January 21, 2020 at 10:58PM by CWC Before I learned about the benefits of multiplanar training, my workouts looked a little something like this: squat, front lunge, run, repeat. It’s no surprise that I’ve been in and out of the physiotherapist’s office for years, and that I’m my massage therapist’s best customer. According to Juniper Sykes, certified personal trainer and founder of FitForceFX, working out on one plane of motion contradicts the nature of how the body is meant to move. She says that most traditional strength and fitness programs favor movement in a front to back or side to side motion, which promotes one dimensional motor patterns, an inability to move efficiently in any given direction, joint dysfunction, and chronic pain and injury. “By not including all three planes of motion in your workouts, you can unwittingly contribute to muscle imbalances, inadequate muscle firing patterns, and general weakness and movement deficiency in the ignored planes of motion,” she says. The 3 planes you should hit equally when you work out Sagittal plane The sagittal plane refers to an invisible line that splits the body down the middle from left to right, explains Sykes. “Another way of thinking about this is to imagine a brick wall directly alongside the right of you, and another wall directly alongside the left of you,” she says. Movements that tackle the sagittal plane include the likes of forward and reverse lunges, bicep curls, front raises, squats and deadlifts. Frontal plane Think of the frontal
Day: January 21, 2020
The rise in plant-based eating may help us finally end diet culture for good
January 21, 2020 at 08:00PM by CWC While the specific rules may change, there always seems to be a trendy—and restrictive—diet of the moment. In the ’90s, going low-fat and counting calories were all the rage. Then in the early 2010s, everyone was all about juice cleanses and detoxes. By 2018, high-fat, low-carb keto was the way to go. But lately, even eating keto seems out of vogue among the most forward-thinking healthy eaters. Instead, we’re seeing all signs point to plant-based eating—meaning a diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and other plants while still leaving room for some animal products—being the major focus of healthy eating in 2020 and beyond. Since 2017, plant-based food sales have increased by 31 percent, according to a report from the Good Food Institute. It’s not because there are tons more vegans, but because more “mainstream” eaters are starting to adopt a plant-forward lifestyle. (Case in point: alt-meat company Impossible Foods estimates that 95 percent of its customer base eats meat.) What’s more, the shift to eating more plants isn’t being seen as a temporary fix or reset à la Beyoncé before one of her tours—it’s an ethos that’s being incorporated into people’s everyday menus. And some experts think that it could be the antithesis to the diet culture mentality that’s gripped America for decades. “I cannot stress enough how incredible the shift away from diet culture is in terms of mental health,” says Cassidy Gundersen, a nutritionist and health coach who is getting her
4 things you should always do to your skin, according to a French facialist
January 21, 2020 at 07:00PM by CWC I’ve gleaned beauty secrets from all types of experts, ranging from top dermatologists to facial yoga instructors and everyone in between. But I’m very excited to spill what a French skin-care routine looks like, according to my latest resource: Mila Moursi, a 70-year old Parisian facialist who has decades of skin-care knowledge under her belt. Moursi has a unique background—she studied (and taught classes on) aesthetics and cosmetic chemistry before treating the faces of stars like Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Bullock. “The combination of my education and years of experience taught me that beauty is from the inside-out,” says Moursi. “A good product can be amazing, but if your lifestyle is not good, you’re jeopardizing the product.” For example, right along with your skin-care regimen, she stresses the importance of “beauty sleep,” eating healthy, and staying hydrated. To help bolster her 360-degree philosophy on beauty, the Parisian skin pro is all about consistency in your regimen and feeding your complexion the right ingredients. “I love peptides and amino acids,” says Moursi, since these even and brighten the skin, and she’s a big supporter of hyaluronic acid, because “it really plumps your face like a glass of water for your skin.” Keep scrolling for more of Moursi’s skin-care tips and the four things you should always do to your skin. 1. Focus on cleansing “A lot of people don’t know how to cleanse properly,” says Moursi. First of all, she recommends that you use
The zodiac wheel is divided by extroverted and introverted energy—here’s what it means for you
