September 06, 2019 at 04:57PM by CWC Baking soda is the ultimate multi-hyphenate. It’s a stain remover, toilet bowl/garbage disposal/sneaker deodorizer, drain un-clogger, fabric softener, inflammation fighter, skincare savior, perfect-hard-boiled-egg maker, and even an embarrassing-tan-line eliminator, among other things. So, it can definitely be used as a teeth whitener, because it’s good at everything, and because Julia Roberts (the smile) says so. Right? Sort of. “Baking soda acts to remove stains and whiten teeth by scrubbing the enamel surfaces with more abrasive particles,” says Inna Chern, DDS, a New York City-based dentist. “It is effective in removing superficial stains from teeth but not the ones that get embedded in deeper aspects of the tooth structure.” Okay, fine, but do we really care about the stains no one can see but our dentist? I mean, Julia Roberts has made an icon out of her surface-level shine. Unfortunately, the dentist caveats don’t stop at superficiality. Both Dr. Chern and Lawrence Fung, DDS, a cosmetic dentist based in Los Angeles, caution that unregulated amounts of baking soda can cause damage to the teeth. “Baking soda is actually not the best idea [for whitening], because on the abrasive chart it can be higher leading to more tooth/enamel wear with modest whitening results,” says Dr. Fung. Chern adds that it can also cause changes in oral mucosa, the delicate tissue of the cheek and gums. Both dentists say to be wary of using a pure baking soda paste or, like Roberts’ grandfather, just dumping a
Category: You and your body
How to set healthy boundaries with an ex who’s still in your social circle
September 06, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC It seems that nobody I know is good at setting boundaries in relationships, present or past. When it comes to dating, the effects of this can wreak havoc on social circles, because if you date within your social group, and then break up within your social group, and then remain in your social group, not much else but chaos—internal and external alike—can ensue. Just last week, a friend was lamenting to me about how her ex asked if it would be okay to visit her at a work event mutual friends were attending, and she felt pressured into saying yes “to be nice.” And that, one pro says, is exactly the problem. “You’ve just addressed the major problem most of us have in setting boundaries; we want to be nice,” says relationship expert Susan Winter. “And while that’s a beautiful sentiment, whenever we break our boundaries for the benefit of another, it’s done at our direct expense. Bottom line: This form of ‘being nice’ makes us miserable.” Still, setting boundaries in relationships with exes—and everyone else in your life—is tough because of things like social media, mutual friends, and, often, geography. So how do you deal? Winter shares a few ideas below. 1. Setting boundaries in relationships with exes Pro tip: You don’t have to be rude about it. The best way to approach this is by setting guidelines early and upfront. That’s easier said then done, of course. (Not all of us
You’ll never see my natural hair, but that doesn’t mean I’m hiding a part of who I am
September 06, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC When I come home after a long day, the first thing I do is take off my wig. Because it’s big and curly, (or straight and long, depending on the day), it gets hot AF under here. After a while, the combs that secure it to my head start to hurt. I’d like to say that the next thing I do is sit down with all my lotions and potions and condition my strands, paying close attention to the parts between my poorly self-done cornrows, but most of the time I don’t. Even though you’ll never see my natural hair, I am natural. I ditched relaxers when I was in college, and now exclusively sport protective styles like wigs and sew-ins. These offer me a look I can’t get with my natural hair alone. A look that, ironically, feels most “natural” to me. And while I’m not spending my nights twisting my lengths, or searching for the best product cocktail to achieve the elusive wash-and-go, I’m still a part of the natural hair community. It doesn’t always feel that way, though. Going natural feels as if you’ve seemingly leveled-up in your blackness by falling in love with your natural hair, taking ownership of what you think is beautiful, and breaking out of the Eurocentric beauty mold. This ideal is rooted in the natural hair movement of the ’60s and ’70s, which was intertwined with the Black Power movement. “Although it was seen as
Soup up your usual order at Hale & Hearty with these healthy, nutritionist-approved picks
