Yoga really tests your balancing skills. From tree pose to extended side angle and handstands, practically half of a vinyasa flow involves bending your body and (hopefully) holding yourself up at the same time. When it comes to the different lunges in yoga, there’s one common mistake that could be making your balancing challenge even tougher than it needs to be.
Often, it’s easy to simply flow from downward dog straight into a lunge (like high lunge, warrior I, and warrior II) without much thought as to where your feet are placed. This is something that New York City-based yoga pro Lindsay Pirozzi sees all of the time, which can be behind your balancing struggles. “I think it’s unintentional, but more often than not, students are not aware of where to actually step,” she says. “So, stepping forward without thought, the feet typically land closer together.”
When your feet are close together and in line with each other, it becomes exceedingly harder to hold yourself up in a yoga lunge. Pirozzi likens it to standing on a tight rope. “That’s much more challenging than creating a wider base of support, where your feet are hip-width distance apart,” she says. This is especially helpful for beginners, but can also provide a boost to yogis of all levels. “The alignment in yoga postures can and should be modified to bring us more stability, clarity, and ease,” says Chloe Kernaghan, yoga instructor and co-founder of Sky Ting.
With more space between your feet in yoga lunges, you’ll also give more of a break to your hips. “For what we refer to as closed hip poses, like warrior I and high lunge, allowing feet to stay to their own side—usually in line with the hip socket or sitz bone—can help with balance and cause less distress in the hips and sacrum,” says Kernaghan. The key, though, is to not overdo it. Pirozzi warns not going too dramatically wide with your foot placement in yoga lunges. Her tip? Stick with about six inches apart, or hips-width distance.
And, since yoga looks different for everyone, don’t stress too much about whether your foot placement is not the same as your friend’s or your teacher’s. “As with much of the yoga practice, there isn’t one single right way to do a posture, and different lineages teach different practices,” says Kernaghan. “As a student, try out different techniques and see what makes the most sense for your body.”
To put this tip to work, try this 10-minute standing yoga flow that incorporates plenty of lunges:
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From formulation to packaging, beauty products go through more processes than I can count before they land in your bathroom cabinet. And with each and every step, brands make decisions that render the products more or less sustainable.
“We started making choices,” says Bee Shapiro, founder of fragrance brand Ellis Brooklyn. “You create the box and then you’re like, okay, well, do you want this regular stock or do you want this recycled responsibly ground paper stock?”
Shapiro, who is also a New York Times style section columnist, grew up in the Seattle area. After school activities often involved hikes in the nearby woods. “For me, nature was this very healing place,” she says. ” I can make this brand about me, [as a brand founder]. As I made these choices I was like, yes, I’m gonna pick the responsibly sourced forest paper. As we started making these choices along the way, our brand became sustainable.”
To figure out if your favorite brands are sustainable, Shapiro points to a few specific markers to be mindful of.
How to know if a beauty brand is *actually* sustainable
1. Find out how the brand sources its ingredients
For beauty products that use natural ingredients, the way they are grown can have a huge impact on the environment and the communities that farm them.
“Listen to how they describe the product and how their main ingredients are sourced,” says Shapiro. For Ellis Brooklyn, Shapiro pays close attention to how they source vanilla. “Vanilla is such a rare ingredient these days,” she says. “What we don’t want is a situation where we’re getting maybe a wonderful, gorgeous vanilla, but it’s getting sourced in an irresponsible way.”
2. Asses the packaging
“If you’re a conscious beauty brand, I think that once you start looking into the different options for paper stock, for example, you’re going to see that you have different options,” says Shapiro. “If I was a consumer, I would look for a company that actually has certifications of [their packaging materials]. Paper stock certified by the Forest Stewardship Council is a clear example, says Shapiro.
3. Make sure the brand is always working to move the sustainability goalpost
“That sustainable term is a moving goalpost,” says Shapiro. “It’s really tricky to be like, ‘Okay, my brand is 100 percent sustainable’—no! Because there’s always something more you could do. That’s something that’s become very important to us.”
For example, Shapiro aims to offset Ellis Brooklyn-related travel emissions by giving to the Carbon Fund. But, since they’re not traveling nearly as much during the pandemic, they’ve shifted their attention to make the packaging more sustainable.
