September 20, 2019 at 04:53PM by CWC The Global Climate Strike is taking place right now in more than 150 countries. From September 20-27, ahead of the United Nation’s 2019 Climate Action Summit in New York City, millions of strikers will exit their schools, homes, offices, factories, and farms to protest the environmental atrocities occurring in their respective zip codes. “Some will spend the day in protest against new pipelines and mines, or the banks that fund them; some will highlight the oil companies fueling this crisis and the politicians that enable them,” reads the official website of the Global Climate Strike. Unfortunately, not everyone is in a position to walk out of their lives right here and right now. But that doesn’t mean you have to sit out this momentous event. On an individual level, there are moves you can make to lessen your own environmental footprint, and to demand the your representatives do the same on a larger scale. Here’s how to make an impact. 5 ways to help the environment, inspired by the Global Climate Strike 1. Ditch your car whenever you can Back in 2017, a study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters compared 147 individual actions on climate change. They found that cutting down on driving time is the single-best thing anyone can do for the environment. So ride your bike, walk, take public transportation, and do what you can stay far away from fossil fuels. 2. Eat less (or half the amount) of the
Category: City
The drugstore lip balms that dermatologists don’t go a day without recommending
September 20, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC I love fall, but there are two things that really grind my gears this time of year: I can’t use the Internet without being bombarded with advertisements for pumpkin spice everything, and my lips are so chapped that they feel like they could fall off at any moment. While there sadly isn’t a fix for my first problem (damn you, Starbucks), there is an easy way to deal with the second one, and it’s available at the drugstore. There are approximately six lip balms in every bag that I own and another 13 sitting on my desk, so suffice it to say that I know a thing or two about this product category. The good news is that you don’t need to drop a zillion dollars to find one that works. Instead, it’s about looking for the best, most hydrating ingredients. “I like to tell my patients to look for hydrating ingredients like petrolatum, lanolin, and hyaluronic acid when looking for a lip balm,” says board-certified dermatologist Sapna Palep, MD, of Spring Street Dermatology in New York City. She advises staying away from anything with fragrance or flavoring, which could lead to even more chapping. “I don’t think it’s necessary to drop big bucks on lip balm,” says Dr. Palep, confirming my theory that this is one product category you can certainly save on rather than doling out the big bucks. Here, she shares her favorite hydrating lip balms, none of which cost
These are the 9 healthiest items to order at P.F. Chang’s, according to a dietitian
September 20, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC Whether you live in a big city with literally hundreds of hole-in-the-wall Chinese places or a suburb with just a handful of hidden gems, people still flock to P.F. Chang’s as if it’s the only place in town serving up fried rice and wontons. Haters will say it’s because the chain—which has over 200 locations in the US—is almost always in a mall, drawing upon a customer base that just got too hungry while shopping at Pottery Barn to venture any further out. But that’s not why your local P.F. Chang’s always has a crowd. The thing is, it’s honestly really good. So good in fact that the chain has ventured into the world of frozen food so people can try to replicate their favorite restaurant dishes at home. Delicious, yes. But healthy? Well, like virtually every restaurant, some menu items are better than others. The P.F. Chang’s menu is about the size of a pocket dictionary, making it hard to zero in on the items that are truly healthy, and even more difficult if you follow a specific eating plan, such as keto, vegetarian, or gluten-free. That’s where registered dietitian Chelsey Amer, RD, comes in. Here, she reveals the healthiest items on the menu for the three aforementioned eating plans, which can also serve as a blueprint to healthy eating at the restaurant regardless of what your food ethos is. Ready to see what she picked? Keep reading to find out. Ketogenic
The failproof way to ensure your manicure never grows out before you’re ready
