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Wonder Weeks Are The Key To Calming Your Fussy Baby

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date April 29, 2018

When my son was around 4 months old, I was pretty sure that my normally smiley, sweet, angel baby had suddenly been swapped with a miserable little creature who cried all the time and simply would not sleep. Like, at all. It. Was. Brutal.
And just as suddenly as he’d started acting like a sleep-deprived monster, my child’s sunny disposition returned. After some research, I discovered my baby was probably experiencing what’s commonly known (and feared by parents everywhere) as the four-month sleep regression.

While researching my kid’s behavior during a precious moment of peace, I stumbled across the phrase “wonder weeks” several times, and it seemed to completely describe what we were going through with the sleep regression. Interestingly, it also explained other fussy behavior during what they say are milestone months of a child’s development.
If your little one is experiencing sleep regression, separation anxiety, or simply can’t be soothed, the key to calming them may be understanding wonder weeks.
I spoke to Xaviera Plas, CEO and co-author of The Wonder Weeks, about everything you need to know about wonder weeks (and how you can use that information to plan ahead for big developmental changes).

What the heck is a wonder week?

“Wonder weeks are developmental leaps,” Plas explains. “Until not so long ago, we thought babies developed gradually. Now, we know that development occurs in leaps. It takes a brain change to enable a baby to learn and do new things.”
Plas’ parents, Dutch-born researchers Frans Plooij and Hetty van de Rijt, discovered that several primate species showed regression periods when the baby primates clung more closely to their mothers.

Their initial findings led them to wonder (pun intended) if human babies would behave similarly during periods of developmental growth.
Plooij and van de Rijt’s theories were correct, and they turned their research into a groundbreaking book. In 1992, they published the first version of The Wonder Weeks in Dutch. The book is now a tool for parents with fussy babies everywhere.
Their research has been backed up by studies out of Britain, Spain, and the Netherlands. In a study of Catalonian infants, researchers at the University of Girona in Spain corroborated Plooij and van de Rijt’s theory that infant development occurs in leaps. According to the study, “There is evidence of major reorganizations in psychological development. These reorganizations appear to be marked by discontinuities, that is, sudden spurts or changes in the behavior patterns [of infants].”

Thanks to her parents’ research, Plas says, “We now know exactly when a baby will make a developmental leap, a wonder week. The Wonder Weeks informs parents about these leaps (10 leaps in the first 20 months), when they are, what the brain change is all about, what a parent can expect after their baby took the leap, and most important, how parents can help their baby to make the most out of each leap.”

But wonder weeks aren’t exactly wonderful.

They do, however, indicate major milestones in your child’s development and growth.
Plas tells HealthyWay that identifying a wonder week is easy: Just look for the three Cs:
Clinging, Crying, Cranky.
Oh boy. Now, before you plan to drop your kid off at Grandma’s and hop on the fastest flight out of town, remember: Your baby needs you most during a wonder week.

“What would you do if your whole world changed drastically and suddenly?” asks Plas. “You would be clinging on to the only people you know (parents), you would be crying, and cranky, too, right? And if everything changed…you would lose your appetite, too, and you surely wouldn’t allow yourself a good night’s rest!”
Even though it can be completely frustrating and overwhelming, this is how your child is going to deal with the first phase of a wonder week. You may also notice that during a wonder week, your baby wants to nurse nonstop and wakes up often during the night even if they’re usually a good sleeper.
“If you think about all of these signs, you will notice that they are all signs of stress,” says Plas. “The start of each wonder week is a brain change, which is a lot to deal with for a baby.”

Understanding that your child is about to go through or is going through a wonder week can help you plan ahead for fussy behavior. For example, you may want to reschedule that family vacation to the Bahamas if your baby will be going through a wonder week during that time. Lazing the day away in a beachside cabana might sound like your idea of paradise, but to baby, the stress of going through big neurological changes may be compounded by being in an unfamiliar location or different sleeping space.

Good news: You can comfort your baby during a wonder week.

“What your baby wants most of all when going through a leap is to get to know and familiarize itself with the new perceptional world he or she has entered with this wonder week,” says Plas. “This is why parents need to familiarize themselves with the perceptual world of that specific leap. It will help parents to really understand what their baby is going through. This way, parents can understand and help their baby much better. Plus, when a baby is helped to understand the new perceptional world, the fussy phase is shorter. Good bonus!”
One way to really put yourself in your baby’s booties during a wonder week is to familiarize yourself with each wonder week well before it begins.
Nicole Johnson, creator of the Baby Sleep Site, says, “It’s best for you not to create new long-term habits for a short-term problem.” That’s why Johnson developed a handy chart of the most common wonder weeks your child will experience.

Parents, familiarize yourselves with this chart. Put it in your Google calendar. Get it tattooed on your arm. Do whatever it takes to memorize each developmental milestone and the corresponding wonder week. You’ll thank me later.
For example, my baby slept through the night almost from birth. Then (as I mentioned earlier), he went through a four-month sleep regression. The first couple of nights, I tried letting him cry it out. Let’s just say it didn’t work. He cried for hours, even after I caved and tucked him into bed with me.
A few days later, when I stumbled across Johnson’s chart, I realized, Oh, hey, this might be a wonder week.
According to the wonder weeks chart, right around four months, your child hits a big growth spurt. So, had I understood in advance that my baby was going to be cranky because he was growing, crying because his brain was learning something new, and clinging to me for comfort because he didn’t understand what was happening, I might not have gotten so incredibly frustrated with him, which would have been less stressful for both of us.
During a wonder week, your baby may not nap or sleep consistently through the night. “We do often need to give our little ones more support during a wonder week, but if you can avoid going overboard and ‘extreme’ in how you handle it, you will get through it faster and back to better sleep faster,” says Johnson.
“If you don’t normally bed-share, for example, if you begin bed-sharing, you are communicating that this is the new sleeping arrangement, and it’s not easy to change it back once the wonder week is over,” she explains. “If you need to, go ahead and sleep in your little one’s room or in a bed next to him or her. It’s a lot easier to get yourself out of their room than them out of yours.”

