October 31, 2019 at 07:00PM by CWC Even without a menstrual tracker, many people can tell when they’re a couple days away from getting their period. That flash of irrational anger when Starbucks is out of almond milk starts to make sense when it’s coupled with a craving for cookie dough ice-cream and a wave of fatigue. IMO, tampons should just come with a dark chocolate bar. While it may seem like the universe is rigged against you, there’s actually a purpose behind the types of foods people crave before and during their periods. In her new book The Better Period Food Solution, registered dietitian and You Versus Food host Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, RD, reveals not only the reason for craving carbs and fats instead of healthier foods, but also how menstruation affects hunger levels in general. Seriously, where was this intel in seventh grade health class? How your cycle affects how hungry you are There’s one specific time of the month where you’re more likely to be hungrier than normal. No, it’s not during your period—it’s in the first few days after ovulation (roughly halfway through your cycle if you have a 28-day cycle.) According to Beckerman, this period of your menstrual cycle is called the luteal phase, which is when your body’s main goal is to thicken and build up the uterine lining to prepare for a potential pregnancy. “If you don’t get pregnant, that uterine lining is ultimately what is going to be shed during your next
Tag: Well+Good
I found a cauliflower gnocchi that’s even better than Trader Joe’s—but there’s a big catch
October 31, 2019 at 06:00PM by CWC Anyone who knows me knows that I need a minute to come to terms with healthy food trends. I turned up my nose at kale for years until I was okay with it being in every salad I ate; I gave oat milk the side eye for months until I realized that it makes a mean latte; I am the first to admit that I still don’t enjoy matcha. I’m not a picky eater per se, I am just deeply skeptical of most trends. (Call me the Dana Scully to the wellness world’s Fox Mulder—I do not want to believe.) This is part of the reason why it took me a full year to try Trader Joe’s famous cauliflower gnocchi for myself. The other reason for the delay is that it was always sold out at my local TJ’s. I went to buy it and couldn’t. For 12 months. That’s how popular it is. The anticipation was so great, the wait was so long, the hype was so huge, that once I finally got my hands on it, I was a bit underwhelmed. It’s good, but not the mind-blowing food that Instagram made it out to be. I considered myself not into the trend, and moved on. Photo: W+G Creative But I kept hearing about cauliflower gnocchi everywhere—including from fellow staffers at Well+Good. Then in September, grocery store staple Green Giant (distributor of frozen peas and also my beloved broccoli tots) reached out
Why it’s actually a good thing to be just a little bit narcissistic
October 31, 2019 at 05:30PM by CWC If there’s one word for someone who’s just The Worst, it has to be “narcissist.” The Mayo Clinic defines the personality disorder as “a mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others.” While it’s true that this particular type of human doesn’t make for a great partner, friend, or boss, new research suggest that having just a hint of narcissism in your personality could be a strength—not a weakness. In three independent studies of 700 total adults, Kostas Papageorgiou, PhD, director of the InteRRaCt Lab in the school of psychology at Queen’s University Belfast, found a correlation between narcissism and mental toughness. Dr. Papageorgiou’s team of researchers specifically looked at two types of narcissists: the vulnerable variety (who go on the defensive to protect themselves from others) and the grandiose kind (who have an inflated sense of self-importance). One type beat out the other when it came to experiencing lower stress levels and less vulnerability to depression. “The results from all the studies that we conducted show that grandiose narcissism correlates with very positive components of mental toughness, such as confidence and goal-orientation, protecting against symptoms of depression and perceived stress,” said Dr. Papageorgiou. Just to be clear, he’s not giving you carte blanche to lean into your “me, me, me” tendencies. Instead, Dr. Papageorgiou says it’s a first step in
How to best deal with the end of daylight saving time, according to your zodiac sign
October 31, 2019 at 05:00PM by CWC If you’ve been perusing your calendar lately, wondering, huh, when is daylight saving over this year? Guess what? The time has come. On the early morning of Sunday, November 3, we shift back our clocks an hour, granting us a glorious additional hour of sleep. Yet, the long-term effect can be troublesome for many of us, especially those who suffer from seasonal affective disorder, since the end of daylight saving means that nighttime skies overtake the light of day earlier and earlier. Sure, you’ve lived your whole life to this point just dealing with the change (and considering a move to Arizona, where daylight saving time isn’t acknowledged). And while it might seem easier to just handle with the effects this way until the days stretch longer again, why not consider leaning on the stars for help? Your zodiac sign can offer huge hints about your personality and coping style, and astrologer Kyle Thomas has some personal tips to help make the sting of darker days much easier for you to handle. Who knows? Armed with this intel, you may just emerge from the winter months feeling more energized than ever. Learn how to use your zodiac sign to handle the effects of daylight saving being over Aries (March 21 to April 19): Start a fitness routine As a bold fire sign that thrives on the outdoors, an Aries can get fairly down once the colder months arrive—which means a rush of endorphins is