“Everything changes all the time,” says Shapiro. “There might be a better paper stock tomorrow. There might be a better way of sourcing two weeks down the line. So that’s why I keep saying moving goalpost. This is like a goal that we’ve decided to orient ourselves around, but we’re continually trying to be better.”
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What’s round, green, full of gut-healthy fiber…and in season right now? You guessed it—Brussels sprouts, baby. The cruciferous vegetable is at its best in the fall and winter months, making it prime time to add to your cooking routine.
A short primer on their benefits: Brussels sprouts are an excellent source of both vitamins C and K, says Kelly Jones, RD, as well as a good source of other vitamins and minerals including folate and potassium. “Brussels sprouts also offer support to the balance of bacteria in the digestive tract, while providing a variety of phytochemicals such as sulforaphane, which is researched for its antioxidant properties,” she says.
But if you grew up in a household where boiling veggies is the norm, you might be wondering how to prepare Brussels sprouts for lunch and dinner in a way that doesn’t leech out all the flavor or nutrients. “Because vitamin C and folate can be lost when boiling, I do not recommend that method for cooking them or other vegetables,” Jones says.
Thankfully, there are several other easy ways to cook with Brussels sprouts that are healthy *and* delicious. Your lunch salads won’t know what hit them.
1. Halve and roast them
Roasting or air frying Brussels sprouts is Jones’s go-to preparation method. “After halving or quartering each sprout, just drizzle with some olive or avocado oil along with salt and pepper, and roast on a baking sheet at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 or more minutes, until desired texture is reached,” she says. Be sure to stir the sprouts a few times while they’re in the oven to ensure they all cook evenly, she adds.
“You can also roast brussels sprouts with potatoes and your favorite protein on a large sheet pan with whatever seasoning blend you have on hand,” Jones says. If you make a lunch salad with chicken, for example, you can roast the Brussels sprouts and chicken together ahead of time. (This combo, FYI, would be great with ancient grains, nuts, goat cheese, and diced squash.)
Once you have your roasted Brussels sprouts, you can use them in a variety of ways. You can add them as-is in your go-to salad recipe, or combine them with seasonal ingredients like cranberries, feta, and roasted squash to make more of a fall-forward dish. (Here are some great options to try if you need some inspiration.)
Your roasted Brussels sprouts are good for any time of day, too. “You can also chop leftovers for use in omelets or frittatas,” Jones adds. “Pairing with caramelized or roasted onions in this application is delicious.”
Looking for a delicious way to jazz up your roasted Brussels sprouts? Toss them with this anti-inflammatory salad dressing:
2. Shave and eat raw
This option works for both lunchtime salads and cooked dinners. “You can eat Brussels sprouts raw, but they’ll taste better and be easier to chew and digest if you shave them down with a mandolin or grate them,” says Jones. (If you want to spend a bit more money, you can save time and buy them pre-shredded at many grocery stores.)
Then, just use the shredded leaves as you would any salad green—either as the base of your dish or as a side or topping. Shaved Brussels sprouts pair nicely with a maple mustard vinaigrette (one of Jones’s favorites) or any healthy dressing you like. (We’re partial to this Blue Zones-approved lemon tahini dressing.)
You can also use your shaved Brussels sprouts to make a homemade slaw. If you want to cut back on saturated fat, use an apple cider vinaigrette base or honey mustard instead of mayonnaise, says Jones.
You can also sauté shaved Brussels sprouts in a pan, Jones adds. That will keep them warm but still thin, so it could be a good option for a warmer salad.
Another clever use for shredded Brussels sprouts? Making a vegetarian cauliflower fried rice:
3. Crisp up the leaves for veggie-forward “croutons”
If you are roasting or air frying the Brussels sprouts, you can get the leaves extra crispy and charred. Then you can simply take the Brussels sprouts leaves and make them veggie-centric croutons in your salad! They will be crispy and crunchy, but they’ll have more nutrition and tons of flavor. Talk about a win-win.
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As more people have learned about the impact food has on both physical and mental health, it’s sparked a growing interest in food journals. This is beyond the calorie counting of the past, which strictly has a diet mentality. Keeping a more holistic food journal is about seeing the connection between what you eat—and the circumstances surrounding it—and how it makes you feel, inside and out.
