March 18, 2020 at 07:00PM by CWC If you’re looking for sturdy produce that stays good for long periods of time, avocados are not it. One minute they’re sitting on your counter ripe and ready to eat, then you look away for a second and they’re completely rotten, destined for the trash. To say this is frustrating would be an understatement. But what if I told you there’s a way you can keep them perfectly green for months? Yes, you read that correctly. Months. Bethany Ugarte of Lilsipper recently shared a hack on Instagram that’s dropping jaws around the world. You probably know you can freeze mashed avocado in an ice cube tray for later use, but evidently you can freeze whole avocados, too—peel and all. After running an avocado that had been frozen for four months under some hot water then letting it sit out on the counter for a bit, she cut it open to reveal a perfectly-ripe fruit that looked like she just purchased it from the grocery store. View this post on Instagram 4 month avocado just like new! Here’s how to prolong your avocados for MONTHS! #freshfood #lilsipper A post shared by Bethany Ugarte || Gut Health (@lilsipper) on Mar 17, 2020 at 9:04am PDT //www.instagram.com/embed.js Right now, her video has nearly 150,000 views and more than 1,200 comments—and they’re only growing, so clearly I’m not the only one who’s completely shocked by this discovery. In fact, the frozen avocado she peeled months later was a prettier,
Month: March 2020
Why it’s important to do stretches before walking, no matter how many steps you’re clocking
March 18, 2020 at 06:00PM by CWC As the best study ever recently confirmed, walking is just as much of a legitimate workout as spinning or running. So long as you’re clocking 100 steps a minute, for at least 30 minutes a day, you can count those 3,000 steps as your daily recommended dose of moderate-intensity exercise. And just as stretching is an important part of any modality, doing stretches before walking is a great way to ensure you’re getting the most out of every step you take. While this sort of workout might seem like a walk in the park (and, okay, might actually be a walk in the park), you’ll still want to prep your body the same way you would for more vigorous cardio. “When done correctly, stretching helps prepare the muscles for activity and reduces the risk of injury—if a muscle is too tight, it won’t be able to function as it should, which can lead to compensation and discomfort,” says Jeff Brannigan, PT, programming director at Stretch*d. He adds that everybody can benefit from cycling through a series of stretches before walking, because if you walk a lot, your muscles can become overworked and fatigued, which can lead to pain over time. Here, pros share the best stretches to do before walking. And bonus? The more limber you are, the more spring you’ll have in your step… speed walking Olympics, here you come. Why is it important to do stretches before walking? With every step
6 online games you can play virtually with your friends near and far
March 18, 2020 at 05:00PM by CWC It’s a safe bet that you’re missing at least two things during social distancing: your friends and fun. While it’s so important that we stay indoors in order to slow the spread of COVID-19, self-isolation can be, uh, isolating. But since we’re all in this together, there is a way to liven up your downtime by playing online games with friends. Here’s the thing, it’s important to not combat our loneliness and stay connected during this time, and we can best do that by making the internet our bitch. There are lots of platforms that allows for co-op gaming, and there’s more than one video platform to make more offline-games communal. Remember in college when it was either Skype or Oovoo. A simpler time, really. One without mandated curfews. Anyway, I decided to give you a variety of things that you can try out. Whether that’s a very simple board game you can do with your iPhone, a role-playing game you can get into on your laptop, or even just an accessible way to do some pantomime via video conference, you have options. Just get creative with FaceTime or Zoom or whatever while you’re playing. Whether you have friends trapped inside across the street or across the country, it’ll be like the whole gang is trapped right there with you. You know, in a joyful way. Here are six quick gaming options that can rally your community when you have the self-isolation blues. 1. Scrabble Let’s kick
This 30-minute kale pasta salad is made for leftovers (that you’ll actually want to eat)
