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
Tag: Well+Good
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
3 healthy eating habits from the longest living people in the world
October 20, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC You could say that folks who live in Blue Zones are winning at life. It’s not unusual for some residents of Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Icaria, Greece, to live upwards of 100 years. And while it’s their holistically-minded lifestyle that accounts for their centenarian reputation, their diets are a major, major part of that. The Longevity Plan author John Day, MD, has lived among various Blue Zone populations, and he says that their “keep it simple” approach to nutrition accounts for why they thrive. “The key to healthy eating is really quite simple,” says Dr. Day. “As I counsel my cardiac patients every day, if they can just do three things, then they are 90 percent of the way to a healthy diet and a healthy weight.” No surprise here: those three things happen to appear in the Blue Zones nutritional guidelines. Below, Dr. Day breaks down the trifecta of food tenets straight from the happiest, healthiest people inhabiting this planet called Earth. 3 healthy eating habits of Blue Zone lifestyle-gurus 1. Minimize added sugar intake “There is absolutely no health benefit from eating added sugars,” says Dr. Day. “Added sugars only dramatically increase your risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.” Not to add insult to injury, but the sweet stuff’s also not great for your gut or your anxiety levels, so try your best to stick with no more than 25 grams of added sugars per day.
Yep, you can lift too light—here’s what you need to know
October 20, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC I pick the dumbbells I work out with pretty much the same way I pick my lunch everyday: I go by whatever I’m in the mood for. Some days I like to go all-out, picking the heaviest weights that I can handle whenever I feel strong. Others? The lighter, the better. There is such a thing as lifting too light, though, which can affect just how beneficial your overall workout is. “If you aren’t lifting heavy enough weights, your results—AKA your muscle strength and growth—will be suboptimal,” says Brad Schoenfeld PhD, associate professor of exercise science at Lehman College in New York. In his research, he actually found that lifting at 20 percent of one repetition maximum (the highest amount of weight you can lift for one rep) produced not-so-great muscle growth when compared to lifting 40 percent and above. “Lighter load training in general, which is less than 70 percent of your one-rep maximum, produces lower increases in strength compared to heavier loads.” That said, if you’re working with a light load and want to see results, you’ve gotta up the reps. Chief running officer of Run-Fit Jason Karp, PhD echoes this idea, stating that getting stronger is all about pushing yourself. “To improve muscular strength, the intensity of your workouts must be high,” he says. “You have to work at the maximum or near maximum ability of your muscles to produce force, and that can happen only if your muscles contract
7 ways to be more mindful during your workouts, straight from the pros
October 20, 2019 at 12:00AM by CWC For the most part, people want to be distracted during their workouts. There are TVs in front of the treadmills at every gym, never-ending high-energy playlists and captivating podcasts, and about a billion different things to do on your phone. With that being said, maybe the one thing your fitness routine is missing is a little mindfulness. Being mindful during your workouts is scary. You feel every heart beat and hear your breath as you’re whipping out all those jump squats, and there’s no taking breaks between sets to catch up on your texts. But that mindfulness not only improves your sweat sessions, but also gives you a mental boost too, letting you feel those post-workout endorphins in a totally new way. Here’s exactly how to start, according to the pros. 7 simple ways to be more mindful during your workouts 1. Cue airplane mode “Turn your phone on airplane mode so you’re not distracted during your workout with outside demands during your self-care time.” —Koya Webb, yoga teacher, holistic health coach, and founder of Get Loved Up 2. Disconnect to connect “Putting your headphones on and playing your favorite music, audio book, or podcast can be a great way to multi-task, entertain, or motivate yourself to keep moving. The down side is that you’ll likely miss many details of physical experience. Movement is a wonderful opportunity to get out of your head and into your body, and disconnecting from your devices allows