February 28, 2020 at 11:00PM by CWC You don’t have to be dietitian to know the importance of getting enough protein. Skimp on the nutrient and you’re way more likely to feel fatigued, moody, and hungry—not a great combination. Some people supplement their diets with protein powder mixed into a smoothie or shake as an easy way to get an extra boost of the nutrient. Fortunately, there’s so much more you can do with protein powder than just adding a scoop to your blender. “Cooking with protein powder can add a welcome boost of—you guessed it—protein,” says registered dietitian and Hummusapien blogger Alexis Joseph, RD. One popular (and easy) way she recommends cooking with protein powder is with baked goods. “Baked goods like muffins made with grain flours tend to be lower in protein, so adding a quality protein powder can give some oomph,” she says. Choosing the right protein powder is important both in terms of taste and nutrition. “I don’t recommend using whey protein powder in recipes as results typically vary,” she says. Pea, brown rice, or hemp proteins are best in terms of not altering the taste of your recipe while providing the protein you’re looking for. Creative protein powder recipes for every meal of the day 1. High-protein pizza dough Photo: A Beautiful Mess Leave the cheese-stuffed pizza crust to Pizza Hut while going another route: baking your protein powder right into your pizza dough. It’s an especially good idea if you’re skipping any meat toppings.
Month: February 2020
Uh, please don’t use coconut oil as lube—here’s the edible option to play with instead
February 28, 2020 at 10:00PM by CWC Like everyone else in the mid-2010s, I got swept up by the coconut oil craze, using it for everything. Hair, skin, nails… everything. It’s why I was equal parts smitten and confused by the concept behind Coconu, a coconut oil-infused personal lubricant company. Why create a lube with coconut oil if I can just make a pitstop to the pantry on my way to the bedroom? Like, can you use coconut oil for lube as is and call it a day? Even though coconut oil for lube sounds like an all-natural and cheap option, it’s a precarious thing to play with. Because our genitals are absorbent as hell, straight coconut oil can mess with your vagina’s PH balance, taking you on a trip to Yeast Infection City. “The caution around coconut oil as lube is because it has antimicrobial properties and as such, it may disrupt the healthy vaginal flora,” says Jolene Brighten, ND, naturopathic physician and women’s health expert. “However, it’s important to note that we don’t have studies showing this is definitively true and some women report that they have experienced less yeast infections since using it. Of course, this may be because of they type of lube they were using previously or other factors, but it does have antifungal properties.” While coconut oil has the potential to work out as lube, it could also be a risk for your overall health down there. Most importantly, Dr. Brighten notes that it can
I’m a facialist, and this is the most common skin concern I get asked about
February 28, 2020 at 08:00PM by CWC Everyone’s complexion is like a unique snowflake. Facialists get to do the rewarding job of assessing their clients’ unique skin concerns, then—over the course of about an hour—transforming it into a more radiant state. As a celebrity facialist that’s been doing this for over a decade, Candace Marino has worked with every skin woe you could imagine. Out of every skin concern, though, one holds the position as the most common that people want to know how to treat: hyperpigmentation. “Hyperpigmentation is hands down the most common skin concern that my clients are fighting,” she says. “No matter whether it’s post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, spots from hormones, or melasma, the sun will only exacerbate it, deepen it, and make it harder to treat.” You know it as those dark spots that show up on your skin after a zit is gone, or from spending too much time in the sun. The tricky thing about hyperpigmentation is that it takes a lot of time and patience to treat. “During a facial, we can gradually treat pigmentation by using the right ingredients, but the magic happens when clients are consistent with their home skin-care routine,” says Marino, who notes that she uses either a peel or an exfoliating and brightening facial to “breathe life back into dull, damaged skin.” As for taking care of your dark spots at home, Marino recommends incorporating the following skin-care essentials for your healthiest, brightest skin ever—keep scrolling for her picks. How
3 major benefits of sipping on coconut water—besides all the tropical vibes
February 28, 2020 at 07:00PM by CWC Ah, coconut water. Not only is it refreshing, delicious, super hydrating, and makes for a spa-worthy coconut cucumber cocktail or healthy sports drink alternative, coconut water also provides some prime health benefits, too. Not to be confused with coconut milk, coconut water is the juice found inside a coconut, and is made of mostly water along with some nutrients and electrolytes. On the other hand, coconut milk “is made by blending coconut meat with water,” says Serena Poon, CN, a chef, certified nutritionist, and Reiki master. “This mixture is of a much thicker consistency and contains much more fat and calories.” Thanks to its explosion in popularity in recent years, coconut water is relatively affordable, unlike its other wellness-y drink counterparts. (Cough, CBD soda, cough.) You can easily find it for just a few dollars at many stores. Need more reasons to stock up on coconut water? Keep reading for its top benefits, plus tips on how to add a tropical (and ultra-hydrating) twist to your daily routine. What are the benefits of coconut water? 1. Coconut water is very hydrating Hydration is one of coconut water’s most well-known benefits, thanks to its electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Electrolytes are great for everyday consumption—they help regulate your pH, keep you hydrated, and control muscle contractions—but they’re especially helpful in certain situations. “Coconut water could be a good choice for rehydration after a long or intense workout, an illness during which you
