October 19, 2018 at 04:50AM We’re living in the heyday of trendy eyeglasses, can’t you see? (Had to.) Reaching for your glasses is no longer a last resort on mornings when your peepers are tired. Rather, you don your choice of black cat-eyes, wire aviators, or tortoiseshell frames on a daily basis because you look and feel rad. Need proof rocking specs has become a major fashion statement? Mega-accomplished babes like Lupita Nyong’o, Oprah, and Kate Winslet walk the red carpet in outfit-making frames, and high-profile designers are working with enduring eyewear makers to help disrupt the industry. Case in point: Fashion designer Christian Siriano (of Project Runway fame) recently teamed up with Transitions lenses to launch a next-level style initiative with new style colors and style mirrors lens designs. The photochromic lenses go from clear to dark to protect your eyes when you’re outdoors (and from dark to clear when indoors, to help protect your eyes while you’re staring at your laptop for eight-plus hours a day). How’s that for a wellness perk? Here’s the gist: Now, instead of doing the awkward fumble between your glasses and sunglasses (err, all day), you can make a hands-free swap from chic intellectual to your fave mirrored aviators look, while being mindful of your eye health, to boot. Insert praise hands emoji here. Scroll down for 3 legit wellness benefits that come with upgrading your glasses with Transitions lenses. 1. Upping your style game Okay, so maybe appearing fashionable isn’t a wellness benefit, but look good,
Category: 2019 Health
The anti-inflammatory ingredient Meghan Markle adds to her banana bread
October 19, 2018 at 03:54AM Meghan Markle is totally that friend that never comes empty-handed to gatherings. Need proof? The mom-to-be (who did just release a cookbook, after all) brought a homemade baked good to a recent royal event she attended with Prince Harry in Australia. Her go-to crowd-pleaser appears to be banana bread—but with a special anti-inflammatory ingredient. Aside from adding in chocolate chips (which are always a win), The Duchess of Sussex also included some ginger in her recipe. And the root’s ability to rid your body of inflammation is only one of its many benefits: it’s also been shown to help fight off cancer, boost your cardio health, and even stave off bad breath. The latter of which is clearly important to the Royals, seeing as how they forbid garlic and all. Aside from adding in chocolate chips (which are always a win), she also included some anti-inflammatory ginger in her recipe. Unfortunately, Markle isn’t sharing her go-to recipe just yet. (If you’re looking for an easy banana bread recipe, start with this five-star one from Elise Bauer.) But the Daily Mail did report that it was a total hit and the group devoured it in minutes. So for now, you’ll have to be satisfied with knowing exactly which ingredients to add into your typical banana bread mix to give it a tasty—and body-benefiting!—royal spin. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle just adopted a very good dog—for their health, of course. Or, find out where you can score Markle’s super-affordable white sneakers.
The lighting solutions you need to burn every last bit of your cozy fall candles
October 18, 2018 at 12:47PM Burning a candle down to the wick is bittersweet. On one hand, it means you’re fully embracing peak hygge mode; on the other, it also means that your aromatic affair with particular (ahem) flame has come to end. But if the tiniest centimeter of wax is still lingering at the bottom of your candle, and your matchstick can’t quite reach without scorching your hand, you don’t need to say goodbye just yet. By crowdsourcing the Well+Good office, I came up with a laundry list of items that will work in a butane lighter’s stead should you want to enjoy every last ounce of your candle. And chances are, you have at least one of them at home. Palo santo: With just a few more inches than your average match, this wood will reach the candle wick and use its good juju to clear the air of any bad vibes as well. Who knows? Maybe the smoke from the palo santo might just combine with your candle’s scent to produce, like, the headiest night-in atmosphere ever. Sage: On that note, if you’re pulling triple duty with sage, palo santo, and a candle, you could use the smudge stick to light the candle, too. As an added bonus, every vampire and ghoul within miles will be deterred from interrupting your Netflix sesh. A strand of spaghetti: Alright, so you’re dealing with a tall and skinny candle-carrying vessel that’s fit to line dining tables in the middle ages. Do not panic. Instead, solve this conundrum the same way
This strapless bra’s cups runneth over with the promise of comfort and style
