February 28, 2020 at 12:00AM by CWC The last thing I ordered from Amazon was a big jug of Drano. Could I have gone and picked one up at the local hardware store? Yes, but I didn’t want to dedicate any more time to my clogged shower drain than was necessary. It’s nice when an order arrives two days after I click “buy now,” but also kind of scary. I know this habit has a negative impact on the environment, and according to new research, it all comes down to the order’s last mile. A study published this week in Environmental Science & Technology examined the different ways we purchase fast-moving consumer goods, like personal care and home care products that are typically low-priced, sell quickly, and purchased frequently. “The last mile part is the main phase that causes the differences between the different shopping channels,” study co-author Sadegh Shahmohammadi, an environmental scientist at Radboud University in the Netherlands, told Scientific American. Physically going to the store and picking up your items seems like the best option. Your order isn’t coming from some faraway warehouse, it’s just two miles from your house. But the store didn’t make those items—someone had to ship it to them. The difference in greenhouse gas emissions all comes down to your mode of transportation, the distance you traveled, and the number of items purchased. The study examined three primary ways of shopping, brick and mortar, brick and click, and pure play, and the greenhouse gas
Tag: Well+Good
A jump rope is the fastest way to spike heart rate—these are the 5 best you can buy
February 27, 2020 at 11:30PM by CWC If you haven’t picked up a jump rope since elementary school, you’re seriously missing out. Jumping rope is a fun yet intense way to get your heart rate up and work every muscle. The best part is that all you need is your body and your rope. Whether you’re grabbing your rope for a quick session before work or packing it for an easy workout when you’re on vacation, you’ll always have a cardio tool on hand. “From a conditioning standpoint, jumping rope probably ranks higher than running and rowing,” says Maillard Howell, owner of CrossFit Prospect Heights and founder of The Beta Way. “It’s good for speed, agility, conditioning, and endurance. It does it all.” Don’t fret if jumprope isn’t your forte. To start, watch this step-by-step guide on how to use a jump rope with superstar trainer Amanda Kloots: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3zgHI8QnqE] Feeling inspired? Shop our favorite jump ropes below. The best jump ropes to buy for an intense workout 1. RPM SPEED ROPE 3.0, $55 Complete with an anti-friction system, this rope has a smooth spin, with an efficient power transfer from the handle to the cable making it more. It works for all levels and comes with a microfiber bag for easy storage and transport. 2. AK! JUMP ROPE, $40 Kloots designed her very own jump rope. The 9M long rope is adjustable, to work for any height, and is made with a non-coil rope. It also comes with the cutest
Alicia Silverstone shares the 1 wellness practice she can’t go a day without
February 27, 2020 at 11:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY26kwxwwSM] Watch the video to learn Alicia Silverstone’s favorite wellness practices. It goes without saying that Cher Horowitz, the fictional protagonist in the iconic ‘90s hit Clueless, loves a good fashion trend. Between her yellow-plaid suit set and her cherry red mini-dress (“an Alaia!”), it’s clear that Alicia Silverstone’s character was a total style trailblazer. But what about wellness? Would Cher be equally keen on trailblazing in the health and wellness spheres as well? In the latest episode of The Avocado Show, Well+Good’s YouTube series where celebs sit down to chat over avocado dishes, Silverstone shares her take on Cher being vegan. “I think if you get Cher before she starts listening to Josh, she would be vegan because it’s trendy and very hip and very cool. But I think that she would also be vegan post-Josh for the right reasons which—not that those are bad reasons—but for the reason that it’s better for the planet, better for all the people who can’t eat because they’re not distributing food properly,” she says. “Definitely my plant-based diet—it changed my life. My motto is ‘greens, grains, beans,’ and I’m good.” —Alicia Silverstone While we can really only speculate about how Cher would and wouldn’t interact with what’s going on in wellness world of today, Silverstone personally swears by a number of healthy habits in her daily life. But, she was able to pinpoint the single wellness practice she can’t go a day without. “Definitely
The one thing a podiatrist says you should never, ever do to an ingrown toenail
