March 11, 2020 at 02:00AM by CWC Eating healthy doesn’t have to mean stocking your pantry with hoards of pricey goods. Spirulina and hemp seeds are great, but you don’t really need them to create healthy meals. In reality, grocery shopping shouldn’t break the bank at all because nutritious options that do your body good can simply mean taking advantage of all the cheap produce finds that are $1 or less. According to Brittany Modell, RD, founder of Brittany Modell Nutrition and Wellness, one of the biggest misconceptions about healthy eating is that it’s expensive. In reality, all you need to do is shop smart and build your meals around the affordable produce that’s available at almost every grocery store. Most of what you’ll find costs cents, not dollars, whether you’re getting a sweet potato for dinner or a banana for an afternoon snack. “When shopping for fresh produce on a budget, look for sales that are going on in the store, don’t buy the convenient pre-cut veggies (the whole vegetables and fruits are always less expensive!), buy produce that’s in season, and check out your local farmers’ market,” she says. “There are also several different companies that sell ‘imperfect’ fruits and vegetables at a discounted price. For example, Misfits Markets sells fruits and vegetables up to 40 percent less than normal grocery stores.” The next time you go grocery shopping, keep these low-cost fruit and veggie options in mind. You’ll be able to build delicious and healthy meals for
Month: March 2020
Running on your toes can make you faster—here’s what you need to know
March 11, 2020 at 01:00AM by CWC There are infinite reasons why people run, but in terms of getting the miles marked off, it’s a fairly simple strategy: One foot in front of the other. While most people tend to have the same form while running, there are some variations. Some people heel strike, others are mid-foot runners, and there are even those who find themselves running on their toes. According to Juan Delgado, a sports scientist and bio-mechanist with New York Sports Science Lab, roughly 80 percent of runners are rear-foot runners (AKA heel strikers), while 15 percent are midfoot runners, and the rest are forefoot runners. If you’re in the special group that toe runs, you’re going to have more power when you’re hitting the pavement. Forefoot or toe running involves contacting the ground with the ball of your foot, or your metatarsals, while your heel contacts the ground afterwards, explains Delgado. “It’s mostly used when long distance or faster speeds are needed because the faster you get, the more difficult it is to actually heel strike,” he says. The opposite running form, or heel running, slows you down. “When you heel-strike, you’re essentially braking against your body’s momentum,” says Steve Stonehouse, a coach and director of education for Stride. “You’re forcing your body to work harder than it has to. Mid-foot and toe-strike running allows your body to use the force and momentum that you’re creating to your advantage.” This is because if you’re landing in the
How Black women have historically used yoga as a tool for healing
March 11, 2020 at 12:00AM by CWC Studies prove that anxiety, stress, depression, heart disease, and other ailments affect Black people disproportionately compared to other ethnic groups, but the statistics rise alarmingly when it comes to the health of Black women. Because of the many external and internal social stressors—racism, sexism, socio-economic issues—Black women do not have space to accurately practice self-care in a way that is safe and fulfilling for them. Now with wellness becoming a trillion-dollar industry, many Black women have come to create spaces that are inclusive and safe, particularly when it comes to yoga. There are trap yoga studios, hip-hop yoga studios, and platforms—like Black Girl In Om— that cater to women of color. There is a new generation of Black women who are taking the lessons from the women before them and redefining their ideas of wellness in innovative ways. But this isn’t a new phenomenon; there is a reason why Black women have been increasingly turning to yoga since its popular emergence in the 1970s. Yoga has a complicated history with race and appropriation, and much of today’s imagery still centers around that of a white woman in an asana, or meditative posture, but Black women’s reliance on the practice as a healing tool goes back decades. In a 1975 Ebony article, “Yoga: Something For Everyone,” writer Stanley Williford addressed the relatively new phenomenon, where an increasing number of African-Americans were turning to yoga as a meditative practice, to retain lucidity and heal from the injustices that ailed them. Krishna Kaur, a Black pioneer in Kundalini
Feeling stressed? ‘Safety signals’ might help your brain better cope in the moment
