October 21, 2019 at 06:44PM by CWC Once I discovered that exfoliation is an essential tool in fighting acne, I went bananas. So besides my collection of pimple patches and spot treatments that I use to treat my breakouts, I began to hoard exfoliating e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g—from facial scrubs to peel pads to acid toners to enzyme masks. And then I went to work. Rather than a streamlined, simple skin-care regimen that all dermatologists and facialists tell me to have, my routine became jam-packed with steps. One peek into my beauty cabinet and you’d think you were looking in a laboratory for, I don’t know, rocket fuel. I still washed my skin, moisturized, and used serums, but I also used as many exfoliants—physical, chemical, you name it—as I had the patience for all in the hopes of ridding my face of hormonal pimples. That literally meant I used so. many. exfoliants. that were all meant to slough away the old, dead skin cells to reveal happy new ones in their place. I’m sure you could imagine what happened to my skin. After acid upon acid, physical exfoliant upon physical exfoliant, I looked a lot like the Crypt Keeper from Tales from the Crypt, which used to scare the crap out of me as a child. I mean, maybe I had just a tad more skin intact than that guy did, but let’s be honest: not much. That was when I learned an important beauty lesson. Your skin barrier is there to protect you
Category: Your Regeneration
Bear planks make your whole body roar—and that’s a good thing
October 21, 2019 at 06:42PM by CWC Most trainers would agree that it’s a great idea to begin every workout with a plank. Whether you’re trying to remain sturdy on your forearms, balancing on one leg, holding a pushup position, or alternating arm lifts, there’s really no easy variation. But nothing makes your whole body roar quite like a bear plank. Like alligator crawls or inchworms, the bear plank is an extra challenging full-body workout. A bear crawl involves getting down on all fours with your knees hovering a few inches off the floor and using your strength to get you from point A to B, but the bear plank is stationary. And even though it might seem like holding still would be easier, you’ll quickly realize that’s not always the case. A few seconds in and your core—and the rest of your body!—will be on fire. Here’s exactly how to perform a bear plank [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGfvmD9k3v4] The 4 steps to the bear plank: Start on all fours with your shoulders lined up with your wrists and your knees at a 90-degree angle. Keeping your back flat, lift your knees, allowing them to hover a few inches off the floor. Flex your core and hold the position for up to a minute, making sure to breathe. Slowly bring your knees back down to the floor. Rest for 10 seconds, then repeat. Here’s a six-move core workout with trainer Meg Takacs: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsSBamlIhSc] This 7-minute, plank-centric yoga flow will fire up
Exactly how scared should we be about Mercury going retrograde *on* Halloween?
October 21, 2019 at 05:54PM by CWC I’m going to cut straight to the chase here: Nothing has made me gasp louder as of late than learning that the Mercury retrograde in Scorpio starts on Halloween. It’s spooky news, and makes me wonder how worried should we all be that the two events are happening simultaneously—so I asked Rachel Lang, intuitive astrologer and healer, to explain. If you’ve ever seen Hocus Pocus (and, honestly, of course you have), you know that Halloween’s origins come from the pagan festival of Samhain, originally a Gaelic harvest celebration of the end of summer and beginning of winter. “They lit bonfires, wore costumes, and attempted to scare off ghosts. They also believed they had greater access to divination abilities during this time,” Lang says. “Halloween is considered a day when the veil between worlds is thinnest.” Lang says. But, even with this mystical connection, Lang doesn’t believe the mash-up of Halloween and Mercury retrograde, which lasts through November 20, will make the cosmic event more severe in effect. “In fact, I think it’s an elegant synchronicity in that Mercury retrograde is often a time when we turn inward in reflection,” she says, adding that the Samhain connection adds the suggestion for the Mercury retrograde to be both about self-reflection and also collective, societal reflection. “We can look at the past, at our history, and thank our ancestors for how they’ve shaped the world in which we live. We have a chance, as a collective,
These are the food trends you’ll see taking over Whole Foods in 2020
