September 28, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC There’s one crucial nutrient that many grain-free eaters risk missing in their diets. No, it’s not gluten (although they’re obviously not eating that one); it’s fiber. Why? Many traditional sources of fiber, like bran, barley, and whole wheat, contain gluten—a non-starter for people who have Celiac disease, a non-Celiac gluten intolerance, or a wheat allergy. Similarly, grain-free eating plans like the Paleo diet and Whole30 cut out grains entirely, which also nixes other gluten-free fiber sources like quinoa and brown rice. Not eating those foods inherently makes it a bit trickier to get enough fiber, and that’s a definite health issue. “Fiber in the diet is a critical part of our health, as it supports the digestive system including the microbiome and regular bowel movements,” says Ginger Hultin, MS, RDN, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “It has been linked to positive health outcomes including heart health through lowering cholesterol and reducing risk of colorectal cancers,” she adds. So, it’s pretty darn important. “Studies estimate that many adults get less than 15 grams of fiber per day, though recommendations state that adult women should get 25 grams and adult men should get 38,” Hultin adds. Looks like we’ve all got some work to do. Not sure what foods you can eat that are high-fiber and gluten-free? Here are some excellent options, as recommended by dietitians. 1. Flaxseed Fiber: 3 grams per tablespoon This seed is rich in fiber, says Hultin. Plus,
Category: You and your body
The most effective retinol is hiding at the drugstore, and it only costs $10
September 28, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj-Uii3ZJD8] Welcome to ‘Dear Derm,’ our brand-new series in which dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD shares serious skin-care realness. In each episode, she’ll answer your most burning beauty questions and give you all the tools you need to take your glow game to the next level. Raise your hand if you like effective skin-care ingredients. Now keep it raised if you like effective skin-care ingredients…from the drugstore. Stay with me here, keep that hand in the air if you like effective skin-care ingredients…from the drugstore…that cost no more than $10. Thought so. With that said, it’s time for you to get acquainted with retinoids, if you aren’t already. According to Mona Gohara, MD, a dermatologist and our resident Dear Derm expert, it’s the ingredient that she’d save if her house was on fire. Yep…it’s that good. Responsible for flipping on the collagen pumps within skin, speeding up cell turnover, and evening out your complexion, the ingredient is a star player for those with acne and those who are starting to see the first fine lines show up on skin. If we’ve convinced you that it’s worth looking into, you’ll be even happier to learn that you can get one of the most effective retinoids on the market by making a quick stop to your local drugstore. Not kidding. “The most effective over-the-counter vitamin A derivative, I would say, is adapalene, or the name brand is Differin ($10) and you can go to any drugstore—CVS, Walgreens,
78% of you don’t want to do push-ups—here are 4 killer arm movements to do instead
September 28, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC You can get tired of a good, dependable thing like push-ups after a while. It even happens with your fave Lizzo songs (controversial statement, but—true). While both may build you up and make you stronger (physically and emotionally speaking), you tend to just crave something different every once in a while. That’s why I’m bringing you a slew of new, fun arm-strengthening moves to add to your sweat repertoire for the days when you just cannot. do. one. more. push-up. And I know you’re excited about it, because after surveying readers in an Instagram poll, a whopping 78 percent of you said you’re sick of the OG upper body move. “Push-ups are no doubt a go-to move for training the upper body and for a good reason—they’re great,” says Corey Phelps, a Washington DC-based personal trainer. “But one cannot build a strong upper body with push-ups alone. It’s essential to train in multiple ranges of motion as well as balance training with more than just pushing motions.” And that’s all that push-ups give you. Incorporating a variety of arm-strengthening movements while working out will help keep your body balanced, which will also help with preventing injuries. “If a certain area builds a lot of strength while another area remains weak, we run the risk of the stronger muscles overcompensating for the weaker ones, which, in turn, can cause injury,” says Victoria Brown, a senior SoulCycle instructor. Now let’s get our upper bodies balanced
The split end menders that are so good, I didn’t cut my hair for an entire year