September 19, 2019 at 11:14PM by CWC I’m the queen of chipped nails. Between all the cooking, typing, and tending to my urban jungle, it’s not uncommon for me to pay my manicurist a visit between appointments. But that was before I realized I could save time and money by reaching for a Sharpie instead. Shailene Woodley admits doesn’t always have time for touch-ups between manicures (she’s just like us!), and she told Well+Good her secret to maintaining a mani fresh despite her inordinately busy celebrity schedule. When she knows she won’t have time for a manicure for a while, she paints her nails with black polish and keeps a black Sharpie on hand. Anytime Woodley has a chip or needs to fill in a spot where her nails have grown out, it’s an easy way to get a near-flawless touch-up without a mess—and it only takes a second. This best part about this hack is that it works with nearly all of ’em. If you want to ensure your manicure never grows out before you’re ready—or fill in any chips that come up!—choose one of these polishes to match to a variety of Sharpie colors. Is it the perfect solution? No, but it’s damn close. Nail polish to match a Sharpie Buy Now Revlon Nail Enamel, Knockout $5 Buy Now Essie Nail Polish, Mint Candy Apple $7 Buy Now Jin Soon Nail Polish, Love $18 Buy Now Côte Nail Polish, No.121 $18 Buy Now OPI Nail Polish, Steel Waters Run
Nobel Prize-winning technology is coming for your skin care
September 19, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC At a certain point when every influencer, heiress, and celebrity has decided to join the beauty bubble and launch a skin-care brand, one starts to wonder if products are worth the hype. What’s actually behind them, anyway? Do they exist simply to expand someone else’s personal brand? Are they worth our attention? Our expendable income? Times like these make scientific studies, Nobel prize-winning discoveries, and vetted teams willing to invest in real innovation shine a bit brighter through the clouded expanse of options. Enter Clé de Peau Beauté, which just launched one of the most innovative collections on the market that doesn’t dumb down the real issues—like skin burnout—or just think about the surface. With seven new players including one hero (spoiler: it’s the serum) the Key Radiance Care layout is designed to tackle the effects of serious stress on your skin. “Think about when your brain is stressed–how do you look when you’re completely stressed out?” asks Jason Leong, the brand’s national training executive and formulation guru. “Skin cells are like the brain of your skin—internal and external stress lower skin intelligence. When this happens, skin cells become out of balance, which leads to visible damage and aging.” The concept led to the team’s newest innovation—a nine-ingredient illuminating complex at the heart of all their products—that uses state-of-the-art technology to give your skin a second chance. What is autophagy and why do we want it? To combat exactly this kind of one-two punch on your
The Class by Taryn Toomey is coming to a city near you (you heard me!)
September 19, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC Every Sunday, no matter how non-virtuous my behavior the night before, I scrape myself out of bed at 8 a.m. to make it to a 9 a.m. exercise class. I do this not because I love to work out (I do not), but because it is the only time in the entire week I can catch The Class by Taryn Toomey (who happens to also be a Well+Good Council member) near my house in east L.A., and I gotta have it. If you know The Class, you know The Class. Trying to describe the yoga-HIIT-dance hybrid always makes me feel inadequate as a wordsmith, because it’s really different than anything else out there. Much of The Class is focused upon the principles that you can build long, lean muscle by focusing on working fast-twitch muscles. You do this by repeating small, dance-like movements for what feels like for-e-ver. It’s emotional, raw, and plain-and-simple: effective. And it’s gained enough of a reputation outside of the New York City and Los Angeles bubbles that the brand felt like it needed to take Toomey’s show on the road. In an attempt to answer these calls, she’s kicking off a seven-city tour this October. “Every day we receive emails and DMs from students near and far that are asking about when The Class might come to them, whether that’s in Midtown or Nashville,” says Toomey. “So we decided to bring it to cities where we’ve never been,
Find your superfood soulmate based on your wellness goals
September 19, 2019 at 04:30AM by CWC Integrating superfoods into your everyday diet is awesome—but understanding which superfoods address specific areas of your health before adding them to your grocery cart? Even better. For a refresher, here’s what a superfood actually is: “A superfood is a naturally occurring ingredient that has health-supporting properties in the form of antioxidants, anti-inflammatory compounds, highly bioavailable nutrients, or unique structural components,” explains Ali Miller, RD, CDE integrative dietician, and author of The Anti-Anxiety Diet. To put it simply, superfoods are organic methods of reaping wellness-boosting benefits, in just one scoop. (Life. Hack.) If you’re saying “yes please” to all of the above, same. The next step is figuring out how to actually add them to your diet—and luckily, that task has gotten a lot easier. Enter Further Food, the women-owned and led brand that dishes up real superfood supplements that you can add into your morning smoothie or go-to caffeinated bev. Developed by leading naturopathic doctors, scientists, and herbalists, the supplements are designed to support specific parts of your wellness—so you can find the exact one to meet your needs, because it’s all about that customized life. Keep scrolling to see which superfood supplements you should opt for depending on your wellness goals. Radiant skin It’s not news that the beauty scene has been buzzing about collagen, and for good reason: Studies have shown that the supplement could potentially help boost skin elasticity and hydration, meaning it could be nature’s way of giving you
