March 06, 2020 at 10:30AM by CWC Game day watch parties often consist of very passionate sports fans, a few people who are just there for the snacks (let’s be honest), lots of cheering, and plenty of buffalo chicken dip. One thing not commonly found at the party? Healthy food. “Most concession stands, tailgates, and viewing parties are guilty of offering high-calorie foods,” says Ashley Martinez, MFN, RDN, LD, culinary dietitian at Kroger Health. “Being surrounded by all of this can make it difficult to stick to healthy habits, but it’s all about changing the way we think about food.” The last thing you want to do is waste time stressing about the health factor of the spread in front of you when instead you should be rooting for your favorite team. Enjoying a portion of that buffalo chicken dip is not a bad thing—we promise—but by adding a few healthy game day snacks to the table, you’ll be able to focus more on who’s winning and less on what you’re eating. To make sure you’re watch party-ready, we asked Martinez to share some suggestions for healthy ingredient swaps to transform your favorite party foods into healthy game day snacks with no extra effort. Bonus: You can find all her suggestions at Kroger, and by downloading the OptUP app, you can view additional ingredient swaps that are personalized to you the next time you head to the store. Keep scrolling for 3 healthy game day snacks that everyone at the
Tag: Well+Good
4 freezer staples that make plant-based cooking so much easier
March 06, 2020 at 03:00AM by CWC It’s a common misconception that in order to eat a primarily plant-based diet, everything has to be fresh. While a crisper bursting with colorful produce is certainly welcome, it’s not the only way to make plants the primary part of your meals. A majorly helpful hack in making plant-based eating easy—especially when there’s no time to go to the store is keeping your freezer stocked with some versatile go-tos. “I think of the freezer as the new modern pantry,” says clinical nutritionist Sharon Brown, CN. “Frozen is the new pantry for modern cooks.” Brown says that she aims to make 90 percent of her diet plant-based and the other 10 percent from humanely raised proteins. Healthy plant-based frozen foods that make cooking easier 1. frozen fruit “I always have frozen fruit on hand to add to smoothies, grain-free hot cereals, grain-free pancakes and quick desserts,” Brown says. The cool (no pun intended) thing about frozen fruit—and veggies for that matter—is that they are flash frozen at peak ripeness, so you are still getting all the amazing nutritional benefits that you would from buying your fruit fresh from the fresh produce section of the grocery store. 2. frozen vegetables Brown says one of her easy, go-to dinners is bone broth with veggies. “Frozen vegetables are a must when you’re in a pinch,” she says. “Simply sautee them with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and the bone broth, which adds collagen to the meal.” 3.
How to triple your push-up count in a single strength-training session
March 06, 2020 at 02:00AM by CWC Whether you can do two of them in a row or 200, learning how to do more push-ups seems to be an item on everyone’s fitness to-do lists. Obviously, as you get stronger you’ll be able to up your count over time, but if you’re feeling impatient on the matter, we found a hack that will let you triple the number of up-downs you’re able to do in a single strength training session. The secret? It’s all about where you place your hands. Moving your hands—and by default, your arms—into different positions relative to your body tweaks the type of push-up that you’re doing, which switches up the muscles that you’re working. “Though all push-ups work your chest, different types require more effort from different parts of your muscles,” says Julia Stern, a trainer with Rumble. When your hands are close together and your arms are parallel to your body, your triceps get the brunt of the work. As you move them farther apart into a regular push-up and then into a wide-grip push-up, the work moves increasingly into your pectorals. So if you max out on the number of reps you do in one type of push-up, pausing and moving your hands will allow you to reset so that you can start from zero on the next variation, since those muscles haven’t yet been burned out. In doing this, you’ll be able to up your count and work every inch of your
Your guide to buying and drinking truly sustainable wine
March 06, 2020 at 01:00AM by CWC Thanks to climate change, people are more willing than ever to go “green” with their eating habits, from going plant-based (at least some of the time) to cutting back on their food waste. So it should be no surprise that many people are interested in making their beverages more eco-friendly, too—right down to buying and drinking sustainable wine. However, when it comes to choosing eco-conscious vino, things can get a little murky. There are a variety of sustainable certifications for wine, says Diego Meraviglia, president and director of education at the North American Sommelier Association. “There’s a lot of confusion about what sustainable, organic, and biodynamic wines mean,” says Meraviglia. “They often get mixed up and are used interchangeably, but they actually mean very different things.” Much like the way supplements aren’t regulated by the FDA, there isn’t a body of government that oversees sustainable practices in winemaking. Not to mention, there are many labels on wine that sound eco-friendly but don’t necessarily mean green. So how do you make sure that your reds and rosés are sustainable, too? Here’s what to know. So what is sustainable wine, exactly? Sustainable wine refers to the farming and winemaking practices that winegrowers follow, Meraviglia says. To be certified sustainable, wineries and vineyards must have an independent third party evaluate their farming practices and see if they meet certain eco-friendly standards. These standards run the gamut of composting waste to make fertilizer, conserving water, and reducing