September 28, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC Confession: I recently got a haircut for the first time in a year. Is that a hair stylist’s preferred time frame for snipping away the dead bottoms of hair? Not exactly. And yet, I’d look down at my crispy, fried, and unraveling tips, register that it was time to make a salon appointment, and then get distracted by a labradoodle or something. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, like the rest of you, I have priorities. It’s very on-brand for me to try and put a bandage on a problem instead of fixing it, and this time that happened to make me very good at my job. Because while procrastinating my haircut, I had the opportunity to test out all the split end menders out there to see which ones worked best on my strands. Let’s get the fine print out of the way first and foremost. Once a hair has split at the tip, so much damage has been done that the only permanent fix is to chop it off. What’s more, the longer you wait, the more damage that can be done to hair, because the split will continue to travel further and further up the strand (womp! womp! womp!). Split end menders, while not a permanent fix, can actually help to stave off a lot of the damage that’s happening, though. They moisturize the deadest, driest parts of the hair, and act like a glue to hold
This genius cooking hack makes basic oatmeal taste way, way better
September 28, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC Oatmeal is delicious—there’s no denying that. But even with all the different topping options, it can get a little boring when you eat it multiple days a week. That’s why it might be time to give your oats an upgrade by—wait for it—toasting them. A Redditor recently shared a smart tip that instantly adds more depth to the flavor of your oats. Before cooking your oatmeal per usual, grab a skillet and toast the rolled oats over medium-high heat, making sure you stir them around so they don’t burn. Once they turn brown and make your home smell like fresh-out-of-oven cookies, you know they’re ready to go. Aside from using toasted oats in a typical bowl of oatmeal, there are plenty of other ways to enjoy them, too. Other Redditors suggest adding them into your yogurt of choice instead of your go-to granola to create a parfait, using them in overnight oats, adding them into your smoothies and protein shakes, cooking them with cacao for a pudding-like treat, and using them in breakfast bars. You can even toast your oats in big batches so they’re all ready to go for delicious, healthy meals throughout the week. Who knew giving your favorite dish an upgrade could be so… easy? Not to mention act as the best-smelling air freshener in the process. There are even more ways to upgrade your oats. Try this turmeric pumpkin quinoa version that’s perfect for fall, or even add oats
The single most important hack for when your foundation no longer matches your skin
September 28, 2019 at 01:30AM by CWC Even after going through an impressive amount of sunscreen over the summer, all those beach days and hikes still leave me with a slightly-darker complexion than the rest of the year. Then once I return to my paler self again come fall, the inevitable happens: my foundation no longer matches my much-lighter skin. There’s no reason to toss it and pick up a new bottle, though—it’s actually really easy to make your old shade work. According to Laura Geller, makeup artist and founder of Laura Geller Beauty, there are a few hacks you can use to make your foundation match your skin year-round. And one of the quickest when you’re in a pinch? Grabbing your trusty bottle of moisturizer. “Mixing moisturizer with your favorite foundation won’t necessarily help the color match your skin, but it will lead to lighter coverage—which makes for a more forgivable texture,” she tells me. But while your lotion is great, your concealer is even better. “If you want to lighten your foundation and maintain the same level of coverage, I recommend reaching for concealer,” says Geller. “Since you typically choose a shade of concealer slightly lighter than your liquid foundation, blending the two formulas together on the back of your hand is an easy way to add a bit of brightness. And if you prefer powder foundation, apply a light layer of concealer to your face first and dust the powder over top.” Yep, it’s that easy. You’ll
Unless you have a food allergy, you likely don’t need to stress about your go-to restaurant’s cooking oil
September 28, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC As someone whose job involves writing words on the internet, I’ve received my share of negative comments. But perhaps one of the most intense moments in my career is what I will call the Great Canola Oil Incident of 2016. I wrote an article about cooking oils, and the nutritionist I interviewed for the piece mentioned canola oil—and the Internet was swift to take sides. I discovered that canola oil is incendiary, and not just at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (ba dum ching). So it is with a small amount of hesitation that I turn my attention, once again, to the topic of cooking oils. Specifically, how worried should we be about the cooking oil used in restaurants? When you go out to eat, your food is probably cooked in an industrial oil like soybean, canola, corn, or cottonseed oil. “They are inexpensive, are quickly produced, don’t have distinctive flavors so they won’t alter your dish, and can be used for a variety of foods,” says Amy Shapiro, RD, Daily Harvest‘s nutritionist. They also have a high smoke point, she says, meaning that they can be cooked at very high heats before they start to burn and smoke. “Nicer places might opt for olive oil as a finishing oil on salads or appetizers because it has a nice taste,” Natalie Rizzo, MS, RD, adds. Canola and other industrial oils have a bad reputation, and for good reason—they “are made under high heat which oxidizes
