December 11, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC There’s no better excuse to shower loved ones with gifts than being amid the holiday season. But while one family member may love receiving a buzzy product, like a high-tech makeup mirror, another friend might rather have the opportunity to spend time together on a new experience, like a cooking class. Gift preferences often have to do with love language types, a concept created by Gary Chapman, author of The 5 Love Languages. In it, he explains that there are five ways a person may prefer to receive and give love: words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch. To this point, finding the perfect gift for people of varying love languages can be a bit complicated. That’s because the way people best receive love can translate to the gifts they find the most meaningful, says therapist Joyce Marter, LCPC. “We need to know our own love language, as well as know and recognize others’ so that we can be conscious about how we’re communicating our appreciation for one another,” she says. “For example, I’m a words-of-affirmation person; I give compliments very easily. [Someone else may] appreciate acts of service, so they may not feel that I am appreciating them in the way that they deserve.” Because gifts are closely tied with being signs of affection, it’s important that we know the recipients’ love language so we may effectively convey our love for someone. (If you haven’t already,
Year: 2019
I completed all of my holiday shopping before December (without having a single freak-out)—here’s how I did it
December 11, 2019 at 04:30AM by CWC I have been a procrastinator for as long as I’ve been old enough to have deadlines. And when it comes to holiday shopping (despite my deep, Buddy the Elf-like love for the season), my wait-until-the-last-minute tendencies persist—which, with rush shipping and no time for deal-hunting, has not been kind to my budget. This year, I decided to do things differently. In an effort to really enjoy the holidays without scrambling for last-minute gifts or having my bank account take a big hit, I resolved to get my gift haul squared away before the season kicked into gear. With holiday mode in full swing once November hit, I set out on my anti-procrastination mission. My sidekick in the endeavor? Eno, my Capital One assistant, who helped me stay on top of my spending and looked out for my accounts 24/7. Because let’s be honest, thinking about finances around the holidays is enough to make anyone want to bury themselves in wrapping paper to avoid the shopping rush. Still just me? Keep reading for holiday shopping tips for keeping your stress levels low and your finances on track. Take inventory of your finances Step one of my take-action plan was figuring out what my financial situation looked like. Luckily, I’m never super in the dark about what’s going on with my money since as a Capital One customer, I have Eno. Eno helps me manage my finances year-round with proactive alerts and useful account insights
Have a foodie in the family? Any of these 12 gift will be the highlight of their kitchen
December 11, 2019 at 04:30AM by CWC Stumped on what to get that one friend or family member who’s always cooking up a new culinary creation, makes vacation plans around buzzy restaurants, and posts more photos of food than people on Instagram? Instead of getting them a gift card to their favorite taco spot (again), grab one of these foodie holiday gifts that will help them whip up restaurant-level cuisine at home. From a next-level knife to The Well+Good Cookbook (call us biased, but we think the collection of 100 healthy recipes should be a staple in every kitchen), our editor-approved picks will put the chef kiss on your holiday shopping. Bon appétit. Scroll down for the foodie holiday gifts to get the food-and-bev-obsessed people in your life. The Well+Good Cookbook, $30 Every home chef needs a go-to cookbook for simple, healthy, and actually doable recipes, and The Well+Good Cookbook doesn’t disappoint. With ideas from wellness experts like Venus Williams, Dr. Mark Hyman, Kelly LeVeque, and more on the recipes they really make (none of which require a ton of ingredients), they’ll feel like a culinary genius with half the effort every time they crack it open. Stasher Reusable Silicone Bag Starter Kit, $87 If (with an emphasis on the “if”) there are any leftovers from their W+G Cookbook masterpieces, they can store them in these environmentally friendly, reusable storage bags, which come in festive colors they’ll still like to use after the holidays. Agate Cheese Board, $78 Fact: Anything
How to decompress your spine using a foam roller, according to a Pilates pro