Scuba diving in the Caribbean gave me the meditative experience I didn’t sign up for
September 19, 2019 at 03:00AM by CWC When I arrived in Utila, Honduras—one of country’s three Bay Islands, which are located in the Caribbean—I had no intention of scuba diving period, let alone taking a certification course and then scuba diving in Costa Rica soon thereafter. But once I arrived on the Central American island surrounded by soft blue waters, I quickly learned that diving is enmeshed in area’s culture. Practically everyone I met was taking a course and seemed puzzled as to why I was even visiting if not to dive. So, nervous as I was, I changed my plan—while in Utila, do as Utilia tourists do, right? I enrolled in an open-water diving course for the entry-level certification, and while I wasn’t shocked about how quickly I fell in love with the activity, I hadn’t anticipated the underlying reason why. From the beginning, I knew diving would be a constant exercise in learning to keep my cool, and the first rule I learned facilitated this: Just keep breathing. It’s simple but something I definitely had to keep in mind in order to stay calm. After all, inhaling underwater after spending your whole life associating such an action with drowning is a strange sensation that can be scary. I put the rule to good use on my first day when my instructor and I were running through potential underwater mishaps and emergency situations at about 8 to 10 feet underwater. After one of these exercises, I had a panic
Try this two-minute trick for turning insecurities into confidence
September 18, 2019 at 11:55PM by CWC It can be easy to let seemingly harmless thoughts (like wondering why your skin won’t cooperate with your own agenda, or skipping that workout class due to the anxiety of sweating it out with a group of strangers) the same way you mentally cycle through your daily to-do list. But according to blogger, model, and disability advocate Mama Cax, now is the time to quit the negative self talk. And at our recent Wellness Collective event with Athleta, she broke down exactly how. The answer? Leaning on the power of your (literal) collective. In real time, she confronted these feelings head on by asking all 41 women in the room to write down their top three insecurities on a sheet of paper—and then share them with each other. Not an easy task, but the exercise proved that even taking a moment to be mindful of how you speak to yourself can immediately halt its effects. Case in point: One pair of women—who were complete strangers until this moment—were hung up on the same exact characteristic (they both thought they sweat too much) and felt a giant sense of relief once they realized they weren’t alone. Letting your insecurities out into the open creates an opportunity to reframe them—and reclaim your power. “How you talk to yourself affects how you feel,” shared Cax, who survived having her leg amputated due to cancer. “Instead of saying, ‘I hate my scars,’ I say, ‘I’m happy I
The grown-up version of ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ stretches the tightest muscles in your body
September 18, 2019 at 05:41PM by CWC When I picture my own personal hell-scape, the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” loops endlessly while scary cartoon characters dance around me with ritualistic fervor. But I really shouldn’t be so fast to dismiss the lesson at the heart this nursery rhyme. Learning how to use your head, shoulders, knees, and toes as an outline for stretching out your full body each day is something worth carrying well into adulthood, says yoga teacher Lindsay Pirozzi of New York City’s Y7 studio. “Stretching keeps the muscles flexible, it increases our range of motion, protects our joints,” says the yoga teacher. “Both joints and muscles are so necessary in everyday functional movements that we rarely think twice about—sitting down to go to the bathroom, walking up the subway stairs, bending down because we dropped our cell phone, or even lifting your arms to reach something overhead.” When you make head-to-toe stretching part of your daily ritual, everything else becomes that much easier. The same tender loving care also helps keep your mental dashboard free and clear, according to Pirozzi. She explains that in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), skipping physical self-care is believed to lock stagnant, stale energy inside the body. “Stuck energy in the body feels a lot like tension, and tension is the least natural sensation we’ll experience as humans. It’s a sign we have lost sight of our breath, and our connection to self,” she says. Um, no thanks. Below, Pirozzi shares an all-grown-up