January 30, 2020 at 12:00AM by CWC Almond butter is creamy, loaded with protein, and is downright delicious. These are just facts. But sunflower butter is going more mainstream too, giving the OG pantry staple some friendly competition at the grocery store—particularly in the freezer section. Ben & Jerry’s just aded three new flavors to its non-dairy line—”Milk” & Cookies, Crème Brûlée Cookie, and Mint Chocolate Cookie—and they’re are all made from sunflower butter. Since the existing vegan flavors the company offers are almond-based, this gives anyone with a nut allergy the chance to get in on the fun. With the popularity of sunflower butter on the rise, you may be wondering how it holds up to the OG of the nut butter world. And while it doesn’t have quite as many body-bettering qualities, it’s pretty darn close. According to registered dietitian Sameera Khan, RD, almond butter will always be the queen of the nut butter world, as it’s one of the most nutrient-dense options available with 7 grams of protein, 6 grams of carbohydrates, and 3 grams of fiber per two-tablespoon serving. It’s also loaded with potassium, iron, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. But in terms of the best butter for anyone with allergies, sunflower butter is the best nut-free option to go with. When it comes to sunflower butter nutrition, the option contains 6 grams of protein, 7 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber per two-tablespoon serving. Plus, Kahn says a single tablespoon provides 40 percent of your
Month: January 2020
Use shadow work to transform your ‘negative’ traits into sources of strength and self-love
January 29, 2020 at 11:00PM by CWC No matter how many inspiring quotes pop up on your Instagram feed or how many self-care rituals you squeeze in, the self-love struggle is often real. One way to really level up your feel-good vibes, though, is by cutting through the superficial layers and getting to the root of the issue through a practice called shadow work. “The concept of the shadow self was first introduced by Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung,” says holistic-business and mind-set coach Amina AlTai. “He believed, studied, and demonstrated that we all have dark sides of our personality that we hide in order to stay safe, lovable, and accepted by our communities, families, and society.” “We all have dark sides of our personality that we hide in order to stay safe, lovable, and accepted by our communities, families, and society.” —mind-set coach Amina AlTai We all have a shadow side, and it holds the power to negatively impact all areas of life, including professional, personal, and our very sense of self. Most crucially, though, our shadow can keep us from living a whole, authentic life. That’s why understanding how to use shadow work to heal the shadows and integrate that part of your being into your life is key. But, like with any self-development work, this process won’t necessarily be a breeze. It’s called shadow work for a reason, after all, but since the work is in the name of self-love, it’s almost certain to pay
Why you should wear sunglasses at the airport (even if you’re not a celeb)
January 29, 2020 at 10:00PM by CWC It takes a special person *cough, Rihanna* to wear sunglasses at the airport and not look ridiculous. But, next time you’re taking a long flight, it may be worth embracing your inner celeb, because wearing your sunnies pre-flight can help you avoid jet lag. Rebecca Robbins, PhD, sleep expert and postdoctoral researcher at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, explains that strategic light exposure is one of the best ways to adjust to a new time zone. “Light is the strongest input to our internal circadian rhythm,” she says. When we have new patterns of light and dark, she says “our body is completely confused about when it’s supposed to be tired, and when it’s supposed to be awake.” You’ll want to start adjusting to new light patterns before you get to your destination. Here’s where the sunglasses come in. Say you’re flying to London. When you board your late-afternoon flight, it’s already night there. “You want to wear sunglasses [through the airport and on to the plane] to try to start to trick your body that it’s nighttime, so that you might have a better chance of getting sleep on the plane,” she says. Dr. Robbins also suggests having a bigger meal before you board so you don’t need to stay up to eat dinner, and to wake up a bit earlier they day you fly, so you’re a bit tired. Continue to wear your sunglasses through the flight
I’m an RD, and these are the most common questions I get asked about protein
