November 05, 2019 at 03:00AM by CWC The wellness world has a complicated relationship with alcohol. On the one hand, many experts say alcohol in moderation is good for health. (Hey, it is part of the Mediterranean diet.) On the other, some say that heart healthy glass of wine is secretly full of sugar—and everybody *knows* how bad sugar is for you, right? It’s a challenge to know what exactly is in any alcoholic drink since the labeling laws vary so much that it can make the beverage category as a whole seem like a nutritional Wild West. It’s time to clear up exactly what’s in your glass, and how sugar in alcohol impacts your overall health. Keep reading for the need-to-know intel that just might affect your go-to happy hour order. Where does the sugar in alcohol come from? Before we get into how the sugar in alcohol affects the body, it helps to know where it’s actually coming from, which alcohol and sugar expert Chris Beatty says varies based on what’s being fermented. (Remember, alcohol is created by combining yeast plus some form of sugar or carbohydrate, like grapes, wheat, or potatoes.) With wine, for example, Beatty explains that while sugar comes the grapes, the longer a wine is fermented, the less sugar will be in the end result since the yeast has had more time to eat up the sugar. “Dry red and wine wines have almost no sugar, but a sweet wine can have quite a
Tag: Well+Good
I tried a heart-opening ancient cacao ceremony and learned an unexpected lesson about love
November 05, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC I first learned about the ancient tradition of the cacao ceremony—wherein you drink hot, ceremonial-grade cacao in a ritual setting—from new friends I met at a yoga retreat. And when I got the opportunity to experience the practice for myself at The Cape, A Thompson Hotel in Los Cabos, Mexico, that works with local facilitators to offer cacao ceremonies for guests—it felt positively fated. On a mystical level, raw cacao is said to open the heart (and not just because it’s a main ingredient in chocolate), and my heart was definitely in need of some healing. I had just passed the two-year anniversary of a breakup from a serious relationship, having left the situation feeling confident I would meet someone better suited for me. Yet, in the past 24 months, I’ve experienced nothing but disappointment in the romantic department. None of my go-to self-improvement tools have helped me shake the jadedness clouding my usually optimistic spirit, and my emotional walls began impacting every area of my life. If meditation, journaling, and long talks with smart friends couldn’t turn my attitude around, I reasoned that maybe a thousands-of-years-old Central American rite that Olmec, Aztec, and Mayan elites leaned on to connect with the gods and promote good health could do the trick. So that’s how I found myself in a suite at The Cape, watching the sun set over the sea and sitting in a circle with three other women and our guide, psychologist
We know that exercise keeps the body young, but what about the skin?
November 05, 2019 at 01:30AM by CWC Skin care and exercise have a complicated relationship. For every dermatologist out there who will tell you that sweat is amazing for your skin, there’s another who will caution you about the impending pimple risk it poses. So the real answer to the question of whether that gym sesh will help or hurt your complexion is, well, both. Sweat does a lot of different things for skin: some of it good, some of it bad, and (if my own sweaty post-gym selfies are to be believed), some of it downright ugly. For the full 411 on how skin care and exercise relate, we had the pros break down all of the different ways your workout can effect your complexion. Photo: Getty/jacoblund Skin care and exercise: the good Brightening: When you exercise, your blood vessels expand, and more blood and oxygen flow to the surface of your skin. This, says board-certified dermatologist Marisa Garshik, MD, gives the skin a brighter appearance. “At its most fundamental level, sweating occurs to protect us from overheating, which as a result, translates into a brightened glow rather than an intense flushed appearance to the skin,” she explains (though, let’s be real: some of us, self included, still flush). But, if you’ve ever looked in the mirror after a workout and thought: “Damn, girl!” consider that the explanation you’ve been looking for. Protecting: While sweat certainly can bring on breakouts, it also offers some protective measures, too—no matter what type of
Waking up in the middle of the night? Your big dinner could be to blame
