January 02, 2019 at 12:23PM I remember my first pair of running sneakers. Scene: 2008. I had just gotten into stringing together multiple miles for fun, and purchased a pair of Nikes at a local sports shop because they were A) inexpensive and B) nice to look at. Fast forward two years later, I quickly learned that I had to stop shopping based on aesthetics or trends. I stopped by a local run store, was fitted, did a gait analysis, and the whole shebang. I walked out the door that day dropping a pretty penny for sneakers from a brand I’d never heard of, and despite being hesitant at the time, was a whole lot better for it. The fact is: It can be super overwhelming to figure out which sneaker is the right one with so many options available to runners these days. Especially as more and more brands are trying to make a name for themselves in the category. In 2017 alone, the United States athletic footwear industry generated $19.6 billion in sales, according to global information company the NPD Group. The biggest players in the game? Nike and Adidas. But other names are trying to claim some of those dollars, too, adding more run options to their portfolio. Take Reebok, for instance. In December 2016, the brand announced their Floatride Run shoe utilizing a proprietary foam that gives consistent cushioning throughout the foot. “Running is at the core of our consumer’s fitness life,” says Scott Daley, Vice
Category: Fashion
6 steps to take before deciding it’s time to bail on a friendship
January 02, 2019 at 09:35AM When you’re living your best Sex and the City-inspired life and meeting your “core four” (or however many form your ideal personal coven) regularly for brunch and gossip, friendship likely feels positive and additive to your life. It’s fun! It’s telling one she’s better than the crush she’s waiting to hear from. It’s covering the tab until the other finds a new job. It’s making sure another gets home safe. But life is not always a box of Manolos. Sometimes, friendship is listening to her ruminate endlessly over her last relationship, her mother’s struggles with cancer, her own fertility issues, her bleak finances. And sometimes, it’s just feeling like a receptacle where she deposits all of her anxious and/or depressive thoughts. It can be draining, and confusing—especially since it’s so tough to identify when issues discussed in friendship cross over from “crisis for her” to “crisis for you.” And when self-care is the order of the day, does distancing yourself from the darkness make you a wellness warrior or a bad friend? Below, experts discuss how to deal with friendship rough patches and knowing when to call it quits. Keep reading for expert tips on navigating imbalanced friendships. Photo: Getty Images/Carlina Teteris 1. Assess the overall health of your relationship Every relationship has ups and downs, so it’s important to evaluate the situation holistically before taking any action. According to friendship expert Shasta Nelson, three markers designate a healthy friendship—the first being positivity. To measure this,
The easy financial habits to form in 2019 that will pay off big time
January 01, 2019 at 01:00AM Chase Financial Education Ambassador Farnoosh Torabi is here to help you make dollars and cents out of your financial goals for the year ahead. Embark on a four-week journey in which she helps you assess your current situation, plan for what’s ahead, and set yourself up for financial success throughout the rest of the year. However many of your 2018 to-dos remain undone—and no matter how many glasses of Champagne you drank on December 31—January 1 still manages to feel like a fresh start. The pages of your brand-new planner are clean, crisp, and totally blank; and 12 gloriously empty months stretch out in front of you, open to all kinds of possibilities. Maybe you’ll move to a new city, or leave a job you can’t stand, or run a marathon. Or maybe you’ll dedicate 2019 to (finally) getting your finances in order. With most goals—but especially when it comes to your personal finances—it’s easy to set yourself up for failure by only giving yourself a week or a month to create new habits or change bad behavior. But a whole year? That gives you enough time to make some strides. Especially if you start strong in January, and especially if you get specific about what it is you want to accomplish. I’m a big believer in setting smaller goals along the way—they can create a lot of momentum to help you feel confident about doing the bigger stuff. So instead of saying, “I want to get out of
The Complete Zodiac Guide To 2019. What’s In The Stars For You?
December 31, 2018 at 11:30PM Plant your soles on solid ground, but don’t take your shoes off and get comfortable just yet. Continue Reading… Author The AstroTwins | Life by Daily Burn Selected by iversue
Fleece-lined shoes are so cozy—but should you be wearing socks with them?