February 27, 2020 at 10:00PM by CWC A lot can go wrong with your feet. You can get toenail fungus from a bad pedicure, athlete’s foot from the gym shower, or—one of the most painful—an ingrown toenail from, well, a number of different things. While you might be tempted to tend to some of these issues yourself, treating yourself at home can make the issue far worse. In many cases, you should consult a podiatrist for how to fix an ingrown toenail. Ingrown toenails—when the corner or side of your nail turns inward and grows into the skin—are a really common condition. The accompanying irritation and pain is what leads a lot of people to attempt an at-home treatment. “Many patients attempt to conduct ‘bathroom surgery’ on ingrown toenails, which often results in serious infections,” says Miguel Cunha, DPM, podiatrist and founder of Gotham Footcare. This involves digging into your ingrown to try and uncurl it or cut it with whatever tools you may have at home (which is something a lot of the Well+Good editorial staff admits to doing). “This causes further damage to the toe and the nail.” If you have an ingrown toenail that “only causes pain at the tip of the toe,” says Dr. Cunha, you can just clip it and then soak your foot in lukewarm water with Epsom salts. “But if a little clip on the tip isn’t enough to address the pain, and your pain is at the side or base of the
Venus and the moon will share a smooch tonight—here’s what that means for your own love life
February 27, 2020 at 09:51PM by CWC I often wonder how we would distract ourselves from the trials of modern life without astrology which, fortunately, offers endless opportunities to (literally) space out. Tonight the skies are doing their best to attract our attention by showcasing a “kiss” between Venus and the crescent moon. Just after sunset on Thursday, Venus will appear to touch the moon. I say appear, because in actuality they will be nowhere near one another; the moon is 249,892 miles away from Earth whereas Venus is more like 84 million miles away. But love keeps them together. So what does this apparent celestial kiss mean for your own love life? Intuitive astrologer and healer Rachel Lang explains that the moon and Venus are, astrologically speaking, “good friends,” so when they conjoin, we tend to feel more positive about our relationships and experience a stronger desire to connect to one another. “[This event] means romance, passion, and pleasure,” she says, noting that Venus is actually the planet of pleasure. It’s also good for our individual wellbeing which, of course, will positively influence your relationships, too. “The moon represents our emotions and internal state of equilibrium, so if you are normally prone to self criticism, fear, or worry, this transit offers you a reprieve,” says Lang. “It is important to remember, though, that many of the difficulties you might face in relationships, like not feeling seen, harboring resentment, or feeling out of your power, all start with how much
What Black doulas are doing to keep women and children alive
February 27, 2020 at 09:00PM by CWC A doula is a trained professional who provides emotional, physical, and educational support to an expectant mother throughout the pregnancy, during labor, and in the weeks following the birth. A supportive member of a birthing team, they work to improve health outcomes. While doulas may be ever present (and accepted) now, the concept wasn’t quite as ubiquitous in 2006, when Brandi Sellerz-Jackson first became a mother at the age of 23. Now the mother of three boys—Jax, 13, Jedi, 4, and Jupiter, 1—she only learned what a doula was, and could do, by her second pregnancy, when she hired a birth doula. With her last pregnancy, the Los Angeles-based mother opted for both birth and postpartum doulas. “I did things so very different this time, and it was amazing,” Sellerz-Jackson, co-founder of Moms in Color and creator of #NotSoPrivateParts, says. “For postpartum, there were literally just women coming in and out of our home for six weeks almost, just loving on us, bringing [us] food. My job at that time was just nursing Jupiter.” The 37-year-old has seen first-hand the life-saving advantages of having a birth worker present throughout one’s pregnancy journey (and after). After feeling the pull to enter women’s work in 2015, Sellerz-Jackson hosted a breastfeeding event with her now business partner, Kelly McKnight. When a friend and birth worker approached her about becoming a doula, she decided to become a birth and postpartum doula herself, undergoing an initial four-day intensive with reading, homework assignments, and hours of
I’m ready to retire my self-appointed ‘I’m bad at cooking’ label for good
February 27, 2020 at 08:00PM by CWC I have some pretty embarrassing stories in the kitchen, like the time my situationship was coming over and I needed to clean my apartment quickly, so I shoved a bunch of things in my oven, forgot about them for a couple days, and then preheated my oven with everything still in there. Or the time I decided to make my high school boyfriend hot chocolate, and it made him violently ill. For pretty much my whole life, I’ve been convinced that I’m just bad at cooking, like I don’t have the gene for following recipes or being competent enough to dice veggies into pieces that are the same size. There are many, many other kitchen incidents I could cite as evidence. I’ve caused the smoke detectors to go off more times than you can count, overcooked chicken to the point that it’s almost jerky, and sliced off part of my thumb while using a cheese grater to make cauliflower rice. I thought I was completely hopeless in the kitchen. So instead of trying to learn, I made it my thing. I’d say, “I’m so bad at cooking” with the same inflection as a woman saying, “I don’t have any girlfriends, I just get along better with boys.” (See: Amber from Love Is Blind.) It certainly didn’t help that my most recent ex-boyfriend was a major backseat chef, often just taking over from me—so I’ve internalized this notion that I need help in the
