September 26, 2018 at 10:04AM There’s nothing worse than having your runner’s high interrupted by a period leak, case of chafing, or a snapped hair-tie. Usually, you’re left cutting your workout short and dealing with the issue at hand until you get home—but Lululemon is basically turning into your life-saving BFF with new digital vending machines that are stocked with all of your running needs. And, oh yeah—they’re totally free. Yes, really. Whether you’re mid-marathon or logging your daily miles, the Lululemon Run Stop Shops are here for you. Currently, the magical machines are placed in New York City at Roula Cycling and at Theatre on the Lake in Chicago, and will be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day until November 8. And there’s no catch on the no-cost part, as stated in the brand’s press release: All you have to do is enter your email address and share a picture using one of the designated hashtags for your area: #thesweatlifeNYC or #thesweatlifeCHI. View this post on Instagram Your money is no good here—introducing the Run Stop Shop. Strategically located along side the west side highway to support you through your marathon training or when you’re just logging your daily miles. Fuel, repair and gear up with us at @roulacycling, the spot where athletes meet. Stay tuned for more. #thesweatlifenyc A post shared by lululemon New York City (@lululemonnyc) on Sep 25, 2018 at 12:33pm PDT //www.instagram.com/embed.js So, what exactly comes in these vending machines? Well, it’s kind of
Author: CityWomen
Found: The healthiest way to cook your veggies in the microwave
September 26, 2018 at 09:33AM Although your Pinterest board may be a virtual gallery of intricate, mouth-watering recipes, your weekday dinners might look more microwave-ready than Michelin. But the good news is twofold: One: It’s a total myth that zapping your food makes it less healthy. Two: There’s a simple way to make sure your on-the-fly side of broc retains the most nutrient-density possible. According to Whitney Linsenmeyer, RD, PhD, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, steaming your veggies is the way to go, CNN reports. Why? Because both speedy cooking times (for which the microwave is king) and steam cooking have been found to preserve the most nutrients possible. Meaning, prep methods like boiling could strip the vitamins and minerals in your Brussels more than simpler cooking options. To hone your snappy side dish skills, just follow Linsenmeyer’s simple instructions: “You can use a microwave steaming tray with water in the bottom, or simply add your vegetables and a small amount of water to a microwave-safe bowl and cover with microwave-safe plastic wrap, leaving one corner open to allow air to escape,” she recommends. If you notice that there’s extra water remaining even after the microwave timer dings, she suggests saving the liquid as a flavorful “stock” that you can use as the foundation for future cozy soups. Just like that—dinner is served. Now that you’re putting your microwave to good use, make sure you’re cleaning it on the reg as well. And if you’re not already using the
These 3 foods are *the worst* for your metabolism, according to Jillian Michaels
September 26, 2018 at 09:20AM When you take a look the ingredients that rev up your metabolism, a few stand out. Namely, fiber (particularly from “real” foods like fruits and veggies) and iodine-rich options like seaweed. For every metabolic superhero, though, there’s an alternative eat out there that works the opposite way, sabotaging your body’s calorie-burning prowess. “The two things that are predominantly in control of your metabolism are your endocrine system and your hormone balance,” says Jillian Michaels, creator of the My Fitness app and former trainer on The Biggest Loser. Thus, when you chow down on something that disturbs these things, your metabolism gets thrown for a loop, too. You may have already guessed some of the nutritional villains that Michaels names as the worst for your metabolism—cough, sugar, cough—but below you’ll get the full scoop from the celeb coach herself, with a bit of added insight from nutrition experts. Keep reading to find out which foods you should avoid for a healthy metabolism. Photo: Unsplash/Joanna Kosinska 1. Sugar Not-so-shockingly, Michaels names sugar as one of the greatest culprits of a sluggish metabolism. Why? After savoring a dessert, she explains, your blood sugar spikes. This causes your cortisol and insulin hormone levels to increase, in an effort to level things out—and it can eventually lead to metabolic disruption if left unchecked long-term. “Hormones work in a symphony, and there are tons of them,” explains Michaels. “So ultimately, when we’re looking at metabolism, we want to make sure that we have the right hormones working for
5 drinks to reach for when you’re dehydrated (other than water, because duh)