January 29, 2020 at 09:00PM by CWC It’s safe to say the world is obsessed with protein. Where it comes from, whether we’re getting enough of it, what the best kinds are, when to eat it… the list goes on. Because of all the information circulating around the internet, you probably have your fair share of questions about the diet staple. And trust me—you’re definitely not the only one. Registered dietitians get asked health and nutrition-related questions on daily, both online and in person with their clients—especially with the rise in plant-based eating, as many people are rethinking the way they look at protein in the first place. But out of all the questions they get (and there are a lot!), these are the top three protein questions that come up more than any others. The top 3 protein questions RDs get asked all the time 1. Are some sources of protein “better” or more “complete” than others? You might think certain proteins are “better” or more “complete” than others, but Whitney English Tabaie, MS, RDN, co-founder of Plant-Based Juniors, says at the end of the day, protein is protein and the outdated idea of having to combine plant proteins to make them a “complete” protein has been disproven. “They’re all made up of amino acids that are broken down into individual units to be digested. Even plants contain all nine amino acids, despite what you may have heard. Some are just lower in one than others. For example, beans
Stressed about stress eating? Here are healthy ways to scale back, according to experts
January 29, 2020 at 07:00PM by CWC We’ve all been there: a panic-inducing email from your boss pops up in your inbox and suddenly you find yourself elbow-deep in a jar of Nutella. This, my friends, is stress eating—and, no, you’re not the only one tempted to head straight for the Boston cream donuts when you’re feeling under pressure. “Whenever we eat in response to feelings of stress, anxiety, or overwhelm—not physical hunger—that’s stress eating,” says Susan Albers, PsyD, a clinical psychologist specializing in eating issues and the author of 50 Ways To Soothe Yourself Without Food. If you often find yourself trapped in the vicious cycle of stress eating, there are two things you should know. First, the temptation is totally normal. And, second, there is something you can do about it. Why we stress eat in the first place Turns out, stress eating is legitimately woven into our biology. “When we’re feeling stressed, our body releases the hormone cortisol, which drives us to consume as much food as possible,” says Dr. Albers. That’s because back in our caveman days, our cortisol-spiking stressors were immediate threats like a predator chasing us or the fear of famine, so fueling up to escape or save energy for later made sense. An aggressive email from our boss, today, though? Not an immediate threat to our life, but it still triggers the same biological reaction. Plus, saber tooth tiger-level threats aside, food also does just make us feel good. “Taking those first bites of
What derms want you to know about “controversial” skin-care ingredients
January 29, 2020 at 06:00PM by CWC These days, there’s unfortunately a lot of fear mongering that comes with shopping for beauty products. Whether it’s due to the clean beauty movement or the endless breadth of unvetted skin-care information available on the internet, certain ingredients used in cosmetics have gained quite the reputation. In an effort to help you cut through the noise (and make the hunt for the next game-changing moisturizer as inspiring and fun as it should be), we’ve asked top dermatologists and a cosmetic chemist for a cosmetic ingredient review (aka: their no-B.S. opinions on the most talked-about ingredients in beauty). “The consumer is confused. The definitions of phrases like natural and clean are all over the place,” says Dennis Gross, MD, dermatologist and founder of Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare (however, it’s important to note that none is actually regulated by an official body). So, when an ingredient gets a bad rap from small studies, it gets replaced with other ingredients that are often less tested and less proven to do the job. “This ever-evolving list of ingredients may or may not have harmful side effects,” says Y. Claire Chang, MD, board-certified dermatologist at Union Square Laser Dermatology. But she points out that many of these “harmful” ingredients haven’t been confirmed to have negative side effects in humans, “especially when applied topically and at the low levels found in skin-care products.” So how do you know which products are okay and which to skip? “Before jumping to
New health startup Kensho wants to bridge the information gap about holistic wellness
January 29, 2020 at 03:00PM by CWC If you’d asked me just five years ago if I would ever try reiki or acupuncture, you would have been met with an emphatic “no.” I long associated those practices with crunchy-granola hippies in Berkeley, California—they worked for some people, but were definitely not for me. However, as the wellness industry itself goes mainstream in the United States, more and more people—myself included—are interested in pursuing holistic health practices outside of their MD’s office. Growing interest and research has allowed for certain practices to become widely accepted among the mainstream medical community. For instance, some hospitals now offer yoga and energy healing services alongside traditional treatments. And as of last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that it would cover acupuncture for patients with chronic lower back pain—opening up a new treatment modality to the 44 million Americans currently on Medicare. However, anyone who’s dived into the world of alternative treatments can tell you that it’s a confusing space to navigate. It’s a whole new system of modalities and credentials to understand, making finding the right kind of treatment or even the right kind of expert to provide that treatment difficult and frustrating. And while your internal med doctor might be open to the idea of you trying acupuncture or bodywork healing, they likely have no idea who to recommend or where to start, because that’s not their particular expertise. Enter Kensho, a new online platform designed to help bridge
