December 15, 2018 at 05:30AM Whether you’re single, coupled up, or in one of those confusing non-relationships, we all fall into date-night ruts every once in a while. You know—dinner at the same restaurant every week, a glass of wine at one of the three bars you have on rotation, or even just ordering in and watching Netflix (happens to the best of of us). While all of these activities have their time and place, they can also become a little, well, boring. And that’s not fun for anyone. Luckily, if you live in NYC, there’s no shortage of creative, wellness-centric date activities to help shake up your routine and get those happy, love chemicals flowing. Here’s a baker’s dozen to try. 13 of the healthiest date ideas NYC has to offer View this post on Instagram Greet Mother Nature with a hike through Bear Mountain State Park and revel in its impressive winterscape. Thanks to this week’s #NYLovesWinter winner! : @pidalaphoto A post shared by I LOVE NEW YORK (@iloveny) on Dec 7, 2018 at 1:51pm PST //www.instagram.com/embed.js 1. Go on a public transportation-accessible hike While New York City itself isn’t exactly famous for its sprawling expanses of nature (one of its best-known nicknames is “concrete jungle,” after all), a peaceful, heart-pumping hike is always just a train ride away. If you take the Metro-North from Grand Central, you can access plenty of tree and creek-lined trails with breathtaking views. A few of the many great options include the
Category: 2019 Health
I just watched *seven* minutes of cartoon pimple popping—am I in too deep?
December 15, 2018 at 05:21AM When does skin care research become a straight-up obsession? It’s a question I ask myself frequently these days as I’m perusing deep subreddits for ingredient intel, looking at dioramas of how ultrasound energy effects the skin, and pondering just what is up with showering in the morning versus at night. But now, the verdict is in. My question has been answered. And it’s all because of an epic pimple-popping cartoon video that I watched from start to finish—all seven minutes of it. Yes, m’dear, you’re in way too deep. I should back up, however, because when it comes to pimple popping, I’m not alone. The queen of zit squeezing, Sandra Lee—or Dr. Pimple Popper, as she’s more commonly known—has 4.6 million subscribers on YouTube, and the most popular videos have been seen over 50 million times. And now she’s a TV star as well, with a hit show on TLC. So while, yes, we know that pimple popping is a thing, why is it that I’m so mesmerized by it that I’d resort to stop-motion squeezing? With the mounting pressures of day-to-day life, sometimes I feel like a pimple that needs to be popped. In some ways, I think it’s because pimple-popping videos, in particular, are so good at showing instant release and relief, which IRL takes practice and patience. With the mounting pressures of day-to-day life, sometimes I feel like a pimple that needs to be popped. I let stress and worries and fears mount up
Potatoes are actually pretty damn good for you, according to a nutritionist
December 15, 2018 at 04:00AM Thanks to the ketogenic diet and other low-carb eating plans, potatoes have an even worse rep than Emma Stone’s character in Easy A. (The only exception: sweet potatoes, which have somehow managed to secure a shiny health halo.) But as people increasingly shift away from “meat and potatoes” to “grass-fed beef and cauliflower mash,” spuds are left in the corner looking like a sad sack of…well, you know. Which begs the question: Are potatoes healthy? And do they deserve their fate as culinary outcasts? “Potatoes have been vilified over the past few years because they’re high in carbs and they also raise your blood sugar quickly,” says 80 Twenty Nutrition founder Christy Brissette, RD. (FWIW, one large, raw white potato has 58 grams of carbs.) “So a lot of diets and nutrition experts give the advice to avoid eating white, starchy foods because of that blood sugar surge.” But despite that, Brissette is not anti-spud. Yes, potatoes are high on the glycemic index (meaning that it can have a strong impact on blood sugar), but she says that can actually work in your favor, like after a workout. “When you want to refuel, that quick hit of energy can help,” she says. Post-run hashbrowns, anyone? Photo:Photo: Stocksy/Harald Walker And carbs aside, potatoes have a pretty stellar nutritional profile. “Because they’re a vegetable—and not, say, a nutrient-void processed food—they come with a lot of benefits,” Brissette says. Need proof? One large, raw potato also has nine grams of fiber, 1502
Get ready for your CBD options to blow up—because the 2018 Farm Bill (finally) passed
