Just a few weeks ago, most of us were rushing through dinner, scarfing down lunch, and chugging coffee for breakfast. The healthy cookbooks on our shelves did little more than collect dust and catch the occasional side-eye before we called-in takeout. “Staying home” has taken on a whole new meaning, and our kitchen counters have quickly turned into makeshift desks and happy hour spots. But if there’s one upside to this crisis, it’s that with all the added time inside, we can finally test the limits of what we think we can cook.
True to form, everyone with a pan and a social media account is making their stove their happy place—meaning there’s more mouthwatering food inspo than ever. So whether you’re cooking for your vegan, plant-loving partner or dusting off the Le Creuset for a slow-roasted chicken with friends at a Netflix Party, here are 16 of the best healthy cookbooks to maybe (just maybe) coax you into actually picking up a new hobby.
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“My whole life, I have fought with my hair,” says New York City publicist Jenelle Hamilton. “I did quarterly Brazilian straightening treatments, colored my hair, blow-dried weekly, and flat-ironed my hair almost every day.” She was trying to force her 3C curls to be something they just weren’t, which seriously damaging them in the process. After years of trying to straighten and smooth her hair, it began to look over-processed and break.
Commit to a Long-Term Routine
Once you swear off straighteners, you’re not going to wake up to healthy hair instantly. “At the beginning of my hair journey, I would watch YouTubers and look on Instagram and think, ‘Why doesn’t my hair look like that? Why isn’t it growing faster?'” Hamilton recalls. “I was so impatient!” However, once she gave her hair months to heal, the growth eventually followed.
Look Products With Nourishing Ingredients
In addition to giving up heat-styling, Hamilton scaled her routine back to washing weekly. She counted on two products to nourish her dry, brittle hair: The LUS Gentle & Moisturizing Shampoo and TKO Ultimate Moisture Conditioner by Andre Walker Hair. The shea butter-infused shampoo “cleansed and moisturized” and “a little went a long way, so it was very cost-effective,” she says. Her conditioner, meanwhile, featured strand-strengthening Keratin, a protein that helps fortify and protect damaged hair. “I used it religiously and it helped a lot,” she says. A few other ingredients to look out for: coconut oil, argan oil, aloe vera, and spirulina.
If You Want to Smooth Frizz…
While she was growing up, Delilah Orpi, a beauty blogger in Miami, dreamed of straight hair. “I was picked on for my puffy hair as a kid and struggled to style it,” she says. “I envied the smooth, shiny hair that some of my friends had.” Her mom wouldn’t allow her to flatiron hers, so when she finally got the chance, she went all out, straightening her hair three times a week for 10 years. Cut to recently when she packing for a trip to Thailand. She couldn’t fit her hair-dryer and straightening products in her suitcase—so she decided this was the push she needed to quit. “I was done fussing with my hair,” she says. “I wanted to simplify my routine.”
Avoid Drying Your Hair With a Towel
A game-changer for Orpi has been applying her styling products, such as EVOLVh TotalControl Styling Crème, in the shower. “I apply them to soaking wet hair in the shower by scrunching, and never use a towel or a brush,” she says. The scrunching helps the curls clump, which leads to definition once it dries, and cuts down on frizz. “After lots of scrunching, I either air-dry or diffuse dry,” she says.
Preserve Your Style
Orpi only washes her hair two or three times a week. She stretches out the lifespan of her curls by covering them when she sleeps. “I protect it at night by wearing a scarf over it so that it lasts a few days and doesn’t get frizzy and tangled,” she says.
Is masturbation healthy? When it comes to sex—which is already so taboo—talking about masturbation is one of the most uncomfortable of subjects. It’s one thing to admit to being sexual with a partner, but quite another to admit to taking pleasure into your own hands—literally and figuratively. Especially for women. But as a certified sex therapist and neuroscientist, I’ve got good news: masturbation isn’t just pleasurable, it’s good for you.