IDK WTF happened to my skin this February, but this $11 moisturizer saved me
February 27, 2020 at 07:00PM by CWC I can count the number of “good” skin days I’ve had this month on one hand. Thanks to constant weather flip-flopping here in New York City (where it’s 20 degrees one day, 56 and sunny the next), my sensitive, rosacea-prone skin has been freaking out more than I was the time I saw Harry Styles in concert. All month, I’ve battled redness, major acne breakouts (because fun fact, rosacea can manifest as whitehead-looking bumps), and itchy, cracked, dry skin all over my face. I tried everything—doubling down on my prescription topicals, avoiding foundation, slathering on various moisturizing masks—but nothing really helped. After three weeks of this, I was ready to book an appointment with my dermatologist when I tried one last-ditch effort: Cetaphil Rich Hydrating Night Cream with Hyaluronic Acid ($11). I’ve used various versions of the OG drugstore brand’s cleansers and moisturizers before and liked them, but since my skin is typically oily, I hadn’t ever sought out a cream specifically designed for dry to extra dry skin. But given how parched my complexion was, I knew I needed a different kind of moisturizer to help calm things down. This one has hyaluronic acid in it, which is one of the best hydrating ingredients that’s also safe for all skin types. Plus, unlike some other nighttime moisturizers, this option didn’t have any exfoliants or other ingredients that would further irritate my already very angry skin. I was sold. Photo: Cetaphil Shop now:
Why you don’t want to become a ‘butt-gripper’ in your workouts
February 27, 2020 at 06:00PM by CWC No matter what type of workout you’re doing, there’s a very high chance that you’re instructed to squeeze your glutes at least once during the class. That’s all well and good (and even encouraged in certain exercises) but a physical therapist says that you can actually overdo it. And overdoing it can lead you to become a “butt-gripper,” which can wreck your body’s alignment (and your workout). “If you’re constantly training your glutes to contract, eventually, they’ll never let go,” says Vinh Pham, PT and founder of Myodetox. “Over time, they become stuck in a posterior tilt.” The contraction of the glutes leads to a domino effect of a tilted pelvis, extended hip flexors, and excessive flexing of the lower spine. Over time, he says this can make you a buttgripper and lead to injury. This isn’t to say that activating your glutes in certain exercises is completely wrong—but Pham stresses that overdoing it can lead you to remain in that tilted pelvic position, even once the exercise is completed. “That leaves you more vulnerable to injury, especially in your lower back, because your pelvis isn’t moving when you’re walking, sitting, or doing other things,” he says. The key is to “go half way,” says Pham, aka don’t clench your glutes as if your life depends on it but make sure the right muscles are activated. “People tend to squeeze as hard as they can, which can feel satisfying in the moment, but that’s
Use the Gottman Institute’s Anger Iceberg to resolve conflict more quickly
February 27, 2020 at 05:00PM by CWC Anger in a relationship reduces us all to toddlers. You know what I mean—tantrums, tears, screaming, throwing clothes out the window, and then having nap. Anger isn’t an invalid feeling, but seeing the Anger Iceberg in time will keep your relationship from sinking faster than the Titanic. The Gottman Institute‘s Anger Iceberg suggests we visualize anger as—you guessed it—an iceberg. Above the water, all you can see is a small chunk of ice you’ll happily crash your relationship into (that’s anger). Below the surface, though, we hide more sensitive, vulnerable feelings like jealousy, fear, or sadness. “Almost always anger is a sign, a symptom, that underneath we really afraid, afraid that something has is threatening our well being and we feel vulnerable and scared,” says relationship therapist Tammy Nelson, PhD. “When someone cuts us off on the highway, we might flip them the bird or scream and yell or experience a flood of anger. Swear words we didn’t even know we knew tumbling out of our mouths. But the split second before all that road rage? We feel fear. Fear that we’ll smash into that car, that our safety will be at risk, that we would lose our physical well being, that we’ll be killed.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Gottman Institute (@gottmaninstitute) on Feb 25, 2020 at 8:01am PST //www.instagram.com/embed.js In essence, you can translate that toward getting angry at your partner. We use as a