4 ways to keep your A-average in life without perfectionist tendencies getting in your way
January 29, 2020 at 02:00PM by CWC If you were a straight-A student in school, you might now concern yourself with being a straight-A student in life. You want to be the World’s Best Partner, the World’s Best Friend, and the World’s Most Successful Professional. And yet, often is the case that your permanent case of stress relating to being perfect gets in your way of actually accomplishing your super-worthy life goals. Well, take a second to breathe: A mind-set shift toward striving for excellence is a key strategy for learning how to deal with perfectionism. After all, being perfect and being excellent aren’t the same. “Because we think something has to be ‘perfect’ we’re scared of approaching it at all,” says Susie Moore, life coach and author of the forthcoming book, Stop Checking Your Likes. “And so we’ll leave it to the last minute, often when a deadline is looming—and it makes us flustered and frustrated.” According to Moore, having a perfectionist mind-set holds you to such a sky-high standard that you’re often terrified to ask for help, which is a key element of success. Likewise, the rigidity of perfectionism lets you take fewer risks because you fear something may go wrong. “This means that as a perfectionist, what you think of as a success could actually just be an average outcome because you’re limiting and not stretching your actual potential,” she says. The good news is that there are certainly ways to still score an A-average in life
I went to a psychological astrologer for a reading—here’s what happened
January 29, 2020 at 01:00PM by CWC Last year, the New York Times claimed therapists are now scrambling to learn astrology, and yeah, that checks out. We’re all on this big journey to Figure Ourselves Out, which may even explain why Dictionary.com’s word of the year for 2019 was “existential.” Now, many of us are taking the nooks and crannies of our natal chart about as seriously as we take the maintenance of our mental health. And that’s A-okay with psychological astrologer Jennifer Freed, PhD, who’s made a living from melding the two with her focus on psychological astrology reading. Both psychology and astrology have informed Dr. Freed’s career for decades. In fact, the author of the star-sanctioned guidebook Use Your Planets Wisely says she’s always had an interest in astrology but was “born in New York City to a highly cynical, Jewish, intellectual family that would have nothing to do with astrology.” In college, she became acquainted with the field psychology, and spent a lot of her free time doing volunteer counseling. At the same time, she was having regular sessions with an astrologer named Elvina Manning, who she says, after a single session, knew her better than anyone had ever known her . Dr. Freed passionately studied both psychology and astrology simultaneously, gaining her Master’s degree and doctorate along the way, and incorporating the stars into her work. And by her late twenties, she was training other therapists how to do astrology and use it in their sessions.
Theragun is two-minute kryptonite for the tightest muscles in your body
January 29, 2020 at 12:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh5Rn7zIibM] If there’s one recovery gadget on the tips of stretching pros’ tongues these days, it’s Theragun, and in the latest episode of What the Wellness, show host Ella Dove learns why. While you could easily pass an hour foam rolling and stretching to loosen tightness in the body, the handheld percussive therapy tool requires only two minutes twice a day to help melt away tension wherever it creeps up. So how does it do it? In the elegant words of Dove, the Theragun ($249 for the Liv model) “whacks your muscles repeatedly to work out kinks.” And no matter whether you’re a star athlete training for a marathon or a JOMO queen with some time to kill on a Friday night, you can reap the benefits of using the device. “It really is good for everyone,” says Theragun creator Jason Wersland, DC. “The most basic thing it does is it relieves tension.” By using rapid pulses on more targeted areas, Dr. Wersland explains that the fitness tech helps to induce blood flow to your soft tissue, which results in less tight muscles, and, as a result, enhanced mobility. And it doesn’t take all day like some other recovery modalities do, either. “It’s like an espresso shot of recovery,” he says. The rapid-fire, quick-hit motions from the device work to provide targeted relief wherever you need it. That means you don’t have to dig into the nooks and crannies of the body