Sunny days, chasing the clouds (of wonder weeks) away…

Remember, parents: This too shall pass!
The crankiness, crying, and clingy behavior your baby exhibits during a wonder week will eventually go away as your child passes from a wonder week into what’s called a sunny week.
Praise be!

So just to recap what we’ve learned so far, a wonder week happens in three stages. We’ve covered the first two: the brain change, which happens in leaps, and the fussy stage (the three Cs), which is when parents can help reduce the amount of stress baby experiences during a wonder week. The third stage is what Plas likes to cheekily call “The Week of Wonder,” or when your baby finally connects the dots and can apply the developmental change he or she just experienced to their new understanding of the world.
After all this, says Plas, is a sunny week, or “a period that nothing changes in the brain, a period in which a baby understands the perceptual world it lives in. Until a baby is—like being struck by lightning—going through another brain change and thus back to another leap forward!”

Parents can enjoy the sunny weeks by sticking to their child’s normal routines while still exposing them to new places, foods, and things. Sunny weeks are a great time to take trips with little ones because they’ll be more able to adapt to their new surroundings during a sunny week.
During sunny weeks, though, parents should also be looking ahead to future wonder weeks, so they’re not totally ambushed during their child’s next big neurological development.

Get yourself the Wonder Weeks app ASAP.

“I decided to [download the Wonder Weeks app] because at about 5 weeks, Naomi became really fussy, and I was concerned she might be sick. I googled it and stumbled upon the wonder weeks,” says first-time mom Tracy Jarrell.

“What it was describing sounded like what she was going through, so I downloaded the app. It has seemed to line up pretty well with her leaps and has helped because it helps me as a parent understand what she is going through developmentally and how to help get through the leaps with activities that helps her use the new connections she has made,” Jarrell says. “It has also reassured me as a parent that these are learning stages, so the clingy fussiness is just part of her learning.”
Mom Kayla Hanks also downloaded the Wonder Weeks app after a friend suggested she try it. “My friend stated that this app was a lifesaver for being a first time mommy with twins,” she says. “I feel that in those first months, it definitely helped. I kind of felt like it gave me a heads up that my son would be experiencing increased fussing. My son is now over a year old, and I feel like I have a better grasp on his moods without the app.”
The Wonder Weeks app (available from iTunes and Google Play) essentially creates a personalized developmental growth chart for your baby, so you know when your child’s wonder weeks are coming up (because while wonder weeks do happen during certain specific week ranges, your baby’s wonder weeks are likely different from another baby’s).
The app also helps parents by teaching specific activities and coping techniques that apply to each wonder week as your child experiences it.

The Wonder Weeks app isn’t free, but trust me, it’s worth the $2.99 to download, and the other in-app purchases paid for themselves a thousand times over the first time my baby experienced a wonder week.
To get the most out of the app, Plas suggests, “Please always enter the due date (not birth date) of your baby because leaps are calculated by due date. And if you have any questions, ask us on Facebook, and we’ll always answer them!”
We’re coming up on eight months with my munchkin, and according to my wonder weeks chart, that means we’re headed straight for another sleep regression (say it ain’t so!). But this time, thanks to the Wonder Weeks app (and lots of coffee), we’re prepared for the sleepless—and fortunately temporary—nights ahead.

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Healthy Pregnancy Motherhood

Here’s Why Stripping Membranes Isn’t The Greatest Way To Induce Labor

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date April 28, 2018

Being pregnant really is great: You get to eat all the soft pretzels and ice cream you want, because at a certain point, you just stop looking at the scale when they weigh you during OB appointments. But trust me, there will come a time when you’re 100 percent over being pregnant.
For me, that time came at around 37 weeks, when, on our nightly walk, my husband literally had to call an Uber five blocks from our house because I just could not waddle any farther. Fast forward three weeks later, and I was STILL pregnant.
At my 40-week appointment, my doctor suggested that we start thinking about induction, because it was obvious that my nugget liked the womb a little too much. She suggested a procedure called membrane stripping, which sounded totally gross and a little scary, so I immediately said no. Instead, I was scheduled for a c-section when I hit 41 weeks. Three days later and still pregnant, I was rethinking my hasty decision when contractions started.
I didn’t have to have my membranes stripped to induce labor, but if I had been pregnant just one minute longer, I was definitely would’ve been considering my options. If your pregnancy is near or at full term, your doctor may also have suggested membrane stripping (also called membrane sweeping) as a way to induce labor. Stripping membranes is a relatively common procedure, but is it really worth it?
To find out, I spoke to mamas, doctors, doulas, and other pregnancy experts to get the real scoop on membrane stripping.

Stripping membranes sounds kind of icky.