13 ways to set small limits with microboundaries that help you achieve big wins in your life
February 28, 2020 at 06:08PM by CWC Creating specific boundaries in your life is critical to success and happiness, especially in the context of the burnout culture, and many of us (*raises hand*) are not very good at setting them. Lia Avellino, LCSW, relational psychotherapist and director of head and heart at The Well, explains that one of the reasons it can be hard to assert boundaries is because they require resigning oneself to an uncomfortable truth. “In order to set boundaries, we have to become acquainted with the idea that we have limits. Limits? You—superwoman who works out, is an amazing friend, kicks ass at work, is dressed impeccably—you have limits,” she says. While you may need professional help (*raises hand*) undoing some of the programming that’s made it hard for you to establish the bigger boundaries in life, you can start making your day to day experience better now by learning to set microboundaries, aka drawing small lines in the sand daily. “When we institute microboundaries in a conscious way, we can create a gentle, balanced flow in life that allows for greater productivity and work and greater restorative time in nonwork hours,” says clinical psychologist Carla Marie Manly, PhD. “Microboundaries help us slow down and evaluate our negative habits and create new habits that provide greater work/life balance.” Microboundaries aren’t just for separating your working life from your personal life. You can use them in your relationships, too, says Avellino. “We associate boundaries with pushing people away,
It’s more important than ever to wash your hands frequently—here’s *exactly* how long it takes to scrub germs away
February 28, 2020 at 05:35PM by CWC With fresh concerns about the global spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stressing the importance of washing your hands often, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. But it’s a question as old as time: How long do you actually need to wash your hands to get them clean? For some people (i.e., a lot), the answer is they simply don’t do it. (Yuck!) For others, it’s a quick splash with soap and water. For others still, it’s as long as it takes to mentally go through the day’s to-do list. But to kick germs to the curb, you just need to sing a little song. A short scrub to wash up just doesn’t to cut it. A 2013 study from Michigan State University found that only 5 percent of people wash their hands long enough to kill germs after using the restroom, and that’s risky behavior. The CDC says proper hand washing is key to fending off illness and infections caused by salmonella, E. coli, norovirus, and respiratory diseases like COVID-19. It also helps to ensure you don’t spread disease to others. “If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol,” says the CDC. “Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.” It takes just little bit longer (seconds, really!) to wash your hands
I’m an OB/GYN, and I want to talk about the racial disparities that affect Black women’s health
February 28, 2020 at 05:00PM by CWC I spent 16 years (from 2002 to 2018) at Columbia University as a resident, fellow, and practicing reproductive endocrinologist. In my time there, I watched approximately 90 residents get their starts as OB/GYNs, but only a handful of us were Black. Recent research echoes this dynamic: As of 2017, less than 6 percent of physicians and surgeons in the U.S. were Black. In my practice, I’ve heard countless patients of minority backgrounds (particularly Black women) say that they’ve been wanting to see a doctor who shares their background and have been searching for that fit—sometimes for many years. Why? Black women of all socioeconomic strata are impacted by racial bias in medicine and beyond—and much of it boils down to systemic injustices, stereotypes, and outward appearances. Though we’ve certainly made progress since the studies on Black patients without consent from the mid-20th century, we still have a very long way to go. Without increased representation of persons of color as health-care providers and more education about racial bias, the cycle of disparity is perpetuated. But just because this might be the current reality doesn’t mean that Black women can’t have positive medical experiences. By unpacking the issues and learning where they stem from, Black women can better advocate for themselves—and have others advocate for us, too—in the future. The real disparities that exist in Black women’s health When there’s a health disparity in a specific population, that means that a specific group of
Cell turnover is the “holy grail of healthy skin,” but what does it actually mean?