December 11, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC I always associate my foam roller with pain (sure, that pain often brings wonderful and much-needed muscle tension relief, but still). The recovery tool doesn’t have to be your frenemy, though—it can also be used in therapeutic, gentle ways. One star example of this? Using your foam roller for spinal decompression. At New York’s Dynamic Body Pilates studio, founder and Pilates pro Rebecca Lubart had me lie down on top of a foam roller, with it lined up right underneath my spine from my skull to my tailbone. It may not sound like much, but all of my back tightness felt like it immediately dissolved away. “One of the best things you can do is lie down on a foam roller,” says Lubart. “In the simplest terms, it’s the combination of switching your orientation to gravity while still having to maintain a basic level of balance.” In this position, your under-used spinal stabilizers—like the multifidus and transverse abdominals—get activated, she explains, which help to strengthen your back overall (something that helps you maintain a good posture). “By the end of the day, we can feel stress and pressure from our day [in our backs],” says Lubart. “Even a brief, five-minute session of lying down on a foam roller can leave you feeling relieved and refreshed.” Keep scrolling for the exercises she recommends doing on the foam roller (grab a full-length one) for added mobility and spinal relief. The foam roller exercises to decompress your spine
The 4 rules to follow when eating soy, according to a dietitian
December 11, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lO254Ecgpo] Is soy healthy or not? Get the lowdown from a top dietitian by watching this video. Despite plant-based eating completely taking over the food scene right now, there’s still a lot of confusion around one major source: soy. Some healthy eaters are all about it and gladly fill their grocery carts with tofu and tempeh. Others stay far away, worried about the rumored affect it has on hormones. Fortunately, registered dietitian Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, RD, sets the record straight on the protein in the latest episode of You Versus Food. “In general, soy is a good source of plant based protein for vegetarians and vegans,” Beckerman says, adding that it is one of the few nutritionally complete plant proteins (meaning that it contains all nine essential amino acids). She also says that having soy as a regular part of your diet could help lower bad cholesterol in the body. As for all the dangers of soy you may have heard about, Beckerman says the vast majority of the rumors aren’t true, especially the idea that consumption is linked to breast cancer. That said, the healthy eating expert does have a few rules of thumb to keep in mind when it comes to reaping all the soy benefits. One: it should only be eaten occasionally, two servings a day tops. (She’s not into the idea of having a tofu scramble with a soy milk latte for breakfast, edamame as a snack, a
How dancing like nobody’s watching is an effective way to shake off your sadness
December 11, 2019 at 12:00AM by CWC Nobody wants to be the first one on the dance floor, and this is doubly true if you’re feeling down or don’t know anyone. The anxiety and vulnerability of doing little kicks all over the place keeps us wallflowering and crying into our gin and tonics alone. (Just me?) But if you’re feeling sad, it’s more important than ever to embrace your inner Elaine Benes—dance therapy is real, and it is powerful. Let’s look to meta-analyses published in Frontiers in Psychology that examines the effects of Dance Movement Therapy for those who suffer from depression. Across the board it was shown that Dance Movement Therapy decreased levels of depression in those who got moving. Now, it’s worth mentioning that Dance Movement Therapy is a legitimate form of psychotherapy, formally defined by the American Dance Therapy Association as the “psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, social, cognitive, and physical integration of the individual, for the purpose of improving health and well-being.” You need certain credentials to become a dance therapist, usually a specialized master’s degree. There are no hard and fast rules about which dances will improve your well-being. The methodology is that dance itself is therapeutic. Physical movement to promote mental wellness is what’s paramount to this concept, and you can bring that into every area of your life. You can use pole-dancing to get out of your funk, or club-inspired dance workouts at 305 Fitness. I love SassClass for its empowering, choreographed,
6 easy ways to minimize your holiday waste—including gifts, decor, food, and more
December 10, 2019 at 11:00PM by CWC The holidays are a period of excess. Excess eating. Excess traveling. Excess buying. If you look at the actual stats, all that extra consumption is contributing to your carbon footprint in ways that might put a damper on your holiday spirit. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, American households produce 25 percent more waste between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, adding one million tons per week to our landfills (plus enough ribbon to wrap around the entire globe!). That’s a lot of pressure on a planet with finite, dwindling resources. But it’s not only environmental waste that’s a cause for concern. “Looking at economic ramifications, it’s no secret that the holiday season can be an extremely expensive time of year,” says Brent Bell, VP of recycling at Waste Management. “By cutting down and being more mindful with shopping, hosting and gift-giving, you can also give your wallets a breather. Focus on spending special times with family and friends, and giving back to those in need.” With these tips on how to minimize waste during the holidays, you’ll be reducing, reusing, and recycling your way to fulfilled New Year’s resolutions—and a protected planet. Decking the halls Decorations are a huge part of creating holiday cheer, but their materials are not doing the environment any good (especially if you throw them out instead of recycling them properly—oops!). Bell recommends donating older decorations to local charities before buying new ones, or even better, reusing your decorations from
