April 05, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC I haven’t pulled a muscle during sex, but it feels about as inevitable as a breakup announcement from a Bachelor couple. I can’t touch my toes, let alone throw my leg over my shoulder as if it were a scarf; my “splits” are about as acute as the Eiffel tower; and when I take the rare yoga class, I hoard the tools for modification (blocks, straps, blankets) like squirrel prepping for winter. TBH, getting down with me is like getting down with the Tin Man, and while you don’t need to be flexible to have good sex, I often worry my rickety and distinct lack of flexibility limit my romps. And that’s precisely why I started looking into sex pillows. First things first: Sex pillows and sex furniture aren’t new; in fact, there are more than 1,000 search results on Amazon for “sex pillow.” And after thinking about it, the concept makes total sense. “A sex pillow is to sex what a yoga block is to yoga,” says sex educator Alexandra Fine, CEO and co-founder of Dame, the sex-toy company that recently launched Pillo. “It helps you reach and achieve different angles and perspectives and supports your body in those positions.” “Sex pillows help you reach and achieve different angles and perspectives and supports your body in those positions.” —Alexandra Fine, CEO of Dame Whatever your gender, sexual orientation, or identification, a sex pillow can be of service. You can use it to
Year: 2019
The UN unveils a floating city to save us when Water World happens IRL
April 05, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC Everyone! As we speak the United Nations is making plans to create a real-life Atlantis. (No, seriously!) UN-Habitat, the UN program for human settlements, recently announced plans to build the first-ever floating city. The metropolis (aquapolis?) has the potential of housing up to 10,000 residents, and is designed for the utmost sustainability, reports IFLScience. The layout of the innovative archipelago, which was designed by the architecture firm BIG along with the MIT Center for Ocean Engineering, seeks to mitigate one of the world’s most pressing climate change issue: rising sea levels. The National Ocean Service has previously warned that global sea levels are rising at an increasing rate of about about one-eighth of an inch per year. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, know this: The small increase can lead to more concerning storm surges for the nearly 40 percent of the population that lives near the coast. The isle would reportedly be stormproof (with enough warning) and completely incapable of being flooded. If you’re having trouble picturing a floating island, imagine a cluster of smaller land masses that form a flower-shaped view from overhead. When and if the conceptual city becomes an IRL housing option, residents of these floating islands would have the ability to grow their food, create their own energy—all while living a zero-waste lifestyle. The engineers explain that the city will operate like its own organism, working with the sea life below to create a symbiotic ecosystem. “It is
This Habit Teaches Your Kid 1.4 Million Words Before They Hit Kindergarten
April 05, 2019 at 01:04PM Everything you need to know about the “million word gap.” Continue Reading… Author Georgina Berbari | Life by Daily Burn Selected by iversue
Is green juice really the end-all, be-all of wellness?
April 05, 2019 at 11:30AM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8csZ9D1IKn0] Ah, green juice. Is there anything more emblematic of the wellness movement? The starring vegetable may change (spinach, kale, and now celery juice), but green juice in general has stood the test of time—unlike Jazzercise and Jane Fonda workout videos. But are green juice benefits for real? It’s a question registered dietitian Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, RD gets to the bottom of in Well+Good’s latest episode of You Versus Food, a YouTube series devoted to giving the straight facts on popular food and drink trends. (You’ve already subscribed to our channel, right?) What are the benefits of green juice? There are a couple, Beckerman says. Namely: 1. It’s rich in antioxidants. Thanks to all of those fruits and vegetables, of course! 2. It’s filled with easy-to-absorb nutrients. OK, you know all the benefits that you’d generally get with green veggies (antioxidants, minerals and phytonutrients)? You can get most of them from a green juice, in a format that’s potentially easier for your body to digest. 3. It’s high in chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is what plants use to convert sunlight into energy—and gives them their signature green color. In people, chlorophyll can aid digestion, help detox the liver, and has antioxidant properties. However: “A juice alone isn’t nutritionally considered a balanced meal,” Lockwood-Beckerman says. That’s because green juices typically lack much protein, healthy fat, and fiber. (Oh right, fiber!) She suggests supplementing a meal with green juice, or juicing between meals, rather than using a green juice as
Well+Good is nominated for the Oscars of the Internet—here’s how to help us win
April 05, 2019 at 11:31AM by CWC Wow, this is such an honor. First, we’d like to thank the barista next door, who kept us energized with matcha and oat milk lattes. And Justin’s for an almond butter cup sugar high when we really needed it. And to our readers…you like us! You really, really like us! Sorrynotsorry, we’re just over here practicing our acceptance speech because Well+Good was just nominated for a Webby Award! ICYMI, the Webby Awards are basically the Oscars of the online world. Presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, the judges—consisting of Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities—honor the best of the best websites every year. Categories range from entertainment, humor, fashion & beauty, news and politics, travel, and many more. Well+Good is up for a biggie: Best Lifestyle Site. This means so much to us because our ethos has always been—and always will be—to be your trusted advisor for navigating the ever-expanding (and sometimes confusing) world of wellness. We aim to demystify what it means to live a healthy life, calling and covering trends—and telling you what to skip all together. Like the Oscars, this is a BFD to those of us at W+G to be up for an award. Unlike the Oscars, the people have a say in it! You can vote for Well+Good as your favorite lifestyle site for the next two weeks (until Thursday, April 18). All you need to vote: Visit WebbyAwards.com and click
Real Talk: Can Carrying A Bag Ruin Your Posture?