October 21, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC As far as healthy trend-spotting goes, Whole Foods is pretty up on it. Even with grocery stores getting healthier across the board (a major positive), the organic market is still a leader in the wellness industry. Its aisles continue to be places consumers discover emerging brands that later turn into full-blown popular faves. (A few they started stocking early: Siete Foods, Caulipower, and Siggi’s.) As part of their scouting, Whole Foods has trend spotters (what they call foragers) all over the world, all on the hunt to discover small brands (often with just a small table at the local farmers’ market) with big dreams of landing on their shelves. Every year, the retailer uses this intel—as well as market data and stats—to create their carefully curated wellness trends calling the ingredients and foods that will dominate the health world (and their store shelves) in the coming year. Ready for a peek inside Whole Foods’ crystal ball? Here are some of the trends we are most excited about. Check out this video to see a registered dietitian’s favorite foods to buy at Whole Foods: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4aGeQEf0_I] 1. Regenerative agriculture as a priority Whole Foods recognizes that consumers not only want to support healthy brands, they want to make sure they’re supporting sustainable ones too—a topic Well+Good devoted a recent event to. Regenerative agriculture essentially describes farming practices that restore soil quality, improve local biodiversity, and increase carbon capture to benefit the environment. Whole Foods
Like everything else in life, your romantic relationship evolves with age and time
October 21, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC Dating. Marriage. The honeymoon phase. New parents. Empty-nesters. There are all sorts of labels for the different phases of a relationship that society has normalized. And while these widely accepted labels surely can’t accurately describe nuanced details of every relationship, they do reflect an over-arching truth to what partnership means. That is, change is normal, healthy, constant, and key for keeping us on our toes as a means to grow independently and together. “I would be very concerned if a relationship at 10, 20, or 50 years was the same as when you first began,” says clinical counselor Karla Ivankovich, PhD. True, but that doesn’t make weathering these changes easy or comfortable by any stretch of the imagination. For instance, if you go from having a sexy, lustful beginning to more of a stable, companionate love, you might end up having less sex, which may lead you to worry that you’ve lost a crucial spark. Or, perhaps you’re a new empty-nester who just shifted from a house full of kids to a quieter, less busy one that lets you reacquaint with your spouse via one-on-one intimacy. That, too, can be daunting. Learning how to flow with these phases of a relationship is part of any healthy union, says Alexandra Solomon, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist and author of Loving Bravely. “A big part of the work of loving and being loved is making peace with the inevitability of change,” she says. “I often hear
This 5-minute lower-body stretch sesh is the best way to cool down
October 21, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgbAG-O66hA] Welcome to Trainer of the Month Club, a fitness series where we tap the coolest, most in-the-know fitness leaders to create a month-long fitness challenge. On Mondays, we have our “sweat drops” where you’ll get access to the week’s workout that you can follow along at home. This week, Nike Master Trainer and run coach Traci Copeland is taking us through a running workout warm-up routine. The best piece of workout advice I’ve ever received is: “You can only work out as hard as you recover.” In other words, if you’re not giving your body a chance to reset the way it needs to, you’re not going to be able to go as hard during your next session. This holds true in every modality, but is especially important when it comes to running. And so, for this week’s Trainer of the Month Club workout, Nike Master Trainer and run coach Traci Copeland is taking us through a cool down routine that’s perfect for any time you log major miles. “This is so important for runners. A lot of times we do our workouts and then we finish before we’re ready to cool down, so this workout will help you cool things down statically,” she says. Here, Copeland shares a five-minute post-run routine that will make it even easier to lace up those sneakers for the next one. And one thing to keep in mind throughout? “In a cool down, you hold the
This Well+Good beauty editor tried being a facialist for a day—here’s what happened
October 21, 2019 at 04:30AM by CWC https://content.jwplatform.com/players/mZCLICMY-AjgxWzQ7.js Are you ever sitting at your desk wishing you could step into a different life—even if you’re super content with what you’re doing—just to see what it feels like? Same—whether it’s fantasizing about being a barista who can create a face in your morning latte, a fitness instructor who can somehow talk and squat at the same time, or, in Well+Good beauty editor Rachel Lapidos’s case, a facialist who delivers glowing skin on demand. Instead of reporting on the latest happenings in the beauty realm and interviewing top estheticians, Lapidos stepped into their (literal) world for a day. “Usually I’m writing and researching all day at my desk,” she says. “Learning how to be an actual facialist was a dream come true—I think I’m a natural.” The biggest takeaway? What you can gain from switching up your daily routine and adding some fun to it. So during the 50-minute facial Lapidos performed, she made room for moments of joy like a snack break with Smartfood® Smart50—air-popped, 100 percent whole grain popcorn at 50 calories per cup or less, with new flavors that always hit the spot (white cheddar and sea salt, duh). Because trying new things, even careers, should be fun. Watch the video above to see how Lapidos changed jobs for a day—and what she learned from her experience. Sponsored by Smartfood® Smart50 Continue Reading… Author Well+Good Editors | Well and Good Selected by CWC
