Brunch-Off: Broccoli Breakfast Tostadas And Broccoli & Cheddar Frittata
Celebrate 4/20—AKA Lima Bean Respect Day!—With These Green Lima Bean Recipes
Everything Is Dangerous: Cuticle Removal Edition
The Hormone Diet: 5 Overlooked Reasons You’re Stressed Out
No Thanks, Heather Locklear — I’ll Stick To Anti-Aging Creams & Stay Clear Of Semen Facials
The Straight Dope: How Marijuana Actually Affects The Brain
Fast-food workers in New York City began walking off the job this morning, launching the first multi-restaurant strike by fast-food workers in American history. The protest effort includes employees of McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Taco Bell and other restaurant chains. More
Anyone who’s battled with body image has heard some version of the mantra: “Losing weight won’t fix your life,” but a new study isn’t making it any easier to feel that way. According to research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, thin women earn more money than average weight women, and very thin women experience a drop in pay with the first few pounds they gain. While we’re not equating money with happiness, the study certainly doesn’t make it easier to separate your worth from your weight. And it doesn’t make us feel like we’re making great strides in the workplace, either. More
Did you know that it’s North American Occupational Health and Safety Week? Neither did we, so don’t feel too badly. Even though we don’t happen to work in an inherently dangerous industrial factory, mine, on a construction site, or an oil rig, sometimes going to work can be a real pain. Meaning that, aside from the normal stresses that can surround our daily job, where and how we toil can actually cause serious chronic pain. And because most of us spend an inordinate amount of time at work, we’d prefer it to be a pleasant, rather than painful experience. So how can we avoid developing physical pain in the workplace? (Besides not tripping over that power cord.) For answers, I turned to Charles Friedman, a Florida-based doctor who specializes in pain management issues. (And because it also happens to be Employee Health and Fitness Month and Healthy Vision Month, we think our Q&A with the good doctor is right on time.) More
As of yesterday and today, the 2011 Major League Baseball season has officially begun, even though today it’s snowing up and down much of the East Coast. (And, unforch, that’s no April Fool’s joke.) Unless you’re an avid baseball fan, you likely had no idea that yesterday and today officially mark the beginning of the new season of 162 or so professional games, plus a hell of a lot of Cracker Jacks, foam fingers, and tepid beer. Like most professional sports, baseball has historically been an old-boys-club. And unless you’re a creepily obsessive baseball fan, you likely had no idea that there actually are women who help make all those home runs, overpaid players, and steroid scandals possible. Of course, these women aren’t running the bases come game day, but they sure as hell aren’t secretaries or assistants, either; they’re top executives in their ball clubs, behind the scenes in their organization’s front office, and up in those luxury skyboxes taking stock of the money-making empires in which they hold a real stake. So, to celebrate Major League Baseball’s opening day and the fact that, with my New England-native husband, I’ll be listening to way too many Boston Red Sox games on the radio for at least the next five months (because we’re old-school, we prefer listening to watching on TV), I found six women (yes, only six) in MLB who actually matter to the sport, and why. Back off boys – while you may not face all these women at the plate, several of them sign your checks, so you should probably spit out that giant wad of gum and show some respect. More
How do you work when you’re depressed? I get that question a lot. Here’s the honest answer: I can’t.
At least at my rock bottom, I wasn’t able to work. My efforts failed miserably because my self-confidence was way below sea level – so all it did was bring on more frustration.
I remember sitting down at my computer every morning, making the same effort, hoping that if I led with the body then the mind would follow. But the mind wasn’t interested in going anywhere, and was rather pissed off that I would even try. I performed this ritual for months on end. Butt to the chair. Crying at the computer. Then one day my (then) two-year-old poured a cup of apple juice over my keyboard. The hard drive made a funky noise, and the screen looked like a black-and-white film from the 70s when they got to the end of the tape, which I took as a sign from the universe to stop for a while.
So I did. For about a year. More
The financial crisis has not only led to a high rate of unemployment, but it’s also made a lot of people depressed: Jobless, broke, and without economic opportunity, we assume that this is as bad as it gets. But according to new research, bad jobs can be worse for your mental health than unemployment. More
You don’t need to be a good Christian to get behind the tradition of Lent. This 40-day period between Ash Wednesday (this Wednesday, March 9) and Easter is associated with giving up a vice and substituting something positive in its place. (And let’s face it: We all could benefit from a prescribed period of wellness work.) For example, you could try forgoing bad reality TV and instead, devoting those hours to meditation, re-organizing your closet, yoga, reading a book, taking a long walk, going to the gym, or spending some one-on-one time with your partner or a friend. Aside from the whole Jesus thing, giving up something for Lent may just be a more doable version of the New Year’s Resolution, which is usually only a time-honored tradition for a few weeks at most. So here’s our gallery of ten relatively easy things to ditch during a 40-day self-help fast of your own and replace with something more productive. Best of all, you don’t need to tackle ten of them to cleanse your spirit– one will do just fine. Jesus doesn’t judge. More
On January 26, Oprah did an entire show on the subject of happiness – how to find it, how happy you really are, how to increase it – and one of the final topics she touched on was happiness as it relates to money. Believe it or not, a 2010 study released by Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School claims that making $75,000 a year is a benchmark of happiness. According to the study, when people make less than $75K a year, they’re more prone to unhappiness, but earning more than that amount does not increase a person’s happiness.