For years I’ve worked with people with anxiety, depression, or relationship issues, treated people with problems in the bedroom, and taught human sexuality courses (when I’m not busy conducting sex research as a neuroscience Ph.D.), and yet, I continue to be amazed about how uncomfortable people are when it comes to discussing sex in general and their own sexual health in particular. It isn’t unusual for me to have to reassure a talk show host who cautions me to be careful about what I say on the air since they don’t really “talk about sex” on their show. I think to myself, “What? you’ve had a show for decades that deals with health and lifestyle issues and you haven’t talked about sex?”
My work with couples and in the lab conducting studies has proved time and time again that pleasure isn’t just important but necessary—something I explore in my Glamour column Ask. Dr. Nan and in my new book Why Good Sex Matters—based largely on my research of the female orgasm, which can relieve stress, improve mood, reduce pain, boost immunity, and enhance self-esteem.
So, when someone asks me if masturbation is healthy, the answer is a resounding yes. Here’s why:
Do most people masturbate?
The short answer? Yes. The longer answer? More men do than women.
Despite the persistent taboo around masturbation, statistics show that in western cultures, most people do it. In the U.S., roughly 80 percent of women between the ages of 25-40 say they’ve masturbated at some point in their lives, with 50 percent of women between the ages of 18-24 reporting having masturbated during the past year.
Men tend to masturbate more often than women—largely because women are still shamed for being “too sexual.” If you group men and women together, nearly 76 percent of young adults between the ages of 25 and 29 report self-pleasuring over the past year
Is masturbation healthy?
I consider masturbation to be one of the best forms of self-care. Not only does it feel good, it’s good for you.
First, there are the physical benefits of masturbation. My research involved having participants masturbate to orgasm in an fMRI scanner to document how the brain responds to genital stimulation leading up to and culminating in the big O. We found that when you experience sexual pleasure, many areas of the brain receive more oxygen.
Sufficient oxygen is absolutely critical to healthy brain function, so the widespread increase in blood flow to the brain (particularly regions involved in sensation, movement, cognition, reward, and hormone production) make orgasm a great workout for nearly your whole brain. Orgasm triggers the release of a cascade of substances such as natural painkillers, stress relievers, and mood enhancers. Think of your brain enjoying a delicious cocktail of increased dopamine, (associated with reward and enthusiasm), endorphins (our own internally produced opioids promoting feelings of wellbeing), serotonin (calming), and oxytocin (facilitating bonding). The result is a health-promoting natural high.
A regular masturbation practice also has other benefits. When women learn to cultivate the pleasures of masturbation, we radically challenge some of the sex-negative notions pervading our culture. Rather than focusing on being a sex object for someone else, masturbation allows us to focus on being intrinsically sexual beings whose bodies are places of pleasure that exist at times just for us. It puts your pleasure first.
Are there side effects of too much masturbation?
Any behavior which becomes compulsive can become problematic. I have treated men whose masturbation practices have gotten out of control, causing physical and emotional distress, even interrupting their ability to go to work. These compulsive sexual behaviors appear less frequently in women, although they have been reported. In general, out of control sexual behaviors can result when people have trouble regulating their moods and use sex to self soothe.
The bottom line? By making a commitment to prioritizing your own pleasure though cultivating a regular masturbation practice, you will reap big benefits.
Nan Wise, Ph.D., is AASECT certified sex therapist, neuroscientist, certified relationship expert, and author of Why Good Sex Matters: Understanding the Neuroscience of Pleasure for a Smarter, Happier, and More Purpose-Filled Life. Follow her @AskDoctorNan.
She Makes Money Movesis a new podcast from Glamour and iHeartRadio. Hosted by Glamour editor in chief Samantha Barry, the podcast shares intimate, unscripted stories from women across the country along with advice from financial experts to help guide those women—and women everywhere—forward. Download a new episode every Tuesday, then visit glamour.com/money for an article like this, with more insights from that week’s expert.
More women than ever before are the breadwinners in their households. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 38% of wives out-earn their husbands. And while the aim should be to have a financial split that makes sense for each couple, research shows that this particular brand of imbalance can make some uncomfortable. So much so that some women lie about their earnings.