Understanding the ‘inflammation spectrum’ might be the key to fighting chronic inflammation
October 21, 2019 at 12:00AM by CWC Typically when people talk about medical conditions, it’s either in terms of something they do or don’t have: I’m gluten-intolerant. My son has diabetes. My grandmother has Alzheimer’s. But unlike many other medical diagnoses, inflammation isn’t so black and white. In his new book, The Inflammation Spectrum, functional medicine expert Will Cole, DC, argues that inflammation occurs in degrees—and actually, some inflammation is good. Here, Dr. Cole and How Not To Die author Michael Greger, MD, explain what exactly the inflammation spectrum is, and how to pinpoint what’s causing it in your body. What exactly is the inflammation spectrum? Here’s the thing to understand about inflammation: It’s not inherently bad. “Inflammation is a product of our immune systems and it’s needed to fight viruses and bad bacteria, so that’s the good part,” Dr. Cole says. Dr. Greger adds that inflammation is the trigger for healing to begin. “Think about if you get a splinter,” he says. “The area becomes red and swollen, which is the body’s natural reaction to the irritation and alerts you to take care of the problem.” Without inflammation, Dr. Greger says, the body would be compromised—whether it’s by a splinter, bad bacteria in food, or something else—and the problem would go ignored and cause a major disruption later on. Broadly speaking, there are two types of inflammation. “Short-term, localized, acute inflammation is good, but it’s when it’s high level and chronic that it becomes a problem,” Dr. Greger says. Dr.
This week’s waning quarter moon calls for things to simply fall into place
October 20, 2019 at 11:00PM by CWC With the nights growing longer, those of us in the northern hemisphere are forced to adjust to a diminishing duration of sunlight duration with each passing day. And since this week begins with a waning quarter moon, we’re also being asked to adjust to dwindling moonlight. A waning quarter moon happens at the midway point between the full moon and the new moon, and this week’s happens Monday, October 21 at 8:39 a.m. EST. This waning quarter moon is about tying up loose ends—specifically those connected to projects started and intentions set during the new moon at zero degrees of Leo on July 23, 2017. While sometimes, new-moon intentions immediately reveal themselves, often, they need a lot longer to come to fruition. Waning quarter moons sometimes culminate cycles that were set into motion 27 months prior. So, think back to July and August of 2017: What projects did you begin then that are coming into fruition now? Connecting where you are today to where you were during the summer of 2017 can help you see what’s developed in your life during the current lunar-phase family. That’s because intentions set with new moons need time to percolate, gestate, and develop before they blossom in connection with lunar-phase families. So, reflect on what you put into motion during that time that’s coming into culmination now. The water trine from Venus to Neptune combined with the waning quarter moon brings forth a welcome sense of things
Half of millennials have quit their jobs for mental health reasons—here’s what to do if you can’t
October 20, 2019 at 08:00PM by CWC Recently Harvard Business Review reported on a new survey stating that half of all millennials—and 75 percent of Gen Z—have quit a job for reasons related to mental health. This may make the under-35 set seem flippant: “Ugh, I’m sick of my job. Guess I’ll just quit!” I know first-hand that this is not the case. When I was 25, I quit my job after a 18 months of fighting an overwhelming wave of depression every day, from the time my alarm clock went off in the morning until the workday ended. I am not a risk-taker by nature. I didn’t have dreams of working for myself, and the thought of not having a steady paycheck terrified me. I certainly didn’t have a savings enough to pay my four-figure monthly New York City rent while I figured out my next move. At the same time, I spent each day completely unhappy and each night applying for new jobs. One night as I was on the phone crying to my mom, she told me I should just quit. “Being this unhappy for $35,000 a year is not worth it,” she told me. “You’re young, don’t have any kids, and all you have to worry about is yourself. This is the time in your life to take chances.” So, I did. My mental health improved literally immediately after I put my two weeks in. And before my last day even happened, new career opportunities started