I should note that according to the study, there are two types of happiness: a day-to-day happiness (whether you feel happy or sad in the morning), and an overall satisfaction about your life (long-term happiness.) While no amount of money can make the day-to-day perfect, it’s apparently the overall satisfaction that’s impacted by this magical $75,000 number. More
Become a Green Machine: 6 simple ways to make your office (or home office) more eco-friendly – and nearly paperless. (The Alternative Consumer)
Why Don’t More Women Talk About Masturbation?
Clueless Mom Gives Birth on a Bike Without Realizing It
The Sweetest Twitter Marriage Proposal You’ll Ever See
True Or False: Marathoners Can Eat Whatever They Want
8 Things You Shouldn't Do Before Bed
Yesterday, the news broke about the class-action lawsuit being filed against Taco Bell by an Alabama law firm, which claims that the fast-food chain engages in false advertising by claiming that its tacos are “beef,” when they allegedly contain just 36% beef — well below the requirements that the U.S. Department of Agriculture sets for a company to label beef as “beef.” (We even did our own post about the juicy scandal, which Taco Bell refutes.) So what comprises the other 64% of its taco meat? According to Taco Bell’s website, its beef also contains things like wheat oats, isolated oat products, and soy products. I don’t know about you, but I’m thrilled that Taco Bell’s tacos may in fact only be about one-third actual beef. Personally, I’d much rather eat wheat oats, isolated oat products, and soy products than what Taco Bell considers meat. Why? Well, do you know the provenance of Taco Bell’s beef? I can assure you that it’s not a family-owned, organic, grass-fed beef farm in the pastoral New England countryside. No, I’m thinking more along the lines of high-volume factory farms where cows exist in unspeakably horrific conditions, are treated badly, and are slaughtered inhumanely. More
Is Work Hurting Your Health? — Most of us get stressed at work, but if you have one of the 10 unhealthiest jobs, it’s doing serious damage to your lungs, too. (Huffington Post)
I’ve been 30 for one week. I have a new driver’s license. Thanks to my age, I now check a different box on questionnaires. Thirty doesn’t feel that far removed from 28 or 29, but the fact that I’ve entered a new decade has given me the heebie-jeebies and has me asking, “Now what?”
Lately, I’ve find myself concerned about weird things, like anti-wrinkle skin cream and decreasing metabolism. But beyond the vanity-related anxieties about aging, a few serious thoughts also have been bothering me, like the status of my professional career and motherhood — issues I thought would be resolved by my 30th birthday.
Exactly one month prior to “the day,” I sat on my couch wide-awake at 1 a.m., struggling with a range of emotions about exiting my 20s. As someone who recently completed graduate school and is in the midst of a career transition, there are days when I feel no more qualified for a respectable job than a doe-eyed recent college grad. At this point in my life, shouldn’t I be the one hiring people, having years of experience under my belt, instead of being the one submitting my transparent resume? More
“You never can tell,” a co-worker said to me the other day.
We were standing at the water cooler engaging in the perfunctory “what did you do last weekend” chatter. I mentioned that I’d run a race of some sort, a 5k or 10k.
“You run?” he asked, a little too incredulously.
“Yeah, I’ve been doing a lot of short races all year to get auto entry into next year’s marathon,” I replied.
“Hmmn…You’re a runner,” he continued, voicing one of those slimy sentences that is neither absolute question nor statement. “It just shows, you never can tell.”
I looked down at my empty water bottle, thinking that the possibility of dying of thirst might be preferable to this tedium.
Now, I’ll be the first to acknowledge that I do not have a physique similar to Kenyan marathon runners, or most American marathon runners, for that matter. Even after training for and running a half marathon, there are not one but two digits in my dress size. But yes, I run. More
Ever want to peer into the health habits of people who work in the industry? We do. We’re always curious about what makes other people tick, what they love to cook, eat, and do with their spare time, and the words of wisdom they’d give to their younger selves. That’s why we’re grilling health professionals like Blake Brody, the founder of In-Studio Footwear, with our “Secrets of a Health Junkie” dossier.
On a recent, snowy morning, I met with the woman behind Blake Brody In-Studio Footwear to learn all about the genesis of her stylish, functional line of workout shoes. She might look pretty and relaxed (see immaculate head shot below), but the fact that she was there on Christmas Eve morning told me she was up for hard work. (And then there’s the fact that she’s started a company, developed her own shoes, and is highly involved in all of her own PR.) More
