October 31, 2018 at 11:20AM Everyone has an asinine hill that they’ll die on and mine is this—I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone voluntarily drinks black coffee. I’ve never felt such a strong sensation of anger and disappointment as when I awoke to a fresh pot at a friend’s apartment with no milk or mylk and sugar in sight. And I hate to say I told you so, but here we are. As I’m lapping up my vindication, I present to you without further question, proof that there’s just something off about people who don’t add anything to their cup-of-Joe. Published in a journal called Appetite, the researchers asked 1,000 adults about their food preferences and also administered personality tests that help identify narcissism, psychopathy, aggression, and more. And surprise surprise, people who like bitter foods (such as black coffee) were more likely to exhibit not only psychopathy but also sadism. The study did not also identify these people as masochists but in my very scientific assessment, that undoubtedly has to be part of this. Case in point: Anyone who advocates for this needlessly joyless drink will tell you that there’s an adjustment period before you can really stomach the stuff, which I think should raise all of the red flags. And sure, maybe previously people with certain dietary restrictions or dairy allergies, who needed the caffeine perk, didn’t have many options. But it’s 2018 and you can have milk, almond milk, oat milk, pea milk—even banana milk. There is no shortage of
Tag: Well+Good
Halloween, schmalloween: Let’s make witchiness a year-round thing
October 31, 2018 at 11:19AM No matter what costume you’re wearing for Halloween this year, there’s a good chance you’re feeling witchier than ever. Seriously, no need to rock a Wicked-style green face and belt “Defying Gravity” to be a part of the covenly vibe on the rise. To be clear, by “witches,” I mean the archetype seen in culture—not necessarily real modern-day witches, as in those who practice magick with a “k.” Rather, I mean witchiness that can be seen as a signal of collective female power. Basically, it’s a little bit good-witch Glinda, a little bit greek-goddess Gaia—and it’s showing up more and more in our cultural consciousness. Witchiness that can be seen as a signal of collective female power is on the rise and is about to become a year-round obsession. Think: Sage-scented women’s circles and for-ladies-only coworking spaces (the Wing even refers to itself as a coven) mixed with a healthy dose of plant-based elixirs, crystals, intention-setting, and an interest in all things lunar. And some politically minded and enthusiastically witchy women have even been casting spells since last year to try to influence policy. As the pre-midterm election fervor heats up, the defiant, go-for-broke vibe in my social feed can be summed up by this Super Spiritual Instagram post: “Cauldron fire: lit. Spell: cast. Titties: out.” Essentially, witchiness is hardly a Halloween thing anymore—it is a year-round obsession. Helping that along is popular culture, whether it’s The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix, the Charmed reboot on CW, the return of the Coven
5 ways to tame body shame everyone can start doing right now
October 31, 2018 at 11:17AM Talking about womanhood without the topic of shame arising is about as possible as talking about women’s sports without mentioning the whopping wage gap female athletes face. It just can’t be done because so many “messages of shame are organized around gender,” as shame and vulnerability scholar Brené Brown once told The Atlantic. So it comes as no surprise that the topic became a focus of conversation at the most recent Well+Good TALK on all things body diversity at The Assemblage in New York City. The event was sponsored by Aerie and gathered a panel of badass women—self-love guru Nitika Chopra, Aerie Real model and body activist Iskra Lawrence, and self-described curvy-fashion blogger Chastity Garner Valentine—to discuss ideas of self-love, acceptance, ageism, and inclusivity. But it was clear early in the conversation that shame played a role in each of these areas and was a subject the panelists felt personally about. “As someone who got told that they didn’t fit into the straight size industry, and…[that] I wasn’t big enough for the plus size industry—no one ever allowed me to fit in,” Lawrence shared. “No one ever said, yeah, we accept you just the way you are. I had to force the industry to try to accept me.” Part of that process included learning to tame shame, which, by definition, means pain caused by the consciousness of a perceived shortcoming. And according to Erika Groban, PhD, a clinical psychologist at a private practice in Rye, New York, Lawrence’s experience in the modeling
This massaging device is so good, I tossed my foam roller