December 31, 2018 at 08:26AM It’s officially peak fuzzy shoe season. And this begs the question: Should you wear socks with shearling shoes—or does it defeat the purpose of swaddling your soles in fuzzy fleece? It seems cruel to deprive your toes of such a cozy experience… but as podiatrist Suzanne Fuchs points out: “The moisture or sweat from your feet will be worsened by the fabric and friction in your shoes. You need something that will absorb, and/or help decrease the amount of moisture.” So basically, yes, please wear your enclosed shearling shoes (boots, loafers, sneakers) with socks. Fuchs recommends looking for socks that are made with copper and silver, as they are antibacterial. She also suggests socks made with temperature-regulating and moisture-wicking fabrics, such as merino wool or a nylon blend. Skip the cotton socks, as Fuchs says they can actually keep heat and moisture in, causing more sweat. Mules and slides with shearling are a little trickier because they’re designed to be worn sans full socks. However, a quick Google search reveals that you can actually buy half socks designed specifically to be worn with slides and mules. Moral of the story: It’s probably in your best hygienic/not-making-your-shoes-smelly interest to wear socks with your shearling-lined shoes, even though it’s tempting to just let the aforementioned fleece envelop your feet in its fuzzy softness. Le sigh. Suffering from style SAD? Add these mood-boosting pieces into your rotation. Then, check out the personal style tips 5 fashion writers are taking into the new year.
You should actually start eating your parsley garnishes in the name of good health
December 31, 2018 at 08:00AM As a college student in the early aughts, I worked at a restaurant where there were two different garnish options for the dishes: kale and parsley. Obviously, kale has come a long way since those days, going from background actor to star ingredient in salads, grain bowls, and smoothies. But what about parsley? Its name may not be popping up on sweatshirts and in punny Instagram handles like kale, but it, too, has a ton of health benefits worth celebrating. To get the scoop on this unsung herbal hero, I checked in with Brynn McDowell, RD, creator of The Domestic Dietitian. As it turns out, this peppery Mediterranean herb deserves to be way more than just a visual flourish on your plate. 4 parsley benefits you should know about 1. Parsley contains anti-cancer compounds: Parsley’s leaves may be small, but they’re packed with antioxidants that have been linked to cancer prevention. One is a flavonol called myricetin, which is also found in cranberries, tea, and fennel. “Myricetin is a naturally occurring compound found in parsley that has been linked to the prevention of certain cancers, including breast and skin cancer,” says McDowell. Another study found myricetin to be effective in killing certain types of thyroid cancer cells. “Parsley also contains vitamin C, which is [another] antioxidant that has been shown to help cancer prevention,” McDowell says. More research is needed to confirm how these compounds interact with the human body, but the Mayo Clinic agrees that the more antioxidant-rich
Wanna become a yoga teacher? Here’s where to get certified in NYC and LA
December 31, 2018 at 05:00AM Being a yoga teacher sounds like a low-stress, high-vibe life. You get to hang out in an airy studio all day, wear yoga pants year-round (without even having to worry about shoes), and, of course, enjoy the reward of teaching yogis how to bend their bodies while getting a serious mind-body refresh. Namaste to that. There’s a lot that goes into becoming a certified yoga instructor, though. Yogis actually have to know a lot about the body, learn Sanskrit names for poses, and explore the history of the practice. To get a better idea of what it’s really like, I spoke with the two founders of Los Angeles’ Love Yoga. “Yoga teacher training is an experience,” says Kyle Miller, yogi and co-founder of the space. “It’s an investment in yourself, it’s a step forward on the path of self inquiry, it’s a leap of faith. It’s a multi-faceted, communal introduction into the theory, history, practicum, and technique of yoga.” “It’s an investment in yourself, it’s a step forward on the path of self inquiry, it’s a leap of faith.” —Kyle Miller A certain amount of hours are required in order to get certified, so it won’t just be a couple of classes and then bam, you’re a yoga teacher. “Yoga Alliance deems 200 hours for the most basic training, but of course this is arbitrary and really depends on the individual,” says Sian Gordon, co-founder and yogi at Love Yoga. “Some people feel ready to
