March 10, 2020 at 05:00PM by CWC On the Netflix reality series Love Is Blind, cast members looking for marriage were tasked with finding their soul mate by going on dates where they couldn’t see the other person. Within days, real and committed couples emerged with six ultimately getting engaged, all without having seen each other. The rest of the series follows each of the Love Is Blind couples as they navigate how the introduction of physical factors and real-life issues impacts the health of their relationship. Ultimately, they decide whether or not to get married in the final episode. As a viewer, were you surprised about who clicked, who didn’t, who said “I do,” and who said “I don’t?” Thanks to the analytical powers offered by the Myers-Briggs personality typology, I, for one wasn’t the least bit shocked. Because although the only way to formally validate a person’s true Myers-Briggs type is by taking the official MBTI test, according to my own armchair analysis of the cast members’ types and resulting compatibility with their mate, the results make sense. Check out my MBTI breakdown of each of the Love Is Blind couples below (and watch out for spoilers!). How the 6 Love Is Blind couples stack up, according to their Myers-Briggs compatibility 1. Lauren Speed (ENFP) and Cameron Hamilton (INFJ) Cameron and Lauren are one of the two Love Is Blind couples who got married on the show—and they are indeed well-matched. She’s an outspoken, creative, activism-focused ENFP, and he’s
Tag: Media
How a marketing manager making $125K snags free flights for her international vacays
February 21, 2020 at 02:00PM by CWC Do you know how much money your friends make? What about how much their rent is or how much is in their bank accounts right now? I’m guessing no. Even in a world where questions about menstrual cups and the ins and outs of sex are completely (and blessedly) normal to ask, somehow the ever-ubiquitous use of money remains a touchy subject for many. People want to live their healthiest life ever, but—#realtalk—it can add up. Have you ever wondered how your colleague who makes less than you do (or so you think) can afford to buy a $5 matcha and a $12 chopped salad every day? Or how your friend is able to hit up $34 fitness classes three times a week? It’s enough to make anyone want to ask, “Ummm, excuse me. How can you afford that?!?” That’s where Well+Good’s monthly series Checks+Balanced comes in. By lifting the thick, tightly drawn curtain to expose how much women of varying income brackets spend on wellness, we’re spreading transparency and hopefully providing some inspo that’s possible to copy. Because no matter how much you make, it’s possible to cultivate healthy habits that work within your budget. This month, meet Erin, a 32-year-old marketing manager living in San Diego, California, who prioritizes healthy eating, fitness, and using credit card points for flights. Here, she reveals her expenses and how she affords her wellness habits. Keep reading to see how Erin hacks her habits (like by using credit card points for flights). Graphic: W+G
The average American woman spends 51 minutes cooking every day—here’s how to cut that time in half
February 18, 2020 at 10:30PM by CWC In today’s edition of The Patriarchy Sucks, the United States Department of Agriculture reports that women spend an average of 51 minutes per day cooking and cleaning. Men, on the other hand, spend just 22 minutes preparing for and tidying up after a meal. Of course, spending time preparing a recipe from scratch can be a loving act of self care or other care, but there are days when that time chips away from otherwise enjoying your life. When that’s the case, we curated the best time-saving kitchen tips from our stable of nutrition efforts. You deserve to have those 29 extra minutes for doing you—not the dishes. The best time-saving kitchen tips for cutting meal preparation in half 1. Pack your cooking repertoire with one-pot recipes and semi-homemade meals A sink full of crusty pans, dishes, and silverware can mean spending 20 more minutes in the kitchen that you could fill with Netflix, a run in the park, or literally anything else. That’s why one-pot recipes, like this linguine, or semi-homemade dinners that combine premade with fresh foods, can be such a game-changer. At the end of the meal, you just have to clean a plate, a fork, and a pot. That’s a wrap. 2. Get down with a sheet pan full of veggies Cooking everything on the stovetop requires your constant attention. (Is it burning? Am I stirring enough?) Body Love Everyday author and celebrity nutritionist Kelly Leveque‘s sheet pan veggies ask you to
The most romantic day of the year is *not* February 14—here’s when to mark your calendar