So you’re not wrong—membrane stripping isn’t exactly a day at the spa.
But what really happens when they strip your membranes?
“Membrane stripping is a mechanical method of induction used between 38 and 40 weeks gestational age to prevent post-term pregnancies (after 41 weeks gestation),” says Tami Prince, MD, the founder of the Women’s Health and Wellness Center of Georgia. “An OB-GYN will insert a finger into the cervix and sweep between the membranes of the amniotic sac in an effort to separate the sac. This action increases endogenous production of prostaglandins, oxytocin, and phospholipase A which help to soften and dilate the cervix.”
Say what, now?
Okay, let me break this down with a little anatomy lesson: You know how your OB provider typically does weekly cervix checks toward the end of your pregnancy to check dilation and effacement? Well, stripping membranes is kind of like that.
Remember the female anatomy poster in your OB-GYN’s office? The cervix is essentially the gateway to the uterus. There’s the external orifice, which is where the doctor will insert their finger. Things get uncomfortable when the doctor has to reach for the internal orifice, where the membranes of the amniotic sack, also known as the bag of waters, is attached to the uterine wall.
Your doctor will then gently sweep their fingers back and forth (FYI: It does not feel gentle) to try to separate the membranes from the uterine wall, which tells your body it’s go time.
The idea is that stripping membranes kick-starts labor, so unlike a medicated induction, your labor will still start semi-spontaneously after a membrane sweep.

Does stripping membranes actually work to induce labor?

“The jury is still out on the effectiveness of membrane stripping alone,” Prince tells HealthyWay.
“Efficacy depends on gestational age, with it being low at an earlier gestational age and increasing after 38 weeks.”
So what does the research really tell us about the efficacy of membrane sweeping?
According to one 2010 study involving 30,00 women in 22 trials, “routine use of sweeping of membranes from 38 weeks of pregnancy onwards does not seem to produce clinically important benefits.” In laywoman’s terms, results showed that membrane sweeping didn’t induce labor in enough cases to warrant its recommendation as a regular induction method.
The 2010 study focused on women who were at full-term pregnancies, between 38 and 40 weeks. That said, another study found that membrane sweeping actually was successful in late-term pregnancies, or those lasting longer than 41 weeks, and significantly reduced the need for other induction interventions.

How is an expecting mama supposed to know what to do?

The information presented in different reports can be confusing, but basically, if your body is poised for labor, stripping membranes will be more likely to induce labor. If you have it done too early, though, it may not work—and it may increase the need for other interventions later.
Prince says despite the conflicting data, research does show that stripping membranes is safe and comes with minimal risks. Since stripping membranes is a low-risk procedure, it is often touted as a “natural” alternative to induction with oxytocin or vaginal prostaglandins and can usually be done in your provider’s office, unlike other pregnancy interventions, like versions, which must be done at the hospital.
Still, while they’re rare, there are some risks associated with stripping membranes.
“During the stripping process … the physician could inadvertently place a finger through the amniotic sac as opposed to between the membranes, causing a rupture of membranes,” explains Prince. “Once membranes rupture at term, labor must be augmented if a woman is not already in active labor. Also, stripping may involve mechanical dilation of an unfavorable cervix. The cervix is highly vascular and bleeds easily during pregnancy so women may experience light spotting afterwards.”
What does Prince mean by “augmented”?
Basically, if the doctor accidentally ruptures the amniotic sac while stripping membranes, it means you may end up having an emergency c-section.
This is a worst-case scenario, however. More often, doctors worry about introducing bacteria into your cervix while stripping membranes, resulting in an infection that could complicate labor and delivery.
To avoid infection, your doctor will check to see if you are GBS positive. Group B streptococcus is a type of bacterial infection that about 25 percent of all healthy women carry, and while it’s rare, it can pose serious risks as it can be passed to your baby during delivery. Doctors routinely screen for GBS after the 35th week of pregnancy. If you test GBS-positive, talk to your doctor about what’s right for you. According to a 2015 study, stripping membranes of GBS-positive women posed no threat to the baby or mother, so your doctor may go ahead with the procedure, but it’s a decision you should make together.

What do real women say about stripping membranes?

“I was 41 weeks pregnant—first pregnancy—by the time I had my membranes stripped,” says Kayla Hanks, a first-time mom in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
“I remember my mother coming into town and [being] ready for my son to be here. …Honestly, I feel like the pain [of membrane sweeping] was akin to labor itself! It took my breath away. I remember having some spotting after but [my OB] warned that it can happen. Stripping my membranes sent that early labor into overdrive (at least in my mind)! I stayed home until around 2 a.m. when my water finally broke. When we got to the hospital, they said I was only 3 centimeters along! Would I do it again? Only if it were necessary. I understand I was 41 weeks and in my first pregnancy, but it HURT!”
Ashley Phillips, a veteran mom of two, had a membrane sweeping procedure during her first pregnancy, and explains that her doctor didn’t exactly give her a choice:
“At my 39 week appointment, the doctor just told me he would be stripping membranes to try and induce labor, and because it was my first pregnancy, I didn’t know I could say no. It was a really painful experience, and I bled a lot after, almost like a light period. And I still didn’t go into labor!”
“I had my membranes stripped with my daughter, Cameron, twice,” says Jessica Stafford, who delivered each of her three children vaginally. “Each time it did nothing but cause pain and cramping. I didn’t do it with Clayton and don’t regret it, but I did do it with my third, Cohen and he was born the same day. In my experiences, it will only work if your body is ready for labor.”
Tracy Jarrell, mom to 1-year-old Naomi, says, “My labor started about 12 hours after having membranes stripped. Not the most comfortable procedure…but it did get my labor started.”

Looking for a natural alternative to stripping membranes? Try some sexy time.

