June 03, 2019 at 03:12PM It’s time to shift our mindset. Continue Reading… Author Matt Scheetz | Life by Daily Burn Selected by CWC
Year: 2019
Why it’s so easy and common to get stuck in the third stage of grief
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
The easiest way to wreck your crunch form is also the most common modification
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
Could special activewear give me better posture? I put a new slouch-correcting line through the motions
June 03, 2019 at 01:05PM by CWC Any fitness instructor worth their headset will give you tons of posture cues during the course of a workout—shoulders back, chest up, spine long. But for me, at least, all those anatomical nuances go out the window when I’m, say, pushing through the last minute of a treadmill sprint or struggling to do just five more push-ups. (Or, you know, just five push-ups total.) This is problematic, however, because my poor form has resulted in some pretty gnarly mid- and lower-back issues over the years. So when I heard about IFGfit, a new activewear line that promises to correct your posture as you sweat, I immediately sat up a little straighter. Created by orthopedic surgeon Stephen Liu, MD, the brand uses FDA-registered, patented technology to help guide your shoulders, rib cage, and spine into an optimal position—one that allows for deeper breathing and less stress on your back and joints. So how does it work? According to Dr. Liu, each piece in the women’s collection—sports bras, leggings, and T-shirts—was engineered to draw force to the back of the body. “The posterior elements are the biggest muscles we have,” he explains. “If you can rely on those muscles to work for you, it really opens you up.” Take the Lisa Posture Bra ($168), for instance—resembling a cap-sleeved crop top, it consists of five different materials, including two types of mesh and inner and outer fabrics with different weave tensions. It gently draws your shoulder blades
Could special activewear give me better posture? I put a new slouch-correcting line through the motions
June 03, 2019 at 01:05PM by CWC Any fitness instructor worth their headset will give you tons of posture cues during the course of a workout—shoulders back, chest up, spine long. But for me, at least, all those anatomical nuances go out the window when I’m, say, pushing through the last minute of a treadmill sprint or struggling to do just five more push-ups. (Or, you know, just five push-ups total.) This is problematic, however, because my poor form has resulted in some pretty gnarly mid- and lower-back issues over the years. So when I heard about IFGfit, a new activewear line that promises to correct your posture as you sweat, I immediately sat up a little straighter. Created by orthopedic surgeon Stephen Liu, MD, the brand uses FDA-registered, patented technology to help guide your shoulders, rib cage, and spine into an optimal position—one that allows for deeper breathing and less stress on your back and joints. So how does it work? According to Dr. Liu, each piece in the women’s collection—sports bras, leggings, and T-shirts—was engineered to draw force to the back of the body. “The posterior elements are the biggest muscles we have,” he explains. “If you can rely on those muscles to work for you, it really opens you up.” Take the Lisa Posture Bra ($168), for instance—resembling a cap-sleeved crop top, it consists of five different materials, including two types of mesh and inner and outer fabrics with different weave tensions. It gently draws your shoulder blades
These conditioners will fight frizz no matter what type of hair you have
June 03, 2019 at 12:57PM by CWC The minute June weather hits, styling hair becomes a totally different ball game. I can barely stand outside for five minutes before my ‘do poofs out with no abandon. And while the style looks adorable on my mom’s toy poodle, Gigi, let’s just say it isn’t so cute on me. I’ve tried seemingly everything to deal with frizz, which makes itself right at home on my strands regardless of whether I decide to wear my hair blown out, natural, or somewhere in between. Based on the comments in the Well+Good Beauty Geek Facebook group (like! share! subscribe!), I’m not the only one, either. But recently, I realized that there’s one very important part of my routine that could actually make a difference in keeping frizz at bay, and that’s my conditioner. First things first: It’s important to understand why frizz actually happens in the first place. While some people just have naturally frizzy hair (#itme), if you’re more of a seasonally frizzy kinda girl, it’s likely due to a lack of moisture in your hair. “When your hair is dry, damaged, or chemically treated, the outer layer of the strand—otherwise known as the cuticle—becomes raised, as opposed to laying flat and smooth, allowing moisture from the surrounding air to enter, causing it to swell and turn into frizz,” explains Hien Nguyen, co-founder and chief science officer at Function of Beauty. “Therefore, the more hydrated your hair is, the more the cuticle layer will
These conditioners will fight frizz no matter what type of hair you have