October 31, 2018 at 10:32AM It’s marathon season and my tiny apartment has little storage. Those two things shouldn’t have a ton to do with one another, but in a twist of fate, they’ve led to the best party trick (and best recovery season) I’ve ever known. Nowadays, to the left of my couch sits a contraption that looks equal parts futuristic and functional: The Theragun. Anytime someone new comes over, they ask with stars in their eyes: “What is that?” “It replaced foam rolling for me,” I tell them—and in an instant everyone wants to try. I switch it on and just like that, people are impressed. Unlike some wellness experiences, you’ll never be confused on whether or not the Theragun is working. This is both because it’s quite loud (it sounds a bit like a drill being used) and because it brings instant relief to sore, tight muscles with long-lasting benefits. Where I find it more difficult to isolate trigger points with a foam roller, the Theragun makes it way easy to get into every nook and cranny. Where I hate hovering above a cylinder and moving back-and-forth, I can just chill on my couch with the TG as I’ve affectionately named it. “Vibrational therapy can help with pain, muscle soreness or tightness, and recovery. It can be an inexpensive alternative to massage to help maintain performance by working out trigger points and knots and preventing the build up of lactic acid in the muscles,” says Michigan-based physical therapist
How to deal with secondhand trauma when terrible things happen in the world
October 31, 2018 at 09:27AM How to deal with the secondhand trauma you feel when terrible things happen in the worldLately—okay, for the past several years—I’ve found myself emotionally armoring up before opening my news app in the morning. What’s it gonna be today: Another horrific mass shooting, like the one that took place in a Pittsburgh synagogue last weekend? A new public policy taking rights away from immigrants, transgender people, or other already-marginalized members of society? More gut-wrenching stories of sexual assault, à la the one Christine Blasey Ford told in front of Congress last month? And those are just some recent examples that took place in this country. Have you heard about what’s going on in Yemen lately? Yet even when I brace myself for the worst, I still often get weepy while scrolling through the headlines or my social feeds. (Today’s tear trigger: This illustration by artist Nikkolas Smith, memorializing the 11 victims of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting.) If you relate, know that you’re not alone in grieving tragic events in the news that don’t directly affect you. Psychotherapist Alison Stone, LCSW, for one, sees it all the time among her patients following tragic events in the world. “People report feeling a mix of emotions, but primarily a combination of anger, sadness, guilt, helplessness, and hopelessness,” she says. “Another common thing my patients report is feeling extra emotionally raw; that their threshold for coping with seemingly ordinary challenges appears lower than usual.” “We, as a culture,
Mer-freakin’-ci: You can now buy France’s #1 body wash brand in the States
October 31, 2018 at 08:49AM The list of things I miss about the year I spent studying in Paris is “a moveable feast”: the winding blocks, the farmers’ markets; how the seats at the outdoor cafe tables faced the street for peak people watching, and how I felt perfectly at liberty to eat an almond croissant for both petit dejeuner (breakfast) and the goûter (afternoon snack). But when it comes to waxing nostalgic about the City of Light’s drugstores, one product stands out in my mind as the belle of beauty aisle: France’s number one body wash, Le Petit Marseillais. Now, you can score the cult-fave stateside, and take the showers and bubble baths of your Francophile dreams. As of last year, Johnson & Johnson (who acquired the French company in 2006), began placing select LPM products in Walmart stores, reports AdAge. And now, you can even order the sweet-smelling lotions and scrubs from Amazon Prime, or shop a select few from Walgreen’s online. Granted, having LPM delivered to my doorstep does not recreate passing the bright green “Pharmacie” cross on a Rue Oberkampf (where I lived), and meandering inside to sniff the floral and fruity contents of each brightly-hued bottle. However, the lavender and apricot perfumed suds might just hold me over until I once again find myself on either bank of the Seine. (I’m not picky! Either will do!) In the meantime, I’ll just be over here U.S. smelling French girl AF. Vive le trans-Atlantic beauty products! The American fitness obsession just made it’s way to France,
Three nail salon founders on what really makes a manicure clean
October 31, 2018 at 08:22AM Think getting a clean manicure is about selecting the nail polish with the longest “made without” ingredient list? That’s just the start. Because as the nation’s coolest nail salons are showing, a truly clean mani or pedi not only taps 11-free polishes (which skip dicey ingredients like formaldehyde, toluene and DBT) along with clean cuticle oils and lotions, but is done in a salon that lightens its environmental footprint and creates an elevated professional experience (and yes, more money) for its employees. In short, today’s healthy manicure is not only kind on the body but clean on the conscious. To see how our own nail spots stack up against these ethically sound, environmentally smart and stylistically dope counterparts, we asked the founders of three leading nail salons, each with their own lines of low-toxicity polishes, what they do to create the cleanest manis in the game. More on that now. Photo: Stocksy/Lumina Reducing nail salon waste Whether dining out or getting your hair colored, it’s easy to overlook the amount of waste being generated when someone else is doing the work—and sitting for nail services is no different. According to côte co-founder Mary Lennon, “recycling is key” when it comes to reducing a nail shop’s environmental impact. The nail salon with Los Angeles and New York locations works with an environmental service company primed to recycle nail polish. “We make sure to recycle all used bottles of polish from our shops and encourage our customers