February 28, 2020 at 04:00PM by CWC Check out the purported benefits of most of your favorite, most effective skin-care products—from your AM acid peel to your PM retinol treatment—and you’ll likely discover that it stimulates skin cell turnover. The phrase is thrown around all the time, and touted as one of the most important elements in dealing with pretty much any skin concern, but what the heck does it actually mean? To put it simply: “Cell turnover is the continuous process of shedding dead skin cells and subsequently replacing them with younger cells,” says board-certified dermatologist and Curology founder David Lortscher, MD. This process is the “holy grail of healthy skin,” as Rhea Souhleris Grous, Aesthetics Director at Union Square Laser Dermatology puts it, because the process makes skin look shinier and tighter, and gets rid of fine lines and wrinkles more quickly. “If you don’t cellular turnover, you have a buildup, and it’s like a traffic jam at the surface,” says Dr. Grous. That stagnation can lead to issues such as acne, hyperpigmentation, milia, and uneven texture. In order to understand why this cell turnover is critical to dealing with these issues—and to overall skin health, in general—let’s kick it back to high-school biology and break things down a bit further. Every cell in your body has a life cycle, and in the case of adult skin cells, that cycle lasts around 28 days. (It slows down when you get older, but more on that later). New skin
Moth bean extract is the new plant-based retinol alternative to know
February 28, 2020 at 03:00PM by CWC Retinol is an all-star ingredient beloved by dermatologists everywhere, but for years, many people with sensitive skin opted out of using it due to the flaking and redness it can cause. Then came bakuchiol in 2018, a plant-based ingredient that multitasks just as well as retinol—boosting brightness, strengthening collagen, firming and smoothing—sans irritation. Fast forward a few years and there’s now a new alt-retinol in town called moth bean extract, here to give bakuchiol some friendly competition. Though it may conjure an image of a winged insect, moth bean extract actually comes from the botanical world. “The scientific name is vigna aconitifolia, and it’s derived from a legume that’s grown in Asia,” says Susanne Norwitz, founder of skin-care brand Maya Chia. “It’s extracted from protein-rich seed pods, and there has been encouraging research comparing it to the efficacy of retinol.” Even though the extract isn’t a vitamin A derivative like retinol, it has similar benefits. Like retinol, moth bean extract encourages skin-cell turnover and can reduce the appearance of fine lines. Those aren’t its only superpowers, either. “It boosts the functionality of the dermal and epidermal layers of your skin, and its antioxidant properties—from caffeic acid, ferulic acid, cinnamic acid, and kaempefrol—help to repair damaged skin,” says Norwitz. Rachel Nazarian, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City, says that those antioxidants can also help to shield your skin against future environmental damage and premature aging. Moth bean extract can also brighten your
I used arousal oil to turn myself on, and it worked in 5 minutes flat
February 28, 2020 at 02:00PM by CWC For a quick refresher on middle-school-level mythology, the term “aphrodisiac” comes from the Greek goddess Aphrodite, ruler of love, pleasure, passion, and beauty. So aphrodisiacs are, then, agents of arousal. But if oysters and other edible aphrodisiacs of the like don’t do it for you, you’re in luck, because there are other options—one of the newest being Bloomi Arousal Oil ($58), a get-you-in-the-mood blend of botanicals that aids with pleasure and passion. Bloomi Arousal Oil is meant to enhance sensitivity, increase natural lubrication, and intensify orgasms. That’s great if you—like a great many number of vulva-owners—are contending with a low sex drive, wetness, or just can’t go from 0 to Austin Powers in two seconds. The natural blend is also great for those who have sensitive skin. “Most products on the market in this category contain harsh preservatives, chemicals that can sting or irritate the vulva, or fragrances that simply don’t need to be in the formula,” says sexologist Rebecca Alvarez Story, founder of Bloomi, adding that since vulva skin is so absorbent, she recommends using as gentle a formula as possible. Bloomi’s formula includes squalane, organic apricot oil, plum kernel oil, and pumpkin seed oil. There’s also exotic-sounding ingredients like damiana, which has been noted to promote better orgasms. There’s angelica root, which supports the arousal process. And there’s wolfberry, which is reported to enhance overall sexual stamina. “Increased circulation in your vulva and clitoris helps to promote your natural wetness and ability