September 26, 2018 at 09:01AM Yeah, yeah, we all know “drinking lots of water” should be at the top of everyone’s wellness to-do list. But when life gets busy—like, so busy you don’t even have time to prep breadless avocado toast in the morning—it’s easy to forget a trip to the Brita now and then. Let your reusable bottle sit unfilled for most of the day, however, and the telltale signs of dehydration will reliably come creeping in: headaches, dry mouth, and turmeric-colored pee among them. Of course, the best way to avoid this fate is to be mindful of your water intake in the first place. “We never want to wait to feel thirsty to drink—in fact, the sensation of feeling thirsty is already a late indicator of dehydration,” says Ilana Muhlstein, MS, RDN, the in-house dietitian at Beachbody and co-creator of the 2B Mindset nutrition program. “This is why I always recommend that people start every meal and snack by drinking 16 ounces of water first.” If you’re eating three meals and two snacks a day, that hack will give you a head start in meeting your daily hydration requirements, which Muhlstein says you can calculate by dividing your body weight in half. But there are certain situations in which you’ll want to up that number even further. “A person’s water requirement will be heightened with exercise, sweat, stress, and an increased salt and protein intake,” Muhlstein says. Yes, that translates to a lot of H2O, which admittedly can get,
Gisele Bündchen gets real about her guilt for struggling with debilitating anxiety, despite all her success
September 26, 2018 at 08:51AM Mental illness doesn’t have a type. You can have it all but still be dealing with anxiety and sadness no matter how successful you are, how loving of a family you have, or how good of a person you may be—and Gisele Bündchen wants the world to know just because you’re #blessed doesn’t mean you should feel guilty about experiencing those negative feelings. The supermodel has never really talked about her past struggles. Aside from sharing tidbits about her meditation practice and diet, she tends to keep her private life very private. That’s all changing, though, with her soon-to-be-released memoir Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life, and she recently opened up to People about some of the mental health issues she’s had throughout her career—something that started in 2003 after having a panic attack on a plane. As her anxiety got worse, it became crippling, eventually causing her to fear tunnels, elevators, and enclosed spaces, but she couldn’t figure out why she was having these negative thoughts and felt an immense amount of guilt because of it. “I had a wonderful position in my career, I was very close to my family, and I always considered myself a positive person, so I was really beating myself up. Like, ‘Why should I be feeling this?’ I felt like I wasn’t allowed to feel bad,” Bündchen says. “I felt powerless. Your world becomes smaller and smaller, and you can’t breathe, which is the worst feeling I’ve ever had. I actually had the
Dear dermatologists: Is retinol or glycolic acid the better skin saver?
September 26, 2018 at 08:46AM Pick up any magazine, click on any beauty article regarding “active ingredients,” or better yet ask a dermatologist what they’d recommend to hit the pause button on aging skin, and you’ll undoubtedly hear that in the morning, you should slather on sunscreen…and lots of it. As for the nighttime, things get more divided because the pros recommend the powerhouse ingredients retinol and glycolic acid in equal measure…so much so that I wondered which of the two is actually queen of the skin-care aisle. What I found out was that the reason that they’re named equally among dermatologists is that the answer is kind of a toss-up. Things like skin type, your skin age, and overall #skingoals hugely come into play here, so knowing the resumes for each could help you find your best skin on repeat. Here, dermatologist share how to use the two star players and how to determine which one is right for your regimen. Photo: Getty/ Peopleimages How do glycolic acid and retinol work? Okay, so to kick things off: It’s important to understand what each of these active ingredients is doing for your skin. Let’s start with glycolic acid. “It’s one type of alpha hydroxy acid and a chemical exfoliant that removes dead skin cells by loosening the ‘glue’ that holds the dead cells to the top layer of skin,” explains Dennis Gross, MD, a New York City dermatologist and founder of Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare. “Once these dead cells are removed, new
Survey says: Sex gets better after kids
September 26, 2018 at 08:11AM Along with the innumerable lifestyle changes that come with adding a newborn to your family, a sudden lack of sex is considered collateral damage. Don’t shelve your tantric techniques just yet, though—a recent survey on millennial moms suggests this commonly held assumption might be more lore than law. By asking 1,000 mothers between the ages of 22 and 37 to divulge the secrets of their sex lives, Peanut—an app that connects “like-minded mamas”—found that nearly 74 percent of those surveyed reported feeling like their sex lives were the same or better than they were pre-baby, and 55 percent said they were getting it on out of “personal desire” (AKA not obligation). Another blush-inducing statistic? Sixty-one percent disclosed that they were ready and waiting for more. When it came to the frequency of these between-the-sheets-sessions, almost three-quarters of the women surveyed said they were having sex at least once a week. When it came to the frequency of these between-the-sheets-sessions, almost three-quarters of those surveyed said they were having sex at least once a week—with nearly half getting busy twice or more. On the opposite end of the spectrum, women who only had sex once a month made up a mere 13 percent of the overall pie. And, shocker here, 42 percent of the group said a lack of sleep (read: midnight feedings) was the main reason they didn’t have sex as often as they’d like. The takeaway? Adding a child or two to your family unit might be more of