Registered dietitian and Be Well founder Alana Kessler, RD, says she always recommends her clients keep a food journal. “Keeping a food journal has many benefits, including helping someone get a deeper understanding of what foods make them feel good,” she says. If you’ve never kept one before, knowing how exactly to do it can be tricky. What does a food journal template even look like?
Not only does Kessler talk more about how a food journal can be helpful, following her insights are food journal templates to print out and use for free.
4 benefits to keeping a food journal
1. It can help pinpoint what foods may be causing problematic health issues
If there’s anything physical you’re experiencing on a regular basis—including bloating, digestive distress, or rashes—Kessler says a food journal may help you figure out what could possibly be causing it. “So often we think we know what we eat, but we don’t realize the whole truth,” she says. “A food journal is a mirror that really reflects what you put into your body.”
Over time, you may notice certain patterns. For example, someone may realize that they always feel bloated after drinking kombucha, a sign that the carbonation may be too much for them. Or someone else may notice that their skin looks blotchy after eating gluten or dairy, indicating that they could have an intolerance. If you are experiencing any physical health problems, it’s still important to see a doctor, but Kessler says your food journal can be a tool you bring to your appointment, which may help point to (or rule out) any potential culprits.
2. It shows how food may be impacting your mental health
“It’s also important to think about more than just the actual food,” Kessler says. “Where we eat, who we eat with, what we’re doing when we eat, and how we feel are all important to think about.” Always eating lunch at your desk while answering emails, she says, could make someone eat faster than they would away from their computer. This, she explains, could impact digestion or even how much you’re actually able to enjoy your meal.
3. Food journals paint a picture of what makes you feel good
Besides helping highlight ways what you eat could make you feel worse physically or mentally, Kessler says food journals also show what makes you feel amazing. If you made a smoothie and it was the first one you ever made that actually didn’t leave you feeling hungry 20 minutes later, that’s definitely worth writing down so you remember what was in it and how it made you feel.
4. They’re a tool you can bring to health experts
As Kessler mentioned, it can be helpful to bring your food journal to doctor’s appointments as a way to point to or eliminate connections to foods that may be negatively impacting your health. Similarly, she says it can also be helpful to share your food journal with a registered dietitian, nutritionist, or health coach. “I have all my clients share their food journals with me and the discussions we have about them are different, depending on their health goals,” she says.
For example, if one client’s food journal shows that they tend to overeat when they’re feeling stressed, Kessler will talk about how getting to the root of the stressor is important. Someone else may be training for a marathon and a food journal can help a nutritionist or dietitian make sure they’re getting all the proper nutrients their body needs.
What to log in your food journal template
Here’s what Kessler says to write down in your food journal:
What you’re eating and drinking
How you feel (happy, sad, lonely, stressed, busy…)
Where you’re eating (home, work, while walking, in the car…)
Who you’re eating with
How you feel after you eat (What positive or negative effects do you notice? Do you feel energized? Tired? Bloated? Were you unable to sleep that night?)
“All of this is important to log because, again, how you feel is about so much more than what’s on your plate,” Kessler says. “The circumstances surrounding when you eat matter greatly, too.”
3 ways to keep a food journal
1. Write it out
One common way to keep a food journal is in a notebook with space to log the five above points Kessler mentions. The food journal templates at the end of this article have all her prompts listed out, so they can be helpful to use to make sure you don’t leave anything out.
2. Take a photo
Sometimes, you may not have time right at the moment to write down everything Kessler recommends. Maybe you’re out to dinner with friends, eating during a work meeting, or simply don’t want to do it then and there. In those cases, Kessler recommends taking a photo of your meal so you can answer the prompts later. “I actually always recommend taking a photo anyway,” she says. “Because nothing is clearer than a photo!”
3. Use an app
There are also apps that make keeping a food journal easy; all you need is your phone. FoodView is one app that’s free and also allows photos to be uploaded. Dining Note is another free app, which provides a no-frills way to journal about meals and also movement, if that’s something you want to incorporate into your journal as well.
“Food journals should be personal, so create a structure and template that works for you,” Kessler says. Most importantly, she says, it should make you feel better, not worse. Food journals are not meant to feel guilty or shame about anything you eat. Instead, they’re meant to be a tool used to help determine what makes you feel your best.