February 14, 2020 at 06:30PM by CWC If your Valentine’s Day is likely to end like mine—on the couch in stretchy pants, watching Netflix while eating Thai takeout—you may be relieved to know that, astrologically speaking, February 14 is not the most romantic day of the year. Indeed intuitive astrologer and healer Rachel Lang suggests marking four other days this year with heart-eye emojis. Two are next month, which means you just have to hold on to your spring rolls for another couple of weeks before you can replace them with an object of affection that is human. Below, Lang explains how each of the four Valentine’s Day alternatives not invented by capitalism will be supercharged for the type of romance you can’t buy from the Trader Joe’s floral section at the last-minute. The most romantic days of the year, according to the universe 1. March 8, 2020 Because Venus stands next to Uranus, the planet of change, March 8 could bring sudden changes in relationships. “This is the day to express your feelings to your crush or ask someone out on a whim,” she suggests. The Sun and “dreamy” Neptune are in conjunction on this day as well. “Things may not be clear, or you may not have a sense of the future, but indulge in the experience of being in love,” Lang says. If you find yourself single on March 8, it’s a good time to find closure around a past relationship. “For all of us, it’s a
Gabi Butler’s triple flips are hard to copy, but you *can* steal her ab workouts
February 11, 2020 at 07:00PM by CWC Watch Netflix’s hit docu-series Cheer and you’ll quickly see that the Navarro College cheerleading team practices pretty much all the time. That’s how you win national titles, after all. But what you don’t see on screen is that Navarro star Gabi Butler—a longtime cheerlebrity who now hosts her own clinics while flying and tumbling in Miami’s Top Gun squad—takes her cheerleader workout routine beyond the mat. When Butler is at home or at the gym, she always does a 10-minute core series consisting of one-minute sets of 10 different exercises: crunches, leg lifts, plank hip dips, and more. (Here’s a similar ab session led by star trainer Charlee Atkins.) She’s also a fan of the core workouts in P90X, an at-home fitness program. Abs aside, Butler loves getting a full-body workout at a boutique fitness class. “I love hot kickboxing. It’s in a hot room, and the whole time you’re going hard on a punching bag. 10/10, highly recommend it,” she says. You can also catch her sweating it out at SoulCycle. No matter which type of workout she does—be it cheer, kickboxing, or spin—Butler always refuels with her go-to protein shake. “It’s one scoop of vegan protein powder, a whole banana, honey, cinnamon, vanilla, almond butter, and almond milk,” she says. “It will change your life. It’s healthy and tastes like a milkshake. I drink it when I’m done with workouts because it’s such a good recovery drink.” Protein shakes are dietitian-approved, too:
‘Friend-mirroring’ is the confidence-boosting reason to send selfies to your pals
February 11, 2020 at 01:00PM by CWC I’m single and I live in New York City, which is something I admit with the same enthusiasm I’d dedicate to “I have to get a colonoscopy.” What I mean by that is my relationship status isn’t the worst thing in the world, but it is certainly a pain in my rear. I personally prefer to be partnered, and making that happen in a city full of small-talk-minimizing headphone-wearers makes achieving that uniquely difficult. I’m doing my best to get out there by resisting the seductive lure of staying in to watch Netflix, instead resolving to RSVP “yes” to everything. But if I ever need an extra self-esteem boost to get out the door—even after I doll myself up in any number of flattering LBDs—I send a picture of myself to a friend, or practice “friend-mirroring.” It’s not a compliment-fishing exercise, but rather the elicitation of an assist to help me evade any potential spiral of negativity. Because showing up somewhere alone can make anyone feel vulnerable, and doing it while wearing the wrong dress or over-application of blush can feel extra-awful when you don’t have a baseline level of self-confidence at a given point, like when you’re, say, fresh off a breakup. If I ever need a self-esteem boost to get out the door—even after I doll myself up in any number of flattering LBDs—I send a picture of myself to a friend, or practice “friend-mirroring.” That’s why I started practicing friend-mirroring
I’m Gabi Butler from ‘Cheer,’ and my workout isn’t over until I do this one thing
February 07, 2020 at 11:00PM by CWC You only need to watch a few minutes of Netflix’s docu-series Cheer to understand how the tough-as-nails squad at Navarro College wins national championships. Everyone’s new life coach Monica Aldama leads a team of cheerleaders that includes Jerry Harris, the motivational mat talk mastermind; the sensational La’Darius Marshall; and Gabi Butler, a longtime cheerlebrity who set off on a path to success at 8 years old. Now 22, Butler proves herself an all-star on and off the mat. She does it all as a flyer and a tumbler—or as her coach likes to say, an “all-rounder”—and she’s a seasoned pro when it comes to post-workout recovery. Butler’s workout isn’t technically over until she completes a cool-down routine that helps her body heal enough to give it 100 percent again the next day. It all starts with some stretching. “Usually when I’m done working out, I do a little cool-down stretch—I stretch my calves, my Achilles, my knees. It only takes five minutes,” she tells me. Doing a classic standing wall stretch is one of the most effective ways to stretch your calf muscles (especially if you’re jumping a lot!), and you can use a yoga band to safely stretch out your Achilles. Once she’s done with her stretches, the next part of her post-workout recovery routine involves heading home and running a bath. Depending on how she’s feeling, she has two options to choose from: something relaxing and warm or something refreshing and