November 05, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC Does 3 a.m. roll around and you can’t help but stare at the wall, wide awake, unable to fall back asleep? Ugh, the worst. If you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night, it might not necessarily be because your room is too hot or your partner is snoring. It might be what you had for dinner—especially if it was a really big meal. “Negative sleep and health outcomes have been associated with populations who eat a majority of their daily food intake in evening hours. [And] regular meals and smaller, well-balanced snacks have a positive association with sleep,” says Kelly Jones, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN. Why? “This occurs because your body is less sensitive to insulin in the evening, and insulin helps control your blood sugar levels,” says Juliana Dewsnap, RD, LDN, CPT, a dietitian for Baze. “[So], eating too close to bedtime may lead to varying blood sugar levels, which can impact your quality of sleep.” For example, having a sudden drop in blood sugar triggers an increase in certain hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that can lead to night sweats. (And who has ever had a restful sleep when they’re sweating?) It’s not just the lateness of the hour—big meals in the evening can affect sleep, too. “High intake of total energy, fat, and sodium has also been associated with higher blood pressure while sleeping. This may in turn cause poor quality sleep, night sweats in some,
This French beauty brand is famous for micellar water, but I can’t get enough of its lip balm
November 05, 2019 at 12:30AM by CWC I was at the world’s most exquisite drugstore with my coworker when she audibly gasped. We live in New York City, so even in this palace of a drugstore I thought, “Oh no, a cockroach,” but I wrong. It was two, count ’em, two tubes of Bioderma Atoderm Nourishing and Repairing Lip Balm ($10), one of which she handed over to me without hesitation. “These are rare,” she said. A few days later, I understood why. At this temperature-dropping time of the year, my lips get more or less brutalized. You’re probably familiar with how those dry winter winds can give you chapped, painful lips that drive you absolutely crazy. Or how a long common cold can leave you with an absolutely shredded mouth. But I have an extra streak of masochism; colder weather means delving into berry colored matte lips, which are by the way not super kind to your mouth. If you’re not acquainted with Bioderma yet, it’s lauded for its skin-care products, particularly it’s Sensiobio H20 Micellar Water ($14). But believe when I say it’s a hidden gem. The formal concoction is made up of All The Good Things, like shea butter, avocado oil, and vitamin E, the reparative wonder that’ll condition what’s flaking and help promote new growth. Incidentally, I did sit on this lip balm (not literally, don’t be weird) for two days, having an event or two that required me to wear some classic red lipstick. I woke up
The easiest trick to bring your wilted salad greens back to life
November 05, 2019 at 12:00AM by CWC Everyone always complains about how quickly avocados go from toast-worthy ripe to completely rotten. One thing that seems to have an even shorter lifespan, though, is salad greens. Whether you buy them by the bunch or pre-washed in a bag, sometimes you’ve only got a good 24 to 48 hours before they wilt right before your eyes. But with a quickie hack, you can take them from super sad to bright and crisp again in a flash. Food waste is a huge problem, and it’s infuriating to have to throw out unused produce. The solution? Something as simple as drawing your salad greens an ice-cold bath. It’s true. Submerging leafy vegetables in a big bowl of ice water for 20 minutes to an hour can most definitely bring back them back to life. According to Jadie Aranda, the biologist behind Eat My Science, wilted (or even browning!) greens haven’t “gone bad.” Your greens are only bad if they’re slimy, which indicates the presence of bacteria or fungus. If they’re green yet wilted, salad greens probably just need a little water to be revived. “Greens get soft and limp because they lose water. Fruits and vegetables are mostly water, with iceberg lettuce at 96 percent water. In the fridge, lettuce and other greens lose water to the air, the cells that hold the water shrink, and the outward appearance is wilted and limp,” she writes on her blog. “Soaking your greens in water will
My long hair helped me feel strong against Lyme disease—here’s why I cut it
November 04, 2019 at 11:30PM by CWC I was diagnosed with Lyme disease and babesiosis (a parasite-spread disease similar to malaria) in 2017 after years of weathering mysterious symptoms. The conditions compromised my mobility, cognition, digestion, and overall ability to function, and the many medications I took also took their toll on my physical strength and sense of personal freedom. But, one feature of mine helped me feel strong and normal and myself throughout the anguish of illness: my long hair. Two years prior to diagnosis, when I was feeling unwell and had no idea why, I decided to stop cutting my hair. I felt weak and out of control, and subconsciously believed that if I could muster the patience to nurture long, healthy hair, I could somehow channel that strength to heal the rest of my body. But as my hair grew longer, stronger, and freer, my body grew thinner and weaker. Upon finally receiving an accurate diagnosis and embarking on a treatment plan, I expected to get better quickly. Unfortunately, as is the case with many chronic illnesses, the road to restored health is hardly a straight path. Treatment made me feel sicker. The Lyme and babesiosis traveled to different parts of my body, infecting various systems, and the dead microbes left inflammatory toxins in their wake. I felt like my body was imprisoning my life. Through it all, my hair still gave me hope. It just kept growing and transformed into a symbol of youth and beauty—two
This 5-minute beginner dance cardio routine works your full body and is so. much. fun.
