October 31, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC It’s the end of October, which means that for the past month, pink ribbons have adorned store windows, we’ve been encouraged to “think pink,” and cutesy hashtags like #savethetatas and #pinktober popped up on Twitter and Insta like daisies. All are hallmarks of the annual event that is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The breast cancer awareness movement is probably one of the most successful marketing and awareness campaigns to exist. A 2019 study from Northwestern University found that relative to its “incidence and mortality rate,” MEANING? breast cancer is the most well-funded cancer, with non-profits bringing in $460 million in fundraising in 2018. That’s absolutely a positive (and life-saving) thing—fundraising leads to new research, better technology, and better access to screening for underserved populations. But its success has also thrown into sharp relief the lack of attention and resources other diseases receive. How can we give those illnesses the breast cancer awareness “treatment,” so to speak? To answer, it helps to look at a few specific factors unique to the breast cancer movement that have helped propel awareness—and fundraising—to stratospheric heights. One is that breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the U.S. for women, with one in eight women receiving a diagnosis in their lifetime. In 2017, the American Cancer Society (ACS) estimated that 252,000 women were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and around 63,000 women were diagnosed with non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer. The second is that it has
Category: Your Regeneration
Arm day is coming, and trainers say this move remix is the key to crushing it
October 31, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC You typically wouldn’t eat your main course before your appetizer. And yet—so many people (including moi) tend to skip right to the meat and potatoes, if you will, of our workouts. Specifically, in our arm workouts. More often than not, a waltz around the gym will show you people starting their upper body workouts with good ol’ bicep curls. There’s nothing wrong with this, but: It’s actually wiser to start with your triceps instead. So, as Missy Elliot would say—put your weights down, flip it, and reverse it. “The biggest advantage of starting your arm workout with your triceps is that the tricep is tied to more muscle groups where people are naturally weaker,” says James Mingle, a trainer from Fitness Together. “One example is that your tricep is connected to your rear delts, AKA the back of the shoulder, which can affect your posture.” By lifting weights for your triceps in the beginning of your workout, it’ll warm up those smaller muscles—including your bicep, he says—for a more optimal workout, with your upper body more reared to slay its exercises. It’s similar to how skipping before a run gets your lower body primed for more efficient movement, or starting your workout with a plank, since your core is so crucial to your overall fitness game. Though starting your upper body work with the triceps seems backwards, once you really start thinking about it, it makes more sense. Your triceps are your largest arm
This university just dedicated $20 million to the study of kindness—here’s what researchers want you to know
October 31, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC If you had $20 million to study anything, what would you choose? This weekend the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) directed the very generous sum—a gift from philanthropists Jennifer and Matthew Harris—to open The Bedari Kindness Institute, the first research center in the world to focus solely on the power of good will. The Institute expects to dive deep into the effects and applications of kindness in society, but Harris says that in his experience, kindness starts with the self. “Whether it’s being judgmental, holding yourself to a higher standard or insisting on perfection—all the ways I lived my life—it became my experience that if you’re not kind and compassionate to yourself, it’s hard to do the same for others,” Harris told the Washington Post. “I simply didn’t want to live my life like that anymore.” In a press release, UCLA announced an interdisciplinary approach to the study of kindness that looks at evolutionary, psychological, economic, sociological, and other factors that facilitate kind actions toward others. Without a doubt, the root of compassion (the self) will be considered in a holistic view at the mechanisms of kindness. Multiple studies have already confirmed the life-changing magic of uttering a few kind words to the person you see in the mirror. Research conducted by the universities of Exeter and Oxford in early 2019 found that the very simple step of thinking kind thoughts about yourself can lower your heart rate and increase levels of self-compassion.