I tried “resistance band leggings” and my bottom half is still sore
October 31, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC No matter what type of workout you’re doing, add a resistance band to the mix, and it’s guaranteed to make it harder. But add eight of them at once? And, well, you should probably avoid making plans that involve walking for at least the next two days. This is exactly the principle behind Agogie Resistance Training Pants ($130), which feature no less than eight built-in resistance bands, and put every other pair of leggings I own to shame. The bands, which run vertically down the legs of the pants, are meant to add a layer of “active resistance” over your muscles, making your muscles have to work harder than usual to do everyday tasks. They look mostly look like regular black leggings, with bands positioned over your natural muscle and ligament lines to move comfortably with your body. The resistance bands in back run from the glutes, down the hamstrings to the ankle, and the front bands surround the knee to prevent any restrictions of mobility while also assisting in keeping your knee where it should be as you move. A set of stirrups go around your foot to stretch the bands into place. The pants come in two different resistance levels: +20, which is meant to be worn for smooth movements and longer duration exercises, and +40, which is best for shorter duration exercises and explosive movements. Here’s what my experience was like. What’s it like to work out in resistance band
The best brow hack for whatever arch you’re trying to achieve
October 31, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC Since there’s no such thing as an eyebrow positivity movement (yet), I feel I can be frank: I hate my brows. They’re thin yet wild with a sharp arch that makes me look severe. So, I hide them with longer-than-I’d-like fringe while crossing my fingers that I’ll soon win the lottery so I can afford microblading or a private island and a pool boy who loves me no matter how my facial hair is groomed. It doesn’t have to be this way, brow experts tell me. While I can certainly work on acceptance, and hold onto fantasies of an impending windfall, it’s also not that difficult today to achieve the brows of your dreams. “Brows are the one thing that can completely change your features with just a few tweaks,” says Brooklyn-based Shen Beauty brow specialist Joshua Beeler, who makes it sound easy enough for even me to have new arch aspirations. Below, find four of the most popular brow shapes experts say are currently en vogue along with pro hacks on how to achieve them. 1. The soft angled classic “This is my personal favorite,” says Joey Healy, celebrity stylist and eyebrow specialist. “The arch is about two-thirds of the way out, and it’s well defined but gradual with a tapered tail and a relatively squared-off front.” When aiming for this look, Healy says it’s important to reveal just a modest portion of the brow bone to give the eye lift without over-arching.
I thought I was the worst meditator ever until I got Zen in a room with 499 strangers
October 31, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC I was almost late to The Big Quiet session I was set to attend, thanks to a pretty un-Zen Lyft experience. The other passenger in my shared ride was also headed to the mass group meditation, which is currently in the midst of a 10-city national tour. We were nervously laughing about not having time to visit the bathroom at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan before the centering session kicked off. And after discovering she had done the Big Quiet before and I had not, I used the traffic as an opportunity to conduct some serious investigative journalism. “Is it, like, fun?” I asked. She mulled it over and marked it as more of a powerful experience. To paraphrase, she said it’s fun, but not like, woo! fun. Hmmm, I thought. Unsettling, yet intriguing. For the uninitiated (like I was, until very recently), the Big Quiet is is a massive meditation movement that hosts events where hundreds of people gather in some of the most gorgeous places in the world to hopefully soothe their mind for 75 minutes. There aren’t harsh restrictions set in place at these events, either. Need to bend or stretch mid-meditation? Great. Bend or stretch. With The Big Quiet, comfort, unity, and the cultivation of community are paramount. And with 500 total attendees set to join the session at the Gugg along with me, I knew that I was going to get a lot of community. What
Why other diseases deserve the breast cancer ‘pink ribbon’ treatment
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
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.