January 21, 2020 at 06:30PM by CWC Positively identifying with Team Introvert has helped me make peace with the fact that many of my personality traits do not match those of the idealized American— outgoing, bold, popular. In other words, I feel better understanding I’m not so much an antisocial weirdo as I am part of a significant demographic of people who just happen to be somewhat othered in modern life. Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that my sun sign, Aries, is actually an extroverted sign. We break signs down by three distinct categories: polarities, triplicities, and quadruplicities. “These relate to the consciousness and general expression of each sign,” says intuitive astrologer and healer Rachel Lang. Triplicities are fire, earth, air, and water; quadruplicities are cardinal, fixed, and mutable. (More on that another time.) Polarities, meanwhile, more simply describe two categories: positive and negative. “Astrologers may use different terms, including active/receptive, yang/yin, or masculine/feminine, but this in no way implies gender, and many are moving away from that as our own gender constructs are being reframed and as we move toward embracing a more non-binary understanding of gender,” says Lang. You can think of positive and negative signs as being somewhat akin to opposite magnet poles; they both have different charges, but neither is good or bad. Positive, or yang, polarities are fire and air signs: Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius. Negative, or yin, are water and earth signs: Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces. “Positive
This formula for sheet-pan veggies 4 ways promises you’ll never get bored with your dinner
January 21, 2020 at 06:00PM by CWC It’s important to incorporate veggies into every meal, but making it a reality isn’t always that easy. Salads and stir-fries get boring and repetitive after a while. Good for you? Sure. Exciting? Not always. But with the right veggie recipes for dinner, you can really liven up your meal. It might make you feel better to know that even all-star healthy eating experts get vegetable fatigue. Body Love Everyday author and celebrity nutritionist Kelly Leveque gets it. Her solution is a sheet pan recipe she tweaks ever so slightly depending on the type of cuisine she’s craving. “Roasted vegetables make a warm, comforting, and easy plant-focus base for delicious meals,” she says. Her go-to formula for getting veggies on the table in a hurry (that’s she’s actually excited about) is using 4 to 5 cups of non-starchy veggies, 1 cup of starchy veggies, 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, and a powerhouse sauce (which she switches up, depending on the taste profile she’s craving). Here, she shares how to make her sheet pan veggie recipes from her new book, so you can try the formula for yourself. (Each recipe makes two servings.) Pair with a protein of your choice and you’re done! Kelly Leveque’s best veggie recipes for dinner Vegan teriyaki 2 Tbsp coconut oil 1 cup sliced trimmed mushrooms 1 cup broccoli florets 1 cup quartered trimmed Brussels sprouts 1 cup 1/4 inch-diced red onions 1 cup 1/4 inch-cubed Japanese yam Topping: vegan
Auriculotherapy gives you the benefits of acupuncture, but while you’re on the go
January 21, 2020 at 04:00PM by CWC Riddle me this: What keeps a scaredy-cat away from acupuncture and getting a second piercing in their earlobe? Yes, that’s easy: needles. And, yes: I’m that scaredy-cat. While I completely understand, rationally, that acupuncture doesn’t actually hurt and the nice people at piercing stations generally give you a stuffed animal to hug while you get done up with ear jewelry, I still won’t commit to either practice. However, I can commit to auriculotherapy, a practice that covers both the aesthetic benefit of piercing and the wellness benefit of acupuncture and melds them into one with the help of ear seeds. And as an added bonus, no needles are involved. Before I get ahead of myself, some basics: Auriculotherapy is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) ritual that, as you can imagine, dates back thousands of years, when it first popped up in The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine. And, the holistic treatment is getting a resurgence of interest today. So how does it work? Auriculotherapy is very similar in effect to that of acupuncture by way of activating your energy meridians. Your chi (or qi) is an energy current that flows through your body via different pathways or meridians, and TCM recognizes 20 of them. If a certain part of the body is giving you trouble, the idea is that the corresponding meridian is blocked. One way to rebalance yourself is by accessing acupuncture or acupressure points—and the ear features many of those. “In
Eating more sustainably can be easy—if you follow these RD-approved tips
January 21, 2020 at 02:16PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzCLgB18w2Q] You’ve committed to using reusable tote bags and sworn off plastic straws, but now that you’re trying to make what you actually put on your plate more sustainable, you’re struggling. Sure, you’ve heard that giving up meat can do some serious good for the environment, but what if you’re not ready to live a life without bacon-wrapped Brussels sprouts? In the latest episode of You Versus Food, Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, RD shares her tips for starting to eat sustainably—whether or not you’re ready to take the plant-based plunge. “A big component of eating for the planet is being conscious about buying brands that are doing their part to operate as sustainably as possible,” Beckerman says. “A big component of eating for the planet is being conscious about buying brands that are doing their part to operate as sustainably as possible.” To help you scout out those brands the next time you want to stock up your snack cabinet, Beckerman shared the ones that earn an A+ in her book, including ZENB, which makes its handy, plant-based snacks using the entire vegetable (from stems to seeds). “They make it easy to get a cup of veggies with more nutrients and all the fiber,” Beckerman says. “And their unique approach to plant-based eating is taking some serious steps to promote food waste reduction.” By opting to eat more plant-based foods (#MeatlessMonday, anyone?), Beckerman shares that we could reduce the equivalent of up to