These were the 10 most popular healthy recipes on Well+Good this year
December 31, 2018 at 04:00AM By now you’ve probably seen people posting their #Best9 on Instagram, sharing their year-end book lists and Spotify 2018 Wrapped playlists, or writing long Twitter threads keeping tabs on all their big 2018 career accomplishments. (That’s basically the last week of December on social media in a nutshell.) Well, consider this Well+Good’s more delicious take on a year-end list. We put together the top ten most popular recipes on the site so you can start the new year with some legit-good ideas in your back pocket. Some are from celebs, some are from our favorite wellness influencers, and all of them are full of good-for-you ingredients. Bookmark this page and come back to it whenever you need a little meal-prep inspo. Keep reading for the 10 most popular healthy recipes on Well+Good this year. Photo: Getty Images/Samir Hussein 1. Meghan Markle’s 3-ingredient creamy, vegetarian pasta sauce Ah, the Meghan Markle effect. The Duchess is well-known for her love of healthy eating (anti-inflammatory banana bread, anyone?), and after her healthy pasta sauce recipe resurfaced online, everyone wanted to know how to make it. And good news: it’s just as easy to make as Markle’s go-to comfy shoes are to wear. Photo: Jenny Carr 2. Gluten-free, anti-inflammatory lemon bars Can we bust the myth once and for all that you don’t have to give up dessert to lower inflammation? Health coach and recipe creator Jenny Carr’s lemon bars are made with all clean ingredients and no added sugar. Oh, and they’re
The barre class secret to making any pair of heeled boots more comfortable
December 30, 2018 at 04:00AM On a recent Sunday, I rode my bike over to one of my girlfriend’s apartments to eat dinner, which was really just an excuse for her to get me and her new boyfriend together, in the hopes that we’d hit it off. Anyone who has participated in this particular new relationship ritual knows it can involve a certain amount of awkwardness that can only occur between two strangers who are trying too hard to convince the other person to like them. (To be clear, I’m talking about me and her boyfriend.) And, understanding this, I was prepared for us to share at least a few uncomfortable silences over the course of the next couple hours. I just didn’t think it’d happen before I even entered the house. As he held the door open while I slipped off my shoes, we both found ourselves staring silently at my feet. You see, beneath my black cowboy boots, I was wearing a pair of bubblegum pink footie socks with the words “be mine” printed across the toes. They were clearly a carryover from Valentine’s Day…11 months earlier…and the sock equivalent of being caught wearing your bathing suit instead of real underwear. I could almost see the questions forming behind his furrowed brow and frames: “Is it laundry day?” “Did she lose a bet?” “Is she the idiosyncratic BFF you rarely see outside of Netflix rom-coms?” As if to answer his unspoken query, I leaned over and lifted one
11 must-read stories that dared to dig deep this year
December 29, 2018 at 03:18AM “Best” is about as subjective a word as they come. When I see something named the “best,” my contrarian brain immediately snaps back, Says who? What exactly was the methodology here? Which is why I’m not going to call the stories on this list the best of Well+Good in 2018. But—without hesitation—I will say that they are all so. damn. good. The 11 articles on this list dared to tackle big, messy, scary topics: I’m talking the opioid crisis, suicide, lobbying for cleaner beauty products in Washington, gender fluidity in the fashion industry, and more. So, these stories might not be the “best” Well+Good had to offer—because who am I to act as final arbiter of quality?—but they’re ones that raised our standard of reporting and storytelling this year. Looking back at them now, I’m so excited to reach even higher heights in 2019. Photo: Getty Images/Tatyana Tomzickova Photography America’s mothers are isolated, anxious, and depressed—here’s why From ideation to completion, this story took Erin Bunch months. But you can see the thoroughness of her reporting and the care with which she chose her words in every well-thought-out word of this opus on postpartum depression in America. Is CBD legal? Does it even work? It’s time to clear the haze of confusion surrounding the “miracle” ingredient As Erin Magner puts it in this story, CBD is the cool girl of the wellness world—right down to its air of mystery. For all the claims that CBD