If your pregnancy is at full term and you’re ready to meet your baby, there are less invasive ways to get labor started.
So let’s start with my personal favorite: getting it on to get your labor on. I personally swear this works. You may not feel like having sex at 39-, 40-, or heaven forbid, 41-weeks pregnant, but coitus (especially if you orgasm) can actually stimulate labor by triggering uterine contractions, according to a 2014 study. Plus, it’s likely the last time you and your partner can be intimate for the next six weeks, so make sure to really enjoy your sexy time.
Another proven method of labor induction is through prolonged nipple stimulation. I first read about this method of labor induction in Ina May Gaskin’s Ina May’s Guide to Natural Childbirth. According to Gaskin, “Nipple stimulation causes the release of oxytocin into the maternal bloodstream, and this oxytocin the stimulates contractions of the uterine muscles. Both manual and oral stimulation are effective at stimulation … Breast stimulation is especially effective in starting labor at term when it is combined with sexual intercourse.”
Autumn Vaughn, a licensed acupuncture physician who specializes in prenatal and postnatal care, says that holistic providers really prefer not to use the term “induction” and choose instead to focus on the long-term health of the mother and baby. “Weekly acupuncture sessions can shorten the length of labor and reduce the need for pain-management interventions because it naturally helps prepare the body for labor by ripening the cervix, relaxing ligaments and tendons, and helps baby get into the right position for labor,” says Vaughn.
And while there isn’t a lot of scientific data to support efficacy of Eastern medical techniques, like acupuncture, to stimulate labor, one study did show that women who received acupuncture had shorter overall delivery times than those who did not. Another study published in 2015 showed that acupuncture during pregnancy was found to be completely safe, so there’s no harm in trying acupuncture as a holistic alternative to stripping membranes.

What’s the bottom line on stripping membranes?

Stripping membranes is most likely to be effective later in pregnancy, with the highest rates of efficacy after 38 weeks. Believe me, I get it. Pregnancy is hard. And when 37 weeks is technically considered full term, it’s ultra-tempting to schedule a membrane stripping procedure to help get that baby outta there as soon as possible.
Still, an astonishing amount of prenatal growth occurs in the final weeks of pregnancy, so unless there’s a true medical need for baby to be born sooner, it’s probably best for baby to bake until at least 39 weeks.
Still, there are times when a scheduled birth is easiest for everyone. We’re a military family, and I know several women who have chosen a scheduled induction so that their partners could be present for the birth because of impending deployments. Or a medical condition could prompt an early delivery that is in the best interest of both mother and baby’s health.
Ultimately, whether to have your membranes stripped should be a decision you and your doctor make together. If you feel at all pressured to have a membrane sweep done (or any procedure you don’t have a good feeling about during pregnancy) you should definitely seek a second opinion, because there are induction alternatives that may be just as efficient as stripping membranes at inducing labor.
After all, the most important thing is making sure your little nugget is happy and healthy when they decide to make their debut.
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Nosh Nutrition x Advice

What Are Natural Flavors? The Truth Behind What You See On Ingredient Labels

Post author By Joni Sweet
Post date April 28, 2018

Look on the ingredients label of almost any packaged food, and you’re bound to come across the ubiquitous phrase “natural flavors.” It sounds innocent enough, and it might bring to mind drops of fresh lemon juice, crushed berries, or even some infused hibiscus tea. It’s natural, after all!
But whether you’re concerned about potential allergens or you’re just plain curious about what you’re eating, you might be surprised at what you discover when you dig a little deeper into what “natural flavors” really means. Are they really natural? Where do they come from? Are natural flavors healthy? And why won’t food companies get a little more specific about the natural flavors they’re using in their products?
“Natural flavors are way more confusing than most people think. The assumption may be that they are simple ingredients direct from nature, when in fact they are often chemically altered,” says Dana Angelo White, a registered dietitian in Fairfield, Connecticut. “In many cases, they are derived from substances that in no way resemble the food flavor they represent—meaning the natural flavor that gives something a strawberry-like taste may contain no actual strawberry.”
There are probably more questions than answers when it comes to these mysterious ingredients, but learning about how natural flavors differ from artificial flavors, what impact they might have on our health, and what regulations the government has placed on labeling them can help us make informed choices at the grocery store. Here’s what you need to know about natural flavors.

What are natural flavors?

As White mentioned, there’s a chance that a natural flavor contains none of the original ingredient it’s trying to mimic. So what exactly are they?
“According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), natural flavoring can come from an altered version (or versions) of a spice, fruit, fruit juice, vegetable, vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, root, bud, root, leaf, or plant material, as well as meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, or dairy,” says White.
Flavorists manipulate these ingredients in labs through processes like distilling, roasting, fermenting, and heating in order to turn them into flavoring agents for food.
Natural flavors can also contain one or more chemicals to give a product a specific taste. To get a natural flavor that resembles passion fruit, for example, flavorists may actually use the sulfur-containing volatiles from grapefruit—a less expensive, more widely available fruit. The flavorist might then blend in notes from other ingredients, such as cherries, to create a more passion fruit–like taste.
So why do food manufacturers go through all that trouble, instead of just putting real passion fruit into the product?
“Natural flavors are appealing to food manufacturers because they add flavor without changing the nutritional composition of the food. They can also enhance the aroma and flavor of processed foods, which may make them more desirable,” explains White.

How does the FDA regulate natural flavors?