I’ve tried it all, and this is the only tool that releases my neck and jaw tension
January 21, 2020 at 02:00PM by CWC For someone who lives by the beach in Southern California—AKA one of the chillest places on the planet—I am surprisingly tense. I grind my teeth when I sleep and often find myself with a clenched jaw while I’m working at my computer, trying to meet a tight deadline. I scrunch up my shoulders while I’m navigating rush-hour traffic. Massage therapists are shocked by the size of the knots in my neck. I’ve tried to loosen up through yoga stretches and a variety of CBD-laced lotions, but nothing has ever given me more than a few hours’ relief. Until, that is, I discovered the Empress Wand ($65), the newest facial tool from skin-care brand Wildling. A cousin of the ultra-buzzy gua sha, the wand was designed to release muscle tension in the face, neck, and jaw while reducing facial puffiness, stimulating blood and lymphatic flow, and sculpting the facial contours. According to Wildling cofounder Gianna De La Torre, an acupuncturist and intuitive healer, jaw tension is extremely common in our digital age but no one’s really talking about it… yet. “When the head is tilted forward, as it is when looking down on a phone or computer, the jaw bears the burden of the weight of the head,” she explains. “When the head goes forward, the shoulders hunch, and this postural position is a recipe for tension.” Left unchecked, this can lead to headaches and neck stiffness. This is where the Empress Wand comes
Checks+Balanced: How a freelance publicist living in Puerto Rico budgets for wellness
January 21, 2020 at 01:00PM by CWC Do you know how much money your friends make? What about how much their rent is or how much is in their bank accounts right now? I’m guessing no. Even in a world where questions about menstrual cups and the ins and outs of sex are completely (and blessedly) normal to ask, somehow the ever-ubiquitous use of money remains a touchy subject for many. People want to live their healthiest life ever, but—#realtalk—it can add up. Have you ever wondered how your colleague who makes less than you do (or so you think) can afford to buy a $5 matcha and a $12 chopped salad every day? Or how your friend is able to hit up $34 fitness classes three times a week? It’s enough to make anyone want to ask, “Ummm, excuse me. How can you afford that?!?” That’s where Well+Good’s monthly series Checks+Balanced comes in. By lifting the thick, tightly drawn curtain to expose how much women of varying income brackets spend on wellness, we’re spreading transparency and hopefully providing some inspo that’s possible to copy. Because no matter how much you make, it’s possible to cultivate healthy habits that work within your budget. This month, Marcy Fitzpatrick, a 32-year-old freelance public relations director working remotely in Puerto Rico, reveals exactly how much she spends on nonnegotiables (like, hello, rent) and the healthy habits that are important to her. Here’s how her budgeting and spending looks after she swapped her Los Angeles lifestyle for the Puerto Rico cost of living.
If you’ve ever wondered if a 15-minute workout is worth it, the answer is yes
January 21, 2020 at 10:00AM by CWC In the age of “if you didn’t Instagram your workout, did it really count?” fitness can feel like an all-or-nothing proposition—but it shouldn’t. Together with Michelob ULTRA—the next-level light beer that wants to take the stress out of staying fit—we’re exploring ways to be active that you’ll actually enjoy. Because being healthy doesn’t require fitness to be your whole life, just one (fun) part of it. With resolution season in full swing, and the constantly full gym suggesting people must be spending more time there than in their actual homes, it’s easy to feel like you, too, should be intensifying your workouts. But—and get ready to hear the best news you’ve heard in a while—we disagree. One of the wellness trends we’re calling for 2020 is the concept of adopting a Blue Zones fitness mentality, which means you don’t have to take up permanent residence in the gym in order to stay healthy and fit. ICYMI, Blue Zones are the areas of the world where people live the longest, healthiest lives. One thing that the Grecians, Costa Ricans, and Japanese have in common? They all integrate movement naturally into their daily lives. “The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons, or join gyms.” “The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons, or join gyms,” says National Geographic fellow and author Dan Buettener, who coined the phrase Blue Zones, on his website. “Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without