September 06, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC Walking into a Hale & Hearty midday can feel like an extreme sport. There are an overwhelming amount of options (15 soups!), which is a lot to navigate when your lunch break isn’t exactly lengthy. If you’re not strategic, you might panic and walk out with something you don’t even want. (Chowder? Did I want chowder?) Special dietary requirements, such as sticking to a vegetarian, Mediterranean diet, or gluten-free meal plan, can add an extra layer of ordering stress. And soups are often known to be total sodium bombs, regardless of what eating plan you follow. To its credit, Hale & Hearty’s menu has handy little graphics indicating what items are dairy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan. (Very helpful.) But as you know, just because something has a cute graphic next to it doesn’t mean it’s actually healthy. That’s where registered dietitian Sharon Palmer, RD, comes in. Here, Palmer helps simplify the Hale & Hearty menu by giving her top recs for the three aforementioned eating plans. Even if you don’t stick to any specific diet and instead have an overall goal to eat generally healthy, her tips can help you figure out what to order. Vegetarian Menu picks: Three lentil chili; farmers’ market quinoa What an RD says: Hale & Hearty has a lot of soups, but according to Palmer, not all of them have the nutrient density to be a full meal. One that does—and is not only vegetarian, but all-out vegan—is
What is cupping therapy, anyway? One editor bared her back to find out
September 06, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icmK-3p1xuU] Before I come back to my question of what is cupping therapy, do trust that I understand that the ancient practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine has been vetted by celebs and athletes alike (hellooo, Michael Phelps). But the stegosaurus spine and resulting bruises still leave me wondering exactly what the purpose of it is. So, I was in for a treat when I learned the latest episode of Well+Good’s YouTube series What the Wellness, would follow video producer Ella Dove as she undergoes the practice herself. By baring her back to test the practice’s efficacy in aiding everything from sore muscles to menstrual and hormonal issues, Dove’s aim is to provide an answer to all of us still wondering what is cupping therapy, anyway, and how does it help us? Turns out, a lot of the value of the practice has to do with blood distribution. “Cupping utilizes a flame, which goes inside of a glass cup, which creates a vacuum on the inside, and that goes outside your body,” says Klara Brown, a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist. “What happens is as the heat evaporates, it creates a really intense suction that pulls upward at the muscle and connective tissue.” Okay, let’s just pause for a second at “flame, which goes inside a glass cup,” because I am internally shrieking at the concept. So, I think, perhaps it helps to instead consider cupping as the benign reverse of a deep-tissue massage.
5 spices you can add to any dish to help with digestion, according to gut experts
September 06, 2019 at 02:30AM by CWC Anytime I find myself Googling anti-bloat remedies (you know, after that extra slice of pizza I definitely didn’t need or too much fried food), the answer inevitably seems to involve brewing a hot cup of tea. Tea—particularly ginger tea—is a great way to beat bloating. But as it turns out, it’s not the only solution. You can also work digestive-supporting spices right into your meal to help prevent feeling bloated in the first place. Here, three gut health experts—two MDs and one dietitian—give their top recommendationss for which spices to integrate into your meals to keep digestion running smoothly. 1. Ginger Not surprisingly, all three gut experts suggested this digestion-supporting all star. “Ginger can be used to reduce gas and bloating. It has phenolic compounds which are known to relieve irritation in the GI tract,” explains Katherine McNamara, CND, a clinical dietitian at Westchester Medical Center. She suggests using it in food is to peel the skin to add to stir fries or dressings. Jacqueline Wolf, MD, a gastroenterologist in Boston, adds that incorporating ginger into meals may help prevent pregnancy-related nausea. 2. Mint For gastroenterologist Lea Ann Chen, MD, mint landed on the top of the list of cooking spices that beat bloat and support digestion. She highlights a scientific study linking peppermint oil to reducing GI upset and nausea. Dr. Wolf seconded Dr. Chen’s pick, saying that mint decreases the spasms in the gut. But using this herb comes with one
You’re not just imagining it—food really does taste different on airplanes
September 06, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC When it comes to airplane food, the general consensus is that it’s…well, not great, Bob! The work-around has long been to bring your own food on board (whether it’s airport fare or stuff you brought from home), but even if it makes it through TSA security, it probably won’t taste nearly as good as it normally does on land. Sure, the fact that you’re forced to eat it in a cramped corner while trying not to offend the stranger sharing your armrest certainly doesn’t help, but TIL that elevation *literally* changes the taste of food…and usually not for the better. According to food scientist Herbert Stone, PhD, who worked on food for the Apollo Moon Mission, there are very specific ways elevation affects how something tastes. “Elevation makes the air colder—and airplanes are already kept quite cold—and when the oral cavity is cooled, we don’t taste things as well,” he explains. He says that when food—or its surrounding temps—make your mouth either too hot or too cold, your receptors start working on overdrive to get it the temperature back to where it should be. That slows down the process of sensing—and therefore enjoying—what you’re eating. “Elevation dulls your taste buds about 20 percent inflight,” says Sheri Whiteley, the director of on-board menu planning for American Airlines. She says sweetness and saltiness are the flavor notes most impacted. “The air on board is also extremely dry, which affects sense of smell and taste,” adds