Redditors couldn’t stop talking about these 5 beauty topics (and we won’t stop asking derms about them)
December 10, 2019 at 10:00PM by CWC If you’ve got a skin care question, chances are that Reddit’s got the answer. The one million members of the SkincareAddiction community work together like super sleuths to solve any skin-related problem their fellow users throw at them, whether it’s which products get rid of dark spots or why their eyebrows are suddenly full of dandruff. In 2019, though, there were five such skin-care topics that reigned as the most popular: acne, cleansing, AHAs, aging, and cystic acne. As beauty editors, it’s our job here at Well+Good to have our fingers on the pulse of what people are talking about in the beauty world. And—surprise—Reddit’s most popular skin care questions of 2019 were among the most popular topics on our site, too. Over the past year, we’ve consulted with derms and other beauty pros to answer the most pressing skin care questions that people had this year, from how to treat acne and sensitive skin at the same time to whether or not you should be washing your face in the shower (and what cleanser you should be using if you decide to do so). Scroll through to see some of our top stories of the year on the topics Redditors couldn’t stop talking about, plus some serious skin-care intel from our resident Dear Derm star and dermatologist, Mona Gohara, MD. That way, the questions you were asking this year don’t have to be the ones you’re asking next year, too… just in case
What New York State’s new CBD regulations mean for the $4.6 billion industry
December 10, 2019 at 09:00PM by CWC New York governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law on Tuesday that will allow the state to regulate how hemp extracts, such as CBD (the non-psychoactive compound of the cannabis plant), are grown and sold. Under the law, everyone involved in the production process—including the growers and manufacturers—will have to receive a license sanctioning their practices through the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets, reports the New York Daily News. Plus, they will be required to follow strict rules about labeling and testing their products. “The hemp industry in New York is exploding and with that growth comes a responsibility to regulate the industry in a way that helps ensure its long-term viability and protects consumers,” said Cuomo in a statement. According to Anthony Saniger, founder and CEO of Standard Dose—a company that curates CBD-based products—the legislative move will pave the way to more informed consumers. “One of the reasons we were built as a company was we wanted to create standards for the brands that we carry,” Saniger tells Well+Good. “We created our own set of standards and our own set of rules. The products that are going into consumers’ homes need to be vetted, need to be curated, and they need to make sure that whatever they say on the packaging is true and actually works. Now, with New York state coming out with these rules, we’re looking at what the legal requirements are for brands and we’re trying to educate our
4 surprising signs of burnout that totally extinguish on your flame
December 10, 2019 at 07:00PM by CWC It’s been over a year since the World Health Organization (WHO) officially recognized burnout in the International Classification of Diseases. The syndrome—which is defined as “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”—doesn’t always present in obvious ways. Experts say that the signs of burnout can be just as subtle as they are damaging. “As psychiatrists, there is not a consensus as to how we define burnout, but I would suggest that it’s a mental or physical state where vitality and hope are impaired—when a person is too tired to make it through the day, or where they start to view life as more of a chore than a purposeful adventure,” says Gregory Scott Brown, MD, founder and director of the Center for Green Psychiatry. “Untreated, burnout may lead to depression, which may have a significant impact on physical and emotional health.” Dr. Brown and Erin Nicole McGinnis, LMFT, a licensed psychotherapist in Los Angeles and the owner of East West Holistic Psychotherapy, share five signs of burnout that might just fly under your radar. Signs of burnout that are anything but obvious 1. Anger and Irritability “People who are burned out tend to have a short fuse and may find themselves snapping at friends or loved ones,” says Dr. Brown. If you find that your temper starts to flare up more than usual, it may be time to consider the source of that animosity. “Sometimes there is a lot of shame