Whenever you’re talking about ingredients, it’s critical to look at regulations from the FDA. The governing body controls the legal definitions of terms like “natural flavors,” “organic,” and other common terms.
As long as the original source of a chemical was a plant or animal product, it can typically be called a “natural flavor,” according to the FDA. Natural flavors also have close cousins, known as artificial flavors—a term that has its own strict definition.
“Artificial flavors do not need to be derived from plant or animal materials,” says White. “In many cases, natural flavors are more expensive.”
Artificial and natural flavors both contain chemicals. Surprisingly, natural flavors often come from obscure sources that are harder to come by than their artificial counterparts, which has led to environmentally conscious criticisms of natural flavors, and the assertion that “consumers pay a lot for natural flavorings. But these are in fact no better in quality, nor are they safer, than their cost-effective artificial counterparts.”
Food companies are not required to disclose exactly which natural or artificial ingredients are in their products. I was surprised to see “natural flavors” on the ingredients label of an organic smoothie I was drinking at breakfast one morning, so I called the company and asked what they were made of. The representative said she didn’t have the details, and wouldn’t be able to find out for me.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if food companies worked very hard to protect their recipes,” says White. “Many flavorings are made from numerous chemicals, so it might be a difficult answer to give.”
The one thing that the representative at the smoothie company did let me know was that because the product was certified organic, all of its ingredients (including natural flavors) came from organic sources.
“According to the FDA, organic products can’t contain flavorings made with synthetic solvents, carrier systems, or preservatives. Products that are labeled as ‘made with organic ingredients’ have fewer restrictions,” says White.

How do natural flavors affect our health?

Natural flavors are in tons of packaged food products on the grocery store shelves. In fact, they’re the fourth most common nutrition label ingredient (behind salt, water, and sugar), according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which rates more than 80,000 foods.
Should we be concerned about how such a prevalent ingredient might be affecting our health?
“Natural flavors are classified as ‘GRAS,’ meaning they are ‘generally recognized as safe.’ But I’m not aware of any testing done on these products when consumed for the long term or when eaten in combination with others. There are so many flavorings, and millions of possible combinations,” says White.
The EWG says that high doses of the chemicals used in natural flavors might actually be toxic, but because natural flavors are so potent, food manufacturers only need to use a very small quantity in each product to make a big impact on our senses.
Most healthy adults can tolerate the amount of natural flavors we typically consume without a known impact on health. However, people with severe allergies to specific ingredients will need to do their homework (or avoid natural flavors altogether) to ensure every product is safe for them to eat. The top eight major allergens, like soy and eggs, are specifically mentioned on labels of products that contain traces of them. But if you have a less common food allergy or you’re sticking to a strictly vegan or vegetarian diet, you’ll need to call the company to see if the natural flavors used in a particular product might contain something you’re trying to avoid.

Food Swaps if You Want to Avoid Natural Flavors

Even though there’s no official data about the long-term health impact of natural flavors, some people are dedicated to avoiding the consumption of vague ingredients. Fortunately, brands are starting to offer some favorite foods that are free of natural flavors.
“I love products that use real ingredients for flavor,” says White. “Spindrift is a perfect example. It uses real fruit and tea to enhance sparking water. It represents what natural flavors should mean.”
LARABAR is a reliable brand for granola bars without natural flavors—great for a morning meal on the go, says White.
For snacks, White has recommendations for treats that are free from natural flavors.
“Instead of packs of chewy fruit snacks, choose dried fruit. It’s naturally sweet and needs no additives. Trader Joe’s has a great selection,” she says. “Skip processed salty snacks and reach for air-popped popcorn. Angie’s Boom Chicka Pop Sea Salt is my favorite—the ingredients are simple and clean.”
Got a sweet tooth? Pass on the commercially baked goods you find at convenience stores and instead bake something from scratch at home, says White. Your local bakery might also have cupcakes, pastries, and cookies that don’t contain natural flavors—just call and ask.
Knowledge is power when it comes to building a healthy, balanced diet. The more you know about natural flavors—and all the other ingredients on your foods’ labels—the more confident you can be in your choices at the grocery store.

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Health x Body Wellbeing

The Signs Of Ovulation: How Hormones Affect The Body

Post author By Sian Ferguson
Post date April 26, 2018

Those of us who menstruate usually know the signs of our period coming along: Before the bleeding occurs, we might experience bloating, pain, or moods swings. And yes, sometimes PMS makes sure you know your period is on its way.
Most of us are less familiar with the signs of ovulation. In fact, a recent study actually showed that most people struggle to tell whether they’re ovulating or not. Many of us might not even know that there are indeed physical signs of ovulation or why our bodies respond to ovulation the way they do.
First, a quick biology refresher: Ovulation occurs when an ova, or egg, is released from the follicle in the ovary. Once the egg leaves the ovary, it moves into the fallopian tube. It stays there for roughly 12 to 24 hours. Depending on your sexual activity, it’s during this time that sperm will reach the egg. If the egg is fertilized, it goes to the uterus. There, a fertilized egg will implant in the uterus wall, marking the beginning of pregnancy. If the egg isn’t fertilized, it degrades and menstruation will follow. Either way, ovulation is the time in your menstrual cycle when you’re fertile.

The ovulation process also includes a great deal of hormonal changes. “Hormones called estrogen and progesterone are like yin and yang: There needs to be a balance,” says Carolyn Alexander, MD, of Southern California Reproductive Center. Alexander is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology as well as reproductive endocrinology and infertility. “Ovulation leads to a corpus luteum [a hormone-secreting structure], which produces elevated amounts of progesterone. This prevents unopposed estrogen or an imbalance of high estrogen,” she says. When this progesterone decreases a few days after ovulation, it triggers the beginning of a period.
These hormones work to prepare the body for pregnancy and it’s these preparations that can produce certain signs of ovulation you’ve probably noticed (and can learn to associate with the science behind your cycles).