This secret ingredient in Halloween candy makes it so freakishly addictive
October 31, 2018 at 07:55AM When Halloween rolls around, it’s hard to avoid all the candy. You have to walk past aisle upon aisle of it at the grocery store, it’s up for grabs in cute little plastic pumpkins at work, and there’s even a stockpile in your own home waiting for trick-or-treaters. Given all these tempting scenarios, there’s a good chance you’ll cave and devour an entire bag, but don’t feel badly about it—it’s not even really in your control. There’s actually a secret, special-for-Halloween ingredient that makes sugary confections so freakishly addictive: nostalgia. Basically, this nostalgic reasoning is the same culprit for you craving of all things pumpkin spice in the fall. “We’ve all had experiences with food where there’s this really wonderful memory around it, and we have this pleasure memory that goes along with it,” Rachele Pojednic, PhD, tells Time. “It’s not just pleasure from the taste or the smell of it, but also the situation that goes along with it.” So, eating fun-size Kit Kat after fun-size Kit Kat around Halloween might conjure happy memories of being 8 years old again, and trick-or-treating in your neighborhood with friends and family. “We’ve all had experiences with food where there’s this really wonderful memory around it, and we have this pleasure memory that goes along with it. It’s not just pleasure from the taste or the smell of it, but also the situation that goes along with it.” —Rachele Pojednic, PhD Nostalgia isn’t the only reason you crave Halloween candy like
Mega companies are investing in small, healthy food brands—are your indie faves selling out?
October 31, 2018 at 07:00AM Sixteen months ago, jaws dropped when Amazon acquired Whole Foods, but it certainly isn’t the only surprising partnership that’s forged. Now more than ever, mega brands like Mars (owner of Twix, Snickers, and more cash register mainstays), General Mills, and PepsiCo are investing in or acquiring your fave go-to healthy companies. Some headlines you may or may not have seen: PepsiCo acquiring Health Warrior and KeVita kombucha (The company also owns Quaker Oats, which will be getting in on the oat milk trend in 2019.); General Mills investing in Purely Elizabeth, No Cow, Farmhouse Culture, and most recently, Kite Hill; Mars investing in Kind; and Peet’s investing in Revive Kombucha. Some pretty strange bedfellows, right? What exactly does it mean for you that the owner of Lucky Charms is now investing in your favorite gluten-free adaptogenic granola? Or that your trusted small batch kombucha brand is being brought to the masses? Here, the CEOs from all the companies named here—on both sides of the partnerships—give an honest look behind the curtain, revealing exactly how the partnerships work and, most importantly, what it means for you. Is it a good thing when big businesses invest in your favorite healthy brands—or will it change what you love about them? Keep reading to find out. Photo: Instagram/@revivekombucha Why it’s happening Companies like General Mills and Nestle already house long lists of brands under their umbrellas, so it’s natural to wonder why they’d go after healthy startups instead of making tweaks to their existing products. But
The biggest mistake you’re making when trying to make super-fluffy rice
October 31, 2018 at 06:40AM Whenever I make rice, I’m constantly lifting the lid to peek inside the pot while it’s cooking away to make sure everything is going as planned—aka I have absolutely no patience when I’m hangry. Then, once the time is up, the rice tastes good…it’s just not anything near the fluffy perfection I had hoped it would be. Well, it turns out there’s a reason for that: All it takes is one simple mistake to keep you from getting the best possible outcome. According to The Manual, the right way to cook super-fluffy rice doesn’t involve peeking (surprise, surprise!)—it’s leaving it completely alone the entire time it’s cooking. Like, really alone. That means not moving the pot, stirring it, or even lifting the lid even the tiniest bit. And the reason why? It’s all about the steam. When it stays locked in, your rice will actually be able to cook properly, but when you disrupt it or let it escape, you might as well say goodbye to your fluffy rice dreams for good. The right way to cook super-fluffy rice involves leaving it completely alone the entire time it’s cooking. That means not moving the pot, stirring it, or even lifting the lid even the tiniest bit. Aside from the whole no-peeking thing, there’s one more way to ensure your rice comes out nice and fluffy. After the time is up—and no sooner!—you’re finally allowed to lift the lid to see if the texture is on-point or if it needs