April 05, 2019 at 10:00AM Here’s why you should think twice before lugging a bag around. Continue Reading… Author Ray Bass | Life by Daily Burn Selected by iversue
Not A Good Sleeper? You May Be Able To Blame Your Genetics
April 05, 2019 at 09:57AM Here’s what you can do to get some quality zzz’s. Continue Reading… Author Caroline Muggia | Life by Daily Burn Selected by iversue
Fitness blogger Sarah Stevenson shows the reality of childbirth in a spare-no-details video
April 05, 2019 at 09:49AM by CWC In a video with 1.4 million views and counting, holistic health blogger Sarah Stevenson did something few have done before her: record—and post on the Internet for the world to see—the labor and delivery of her first-born son, Fox Ocean Tilse. The less “photogenic” elements of pregnancy and childbirth are still largely hidden from public view, making Stevenson’s on-camera vulnerability a sight for sore eyes. In the caption of a photo Stevenson posted to Instagram, she describes childbirth as “the toughest thing we’ve ever gone through but by far the most rewarding.” Her video condenses the two-day endeavor (“over 24 hours of pre-labor, seven hours of active labor, and no sleep for over 40 hours”) into 25 minutes. Not to worry, that’s plenty of time to watch her clock her contractions, consult her midwife, make toast, bounce on her balance ball, cry, go to the hospital, consider the possibility of an emergency C-section, opt to have an epidural, and—you know—mentally prepare for becoming a parent. Nothing—and I mean nothing—is left out (see: the catheter discussion at minute 23). [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVxe6yESoh4] Now that the video has been released, Stevenson says she has every intention of being totally transparent about her new identity as a mom. She’s already taken to the ‘gram to share how her body’s looking and feeling. “Right now, seven days since giving birth to Fox, I love my body more than ever!! I’m so excited to wear jeans, bend down to
Here’s what a serving size actually looks like of 10 of your favorite healthy foods
April 05, 2019 at 07:01AM by CWC Conventional wisdom (and most research) tells us that healthy eating requires eating balanced portions of a wide variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables. Seems simple enough…except for the fact that what’s recommended on the back of a nutrition label isn’t always enlightening. And a lot of traditional serving size definitions are pretty unhelpful, tbh. (When was the last time you looked at a deck of cards as a size reference for anything?) “Portion sizes can get a bit confusing, since a lot of nutrition labels talk in grams for portions and people don’t carry a food scale around in their back pocket,” says Brigitte Zeitlin, R.D., owner of BZ Nutrition in New York City. “One serving can seem a bit abstract and not really a concrete visual to understand.” Most of us tend to overestimate portions since we’re used to restaurant portions—which are actually more like double the recommended serving size, Zeitlin says. The one exception: vegetables, which most of us don’t get enough of. “I tell clients to double or sometimes triple the fresh veggies they have in a day,” she says. By doing so, you’ll edge closer to your recommended 25 grams daily grams of fiber, plus you’ll get a dose of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Not sure what a portion is? Here’s what a serving size actually looks like for 10 healthy foods you’re probably plopping in your grocery cart all the time. 1. Cashews Photo: W+G Creative Serving
First comes love, then comes…TBD depending on the year you met, says new survey
April 05, 2019 at 07:03AM by CWC Ever feel just not on the same page as your your parents or adult children when it comes to beliefs about relationship progression? Having to “break the news” of plans to cohabitate with an S.O. to parents who would rather their kiddo be “married and settled down” is a common story, these days. While in this scenario, everyone essentially wants the same thing—a happy, committed, stabile situation—the image of what it looks like includes different features depending on the generation you belong to. Now, not only are people meeting in different ways than in, say, the ’70s (hello, online dating), but according to new research, entire phases of a relationship are totally different. The paradigm of meet, start dating, get married, move in together, and maybe have a few kids, is totally passé. A recently published survey called, “How Couples Meet and Stay Together,” published by Stanford University, included more than 3,500 people who entered relationships between the ’70s and 2010s. It sought to establish patterns on how couples met, how long it took before things turned romantic, when or if they started living together, got married, or reached partnership status. And according to the results, times, they are a-changin’. For example, in the 1970s after four years of dating, 74 percent of couples were married (or had a partnership status), and 2 percent were unmarried and living together. In the 2010s after four years of dating, on the other hand, 44 percent