Your windowless room isn’t doomed to feel like a dungeon—brighten things up with these 5 tips from an interior designer
September 06, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC Being in a room that’s giving off total dungeon vibes isn’t exactly welcoming to guests or great for your own mental health (there’s a reason for happy lights and light therapy, folks). Whether it’s a basement room, an apartment facing another building, or a windowless space with no natural light to speak of, a dark space in your home can present a design conundrum. Because without sunshine pouring in, the vibe can feel depressing and doesn’t do your mental health any favors. But, light or dark, an empty room is a blank canvas of sorts, nonetheless. Interior designer Mikel Welch has seen his fair share of dim rooms during his time on the Trading Spaces team, TLC’s cult-favorite room-makeover show. But you don’t need a whole production crew to make your own transformation happen. Here, Welch provides key tips for transforming a dreary space to look bright and airy. An interior designer’s top 5 tips brighten a dark space in your home. 1. Choose a light wall color. “If you have a dark space you want to brighten up, light colors are going to be your best friends,” Welch says. Instead of moody blues or merlots, colors like white, cream, or sunny yellow will give the illusion of more natural light. 2. Add a floor mirror. Once you have your wall color finalized, reflect it everywhere. “You have to create an optical illusion, and one of the best ways to do that is
The Climate Psychologist gives it to us straight: Being anxious about climate change is a *good* thing
September 06, 2019 at 12:05AM by CWC If you pay even an iota of attention to climate news, you know that the situation is urgent and grim. This week alone, the Amazon rainforest burns even more than before, Hurricane Dorian unleashes its destruction, and record-setting floods are hitting St. Louis and the Great Lakes states—and it’s only Thursday. The climate emergency is here, and as the journalist David Wallace-Wells famously wrote, “It is worse, much worse, than you think.” If the planet doesn’t reach zero emissions in roughly a decade, millions of people will die. Growing food will become extremely difficult. Disease will spread. Civilization itself may collapse by 2050, and widespread extinction is a possibility within our lifetimes. Yes, even for humans. This isn’t hyperbole. The reality is horrifying—so horrifying that most of us don’t want to face these darkest of possibilities. For a long time, I didn’t, either. And then last year’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report changed my view on everything. Let me tell you, when you realize what’s at stake, you become a different person. I’ve spent many sleepless nights wondering whether my young son will inherit a charred, destroyed planet and die before he reaches the age I am now. I recently hiked the hills behind my house, only to burst into tears upon seeing butterflies—because I see fewer now than I did as a child, and they are dying because the planet is dying. I mourn beloved places—the East Village, Miami, New
This easy high-fiber cheesecake doesn’t even require an oven to make
September 05, 2019 at 10:30PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nklEUEoZLpU] Didn’t think a healthy, delicious cheesecake existed? Think again. There’s a reason why The Cheesecake Factory has a 45-minute wait during prime time dinner hours at every major mall across America. Who doesn’t love cheesecake? But when I called up a dietitian a few months ago to ask if there was a somewhat healthy dessert order at the beloved chain restaurant, all I heard were crickets on the other line of the phone. Thankfully, cheesecake isn’t automatically off the (healthy) table. Leave it to Alt-Baking Bootcamp hosts chefs Mia Rigden and Jenny Dorsey to give the classic dessert a healthier twist as well as make it 100-percent vegan and high in fiber and protein. For the crust, they use raw walnuts, pitted medjool dates, sea salt, cinnamon, and cardamom, key warming spices for rounding out the flavor. Those dates aren’t just a great way to add sugar without using the refined stuff—they also offer up lots of other nutrients, says Rigden. “[Dates are] a wonderful source of fiber,” she says, key for a healthy digestive system, while also adding in some antioxidants and vitamins and minerals (like potassium). Plus, with the walnuts in the crust and the cashews in the cashew cream base of the cheesecake, you’re getting lots of protein along with omega-3 fatty acids, copper (which is good for collagen production), and yes, more antioxidants. That means every slice of this dessert is both high-protein and high-fiber—a major nutritional