December 15, 2018 at 03:25AM It’s the holiday miracle that the entire CBD industry has been waiting for: On Monday, Congress passed the 2018 Farm Bill after months of back-and-forth, sending the 807-page document to President Trump’s desk for a signature. And, as predicted in Well+Good’s 2019 Wellness Trends, this potentially could affect everything from your morning coffee to your skin care regimen—because this bill sets the stage for CBD to go big-time, with a huge wave of new products. Every five-ish years, this massive piece of legislation gets an update, essentially setting the tone for agricultural policy in the half-decade that follows. This year, in between details about farmer’s market funding and food stamps, there are also some major new mandates around hemp cultivation. This new legislation paves the way for the wellness-world star ingredient (which is said to have major anti-inflammatory powers) to break through to the mainstream. This new legislation paves the way for the wellness-world star ingredient (which is said to have major anti-inflammatory powers) to break through to the mainstream, but there are still some nuances to understand. Will hemp—and hemp-derived CBD oils, tinctures, cookies, serums, and so on—suddenly become legal in all 50 states once Trump signs the bill? That’s not exactly the case. Here, we break down what the 2018 Farm Bill means for the CBD industry, and why it may still be some time before you’re able to score a CBD seltzer as easily as you can a Coke. What does the 2018 Farm
Eye doctors would like you to ditch that nasty tube of mascara *this* often
December 15, 2018 at 03:00AM If you’re anything like me, you swipe on mascara every single day so that you look more awake and, ok, put together. But day in and day out, as I dunk my wand into the goopy black elixir and slather it all over my lashes, I don’t do a single thing in order to clean it or make sure I’m not introducing all sorts of germs to my eyeballs. But (oops!) apparently, I should be. As in: At least once every three months. As I recently discovered, there’s a hazardous risk if you’re not replacing your gunky old mascara on the reg, or fully removing it from your eyes at the end of the day. “Long-term use of mascara has been associated with higher rates of eyelashes falling out, and mascara tubes that become contaminated with germs can lead to eye infections,” says Justin Bazan, OD an optometrist and medical adviser to The Vision Council. “The more use a tube has had, the higher potential for it to be contaminated with germs that can lead to eye infections and irritation.” I’m also about to reveal a dirty secret: I don’t throw out my mascara after being sick, despite fully still using while I’m infected. And, as you can imagine, that’s not a good idea. “Never wear eye makeup if you have an eye infection—throw out the mascara you had on before you got the infection, as it may be contaminated,” says Dr. Bazan. “Your infection
Think you’re a visual, audio, or kinesthetic learner? Think again
December 14, 2018 at 12:41PM If your childhood school days were anything like mine, at some point, your teacher divided you and your fellow classmates into three types of learners: visual, audio, or kinesthetic. Since then, you’ve wrapped some fraction of your personality around the fact that a chart is the key to your heart, or that you’ll retain plot points better if you listen to an audiobook. Well, I’m here to tell you, my friends, that it might have all been a lie. Researchers have found evidence to suggest that this model of prescribed learning styles, which is called VAK for short, might very well be a “neuromyth.” A 2004 study found that catering to a students’ VAK didn’t result in better learning outcomes, reports Scientific American. And more recently (in 2010), Cedar Riener and Daniel Willingham, both cognitive psychologists, wrote an article—which is really more of a takedown, TBH—about why the categorization just doesn’t work. “Students do have preferences about how they learn. Many students will report preferring to study visually and others through an auditory channel,” the article says. “However, when these tendencies are put to the test under controlled conditions, they make no difference—learning is equivalent whether students learn in the preferred mode or not.” Until researchers find definitive proof that changing the format of a lesson actually leads to better learning outcomes, they argue that you can’t consider this a reliable format for understanding how you commit information to memory. “The big issue is that when we classify students into
Some days it’s just harder to run—here’s why that’s totally normal
December 14, 2018 at 12:18PM As a runner, some days I’m able to happily gallop across a field (okay, the street) or on the treadmill as though it’s the easiest thing in the world and my legs are made of springs. Other days, though? My legs feel 100 times their normal weight—almost impossible to get moving—and I find myself stopping to walk way too frequently for my liking. And so the run, rather than being an easy glide around the park, becomes a torturous task that feels akin to climbing Mount Everest. I know that my seemingly polar running days aren’t a foreign occurrence, though. Other runners agree that this happens to them as well, but still—none of us have a clue why this variation in running stamina happens. And so I set upon a quest to finally figure out why there are good and bad run days. The factors that influence your run You know how some mornings you can practically leap out of bed and others require hitting the snooze button several times? Your body just functions differently every day—and a lot of variables contribute to this. “It all depends on your sleep, diet, and exercise recovery,” says Krista Stryker, fitness expert, 12-Minute Athlete creator, and author. “Some days you’re just going to naturally feel stronger and more energized than others.” Sleep is your number one recovery tool, she says, so if you don’t sleep well, it’ll definitely affect your workout. Also important? What you eat. “Did you eat