If you ask a manicurist one thing before getting your nails done, make it this
September 27, 2019 at 11:37PM by CWC Most people either have a nail salon horror story, or they know someone who has had one. As someone whose nail upkeep could at best be described as “minimal” (at worst “negligent”), I fall into the latter category. There’s nothing quite like your friend texting you unsolicited pictures of her infected cuticles to make you not want to go to a nail salon. (See also: tales I’ve heard of nail fungus.) But that doesn’t mean you need to forego manicures altogether. There are a few ways to tell if your nail salon is running a tight ship—meaning sanitary and clean. “To ensure your manicurist is using healthy and clean tools, you should ask how the tools are being sanitized,” says Evelyn Lim, chief educator of Paintbox. I cannot stress this enough, but in what world is it okay to reuse tools that have literally been shaving and cutting part of someone’s body without sanitizing them? No world. Your salon should absolutely not be doing this. It seems like a no-brainer, but apparently this is a thing that happens. “Tools should be scrubbed with germicidal soap and submerged in hospital grade Barbicide for 10 minutes as a standard,” Lim adds. What’s more, many nail salons have UV sterilizing equipment in plain sight, which can help to kill bacteria that lurk on reused tools. Look for those, too. She adds that a major red flag your nail salon isn’t clean: If you see them reusing
One-pan baked zoodles never looked (or tasted) better
September 27, 2019 at 11:30PM by CWC Don’t hate me, but I’m just going to say it: As amazing as veggie noodles may be, you can only eat so many of them before every meal turns into a total snoozefest. Even with all the different sauces that pair perfectly with zoodles, boodles, and swoodles (yep, those are very real names… Google it!). I’ve been praying to the pasta gods for an upgrade. And it looks like I’ve finally been granted with a dinner game-changer. I came across a veggie noodle recipe that takes the dish to the next level with essentially no extra effort at all. Lauren Kirchmaier, the recipe developer behind Flora & Vino, places veggie noodles on baking sheet and roast them in the oven. Roasting veggie noodles is speedy and also adds depth to the flavor flavor. Kirchmaier uses the one-pan method to limit the amount of cleanup. She spreads out beet noodles, sweet potato noodles, and zucchini noodles on a baking sheet with some chickpeas, for good measure. But the options are endless when it comes to this meal. “Feel free to add an extra color to the veggie rainbow, or substitute in your favorite veggie noodle. I think butternut squash, turnip noodles, or daikon radish noodles would be great here, too,” she writes on her blog. After about 25 minutes in the oven, the veggies are tender and ready to eat. This time, however, you should ditch the pasta sauce and drizzle on Kirchmaier’s topping of
Low-impact ‘triplets’ offer stress relief on your most taxing days
September 27, 2019 at 10:56PM by CWC I rarely think about my mental state before I choose my workout of the day. My go-go-go Aries mentality usually makes me gravitate towards difficult runs or muscle-quaking strength training—regardless of my current headspace. When Maillard Howell, owner of CrossFit Prospect Heights and founder of the The Beta Way, posted that he goes for low-impact workouts on low-energy days, I was intrigued. Should we all be turning to less strenuous moves on days that are mentally tough? The trainer tells me that the one word answer is “abso-freakin’-lutely.” For him, a bad night of sleep is a deal-breaker when it comes to high-impact, laborious workouts. So on days following a not-stellar night of rest, he’ll opt for something more chill. “I feel really good when I’m well-rested. Am I able to perform even when I’m not well-rested? Yeah, maybe 70 percent of the time. But sometimes when you have a really bad session, it’s best to just pack it in,” he says. In the battle between what’s most important for your well-being, sleep always wins over exercise (just ask experts). “There’s a fine line between being totally sedentary and keeping the body moving and feeling good.” —Maillard Howell, owner of CrossFit Prospect Heights Beyond the sleep aspect, there are other reasons you may choose a recovery-focused workout over an intense cardio or weights session. Let’s say a day at work has left you wiped. That means you already have a great deal of the stress hormone, cortisol,