The New York Times has reported that in heterosexual marriages in which women earn more, wives will tell the Internal Revenue Service they earned 1.5% less than they actually do. Meanwhile their husbands will falsely claim to have earned 2.9% more than they do.
This week’s guest on She Makes Money Moves makes more than her husband. But the problem in their relationship isn’t that she has a bigger paycheck; it’s their different spending habits. Her husband is frugal, which makes her feel guilty when she spends money. She’s now expecting a baby and she’s worried she’ll feel even more reluctant to spend anything on herself once they have a child. To help her navigate her spending anxiety, Barry welcomed Shannon McLay, founder and CEO of the Financial Gym to the podcast. Here, McLay explores how to have a healthy financial relationship with your partner—no matter who’s bringing home the bacon.
Be up front about your money goals.
Have a conversation about both of your money goals. This will allow you and your partner to dream together and then plan together. You can discuss things like where do you see yourselves going in life? Do you want to own property? Do you want to have a family? Where do you want to live? Do you foresee any career pivots in the future? Is traveling a priority? All of these questions are important to answer and align on when deciding to enter (or stay in) a long-term committed relationship with someone. Especially when there’s an imbalance in income.
Get financially naked.
Couples are comfortable getting physically naked with each another, but more often than not they’re uncomfortable getting financially naked. Opening up about your finances is an important step in a relationship, and it’s one I encourage couples to do early and often. What does this mean? Each person should lay out their assets, debts, expenses, and personal financial goals they’re working on. Doing this can help ease any discomfort around deciding who pays for what, or how you plan your dates and vacations together. But more importantly it will help you understand one another’s priorities when it comes to your overall financial health.
Transition from viewing money as “mine” & “yours” to “ours.”
If you and your partner are working towards the same goals, then both of your incomes will feel like they are the tools getting you to those goals, together. Thinking about your finances as shared money going towards a shared future will make you and your partner feel less competitive and instead, more collaborative. Because if you’re constantly deciding how to split things up and the “fairness” of the division, the relationship can begin to feel more like splitting the bills with a roommate and not an intimate life partner.
According to a survey by Fidelity, the sponsor ofShe Makes Money Moves, 80% of women aren’t talking about money with the people closest to them. Today Glamour invites you to the conversation: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, in the iHeartRadio app, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us as we help women raise their voices and make money moves.
There’s no getting around this: Styling curly hair can be a challenge. (Looking at you, triangle hair.) It’s inherently dry, often coarse, and prone to frizz. Not to mention the fact that a large number of us have multiple curl patterns on our very own heads. But here’s the great thing: With the right tricks and products, you can get a halo of soft, healthy curls—just the way you want them. We know, because we talked to 15 different women—all with curls of varying types—who’ve not only embraced, but mastered, their natural texture. Click on through to discover their best curly hair tips.
When you think about delivery, you probably don’t imagine a balanced, well-rounded meal—more like pizzas and pad thai, right? But healthy meal delivery services are out there, and there are a lot of them. There are a slew of options that make food prep painless (with good-for-you ingredients, too). So we’re here to help you sort through the bunch to find your delivery soulmate. These healthy subscription services, which offer either prepped or pre-made wholesome recipes and meals, are easy to pull together, taste damn delicious, and are available to be dropped at most doors nationwide (some even deliver internationally). It’s practically impossible to not find a healthy food delivery service that’s perfect for you. So, what’s for dinner? Read on to find out.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF SUN BAKSET
Perfect for: Dietary restrictions
The details: With meal planning options for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, plus for those managing diabetes, eating paleo or gluten-free, Sun Basket has the healthy food bundle for your particular eating yen. Its ingredients are organic, and antibiotic- and hormone-free, and they come in recyclable, enviro-friendly packaging. And the best part: Sun Basket promises each recipe (you can mix and match from 18 weekly) can be thrown together in 30 minutes or less with. If you’ve got food rules to manage, but not a lot of time to cook, this is the healthy meal delivery service for you.