Want to amp up your arm workout? Hit the floor
December 14, 2018 at 11:40AM You definitely want strong arms (you know, so that you can lift things and open pickle jars). But the traditional means to achieving that end can be a little, well, boring. Honestly—who wants to do bicep curls or tricep dips or straight-up push-ups for 20-minutes straight? The good news is that you don’t have to burn-out your arms that way. The secret, according to Obe trainer Amanda Kloots? Do arm workouts on your knees. “I find that if you are on your knees doing arms, it’s harder because you don’t have your legs to help you, so you really isolate the muscle and you have to really just focus on using your arms,” she says. “When you have your legs and your feet planted on your floor and your knees bent, you have the support of your lower body, and you can use your lower body to help you move your arms up and down. But when you go down on those knees, you don’t have that—so you really put all that weight into your arms.” Essentially, when you take your arm workout to the floor, you’re making it more efficient by isolating the muscles since the rest of your body can’t help you out. Kloots likes to use this method to target deltoids, triceps, and lats—sometimes all at once. “I was a dancer my whole life, so I’ve always been trained to use your back muscles to lift your arms, and that’s killing two birds
The dos and don’ts of getting through the holidays happily, despite hating your parent’s S.O.
December 14, 2018 at 10:02AM The holiday season is already rife with situations of unavoidable small talk. You gotta be your best, most social self at your end-of-year work party, at your significant other’s family dinner, and—especially when your own family is blended—the house where you grew up might not even be safe from cringeworthy communication this time of year. Maybe your mom brought her new boo to the Christmas family feast for the first time—and she’s a total snooze. And maybe it’s Dad’s girlfriend’s second stint of spending the most wonderful time of the year with your brood, but talking with her still feels forced at best. When you don’t like a parent’s choice in significant other, it’s basically just a rift waiting to happen—and there’s nothing like the holidays to highlight that reality. But as a grown up, you know that simply not appreciating the personality of your parent’s partner isn’t cause for ruining the holidays. Unless this person is abusive, a narcissist, or a sociopath, you gotta tolerate them—as tough as that may be. “Usually, your parents are the leaders,” says psychotherapist Aimee Barr, LCSW. “But when the parent and their new significant other need to be accommodated and tolerated, it alters the dynamic.” Now, instead of your parent serving as the welcoming committee to your new fling, you’re the one working to keep an open mind and heart. Still, since you may well just not like this person, experts share the dos and don’ts for dealing. 7
Because you’re a special snowflake, customized beauty is here for your unique needs
December 14, 2018 at 10:01AM If you asked me to predict what the future would look like in terms of beauty—like, I’m talking Blade Runner-slash-The Fifth Element future—I’d picture completely personalized serums put together by robots (naturally) that are specifically tailored to people’s unique skin type and needs. Back in the day, you’d probably think this type of utopian beauty world would only happen once there are flying cars and robotic butlers. Welp, I’m here to tell you that the time is now: Customizable beauty is becoming a thing. Over the past year, customizable beauty products have been sprinkling into the market. Think serums that are concocted once you answer questions or consult with a skin-care expert, hair products that are formulated for your very particular hair needs, and acne products put together based on your breakout ATM. “Technology permits us to customize so much now, and so the expectation is changing for more items and experiences to be personalized, including beauty,” says Janet Pardo, senior vice president of global product development at Clinique. “Sixty-one percent of women are interested in personalized cosmetics, and we saw this as the perfect way to modernize a beloved product.” As a result, Clinique created its customized hydrators Clinique iD, which pair three hydrating bases with five cartridges to offer up fifteen skin-specific cocktails to treat everything from sensitivity to hyperpigmentation. It makes sense. Anyone who’s tried to assemble their perfect skin-care regimen can attest to the struggle of trial and error. One thing can make