November 04, 2019 at 11:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFu_jqhOT3w] 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, AK! Fitness Founder Amanda Kloots leads us through heart-pumping dance sequences. As Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang (ILYSM) once taught us, dancing it out it out is one of the best possible forms of self-care. It is literally impossible to be in a bad mood after a few minutes of bouncing around to “Where Does the Good Go.” I personally once spent a month going to non-stop dance cardio classes, and am convinced it made me a happier human being—not to mention the fact that I was in tip-top physical shape at the end of it all. There are a seemingly endless number of benefits to sweating it out by way of dance cardio: It improves brain function, it helps you feel more connected to other people in the room, it elevates your mood, and it gives your full body a serious workout. But reaping the (science-backed!) benefits of dance cardio doesn’t have to mean twerking in a studio. Thanks to our November Trainer of the Month, AK! Fitness Founder Amanda Kloots, you can dance it out in your living room to whatever song—and, bonus, in whatever outfit—you like. Personally, I’m going
The Ordinary is having skin-care sale that’s so affordable the product prices look like typos
November 04, 2019 at 08:30PM by CWC If you add up the cost of all the products in your skin-care #shelfie, you’d probably faint. That’s why when Deciem released it’s now cult-fave line The Ordinary—which offers products formulated with high-quality, luxury ingredients at a fraction of the price—everyone went wild. And now you can get an even better deal on everything on your wish list. Deciem believes that hyper-consumerism hurts the planet, and that flash sales don’t do customers any good because they lead to “rushed purchasing decisions, driven by the fear of a sell-out.” So rather than participating in Black Friday on November 29, the company’s website and retail stores shut down for the day. Instead, you’ll find an automatic 23-percent discount (no coupon code needed!) applied to every product until November 30 at 11:59pm ET. “We strongly believe that skincare decisions should be based on education rather than impulse, and hope that a month-long promotion will provide the time for research, reflection, and consideration,” the company wrote on Instagram. While The Ordinary’s products are already affordable, the sale prices look like straight-up typos. But we promise they’re not. Here are 8 must-have products that are worth every cent. 8 products to snap up at The Ordinary’s skin-care sale 1. Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution, $7 This toner uses glycolic acid to exfoliate the skin and a Tasmanian pepperberry derivative to help reduce irritation. 2. Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2%, $4 In need of a little
You can make a million cheap, healthy meals with these 11 pantry staples
November 04, 2019 at 08:00PM by CWC There are about a million things I’d rather do than go grocery shopping. It’s a hassle (ask me how long I waited in line last week at Trader Joe’s!) and it can quickly get expensive, especially if you’re trying to prioritize buying organic or sustainable foods. Food waste is also a big part of your standard bad grocery experience. Fresh food goes bad so quickly (looking at you, pre-packaged spinach) that it’s hard to guarantee you’re getting the most bang for your buck by using your entire grocery cart haul on time. That’s why keeping pantry staples—which have longer shelf lives and don’t require refrigeration—in your home can be so useful. Most are inexpensive and can be used in so many different, delicious ways for quick, easy meals when you’re pinched for time or are unsure what to make. This sounds like a fast-track way to eat like you’re living in a bunker—but working creatively with non-perishable staples can be super delicious if you know how to do it right. For help, we asked dietitian Maggie Michalczyk, MS, RD, to help us come up with five different healthy, easy pantry meals that can be made primarily with 11 key staples everyone should have in their kitchen. (With a little help from some refrigerated ingredients like cheese, greens, and avocado.) That means you can have dinners ready from Monday to Friday night after work, all with just a few simple, cheap ingredients waiting for