March 18, 2020 at 04:30PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8olkzuEZw0M] Is there even a point in cooking dinner if the leftovers can’t hold up the next day as a delicious lunch? Answer: Yes, but it’s way easier to motivate yourself to spend time in the kitchen when you know your efforts are resulting in more than one meal. To help you master the art of cooking leftovers you’ll actually look forward to eating, on our latest episode of Cook With Us senior food and health editor Jessie Van Amburg challenged cookbook author, food writer, and trained pastry chef Klancy Miller to create a dish that works double time as a solid weeknight staple that’ll make it into your lunchbox. Oh, and the other half of the challenge? The meal must be high in protein, fiber, and healthy fats, and include gluten-free pasta. Plus, it must come together in under 30 minutes. No pressure or anything, right? To hit on all of these asks, Miller whipped up a kale pasta salad recipe using ingredients from Kroger, where she’s shopped since her childhood. “I grew up grocery shopping at Kroger with my mom when my family lived in Atlanta,” she says. “I’ve always loved Kroger, and I’m happy it continues to offer a huge selection of truly healthy food options for all kinds of people with different health concerns and cooking preferences.” Now it’s even easier to spot those healthy food options with the OptUP app, a nutrition-scoring app that ranks food from
The simple steps everyone can take to live a healthy, ‘genius’ life, according to a science journalist
March 18, 2020 at 03:00PM by CWC Brain health expert and science journalist Max Lugavere is the kind of guy you feel comfortable taking diet and lifestyle tips from given his good looks, easy confidence, and the fact that his entire life’s mission was lovingly inspired by his mother. After she was diagnosed with dementia, Lugavere set out to understand why she’d developed the disease and how it could have been prevented. That work birthed his first book, Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life, which took a long, hard look at the dietary factors which influence brain health. In his newest volume (published on Tuesday), The Genius Life: Heal Your Mind, Strengthen Your Body, and Become Extraordinary, Lugavere expands his findings beyond nutrition and the brain to explore a variety of lifestyle choices that can optimize your overall health. In chapters playfully titled, “Don’t Fork Around” and “Get Off Yo’ Ass,” Lugavere distills his dense research into easy-to-digest, affable advice for extending your healthspan, or the amount of life lived well. The book covers a wide berth of topics, so I called Lugavere to discuss some of its most pressing themes (and get some of my own selfish questions answered); here, our conversation on the diet wars, detoxing your home without becoming totally neurotic, and whether or not you should skip spin in favor of scrubbing your home. Well+Good: How have your views on food changed since you started researching this book? Max
The 10 coziest house shoes to add some coziness to your wardrobe as you WFH
March 18, 2020 at 02:00PM by CWC There are two kinds of people: those that refuse to schlep around their home without house shoes on their feet, and those that have never spent an hour in a black hole of online slipper shopping. Whichever camp you fall into (if you’re a dad, there’s a 99.9 percent chance you’re in the former), we can all agree that staying at home for an indeterminate amount of time due to the spread of COVID-19 means we need all the cozy moments we can get—especially as we intake the news surrounding it. It can feel scary out there right now, but let’s focus on the practical joy of having slippers: They’re soft, fuzzy, and furry, and they provide a barrier between your (maybe) clean trotters and the floor. One of life’s small delights. Here, shop some of our favorites in a range of styles. 1. Topdrawer Merippa House Shoes, $55 Photo: Topdrawer Power clash on your feet with these cozy, plaid-slash-fleece house shoes that were designed in Japan. They’re machine-washable (a true perk for slippers), and roll up into a ball so that you can bring them everywhere you go. 2. Loft Faux Fur Slide Slippers, $17 Photo: Loft Slide your feet into these faux fur slides that’ll embrace the bottom of your toes with soft coziness. You only have two bold choices: hot pink or crimson red. 3. L.L. Bean Wicked Good Slipper Moccasin Women’s Original, $89 Photo: L.L. Bean Wrap your feet
10 healthy daily habits to retain even while social distancing, according to psychologists
March 18, 2020 at 01:00PM by CWC In a true act of bravery, today I put on a bra, leggings, and a pair of earrings, and even deigned to wear a dress. I’ve been self-isolating for a week now amid the COVID-19 crisis, and along with life feeling surreal, sweatpants have begun to feel like a second skin. But today, I fought that urge because for me, the ritual of getting dressed for work is one of the most important habits I stick stick to for retaining a sense of normalcy during this time when social distancing is the general recommendation to heed. It’s easy to feel not much beyond fright, worry, and frustration about lack of control for seeing out whatever your personal prerogative is right now. But in an effort to keep those (totally valid) feelings from taking over, the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) actually encourages you to stick with “normality and routine that mirrors life’s daily patterns and practices.” In other words, you can work to protect your sense of normal during this time, and preserving as much of your regularly scheduled programming as possible can help. “The worst things for us all would be to just collapse into sick-like behavior, like staying on the couch, wearing our pajamas all day, eating out of cans,” says psychotherapist and astrologer Jennifer Freed, PhD. “Do everything you would do if you’re about to meet the most important romantic date of your life.” To that point, perhaps I’ll really