How can I be sure that I’m ovulating (and why should I care)?

There are many reasons why you’d want to know whether you’re ovulating or not: You could be trying to avoid pregnancy, or you might want to get pregnant. You might also want to know whether you’re ovulating simply because you’d like to understand your body better—we’re all for understanding our bodies better.
Firstly, tracking your menstrual cycle can help you figure out when you’re ovulating. If you have a 28-day cycle and you mark the first day of your period as day one of your cycle, you’re likely to ovulate around day 14—that is, in the middle of your menstrual cycle. To keep track of ovulation, you could use a pen-and-paper calendar or you can record your period (and related symptoms) in a period tracking app, like Clue.

Secondly, ovulation kits can test your urine to help you figure out whether you’re ovulating or not. “What kicks the ovary to get the egg out is something called luteinizing hormone (LH), which surges right before ovulation,” says Mary Jane Minkin, MD, a clinical professor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the Yale University School of Medicine. “This is called the LH surge, and you are actually measuring this in the urine on the ovulation predictor kits.” Minkin recommends the First Response Ovulation Calculator.

Bear in mind, though, that neither of these methods are 100 percent effective. As with your period, many factors might affect the time you ovulate. In other words, you could ovulate a little earlier or later than expected. “Stressors, illness, change in eating, dieting particularly, but even overeating, all can affect ovulation,” says Minkin. “So it is not 100 percent repetitive.” Even ovulation predictor kits can be wrong, she adds.
Another way to figure out whether you’re fertile or not is to look out for certain signs of ovulation.

What are the signs of ovulation?

While there are many ways to find out whether you’re ovulating or not, it’s also great to pay attention to the signs and signals your body gives you.
Since ovulation causes a great deal of hormonal changes, it affects your body in multiple ways. In terms of our biological evolution, the function of ovulation is to help us reproduce, so many of the signs of ovulation involve physical changes that make pregnancy more likely.

Remember that since no two uteruses are the same, everyone experiences ovulation differently—so don’t be alarmed if you don’t notice any signs of ovulation. It’s totally possible to ovulate without experiencing any signs.
If you’ve had some unexpected physical symptoms around the middle of your cycle, read on to find out if they’re signs of ovulation.

1. Your cervical mucus changes.

You might note that your vaginal discharge changes around this time. This is because your cervical mucus changes during ovulation. Studies show that there’s a significant increase in the amount of cervical mucus produced by your body. The substance often becomes sticky, clear, and thick. According to Minkin, this makes it easier for sperm to make it to your cervix, thus increasing the chances that you’ll become pregnant.

2. You’re feeling mild pelvic pain.

Ever felt a little twinge in the side of your pelvis during ovulation? That mild ache might be your follicle releasing an egg. “This pain is known as mittelschmerz, or ‘pain in the middle,’” says Kelly Kasper, MD, an OB-GYN at Indiana University Health. “When a follicle matures prior to releasing an egg, the follicle can contain a small amount of fluid like a cyst. When the egg is released, the follicle ruptures, releasing the fluid [and] causing an ache or pain.”

Mittelschmerz usually only lasts a few hours, and it can be managed with over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication like Advil. Kasper warns that if the pain is too unbearable or persistent, you should see a doctor.

3. Your libido increases.

A change in your sex drive and a change in the type of sex you’d like are both signs of ovulation. There’s a strong correlation between ovulation and libido: “There is a spike up of testosterone right around the time of ovulation, which from a biological perspective is also designed to get you to want to have sex,” says Minkin.

Ovulation might also influence the type of sex you’re interested in. A small study focusing on heterosexual women suggested that they might prefer penetrative sex over oral sex during ovulation. If you don’t notice an increase in libido, though, that doesn’t mean you’re not ovulating—Alexander notes that if you have a low libido in general, you might not notice a spike in arousal around ovulation.

4. You’re experiencing spotting or light bleeding.

If you’re ovulating and you notice some blood spots or brown discharge, don’t be alarmed. This is fairly common. “When ovulation occurs, the follicle can rupture and result in a small amount of bleeding,” says Kasper. “This blood turns brown as it gets older, hence why the vaginal discharge can be red to dark brown.”

5. Your breasts feel tender.

Since ovulation involves a lot of hormonal activity, you might notice that your breasts feel more sensitive or tender around the middle of the cycle. Studies have shown that breasts are generally more tender and more swollen during the fertile window.

6. Your sense of smell is heightened.

“You could experience a heightened sense of smell in the second half of the cycle after ovulating in order to be more attracted to androsterone, a male pheromone,” explains Kasper.

A recent study supported the commonly held idea that ovulation increases your sense of smell. The study especially showed that ovulation makes us more sensitive to androsterone. Again, this is one of the responses to ovulation that is meant to help you get pregnant.

7. Your basal body temperature (BBT) changes.

Your basal body temperature, which is the temperature of your body when it’s resting, is affected by ovulation. Monitoring basal body temperature was once used as a method to detect ovulation. “Before we had ovulation predictor kits to measure the LH surge, we relied on basal body temperatures,” says Minkin. “If you take your temperature first thing in the morning—even before you get out of bed—and chart it, you will see a slight drop right before ovulation, and then the temperature will rise about half a degree Fahrenheit.”