Below are food journal templates to print out and use at home:
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Inhale. Exhale. Now pick up your phone, and exit out of Twitter. Exit out of Facebook. Exit out of the countless grim election memes and hot takes on Instagram. Exit out of the constantly refreshed Google search for “election results.” We’re all under the oppressive stress of watching a too-close-to-call election unfold in a garbage fire year, and meditations for election anxiety are both deeply needed and close at hand.
The beloved mental wellness app Headspace is releasing its political content for free from now until November 16. Right now, Headspace is offering three meditations to give you a moment of peace: “Political Uncertainty,” “Relieving Stress,” and “Managing Anxiety.” And in a year marked by a pandemic, economic collapse, and a crucial civil rights movement, the whole trinity is especially needed.
We’ve waxed poetic about the benefits of meditation a million times, but if there’s ever been a year to embrace mantras and mindfulness, it’s this one. Research published in the National Library of Medicine examined the benefits of meditation and mindful practices during a crisis like COVID-19 (because that’s still a thing). By reviewing multiple studies, researchers noted how meditation can help refocus attention, lead to better sleep, and mitigate, different physiological effects of depression and anxiety, like lowering blood pressure.
Now, when it comes to mindfulness techniques I’m more of an EFT Tapping person. But for what it’s worth, I tuned into “Political Uncertainty” for a quick breather in the middle of my work day. Uncertainty anxiety has been a running theme this entire year and we are all deserving of a rest during high stress times.
What follows is a soothing body scan meditation, which can help ground you in the moment by increasing bodily awareness over the tornado of things on your mind. It can help reduce stress, and also increases self-compassion. Being able to acknowledge the negative emotions in our body is an integral part of healing and working through them.
Honestly, we understand that this is an unprecedented time in history; intentional breathing won’t fix the election outcome and the work on the other side of it, regardless of who wins. But finding those mindful moments can save you when the future is a gigantic question mark. Being present helps you gracefully move through the stressor in the moment, instead of falling down a spiral of “what ifs.”
So pick up your phone. Put in your headphones. And seriously, close your social media. Just for now—you’ll be able to digest your feeds better if you nourish your mind first.
Ever felt heart palpitations, belly butterflies, brain buzzing, and toe tingles alongside the start of a new romantic fling? That, friends, is new relationship energy (NRE), and it’s a joy to feel. “New relationship energy is the phase when feel-good chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin flood your brain and body,” says sex educator Marla Renee Stewart, co-author of The Ultimate Guide to Seduction and Foreplay and sexologist with sex-product store Lovers. Basically, it’s the “honeymoon phase.”
Exactly how long into the relationship this feeling lasts can vary, depending on a number of factors—like how often you see each other, how often you text between IRL visits, the type of relationship, and the lovers involved themselves. But as a generalization, Stewart says it tends to burn off by the six-month mark. That said, longtime daters—need not fear. There are ways to prolong that brand-new feeling or even bring it back (even if it’s been years). Get the expert tips below.
Read on for 6 expert tips to bring sexy new relationship energy into your long-term relationship.
1. Spend time apart
“Part of what activates those NRE chemicals at the beginning of a relationship are the differences between you and the person(s) you’re dating,” says Rachel Wright, LMFT, a psychotherapist and sex educator who specializes in non-traditional relationship structures. Later on in relationships—and especially after moving in together—you and your partner(s) can begin to lose your individuality, she adds. “And when you each lose your individuality within the relationship, you’re actually repressing those NRE chemicals.”
That’s exactly why Wright recommends taking time apart as a strategy for protecting or even resurrecting the magic of the early stages. And even if you’re sharing all of your time and space these days in quarantine, you can still set boundaries to help protect a sense of alone time.
2. Incorporate a new pleasure product
“Sex toys are an excellent way to add to the novelty aspect of a relationship, because it’s almost like solving a fun puzzle,” says Tatyannah King, a sex educator and sex coach with Blex Technologies. First you get to decide which toy to buy (vibrators, non-vibrators, options specifically geared toward couples, whatever you want!). Then, you have to figure out how to use it. Finally, it’s time to actually use the toy together. “This process forces you all to find the language to communicate your needs and wants, so using a new sex toy involves not only pleasure, but communication and learning,” King says.