There are 3 different friend types, and knowing yours can lead to more fulfilling relationships
February 07, 2020 at 01:00PM by CWC I could plot out a linear map of the course my life has taken to this point based solely on a handful of close friendships. Even though each pal is a unique snowflake, the retrospective viewpoint I now have has distilled the reality to me that most of these friends are more similar than they are different. Because of this, I contend that there are certain types of friends, and, just as is the case with romantic relationships, we all have certain preferences that dictate our platonic compatibility. Since I’m no social science expert, I sought the intel of someone who is to make sure my theory holds up. And lo and behold, clinical psychologist and friendship expert Miriam Kirmayer, PhD, says there are indeed different types of friends. (So, maybe I am a social science expert?) Furthermore, these archetypes hold the power to teach us about who we are and what we seek in others. “I do think there’s something to be said for the fact that there are certain people who we click with better than others. And that’s true of love, friendship, and even when we’re choosing a therapist,” Dr. Kirmayer says. “There are just certain people with whom we feel at ease, we feel safe, we feel comfortable. And that comfort can come from many different places.” As far as determining which types of friends most resonate with us, Dr. Kirmayer says it has a lot to do with
Take a note from ‘Cheer’ and use structure to win the Grand National Championship of your own life
February 05, 2020 at 05:00PM by CWC The six-part Netflix documentary Cheer follows the Navarro College cheer team along its journey to compete for the annual Grand National Championship in Daytona Beach, Florida. To lead her team, coach Monica Aldama leans heavily on principles of fierce, structural rigidity. No spoilers here about whether her tactics—which often land her squad members in the hospital—end up working (but, frankly, her championship-winning record can speak for itself). Aldama’s regimen of blood-sweat-and-tears-level intensity begs the question, though, of whether structure can also answer the question of how to plan success in your own life, landing you on top of your proverbial pyramid. Or, is it more likely that an unwavering relationship with structure becomes a hindrance that sends you tumbling backward, with no spotters (or stunters) in sight? First, know that structure is a necessity for living a fulfilling, healthy life. “Structure is fundamental to physical and mental well-being in humans,” says life coach and physician Anna Stratis, MD. In her work as a physician, Dr. Stratis career focuses on helping people create healthy habits that eventually form their backbone for living well. For example, something as simple as knowing that a daily bowl of oatmeal keeps you full until lunchtime can make you feel more productive and happy overall. Structure is fundamental to physical and mental well-being in humans.” —Anna Stratis, MD But regardless of how heavily or lightly you lean on structure to design your life, coping skills are crucial for being
The books, documentaries, and podcasts recommended by 3 nutrition experts
February 04, 2020 at 12:30AM by CWC If you’re always reading up on ways to get plant-based protein, or shop more sustainably, it’s because you, like us, love to learn. We’re constantly turning to experts to learn more. And while they know so much about their craft, they also turn to nutrition books, podcasts, and documentaries for new information and inspiration. At at a recent Well+Good event, one of the attendees asked our panel of food experts to share their recommendations for sources they turn to when they’re hungry to learn more. We’ve got their answers below. Podcasts FOOD HEAVEN MADE EASY Hosted by Wendy Lopez, RD and Jessica Jones, RD, this podcast is a favorite of fellow registered dietitian Maya Feller, RD. “Wendy and Jess have a number of guests on who share information on everything from nutrition to self-care, embracing inclusivity, and diversity,” Feller says. DIET STARTS TOMORROW Registered dietitian Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, RD, host of Well+Good’s YouTube series You Versus Food, says this podcast by Betches “is a must to help you sift through the noise surrounding health and wellness. They bring on real professionals, like registered dietitians and doctors, to help set the record straight.” HOW I BUILT THIS “Guy Raz interviews the CEOs of an array of companies, but spotlights major food and health brands as well,” says Beckerman. “The guests share insight into their journey to success, which offers hope and inspiration.” Books CULTIVATING FOOD JUSTICE ($34) Haile Thomas, a 19-year-old international speaker, health activist, and