BBT isn’t one of the signs of ovulation you’ll be able to see at a glance. It must be taken with a digital thermometer designed to measure BBT. Once you have the right type of thermometer, you have to chart your temperature over time. Since the BBT can fluctuate throughout your cycle, it has to be monitored for quite some time; it could take months to identify the pattern, Kasper adds. This is why urine-based ovulation tests are favored over measuring BBT nowadays.

8. Your immune system may be weaker.

“In light of an embryo hopefully implanting in the uterus sometime soon, there are immune changes that may adapt to allow paternal proteins to be accepted by the uterus,” says Alexander. In other words, the immune system lets its guard down so that sperm can enter the body and stay there until fertilization takes place.

Your immune system might be weaker because of these hormonal changes, so you might find yourself more prone to colds and flu. Interestingly, a 2012 study noted that people are more prone to infections during ovulation.

9. You could have a higher pain threshold.

Your menstrual cycle might also affect your pain threshold—that is, how sensitive you are to pain. According to multiple studies, higher estrogen levels cause you to have less sensitivity to pain. This suggests that your pain threshold is higher during ovulation.
This might not be the same for everyone, though. And, as studies have warned, measuring your pain threshold is subjective, so it’s possible that your bias changes depending on where you are in your cycle.

Can I get pregnant if I don’t have sex while ovulating?

If you’re trying to get pregnant, your best bet is having sex around the day you ovulate. This is why knowing the signs of ovulation and using ovulation tests can be useful.
However, you can’t always be completely sure when you’re ovulating. Even if you could predict ovulation accurately, abstaining from sex when you ovulate isn’t a foolproof method of avoiding pregnancy.
It’s important to remember that sperm can linger in the cervix and uterus for a few days, explains Minkin. If you have sex for a few days before ovulation, you might still get pregnant. If you’re trying to track ovulation to avoid pregnancy, consider using another method of contraception in addition to tracking your cycle.

What happens if I’m not ovulating?

While it’s generally true that we ovulate once a month, this isn’t the case 100 percent of the time. If you’re on hormonal birth control, you shouldn’t be ovulating at all. It’s also possible to have occasional menstrual cycles when you don’t ovulate. These are called anovulatory cycles.
However, if you continuously don’t ovulate, this could be cause for concern, even if you’re not trying to get pregnant. Ovulation is an essential part to your menstrual cycle as it influences the fluctuation of hormones in your body. These hormones aren’t only essential for fertility—they’re essential for our overall health. Anovulation can be caused by extreme stress, extreme exercise or dieting, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and other illnesses.

“There needs to be a balance [of progesterone and estrogen] to prevent uterine cancer or pre-cancer cells,” says Alexander. This can especially be a problem if you have unopposed estrogen levels—that is, high amounts of estrogen and low amounts of progesterone. Alexander notes that it is possible to menstruate without ovulating. “This can lead to ovarian cysts as well as a thickened uterine lining that can develop pre-cancer cells,” she says. Again, you might be ovulating without displaying any signs of ovulation, so you can’t diagnose this yourself. If you think you’re not ovulating, speak to your healthcare provider.
Knowing the signs of ovulation is super useful for those of us who are hoping for (or avoiding!) pregnancy. It’s also comforting to know that some signs—like spotting and mild pelvic pain—are a part of ovulation, and (typically) not signs that something’s wrong.
Want to start tracking your cycles to get to know when you’re ovulating? Check out how free femtech apps can help you educate yourself about ovulation, fertility, safe sex, and more.
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Health x Body Wellbeing

Want To Learn How To Get Rid Of Cellulite? We Asked The Experts Which Treatments Work (And Which Ones To Avoid)

Post author By Jeanne Sager
Post date April 25, 2018

Mattress skin. Cottage cheese thighs. Orange peel tush. There are dozens of words we’ve come up with to avoid talking directly about the cellulite that starts cropping up on our bodies when we least expect it.
The reality is cellulite is simply a part of life—a normal part of life at that. As many as 80 to 90 percent of girls and women who are past the puberty stage have at least some cellulite somewhere on their bodies.
Unfortunately, being one of the girls doesn’t necessarily make us love our lumps. We live in a society where tabloids splash paparazzi shots of celebrity women across their covers with giant headlines labeling the stars “imperfect” and using arrows to point to a few dimples on their thighs. The implication (however false it may be) is clear: Cellulite is proof your body’s falling apart.
We’ve certainly internalized those headlines. In one survey performed on behalf of a company that develops laser treatments, women with cellulite rated their own appearance on average lower than the appearance of women without cellulite. Almost all (97 percent) of the participants with cellulite said they’d change their appearance if they could.
But while there’s almost no avoiding the lumpy fat that crops up on tummies, butts, and thighs of famous models and not-so-famous moms driving minivans around the neighborhood, cellulite treatments are out there if you want them. The problem for most women is sorting through the overhyped claims of fast fixes and overpriced offers to find cellulite treatments that can help us reclaim some of that smooth, pre-puberty skin.
That’s where we come in. We talked to the experts about the most popular cellulite treatments out there and found out what works, what doesn’t, and what you can do if you’re not feeling comfortable in the skin you’re in.

Cellulite: A Female Curse?