March 10, 2020 at 11:00PM by CWC We’ve all experienced it before: visualizing a beach or a mountain vista to calm your nerves before a big presentation at work, or you reach into your pocket to feel the soothing weight of a crystal when the person in front of you at your coffee shop starts arguing with the barista. It’s legitimately comforting to see or touch something familiar during a tense or stressful situation. According to recent research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), these comforting cues (formally known as “safety signals”) aren’t just placebo; they have a very real impact on our ability to find calm in stress-inducing situations. Simply put, “safety signals are stimuli in the environment that represent safety,” says Paola Odriozola, a PhD candidate in psychology at Yale University and co-first author of the December 2019 PNAS study. “A safety signal could be a piece of music, a person, or an item—like a stuffed animal for a child—that represents the absence of threat.” These safety signals essentially serve as a tangible reminder for us to calm down during a stressful event. Previous research on the subject has found that, in rats at least, the presence of a comforting safety signal inhibited the traditional stress response from the brain, which allowed the rats to be more social even in uncontrollably stressful situations. Though more research will confirm which types of real-world safety signals are most
The best foundation application tools to use depending on how much coverage you want
March 10, 2020 at 10:30PM by CWC Sephora sells more than 100 different foundation brushes and sponges. And there is no right or wrong tool to use when it comes to applying your foundation, it all comes down to your personal preference. But Boston-based makeup artist Jeannie Vincent says the tool you use can impact the amount of coverage you get. “Different tools have different porosity which leads to varying results,” says Vincent. “For example, a sponge absorbs more than a brush does.” The tool you use can help you manipulate the formula to get the type of coverage you want—to an extent. “The tool has a medium effect on the coverage level,” says Vincent. A watery skin tint will never give you all full-on beat no matter what tool you use, but you can play with the products you have to make them closer to what you want depending on the day. The best foundation application tools for each level of coverage 1. For lighter coverage Both Vincent and Neil Scibelli, a makeup artist in New York City, say a makeup sponge like the Beautyblender ($20) is perfect for light coverage. “You can really diffuse the coverage, and create a sheer finish,” says Scibelli. Vincent says to use a damp sponge, and that the sponge will help to absorb “to achieve a lighter coverage, use a damp Beautyblender or makeup sponge to apply foundation. The sponge will help to absorb a bit of the product. 2. For medium coverage For medium
Stretch, strengthen, and stabilize tight shoulders with IYT stretches
March 10, 2020 at 10:00PM by CWC Your shoulders are often the unintended victims of a long day at the office. Hovering over your laptop for hours on end can cause a serious slump in your posture, which leads to all sorts of problems—not the least of which is discomfort. “Our bodies are in a forward head position and our shoulders are hunched over, which causes our back muscles to get weak and stretched out while our front muscles get very tight and strong,” says Phaeleau Cunneen, PT, a New York City physical therapist. Because of this, it’s important to do back-targeting exercises to help balance out your strength. Enter the IYT stretch series, which targets your middle and lower trapezius and infraspinatus—aka the muscles around your shoulders—to help strengthen and stabilize them. This, in effect, will help un-scrunch your body from all the hours spent hovered over your computer. And the best part? You can pretty much do it anywhere. How to do the IYT stretch series for your shoulders Lying flat on your stomach on top either a ball, a bench, or—yup—your bed, position your body so that your head is slightly dangling off to the side. You can do the exercise either with or without weights, depending on the strength of your shoulders. Then, cycle through each movement until your arms or shoulders start to feel fatigued, at which point you’ll move on to the next. To get the most out of the series, focus on lifting
Joe Biden has major momentum in the Democratic primaries—here’s how his policies could impact your life
March 10, 2020 at 09:00PM by CWC In a testament to how quickly things can change in an election season, former Vice President Joe Biden—who trailed behind Bernie Sanders (and several other candidates) in the first few primaries of the year—is now the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination. His moderate views won over an unexpected 10 of the 14 states that held primaries on Super Tuesday, and he’s now leading over Sanders in the national polls. Plus, a flood of former Democratic candidates have rushed forward to endorse Biden in the past week, including Pete Buttigieg and Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). Historically, every party candidate that’s been this far ahead in polls and endorsements has gone on to win the nomination, according to CNN. Biden’s been making headlines since 1973, when he became one of the youngest people elected to the Senate at 29 years old. During his 36 years as a Delaware senator, he acted as an early champion of climate change reform and gun control. He also authored the historic Violence Against Women Act in 1994, which seeks to protect and support victims of domestic and sexual violence. But the 77-year-old politician is best known for his eight-year stint as vice president in the Obama administration. During this time, he helped pass the Recovery Act—which helped America recover from the 2008 recession by investing in clean energy—the Affordable Care Act, and a series of gun reforms after the Sandy Hook Elementary