What to do when everything falls apart on race day
October 31, 2019 at 12:00AM by CWC Running: It’s fun, challenging, and a great way to stay healthy. Whether you are on-road or trail, running takes practice, it takes effort and training schedules vary depending on the kind of race you’re tackling. As a runner, you can only control so much. You can choose your shoes, your outfit, your nutrition, and the route you run—but there are also things you can’t control. What do you do if everything falls apart on race day with intense weather changes, a course change, or even a distance change? This happened to me recently and it taught me a lot about myself, as a runner. A few weeks ago I took off for Jackson, Wyoming against a sherbet sunrise over Newark airport. The excitement and nerves left me fidgety on the flight (the three shots of espresso I consumed before boarding probably didn’t help). I was headed west to tackle my second ultra distance on the crest trail: 28 miles at an elevation of 11,000 feet, and the nerves surround the altitude, the weather, the mentality I’d have that day had me nerve-wracked. In the end, none of this would matter so much, because we didn’t end up running the 28 miler as planned. Upon landing in Wyoming, our group learned that several feet of snow had fallen on the trail and we would have to play it by ear. While this news was slightly difficult to absorb—we all had trained well up to
How to use your playlist to turn your bad mood around in 3 minutes flat
October 30, 2019 at 11:00PM by CWC Gloria Estefan is my bad mood hero. Allow me to explain: There are occasions where, when I’m left all alone, I can find myself getting a little too lost in my thoughts (a staple Aquarius trait, BTW). Overthinking plus a gloomy gray day and a mellow soundtrack—Frank Ocean, to be specific—and it becomes the perfect storm for an existential crisis. On a recent occasion like this, I texted my boyfriend about how I was spiraling into a really sad mood. “Turn on Miami Sound Machine! Flip it, flip it!” he wrote back. Three seconds into “Conga” and I was back to my normal, chipper self. It’s been a recent discovery that Gloria Estefan—of Miami Sound Machine fame, if you’re not familiar—music has the utmost power of putting me into a good mood no matter how sad or angry I might have felt just moments before. It’s actually not surprising though, once you think about how much research backs the powerful influence of music on your psyche. What you’re listening to, music-wise, has been proven to help with mood regulation, and with making you feel good, so something more upbeat boosts how you’re feeling on a psychological level. Hence the power of Gloria Estefan, whose voice infiltrates my body its core and sends actual dopamine to my brain to quite literally turn my frown upside down “Even just listening to a song is one of the most direct routes to emotional control, because music makes
7 cruelty-free drugstore cosmetics your face (and wallet) will thank you for
October 30, 2019 at 11:00PM by CWC I’m a stickler for cruelty-free makeup. I simply won’t purchase or use any cosmetics that have been tested on animals. While I’m really not particular about a lot of things, if I can’t find a seal of approval from an animal welfare organization, I’m not buying your lipstick or eyeliner. As I’m trying to be a more conscientious consumer, I’ve noticed that there’s a common misconception that cruelty-free cosmetics are expensive and really hard to find. That, unless you’re willing to shell out a ton of money at the beauty counter on luxe, independent brands— sorry!—you’re out of luck. Plot twist, my friends: you can buy quality cruelty-free makeup at just about any drugstore. Walgreens, CVS, Rite-Aid—you name it. At your local drugstore, you’ll find cruelty-free brands that won’t break the bank, like Burt’s Bees and e.l.f. Cosmetics, which particularly dedicated to the cause. (According to PETA, “the company has never conducted, commissioned, or paid for tests on animals anywhere in the world.”) NYX Cosmetics, though owned by L’Oreal, remains 100 percent cruelty-free and “does not conduct, commission, or pay for tests on animals for its ingredients, formulations, or finished products.” With most products under $35 (and some as cheap as $2), there’s something for every budget at the drugstore. If you’re willing to pay a little more, Milani and Physician’s Formula not only avoid animal testing, they’re also vegan can completely avoid animal by-products in development. Look no futher. These are some
Sarah Michelle Gellar shares her two-word mantra to get you through any tough time
October 30, 2019 at 09:30PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUCn7BbXgwA] Want to know what Sarah Michelle Gellar is reading? Watch the full video here. Nobody has been waiting for the Sarah Michelle Gellar renaissance like I have. Her Instagram is my self care; every time I need a burst of wholesome, glowing energy, she rises to the top of my newsfeed. Clearly I’m up to speed with the goings on of her world she feels compelled to share, but those who don’t follow as diligently usually associate Gellar with her status as a ’90s icon, half of #couplesgoals with Freddie Prinze Jr., and, yes, Buffy Summers. But, she’s so much more. In the latest episode of The Avocado Show, Well+Good’s YouTube series where our favorite celebs sit down with our favorite fruit, Gellar reminds us that she’s an entrepreneur, a mom, and—AHHH!!!—returning to TV. In fact, Gellar is cast in not one but two upcoming shows: Other People’s Houses and the Ellen Degeneres-produced limited series Sometimes I Lie. While sitting down with beauty and fitness editor Zoë Weiner over tuna tartare with avocado and caviar, Gellar divulges what she missed most about television: “I missed my trailer,” she says. “No, I’m just kidding. I miss telling stories, I’m a storyteller. And the beauty of my life now is I get to be both; I get to be an entrepreneur and have a company, and I also get to be a storyteller.” ICYMI, Gellar is a co-founder of Foodstirs, an organic and non-GMO