Ableism is the issue in wellness we’re not addressing
March 06, 2020 at 12:00AM by CWC When I was sworn in as an attorney in 2019, the leaders from my local chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers welcomed me to the profession and I enthusiastically signed up to join their organization. I wanted to become more involved in the events the group put on, so I filled out a committee preference form to hopefully lead our chapter towards greater disability inclusion. I’m autistic, and I regularly notice a lack of openly disabled lawyers like me. It’s a passion of mine to help design a world that is more welcoming, stigma-free, and accepting of disability and neurodiversity (the range of differences in brain function), so I ranked the diversity and inclusion committee as my first choice for service. After receiving my preference form, I was immediately asked by the chapter president if the health and wellness committee would be a better fit for me. (I can only guess this came from registering my disability). I knew that the health and wellness committee specifically handled and created initiatives related to attorney mental health (which is a huge issue in our profession) and would occasionally organize group fitness classes to build community among members and encourage healthy lifestyle habits. Those initiatives are great, I thought, but it wasn’t where I belonged and could most effectively use my skills and knowledge. I had to explain that I was not uniquely qualified for health and wellness, no more than any other person
A dermatologist is begging you to stop making these face-washing mistakes
March 05, 2020 at 11:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwMeaiiyzHo] Dermatologists are well-equipped to answer all of your skin-related brain busters, like, “what products should I be using if my skin is oily and dry?” “What’s the deal with topical collagen?” and “Do hair loss supplements actually work?” But the most common skin questions MDs get actually have to do with the most seemingly simple part of your routine. In the latest episode of Dear Derm, we asked board-certified dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD, to spill the deets on the skin subjects her patients are frequently confused about. And the one that made the top of the list? The right way to wash your face. Washing your face the right way is the most important element of keeping your skin clean and healthy. While it may seem like an easy lather-and-rinse regimen is all you need, there are certain small things you should be doing when you cleanse that can make or break the effectiveness of your routine. For example, did you know that some cleansers need to stay on your face longer than others? Or that micellar water doesn’t actually wash your face? Because I, a beauty editor, did not. Dr. Gohara breaks down a whopping eight face-washing no-no’s in the video (click the vid above to see all of them!), but one that will truly blow your mind? “Soap” and “cleanser” are two totally different things, and one of them has no place on your skin. “Never, ever, ever, ever use a soap on your
Use the ‘hip to lip’ method to max out your fastest sprint ever
March 05, 2020 at 10:00PM by CWC Running gets written off as a leg-centric sport, and for good reason: pounding the pavement demands a lot of your quads, hamstrings, and hips. What people often forget, though, is that a powerful arm swing can shave seconds (or even minutes!) off your race pace. So to get your full body on board for lightning-fast miles, trainers recommend a little something called the “hip to lip” method to teach you how to swing your arms while running. “A proper arm swing counterbalances and stabilizes the body,” says Melissa Wolfe, a coach at New York City’s Mile High Run Club. “While one leg is driving upwards ahead of us and the opposite arm is driving back behind us—and vice versa. That balance is enabling us to move forward in a straight line.” When you drive your elbows back powerfully and then swing your arms up beside your face (the “hip to lip” method), your lower body reacts by kicking your heels up higher and creating a more forceful stride. “For sprint pacing, when we pump our arms faster our legs will also follow with a faster turnover.” Wolfe tells me that everyone’s body and running form is unique, but generally, two things will get in your way of performing the hip to lip swing. First, your arms should be swinging forward. “If you had an imaginary line down the center of your body, you’d want to keep your arms and hands from crossing to the other side,”
Have we reached peak hydration?