October 18, 2018 at 12:26PM Of all the different styles of bras, it’s fair to say that strapless ones have the worse reputation. Years of ill-fitting design flaws and unnaturally firm cups are to blame for a lot of the ill will women have toward the undergarment. So, you’d be forgiven for passing over strapless styles in favor of more multi-functional options like stunt bras. Or, joining team no bra, even. You’re not alone, certainly. But, before you write off strapless bras entirely, you should know something. An online community of bra wearers (some 6,000 and counting) believe they’ve stumbled upon the strapless bra that’ll change everything you thought about strapless bras. The Flex strapless bra from Harper Wilde is apparently so good it’s like coffee or avocados. You know, able to make pretty much everyone happy. The Flex strapless bra from Harper Wilde is apparently so good it’s like coffee or avocados. You know, able to make pretty much everyone happy. Having first heard about it on Refinery29, its cups seemed to run over with so much promise that more investigation needed to take place to ensure this is, in fact, a strapless bra that won’t wind up somewhere around your belly button before the end of a night. So, I clicked through to the reviews for The Flex and started reading. People seem to really love its $35 price tag. They also seem to be fans of the fact that it comes up to a size 40 band
I tried anti-gravity yoga to fulfill my Cirque du Soleil dreams—here’s what happened
October 18, 2018 at 11:54AM Am I the only one who has harbored a deep yearning to hang elegantly upside-down from a pastel-hued hammock since seeing commercials for Cirque du Soleil? I don’t think so. And luckily, if you call New York, Miami, Los Angeles, or San Fran home, you can fulfill your desire to backbend in mid-air at your local Crunch Gym’s “AntiGravity” yoga class. Last week, I donned my bendiest threads to catch a happy hour-timed class at New York’s Crunch on 59th street to see if a literal new perspective on my asana practice would fulfill my aerial acrobatic itch, and let me tell you—it was ethereal. Not only did I leave the class feeling like Wendy in Peter Pan after experiencing pixie dust for the first time (“I can fly! I can fly!”), the practice also came with another benefit. Despite the fact that I roll out my mat four to five times a week to move through sun-salutations, handstands, and chair poses, I got to experience every pose anew (in mid-air). Photo: Stocksy/Rolfo This is what my anti-gravity yoga experience was like When I first enter the room, the instructor adjusts my hammock (kinda like a spin bike) so that the bottom of the loop hangs just at my hips. Already, my inner child dares me to hop on the fixture and start swinging, but I quickly remind myself that I’m an adult (*sigh*), and should probably behave myself. To warm up, all of us shimmy our seats into the the silky,
Patterned tights are the only thing your legs need to take your summer dress obsession in to fall
October 18, 2018 at 11:06AM I stopped wearing pants when I was 14, and ever since, cold weather dressing has been a special conundrum since it involves figuring out myriad ways to keep my legs warm under dresses and skirts. On a practical level, it requires learning how to layer without bulking myself up to look like the Michelin man. Style-wise, it’s pretty difficult to not feel like I’m in a rut or look like I’m repeating the same outfit over and over again (even if DVF says it okay) because all anyone can see are my black tights and winter coat. Recently a slew of well-dressed strangers on New York City sidewalks showed me the solution—patterned tights. As the temps have finally dipped, I’ve started to notice that every outfit that stops me in my tracks involves a pair of bold, patterned, and textured tights. And TBH, I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of this sooner—a pair of bold tights might actually solve 80 percent of my winter wardrobe issues. That’s because they do three things: 1. Add an interesting element to an otherwise everyday coat. 2. Make you look put together with minimal effort. 3. Keep your legs warm, duh! So last week when I walked by an Urban Outfitters mannequin wearing plaid blue tights, I bit the fashion bullet and bought a pair. Once I got over my fear of bold prints and finally convinced myself that I could pull them off, I wore them with a plain black outfit (the
Ah, so *this* is the correct order to wash your hair
October 18, 2018 at 11:02AM When it comes down to basic self care practices, people pretty much have it all down to a science. But when you stop to really think about what you’re doing, questions get raised: should you actually wash your legs? How do you shave your legs, really? Then another question like that popped up when I met with Arnaud Plas, co-founder and CEO of hair company Prose this morning: Am I washing my hair in the right order? According to him, when using the brand’s highly potent hair masks, you should be using a hair mask before you shampoo. Welp, I’ve been doing it all wrong. Some masks have less-concentrated ingredients which make them totally fine to go on post-shampooed hair because they only need to be rinsed through, yet others that are often dubbed “pre-shampoo treatments” need to be applied ahead of sudsing up because the active ingredients should be washed out. “You want to use our hair mask before you shampoo, because then you’re able to reach 25 percent active ingredients, which is not something you can do if you use a mask after the shampoo,” says Plas. However, active ingredients aren’t the only reason that you might want to mask ahead of your shampoo. Conditioning agents can certainly help to repair hair and make it happy again, but the flip side is that they can also weigh it down and, in some cases, even make it look greasy or like you should go for another rinse.