Cost: $36.94 for your first box, including three meals for two people.
Availability: You can check Sun Basket service availability here.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF HOME CHEF
Perfect for: Serious foodies
The details: There are 13 meal options each week with Home Chef—for example, there’s currently an incredibly delicious-looking scallop and corn chowder with crispy jalapeños perfect for winter—making it ideal for those looking to please picky, highbrow palates or those who love the finer things in life. And, the service makes it far more affordable (and convenient!) than it would be to shop for these ingredients on their own.
Cost: $59 for three meals for two people, includes all sauces, salts, and oils.
Availability: Home Chef delivers to 98% of the United States. To check if they deliver to your area, you can check here.
The details: this vegan supplier offers a different menu every week with plant-based, superfood-heavy meals like seasonal salads, sandwiches, and protein bagels with cashew cheese spread. There’s even daily detox teas to support digestion. It’s all quite pretty (not to mention gluten-, dairy-, egg-, and seafood-free), so plate it beautifully with some good lighting—and nail your caption, of course.
Cost: Packages start at $99 per person per day for a five-day plan.
Availability: Originally available only in New York but now shipping to locations all over the country, Sakara Life delivers everywhere but the number of days available depend on your delivery zone which you can check here.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF PLATED
Perfect for: Trying everything
The details: A truly customizable meal-planning service, Plated is for folks who want to try a little bit of everything, without committing to the same kind of foods (on the same day) week after week. There are 20-plus recipes to choose from—and desserts. You can choose menus fit for two, three, or four people; and for two, three, or four nights a week. But switching up these numbers from one order to the next means you can cook for yourself, or use your Plated box for a straight up dinner party, using sustainably-caught fish, hormone-free meats, organic produce, and small-batch or artisanal ingredients you’d be hard-pressed to find in your desperate last-minute bodega run. Recent recipes include cuisine mashups like shakshuka pizza and roasted zucchini bibimbap, plus classics like a juicy hamburger.
The cost: $71.70 for two servings, three meals a week. For new timers you can also save up to $159 with a current offer for 25% off your first four weeks up until January 31, 2019.
Availability: They deliver to 95% of the US, check availability here.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF MARTHA & MARLEY SPOON
Perfect for: A Martha Stewart wannabe or superfan.
The details: Created by America’s most trusted home cook (even Snoop Dogg’s a fan), Martha & Marley Spoon is bringing over 18,000 of Martha Stewart’s recipes to your home. Designed with easy weeknight cooking in mind, this meal delivery service lets you select from 10 new recipes every week.This January is a great time to order since incredible dishes like a buttery garlic chicken, general tso’s cauliflower and two-cheese polenta will all be on the menu. You can also plan up to 5 weeks ahead and skip a week when the timing isn’t perfect.
The cost: Two meals per week for two people start at $48 per week whereas four meals for three to four people starts at $131.20 a week. All include free weekly delivery.
Availability: Available in almost all of the contiguous US states, just enter zip code at checkout to confirm they deliver to you.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Blue Apron
Perfect for: The traditional cook
The details: Blue Apron is the OG healthy meal delivery service, and it continues to be one of the best for a reason—they’re good at what they do. Since their launch in 2012, Blue Apron has shipped over 8 million meal prep kits worldwide. Every ingredient is measured, portioned, and packaged, and the step-by-step instructions are easy to follow. It’s worth noting that some meals can take a bit longer than others, but the menu is second to none, with incredible meals inspired by the mediterranean diet. On the menu for January 2019? Sesame kale and quinoa bowls, pappardelle in tomato sauce and tuscan-spiced code, amongst many other things. You can add a wine pairing to your order, too.
Cost: Two-person plans, with three meals per week, start at $60.
