday budgeting” and “no mom, I will not be bringing any sort of a boyfriend home for Thanksgiving.” And so, when the time comes to holiday shop and mentally prepare to spend five days straight with your family, it’s also time to give your skin-care routine an overhaul. “As the weather gets colder, you can expect your skin to get more dry, flaky, and itchy,” says board-certified dermatologist Kavita Mariwalla, MD, FAAD. This tends to happen because there’s less humidity in the air, which means you’re not getting as much moisture from the environment as you do during the warmer months. This dryness can also make your skin look dull and show off fine lines more clearly, and if it’s not treated the right way, you’ll likely wind up feeling uncomfortable, red, and irritated. (Not to mention cold, on top of all that.) And so, it’s extra important to stack your routine with dry skin-fighting ingredients that will help it deal with these issues. “As far as ingredients go, I love to keep things simple. I prefer to use ingredients that are compatible with your skin,” says Dr. Mariwalla. The easiest way to think about it? By way of a three-step calming, hydrating, and repairing process that will give your skin exactly what it needs in combatting that winter weather. To calm: niacinamide Photo: La Roche
As plant-based eating continues to take off, Mexican cuisine returns to its vegan roots
November 11, 2019 at 07:46PM by CWC As we know it in the U.S., Mexican food typically involves lots of meat and cheese—enchiladas stuffed with beef, chicken tinga tacos, nachos topped with sour cream and cheese. Delicious? Absolutely. But not necessarily the first type of cuisine many would think of when considering a plant-based diet. But according to vegan food activist and Food Empowerment Project founder Lauren Ornelas, Mexican food was traditionally entirely plant-based. “It’s really important to realize the effects colonization had on our diets,” she says. “Our indigenous ancestors didn’t drink milk or consume dairy, and they weren’t necessarily vegan, but they didn’t eat as much animal products as is in our diets now.” She says that that the fundamental components of Mexican food have always been vegetables (with a major emphasis on corn and tomatoes), legumes, and fruit. Now that plant-based eating has exploded across the board, Mexican cuisine seems poised to return to its roots. All it takes is a lap around the grocery store to see that there are more vegan options available than ever before—Mexican food included. The demand has led to products such as Beyond Meat’s “beef” taco crumbles, Siete Foods cashew-based queso, and Upton’s Naturals’ chili lime jackfruit. There are also more vegan Mexican restaurants than before, too: Eateries such as Mi Vegana Madre in Arizona, El Papagayo in California, and Charly’s Vegan Tacos in Texas, are just a few examples of how the Mexican food space is changing outside of the