Hilary Swank’s 20/80 rule for clothing can save you money and closet space
September 26, 2018 at 07:49AM When it comes to decluttering your life, Marie Kondo’s spark joy test is pretty much the gold standard as far as organization goes. The one downside to her method, though, is that it’s focused on helping you part with things you already own. If you’re looking to become more mindful with how you spend your money in the first place and guarantee you reap the most satisfaction from what makes it into your closet, you might want to try Hilary Swank’s 20/80 method instead. “The goal is to find items that take up only 20 percent of your wardrobe but control 80 percent of what you wear” explains the actress and founder of luxury womenswear label Mission Statement, which just made a huge mainstream expansion. (It’s now being carried at Nordstrom.) How does the Oscar winner do this? “I’m always looking for fabrics and designs that are of incredible quality and look that will hold up for many years,” Swank says. It’s the intention she sets for herself as a consumer as well as a creator of fashion. In fact, Swank started her own clothing line in 2016 because she was having a hard time finding pieces that followed her rule. Her, ahem, mission became making “evergreen wear for everywhere,” as the site refers to it: A skort disguised as a skirt that functions as well at the gym as it does for a museum date, a dress appropriate for your dance cardio class or the red carpet (as Swank
For the love of poop, stop holding it around your S.O.—your gut will thank you
September 26, 2018 at 07:30AM Picture this: You’re in the early stages of a new relationship, and after hours of wining and dining on a marathon date, digestion (obviously) happens, and you feel a pang in your stomach. But you opt to ignore the, uh, call from nature, because you’d just prefer to not go number two while in the blissful presence of your new boo. Sure, trying to “keep it cute” for a short duration is one thing, but I have a friend who never poops around anyone she’s seeing romantically. I’m talking holding in her bowels for up to a week if, say, she goes on vacation with her significant other. She’ll do whatever it takes in order to essentially make it seem like she’s a superhuman who doesn’t have to ever—gasp—defecate. She’s for sure not alone either. Certain bodily functions are better known for being gross than being totally normal, and society has essentially reinforced that’s it’s A-okay for women to repress and even deny themselves the luxury of letting nature take its course. “Excretions from the body including those produced for protection (sweat, skin oil, mucus), digestion (saliva), reproduction (semen, breast-feeding), or by-products such as menstrual blood, urine, and feces have been associated with negative connotations and uncleanliness,” explains psychologist Danielle Forshee, Psy.D. To avoid seeming “unclean,” then, some people go to great lengths—like, ahem, physical pain—to simply remove themselves from the whole bathroom narrative while in the company of those they’re trying to impress. But newsflash, this charade isn’t so healthy.
J.Lo’s trainer spills the secret behind her strong core: a 4-part plank move
September 26, 2018 at 06:56AM At this point, basically the entire world has come to an agreement that Jennifer Lopez’s body is nothing short of #goals—heck, even Victoria’s Secret models are striving for her booty. And she deserves all the praise: This lady works hard on her workout routine to stay strong and toned, sweating with her trainer on the regular to keep on building up her impressive physique—tough-as-nails abs workouts, included. While J.Lo definitely has her go-to exercises—like Spider-Man push-ups for those impressive biceps and plenty of squats and lunges for her glutes—she’s all about planks for her core. Not just any planks, though: Her longtime trainer, David Kirsch, recently shared the core-busting routine he swears by with PopSugar. It involves not one but four moves in a series that’ll work your entire body. (Hey, being Jenny from the Block doesn’t come easy, people!) Between all the kickbacks and knee dives, this routine will have you feeling like a super-sore superstar in no time. Try David Kirsch’s 4-move plank workout to get a J.Lo-worthy core. Part one Plank with lateral arm reach: 10 reps each arm Plank with triceps kickback: 10 reps each arm After a 60-second break, repeat the circuit. Part two Elbow plank with knee drive: 15 reps each side Elbow plank with side step: 10 reps After a 60-second break, repeat the circuit. Part three You finished the body-shaking moves, so treat yourself to a restorative stretch and a healthy recovery snack. This J.Lo-approved cardio workout is the best way to get