3. Have a threesome
Having a threesome can absolutely reignite the sexual spark in your relationship, so long as both parties are interested in exploring the dynamic, says King. That’s because a threesome allows you both to indulge in a shared fantasy and also provides access to potentially pleasurable scenarios that can draw out new relationship energy. For example, “seeing your partner being desired can remind you what it is you saw in them originally,” Wright says.
But, before making any plans—and definitely before taking any actions—make sure to communicate and then communicate some more about ground rules, expectations, and emotions surrounding the act. “Consider who you want the third person to be, who is going to be the center of attention during the threesome, what barrier methods you’re going to use [for protection], and how you’re going to take care of each other’s needs after play,” says King.
If you’re into the idea of group sex but nervous about translating it into action, consider hiring a professional sex worker. “When the third or fourth is a professional, it eliminates some of the potential complications,” says King. For two examples, consider someone catching feelings or the additional party not knowing their own boundaries.
4. …Or a virtual threesome
When engaging with group sex in a video-only way, conversations and concerns about STI transmission, COVID exposure, and who can touch whom where all become moot. A digital threesome with you and your partner in one place and a third in another location allows you to experience some of the voyeuristic and exhibitionist pleasures of group play, without as many of the risks, says King. (Just be sure to pick your virtual platform wisely: Many platforms, including Zoom, Skype, and Instagram—have explicit rules against X-rated exchanges.)
5. Re-commit to your solo sex life
While it might sound counterintuitive, practicing self-pleasure more frequently can actually bring back some of the feel-good sensations of new relationship energy, says Stewart. Plus, as Emily Morse, PhD, sexologist and host of the Sex With Emily podcast, previously told Well+Good, “the more you reinforce the benefits of masturbation as a couple and as an [individual], while continuing to communicate about your sex life, the better sex you’ll have.”
Better sex? Sound emblematic of new relationship energy to me.
6. Exchange nudes…regularly
You need to be granted consent before sending any NSFW texts or photos, but King says asking permission can actually build anticipation and heighten intimacy levels, especially if seeing one another naked has become stale or routine. You can send a leading text like, “Can I show you what I’m wearing under my dress today?” Or, you can ask for blanket-permission to send nudes wherever, whenever. For example: “The idea of turning you on at inopportune times really turns me on. Do I have your permission to surprise you with some sultry photos throughout the week.”
And then, once you’re granted that consent, the rest of the exercise speaks for itself. Consider your new relationship energy restored.
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You have probably heard the saying that you should not lose more than 1-2 pounds a week. But for most people who want to lose weight quicker, it may seem as slow progress. If you train real hard and count your calories than you should lose more than 2 pounds a week, without damaging your health or losing muscle? Every single day you hear rapid weight loss stories. So where does the 2 pounds a week rule even come from and can you lose more than 2 pounds a week safely?
Well, losing 1-2 ponds a week is no rule, it is more a general recommendation. It is really based on average results and it is a good target to go for. And the bigger you are the more you can lose safely. If you weighed 300 lbs, that would be 3 lbs per week. Losing "weight" is not a very accurate and it can be even meaningless. What matters is your body composition; the fat to muscle ratio, as well as water weight. People can lose a lot of weight in a few weeks by using some extreme induction program or a lemon juice and water fast. But most of these people also but weight back on because a lot of that weight was water and lean tissue.
If you want to lose 4 pounds a week and you are not 400 pounds, then it takes a lot of effort to reach this goal. The more you want to lose, than the bigger calorie deficit you need. For example if your maintenance level is 3000 calories and you want to lose 4 pounds a week, then you need a 2000 calorie deficit. Which would equate to eating 1000 calories per day. Eating so little is not very safe and people often end up binge eating because people can´t last with this little food. So losing 4 pounds a week with cutting calories only is not an option.
The other option is to create a calorie deficit by burning more calories with exercise. But you need to train for hours and hours every single day to lose 4 pounds with exercise. People just do not have the time or the motivation to sweat in the gym for hours and hours because we have a life. Most people have a job and a family and spending that much time and effort to weight loss is not practical. Yes, it is possible to lose 4 pounds a week, but as you can see, it takes extraordinary effort to do it. And losing 2 pounds a week is not bad at all. You can lose at least 50 pounds in 6 months, if you lose 2 pounds a week. That is a lot of weight.