March 05, 2020 at 09:00PM by CWC Over the past few years, the basic earth element of water somehow snagged itself a cool-factor edge. Google searches for “hydration” have almost doubled since 2015; new apps that remind you to drink water (like, a lot of apps) have burst onto the scene; and at the time of publish, more than 790,000 Instagram posts had used the #stayhydrated hashtag. Furthermore, since 2016, bottled water has been the most popular beverage in America, outselling coffee, soft drinks, and all manner of other beverages. On one hand, it’s hard to find any real problem here: Water is essential for keeping our bodies functioning, and dehydration can lead to a whole host of problems. But on the other hand, there’s no medical proof specifying any need to drink a half gallon of water a day—so why does it seem like hydration has become a trend and top wellness priority for so many people? The Jennifer Aniston effect It all started with a rather unlikely culprit: Jennifer Aniston. She’s influenced a lot of cultural trends (like, with that haircut, for one), but perhaps the most enduring is also the most under-the-radar: the notion that water is an all-purpose beauty elixir. In 2007, Aniston became the spokesperson for Glacéau’s bottled water brand Smartwater. Prior to that point, bottled water brands more commonly ran ads focusing on the water’s purity or rustic qualities, like Poland Springs’s “What it means to be from Maine” campaign. While pricey water brands
Have trouble asking for what you want during sex? This 5-minute exercise will help you communicate orgasmically
March 05, 2020 at 08:00PM by CWC I’m in a room packed with strangers when I learn something new about myself: On a scale of 1 to 10, I prefer to be touched at a pressure that lands somewhere around a four. And I like a little bit of dragging-nail action, too. (Spicy! Who knew?!?) No, I’m not at an orgy or participating in some kind of innovative new workout. Rather, I’m taking a mindful sex workshop hosted by pleasure brand Dame, led by somatic psychologist and certified sex therapist Holly Richmond, LMFT, who says that for so many of us, communicating how we want to be touched is difficult for one key reason: We’ve never actually asked ourselves what turns us on, which makes knowing how to ask for what you want in bed extra complicated. “It sounds so simple to ask for what we want in sex, but it’s so hard,” says Richmond. “We always have to be open if we are in long-term relationships so that when our partner’s preferences change, our feelings won’t get hurt when they ask for someone different.” As challenging as it is to voice what you want, research confirms the point that—particularly in the case of longer-term sexual relationships—it’s a beyond-vital skill. Take a 2016 study published in the Journal of Sex Research, which found that rates of “sexual satisfaction and maintenance of passion were higher among people who had sex most frequently, received more oral sex, had more consistent orgasms, and
My grandma says she needs less sleep as she gets older—is she lying?
March 05, 2020 at 07:00PM by CWC You can consider it an old wives tale or something that gray-haired ladies weave while power-knitting: the older you get, the less sleep you need. That sounds like a rare and significant pro of aging, being able to be energized for longer hours. It also sounds… extremely not real. While I do remember my grandma up-and-at-’em around 6 a.m. each day, and I also remember her out cold on the couch, head toppled backwards. So do you need less sleep as you get older? Or is YiaYia a liar? Well, first off, there’s at least an element to truth, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Our needs definitely do change as we age. When you’re a fresh-out-of-the-oven newborn to 3 months old, you require something like 14 to 17 hours a day. Diaper-bound infants need more like 12 to 15 hours a day. Toddlers to kindergartners need 11 to 15 hours a day, hence the mid-day break of nap time. It slims to nine and 11 hours of sleep until you hit your teens, and it’s more like eight to 10 hours. Seven to nine hours is the recommended number for adults (I know, I’m giggling, too), and that’s the same once you’re 65 or older. So, yes, technically you do need less sleep as you get older. But the reason why you factually get and function on less sleep has nothing to do with becoming an incredibly spry elder who really wants