Beauty Horror Story: I dyed my blonde hair plum, and it never was the same
October 30, 2019 at 07:57PM by CWC I wanted to be the Princess of Darkness, and that’s my fault. I was 14 and eager to amp my goth street cred by dyeing my hair purple. I had taken enough “Are you gothic?” Quizilla quizzes to know that blonde hair was for “preps only,” and my mom had little sympathy towards this plight. Finally, the summer before my freshmen year, she caved with a compromise: She would dye my hair a semi-permanent, wash-out plum color with the expectation that it wouldn’t do any irreparable damage. Oh, but it did. I’m not a colorist, but here’s some “Home Dye for Rebellious Teens 101”: To get that really vibrant hue, you’re supposed to bleach your whole head and Manic Panic the hell out of it. I was not allowed to do this, because my mother was afraid the peroxide would make my hair fall out in clumps. And so, we slathered the dye over my dark blonde strands late one summer. When I leaned back in the sink I could feel the magenta foam seep into them, guaranteeing I would be a true Lord of the Underworld. When I looked in the mirror, though, all I could see was a monster. Spoiler alert: The demi-gloss that sat over my dusty, not-bleached blonde hair and created a sort of shadowy plum tinge that was not at all what I was going for. My olive skin gets a pretty Trumpian glow in the summer, so
A ranking of sustainable food that’s best for your health *and* the planet
October 30, 2019 at 07:39PM by CWC Sustainability is more than a buzzword. It’s a win all around when the sustainable food on your plate benefits your body as well as the environment. Fostering our personal relationship with Earth—and the global community of food sourcing—connects us to a greater responsibility as inhabitants of this planet. A new large-scale analysis published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examines the environmental impact and healthfulness of 15 different foods. Researchers considered which foods have been scientifically linked to decreasing the risk of disease in combination with the resources required to produce them. Not all foods are created equal when it comes to nutrition, water consumption, pollution, deforestation, and soil erosion. Unsurprisingly, processed foods and red meat negatively impact the environment 40 times more than vegetables and raise the risk of cardiovascular disease. Fortunately, Many of the foods you already eat are good sustainable food choices. This is the sustainable food that’s best for you and the planet 1. Vegetables You’ve known since you wouldn’t eat them as a child that vegetables are good for you. And now you know they’re the best food you can eat as far as the environment is concerned. Researchers found that vegetables have the most minimal impact on the Earth. There are 12 vegetable you need to buy organic—and 15 you don’t: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHSaA0-Chg] 2. fruit After vegetables, fruit ranked high both in terms of health and sustainability. Like vegetables, fruits don’t require an
How e-commerce became the best thing to happen to female pleasure
October 30, 2019 at 06:00PM by CWC Few acts of self-love are quite as giving (and giving, and giving) as purchasing a vibrator with which you can really see a future. How do I know? Well, when I (and a loud-and-proud comments section on Amazon) sang the praises of the Tracy’s Dog Clitoral Sucking Vibrator not so long ago, you, reader, listened—over 2,000 of you clicked our link to the retailer to see about procuring the device. It serves as a reminder that when it comes to buying sex toys online and owning our pleasure, the internet generously giveth. And, really, it’s remarkable how far we’ve come, (so to speak). ICYMI, the vibrator was not invented as the purple silicone symbol of sexual liberation that so many of us have gloriously grown to know. Originally, it was a handy-dandy Victorian device used to cure women of hysteria, the long-dismissed catchall diagnosis for symptoms like fainting, nervousness, sexual forwardness (deeply ironic), and then some. (The device was invented by a man, Dr. Joseph Mortimer Granville, in 1883 for the original purpose of alleviating muscle soreness, and he was none-to-pleased by its “mis-use.”) Anyway, women eventually figured out that the hysteria-treating “pelvic massages” could do oh, oh, oh, oh, oh so many things for them, but throughout most of history, we’ve kept our love of the vibe on the DL. Until relatively recently. In the late ’90s, a few pop-culture moments brought certain vibrators to the spotlight (lord knows the Rabbit popped out