June 03, 2019 at 12:57PM by CWC The minute June weather hits, styling hair becomes a totally different ball game. I can barely stand outside for five minutes before my ‘do poofs out with no abandon. And while the style looks adorable on my mom’s toy poodle, Gigi, let’s just say it isn’t so cute on me. I’ve tried seemingly everything to deal with frizz, which makes itself right at home on my strands regardless of whether I decide to wear my hair blown out, natural, or somewhere in between. Based on the comments in the Well+Good Beauty Geek Facebook group (like! share! subscribe!), I’m not the only one, either. But recently, I realized that there’s one very important part of my routine that could actually make a difference in keeping frizz at bay, and that’s my conditioner. First things first: It’s important to understand why frizz actually happens in the first place. While some people just have naturally frizzy hair (#itme), if you’re more of a seasonally frizzy kinda girl, it’s likely due to a lack of moisture in your hair. “When your hair is dry, damaged, or chemically treated, the outer layer of the strand—otherwise known as the cuticle—becomes raised, as opposed to laying flat and smooth, allowing moisture from the surrounding air to enter, causing it to swell and turn into frizz,” explains Hien Nguyen, co-founder and chief science officer at Function of Beauty. “Therefore, the more hydrated your hair is, the more the cuticle layer will
How to make a healthier PB&J sandwich for grown-ups
June 03, 2019 at 12:27PM by CWC A classic PB&J is one of the only things that tastes just as good now as it did straight out of a brown paper bag in elementary school. So pour yourself a tall glass of ice cold milk—you’re going to need it while you’re chowing down on a healthy peanut butter and jelly sandwich made with fresh berries. Most popular jellies/jams/marmalades/preserves are made with a mix of fruit and high-fructose corn syrup, and several varieties just add sweetness and flavor to the spreads with fruit juice. Using just a few tablespoons to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich means you’ll be consuming a lot of sugar. But Amanda Meixner, the food blogger behind the popular Instagram account @MeowMeix, has a healthy recipe to recreate the childhood favorite with wholesome ingredients that cuts the sugar by 90 percent. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Amanda Meixner (@meowmeix) on Jun 1, 2019 at 4:07pm PDT //www.instagram.com/embed.js A healthy peanut butter and jelly sandwich takes just seconds to make. First, swap store-bought jelly for mashed berries. According to Meixner, all you need to do is take a 1/2 cup of washed raspberries (or strawberries, grapes…whichever you prefer!), put them in a bowl, and mash them with a fork. Then, spread your homemade jam onto the bread with your favorite nut butter. A typical sandwich might call for 2 tablespoons of raspberry preserves from Bonne Maman, for example, which contains 26
How to make a healthier PB&J sandwich for grown-ups
June 03, 2019 at 12:27PM by CWC A classic PB&J is one of the only things that tastes just as good now as it did straight out of a brown paper bag in elementary school. So pour yourself a tall glass of ice cold milk—you’re going to need it while you’re chowing down on a healthy peanut butter and jelly sandwich made with fresh berries. Most popular jellies/jams/marmalades/preserves are made with a mix of fruit and high-fructose corn syrup, and several varieties just add sweetness and flavor to the spreads with fruit juice. Using just a few tablespoons to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich means you’ll be consuming a lot of sugar. But Amanda Meixner, the food blogger behind the popular Instagram account @MeowMeix, has a healthy recipe to recreate the childhood favorite with wholesome ingredients that cuts the sugar by 90 percent. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Amanda Meixner (@meowmeix) on Jun 1, 2019 at 4:07pm PDT //www.instagram.com/embed.js A healthy peanut butter and jelly sandwich takes just seconds to make. First, swap store-bought jelly for mashed berries. According to Meixner, all you need to do is take a 1/2 cup of washed raspberries (or strawberries, grapes…whichever you prefer!), put them in a bowl, and mash them with a fork. Then, spread your homemade jam onto the bread with your favorite nut butter. A typical sandwich might call for 2 tablespoons of raspberry preserves from Bonne Maman, for example, which contains 26
The Women’s World Cup uniform finally—finally!—includes a sports bra
June 03, 2019 at 10:23AM by CWC Twenty years ago, soccer champion Brandi Chastain kicked the winning goal for Team USA, ripped off her shirt to bare a swish across her chest, and opened her arms to greet sports legends like Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Billie Jean King, women whose down-to-the-wire, overtime efforts punctuated history with a jaw drop and a fist pump. While the defining moment of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup final was hopped up on all kinds of girl power, what remains most pronounced is the one piece of equipment that wasn’t repurposed from the men’s line that day: the sports bra, an essential garment for women who participate in any form of fitness. In the decades since, we’ve updated silhouettes, we’ve adapted performance technology to women’s bodies, and yet recent research out of Australia finds that women with larger breasts opt out of higher-intensity activities, noting how breast size negative impacts their ability to work out. We can do better, and a handful of brands know it. The market is dotted with size-inclusive start-ups like Good American (sizing to 4X), Superfit Hero (sizing to 5X), or Girlfriend Collective (sizing to 3X), all of which offer pieces that are equal parts performance-driven and playful. At the athlete level, Nike is leading the charge. This week, the Nike Flyknit Sports Bra ($80) becomes an official component of the Women’s World Cup Soccer kits. “I remember back in ‘96, and leading up to ‘99, there was a lot of