The biggest mistake people are making with their double cleanse, according to an esthetician
March 10, 2020 at 08:00PM by CWC Double cleansing is the lather-rinse-repeat of skin care, and it’s one of the best things you can do for your skin. Use an oil or a micellar water first, and then a traditional cleanser. But Cecilia Benavides, an esthetician and sales account manager at Repêchage, explains that we’re all making it way harder than it needs to be. Turns out, you can double cleanse with the same cleanser. “The first cleanse will help to lift the dirt off the top layer of the skin, so it’s gonna help to break down makeup, dirt, and excess oil,” she says. “And then the second cleansing will help to wash it away. You can use the same cleanser.” You may still want to use a makeup remover to gently remove eye makeup, but for everything else your normal cleanser will do, says Benavides. This is great for a few reasons: You don’t have to tote two face cleansers to the gym, and when you have a really amazing cleanser that works for your skin type, you can further reap the benefits by using it twice. Although there are many “for all skin types” cleansers, Benavides is a huge fan of finding one that caters to your skin type. “Let’s say you have acne-prone skin and you’re using a cleanser for dry skin—your skin already produces enough oil and sebum, and you can break out even more,” she says. “You’re clogging the pores more than just cleansing
Want dancer abs? Try this sweat sesh without a crunch or plank in sight
March 10, 2020 at 07:00PM by CWC One of the best things about dance cardio workouts (besides the major mood and energy boost) is that you’re secretly working muscles you didn’t even know you had—all while bopping around to Beyonce. It’d be tough to find a single muscle group that dance workouts leave behind, but dancer abs sequences are no joke. “Having a strong core helps you move better in everyday life, improves your posture, and helps protect your back,” says Katia Pryce, former pro dancer and the founder and CEO of New York-based fitness brand, DanceBody and live-streaming platform DanceBody Live. “The core is the center of your body, so having a strong core is important no matter what exercise you do.” However, while boring-old crunches and feels-like-hours-long planks might have a place in HIIT workouts, dance cardio tends to favor upright, combination moves that are threaded into longer sequences. These functional movements more naturally mimic real life, and pros like Pryce think they have an edge on traditional abs moves. “What’s great about dancing is that you learn to use your core in every movement, even when you’re standing. You can plank and crunch until you’re blue in the face but there’s a lot more to a strong core, says Pryce. “Dancers learn how to engage and utilize the entire core in movement, and often hit those underutilized core muscles that other workouts sometimes forget.” Ready to get moving? Below, she gives us four standing abs exercises that
Why you should be skeptical of natural products claiming to treat COVID-19
March 10, 2020 at 05:30PM by CWC With confirmed cases of COVID-19 in 34 states, a host of natural “wellness” companies are attempting to capitalize on public fear by advertising products that “cure” or “prevent” coronavirus. On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration swiftly replied by issuing warnings to seven companies with one resounding message: Don’t be fooled, there’s no “natural treatment” for the virus. The seven companies warned—including GuruNanda, Vivify Holistic Clinic, and Herbal Amy—have been given a 48 hours to correct their violations before facing legal consequences. Herbal Amy, for example, is selling a “Coronavirus Protocol” for the steep (and ineffective) price of $150. Vivify, meanwhile, sells a tea made to drink six times a day that offers “antiviral action.” The FDA—along with the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice—is poised to ensure false advertising doesn’t sway people from getting the treatment they need and deserve. “There already is a high level of anxiety over the potential spread of coronavirus,” said Joe Simons, chairman of the FTC, in the statement released to the New York Times. “What we don’t need in this situation are companies preying on consumers by promoting products with fraudulent prevention and treatment claims.” “What we don’t need in this situation are companies preying on consumers by promoting products with fraudulent prevention and treatment claims.” —Joe Simons, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission Attorney General William P. Barr echoed the sentiments of the FTC in a similar statement. “The Department of Justice stands ready