So you’ve got knee, hip, or low back pain? Here’s how to modify your workout accordingly
October 18, 2018 at 10:49AM When your sweat-inducing endorphins rush gets interrupted by knee or hip pain, a satisfying workout can quickly turn into a game of 20 questions: What did I do wrong? Was my form off? Whyyy? But next time the compromised state of these two all-important joints threatens to sideline your training efforts, Tony Comella, a California-based physical therapist, suggests making a handful of modifications to reduce the stress you’re placing on them (rather than bailing on your training plan entirely). “When considering an athlete or individual with low-back, hip, or knee pain, we can potentially continue to train these patterns while reducing overall stress to a particular area,” the recovery expert writes in an Instagram post. To follow his rules, use his handy-dandy graphic representation of squat variations and deadlifts that place the most and least strain on your hips and knees. Here’s an example: If you’re experiencing knee pain, skip the overhead squats (located on the far right side of the chart) because that version of your favorite butt-burning move requires the most work from your knees. Instead, Comella recommends a low bar squat, in which the you hold the bar behind your back, rather than overhead. The opposite side of the chart works the same way, so a sumo deadlift will be the very best choice for anyone experiencing hip pain. View this post on Instagram . HOW TO MODIFY TRAINING — This graph shows a simple representation of how much relative hip and knee dominance
Plant-based protein battle: Tempeh versus tofu
October 18, 2018 at 09:25AM While food innovation has gifted plant-based, vegan, and vegetarian eaters with an array of meat-like options (looking at you, “bleeding” burger patty), there’s no denying that when it comes to plant-based protein options, tempeh and tofu still reign supreme as the most popular substitutes. While both meatless options are essentially super-versatile soy, there are key differences in texture, taste, and health benefits. Considering even meat-eaters could benefit from regularly eating meatless meals, I asked plant-based specialist Lori Zanini, RD, CDE and author of the Diabetes Cookbook and Meal Plan for the Newly Diagnosed and Reema Kanda, RDN at Hoag Orthopedic Institute, Irvine CA to break down health differences between the two vegan proteins that get the most love. Below, Zanini and Kanda explain these two meatless faves and then answer which ultimately wins out in the plant-based protein battle of tempeh vs. tofu. Photo: Twenty20/ @margueta What is tempeh, exactly? Tempeh is made from fermented soybeans that have been soaked, hulled, cooked, and then molded into a patty-like shape. Of course, there’s some variation in the shape the cooked soy beans get molded into, like tempeh sold in bacon-like strips. While fermented soybeans are the main ingredient, tempeh often contains any or all of the following: quinoa, barley millet, flax seed, brown rice, sesame seeds and spices. This means sometimes tempeh is gluten-free, but other times it is not; it ultimately comes down to the manufacturer. Most tempeh products will say either “gluten-free” or “contains wheat” on the package, so if you’re
Sex-positive healthcare is here to make doctors’ visits comfortable for all
October 18, 2018 at 09:21AM Despite the fact that a doctor can alleviate pain and even save lives, the sad truth is that many people will do just about anything to avoid visiting their healthcare provider. And it goes beyond the needles and speculums—a lot of people simply don’t feel comfortable being open and honest with a stranger in a white lab coat. This is especially true when it comes to the OB-GYN. Women of all genders have complicated feelings around going to the gynecologist: A 2003 study that surveyed women between the ages of 18-71 found that around two-thirds of women experience anxiety around visiting their OB-GYN. In some cases, this comes down to a straightforward issue, like shyness or the fear of receiving bad news. But it could also go deeper—think a previous sexual trauma or a not-so-great gynecologist who made them uncomfortable in the past. And a lot of patients just aren’t sure how a doctor will perceive them and their sexuality or gender. “I only date women, and I’ve avoided the gynecologist for a lot of my life because it makes me uncomfortable. Plus, I don’t need a birth-control prescription so it’s always felt like pointless misery,” says Lisa, a 31-year-old living in San Francisco. “When I have gone, the experiences haven’t exactly been pleasant. I live in a really liberal city, and it still feels like OB-GYNs have no idea what to make of me.” While the guidelines around how often we need to go