Availability: Blue Apron is available nationwide in the United States but different delivery options depend on your area which you can check here.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Freshly
Perfect for: Extremely busy people
The details: The big promise with Freshly’s premade meals is that you can have breakfast, lunch, or dinner ready in two minutes or less—something we hadn’t heard promised outside of a frozen-foods aisle. Nothing’s frozen, either, and you can pull up all the nutritional stats on Freshly’s website to get the quick down-low. Every single meal is gluten free, packed with protein, all natural and is free from refined sugars. And their leftover food gets dished out to local food banks and shelters, ensuring there’s limited waste and that as many as possible benefit from the nutritional goodness they’re whipping up. All meals are kept insulated in biodegradable, recycled denim totes—an eco-friendly alternative to styrofoam—which you’ll want to schlep your leftovers in for lunch the next day.
Cost: Four meals per week for one person start at $50. Also if you refer a friend you’ll help them get $40 off their order and $40 off your next two orders.
Availability: They currently deliver to all states within the continental US.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Hello Fresh
Perfect for: Newbie chefs
The details: There are 10 different recipes offered each week, in either two- or four-person servings. The easy-to-follow, minimal-step meals come in meat and vegetarian options—everything from pork tenderloin with cauliflower mash and snap peas to chickpea- and superfood-laced salads. And now, Hello Fresh is offering food so nice you can eat it twice, with Dinner 2 Lunch, they’re solving the age-old dilemma of “seriously, how do you pack lunch ever?” Dinner recipes come with additional ingredients and instructions to tweak your leftovers for a killer next-day lunch: chorizo beef chili becomes a chili burrito for lunch; sausage and zucchini pizza is reimagined as a salad. If you’re new to cooking, this just made figuring out one more meal that much easier. And did we mention they also have a wine club where you can get 6 bottles delivered monthly?
Cost: Three two-serving meals start at $55.
Availability: They deliver across all of the continental US.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Green Chef
Perfect for: Organic-food lovers
The details: This is the first-ever USDA-certified organic meal kit—free of synthetic pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, and GMOs. You can order omnivore, paleo, and gluten-free meals, which are updated weekly. Ingredients come packaged, labeled, and color-coded for organized cooking, and they all take 30 minutes or less to prepare. This healthy meal delivery service also has a wide range of meal plans for so many different lifestyles form gluten-free to family carnivore. Other stuff we love: the eco-friendly packaging (the boxes are literally mini fridges, upping the cute factor), the fact that there’s no commitment, and the flexible delivery dates. It’s probably the most chill meal prep kit of the bunch.
Cost: Two-person plans, with three meals per week, start at $63.
Availability: Green Chef delivers almost everywhere in the continental United States except Alaska, Hawaii, and parts of Louisiana.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Veestro
Perfect for: Picky eaters
The details: Everything’s ready to go from Veestro—the vegan, dairy-free healthy meal delivery service is all about the heat-and-eat, so if you’re slammed at the office, it’s not a big deal, as dinner will still be ready in a few. But the best part is that unlike other delivery services, which are almost exclusively offered with limited meal-plan choices, Veestro’s got all of their offerings à la carte, so you can mix and match their “Plants Please” offerings to customize your perfect menu. (Because you know, not everyone loves tomatoes.)
Cost: Meals start at $10 to $12 à la carte.
Availability: Veestro currently elivers to any physical address within the United States except in Alaska or Hawaii.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF SNAP KITCHEN
Perfect for: Control freaks
The details: Snap kitchen says they make the best-tasting food, made better. That’s pretty appealing but what we love is not just how they cater to lots of different diets from milk free to pescatarian, but that this healthy meal delivery service offers you the freedom of choice. Yes, you can choose a low carb or keto-friendly subscription but you could also build your own completely from scratch or opt for a balance option which allows you to try an edited selection with a little bit of everything. We’re currently eyeing their crunchy coconut shrimp and over easy burger with sweet potato. If you have specific calorie goals, you can also customize those as well.
Cost: Pricing for meal subscriptions is based on how much you spend. Those between $25 and $125 receive a 5% discount off the retail price, meal subscriptions between $125 and $200 receive a 10% discount and meal subscriptions that are $200 or more per week receive a 15% off discount.
Availability: Currently available for delivery or pick up in Austin, Dallas, Houston and Philadelphia.
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