On the Cusp: What it means when you’re a mix of intuitive Pisces and headstrong Aries
March 18, 2020 at 12:00PM by CWC Each month with On the Cusp, we point our astrological magnifying glass on all the people born between two zodiac signs. Because when your birthday falls at either the tail end or the very beginning of your sun sign’s season, your personality may be influenced by your cosmic neighbor. Stefanie Iris Weiss Stefanie Iris Weiss, astrologer and co-author of Surviving Saturn’s Return: Overcoming the Most Tumultuous Time of Your Life, is here to illuminate us about what being born on the Pisces Aries cusp may mean for someone’s personality. Below, Weiss (who is available for 2020 readings), explains what happens when psychic empath Pisces (February 19 to March 20) merges with fast-paced Aries (March 20 to April 19) The Pisces Aries cusp is one of rest and rebirth; the twin-fish sign Pisces ends the astrological year, while Aries leads the charge of the next one. The shift between these two signs also marks the transition from winter to spring, which can be a confusing time, but often poetic. As such, it’s worth noting this very apt pairing marks the final combination for the On the Cusp series (but you can check out all the others here). We have two very different figures at war today: Pisces is calm, empathetic, and psychic—the mystic by the river. Aries is the knight who charges into action, someone who doesn’t feel, rarely thinks, and instead just acts. So will their combined energy be explosive? “It’s kind of confusing to feel the
A bare-minimum skin-care routine only costs $6, according to one derm
March 18, 2020 at 11:00AM by CWC Suffice to say we’ve all got a lot on our minds right now. Whether that’s navigating the strange new world of telecommuting, figuring out how we’re going to keep ourselves occupied during social distancing, or trying to ration toilet paper to last for an indeterminate amount of time (on top of the obvious stress of keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe from Covid-19), if you’re anything like me you’re looking for any way possible to simplify your life during this uncertain time. And one thing you can keep easy, according to a dermatologist, is your skin-care routine (a simple facial care routine is really all it takes). If spending your quarantine sampling a 25-step skin-care routine just isn’t feasible for (or appealing to) you, board-certified dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, MD, says that you only need two products to keep skin happy and healthy. In a recent Instagram post, he shared his “emergency skin-care kit,” which consists of the bare minimum that you need to get your skin cleaned and moisturized. And the best part? It will only put a $6 dent in your wallet, and you can pick up everything you need during your next drugstore run. View this post on Instagram We are living in uncertain times right now with the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus. I personally left New York City with my family to distance ourselves from other people. Like you, we are preparing ourselves for potential
The meaning of ‘shelter in place,’ and how it relates to social distancing
March 18, 2020 at 02:00AM by CWC The San Francisco Bay Area woke up Tuesday to an order of “shelter in place.” Mayor London Breed had announced on Monday that as of 12 a.m. on March 17, residents must stay home unless they’re leaving for an essential reason. “These steps are based on the advice of public health experts to slow the spread of COVID-19,” she said. “There is no need to rush out for food or supplies, as these stores will remain open.” At a news conference on Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said he’s considering a similar “shelter in place” order for the five boroughs. While it might sound like something scary, the meaning of “shelter in place,” says Brian Labus, PhD, MPH, is simple: you need to stay home. And the reasoning behind such an order is important: it stops people from getting sick. Sheltering in place isn’t totally dissimilar from what’s happening in Italy, says Dr. Labus, but the Bay Area’s order still allows people to go out to buy food, get medical treatment, care for family members, engage in outdoor activities while keeping six feet away from others, and go to work in certain industries like health care or law enforcement, reports the Los Angeles Times. “A broad shelter in place might be enforced after an emergency, when you absolutely do not let people go out in public,” says Dr. Labus. “In [San Francisco’s] case, people can still go out for important