Before we even consider treating cellulite, did you ever wonder what the heck was going on down under your skin to make all those bumps and valleys? Let’s take trip back to high school science, shall we?
The skin has three layers: The epidermis is the outermost layer of skin. The dermis is the layer right beneath the epidermis. Below that is the subcutaneous layer, which is made up of fat and connective tissue.
“Throughout the fat layer, there are connective tissue septae, or bands, that run down from the skin and divide the fat layer into compartments,” explains Sejal Shah, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and RealSelf contributor from New York City. “Cellulite occurs when this underlying fat begins to push up against the overlying connective tissue and skin, while those septae pull down the skin, resulting in that characteristic dimpled appearance.”
Essentially, the fat that’s in our bodies sections off into little pockets deep underneath the skin, resulting in the dimples we know as cellulite. It typically begins sometime in a woman’s twenties or thirties—although it can happen earlier (some teenagers have cellulite) or later—and it’s most prevalent on the thighs, butt, and lower abdomen, although it can also appear on the arms.
While these fatty pockets can crop up on men’s bodies, it’s much rarer than it is in women. Just about 10 percent of cisgender men have cellulite, compared to more than 80 percent of cisgender women. There are a number of reasons for the gender divide, but the main thing? It’s yet another thing we can blame on our hormones, Shah says, specifically estrogen, the primary female sex hormone.
“Estrogen plays role in the development of cellulite,” Shah explains. “Women tend to have more body fat, and women’s fat is typically distributed in the thighs, hips, and buttocks, which are common areas for cellulite.”
Also at play in cellulite’s appearance is the way muscle develops in men versus women.
“In men, the connective tissue bands that connect skin and muscle are thicker, more in number, and form a crisscross pattern (unlike the vertical pattern in women), making it less likely for the fat to push through,” Shah notes.
Of course, not all women develop cellulite, and just why that happens and who it will happen to is still somewhat up in the air. Even scientists have yet to suss out exactly why some women wake up one day to cellulite while others never experience it at all.
“Because we don’t know exactly why people get cellulite, it’s not always possible to prevent it, especially since factors like genes and hormones play a role,” Shah says. But there are certain risk factors that tend to up your chances of taking a peek at your butt in the mirror and spotting some cellulite, including:

Genetics (both being female and having a parent who had cellulite)
A diet high in fat, carbohydrates, and salt, but low in fiber
Lifestyle factors such as smoking, being sedentary, and lack of exercise (which results in low muscle tone)
Poor circulation
Hormonal imbalances or increased sensitivity to hormones
Use of hormonal contraceptives
Aging (as we age, the skin and connective tissues naturally weaken and lose elasticity, Shah says)
Weight gain (but even thin people can have cellulite, Shah is quick to point out)

Of course, that all begs the question: What can you do about it?

Cellulite Treatments

If you have cellulite and it doesn’t bother you, you can stop reading right now. Okay, well hold up—not quite yet.
The truth is, cellulite is normal, Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Deepak Raj Dugar, MD, says. It’s not a disease. It’s not a reason to hit the emergency room. And while some of the potential causes (such as smoking or an unhealthy diet) can adversely impact your health, cellulite in and of itself is not going to hurt you and is not considered harmful to your health by the medical community.
If you want to let it be, there’s no reason to pay it any more attention. But what if you fall in the “I want it gone” camp?
There’s good news and bad news ahead. When asked if there are any means for cellulite treatment that are legitimate and backed by science, most doctors don’t pull any punches.
“Short answer is no,” Dugar says. “There have been no studies to ever show that a device, medication, or system was able to effectively reduce cellulite across the board.”
In fact, some body-contouring plastic surgery methods, such as liposuction, have actually been shown to make the appearance of cellulite worse. Okay, case closed, right? You’re stuck with orange peel thighs and cottage cheese tushie.
Not exactly. While there’s no magic pill that will address every single person’s cellulite issues, there are some options out there.
Here’s the real deal on the most popular cellulite treatments currently available.

Retinoid or Retinol Creams

Can cellulite treatment really be as easy as rubbing a cream on every day for a few weeks? Well, no, says Shah. “It won’t directly treat the cellulite, but [it] may improve skin texture and tightness, therefore reducing the appearance of cellulite.” Be wary of just any cream that you find in the drugstore or online that claims to get rid of cellulite, though. It’s only those with the active ingredients retinoid or retinol that offer that skin-tightening benefits.

Compression Stockings

Like creams, these seem like a fast and easy fix for cellulite woes, but they’re more cosmetic than a long-term solution, Shah says. Wearing support hose can reduce excess fluid, making the cellulite less apparent on your thighs, butt, and tummy. But once you’ve spent some time without that support, the dimpling effect will just return. The same goes for dry brushing and the “wraps” popular on Instagram. The compression effect can help in the short term, but it’s not a long-term cellulite treatment.

Cellfina

The first device to ever get FDA clearance for long-term treatment of cellulite literally cuts the connective tissue bands that pull down the skin and create the dimpled appearance of cellulite, Shah says. Performed by a doctor in an outpatient setting, Cellfina treatments use a small, needle-sized device that cuts those cellulite-causing bands just beneath the skin. The device is “minimally invasive,” according to the company, and side effects are typically limited to tenderness and bruising. The results are expected to last for up to a year, Shah says, although the company boasts patients can be cellulite free for as long as three years.

Cellulaze

Another treatment that can only be done by a doctor, Cellulaze is a cellulite treatment that’s performed in an office setting in an hour or two, allowing patients to go home immediately after treatment. “This [is] a laser treatment in which the laser is inserted just underneath the skin to cut the connective tissue bands that are causing the dimpled appearance,” Shah explains. Again, side effects tend to include tenderness and bruising, and the company notes there may be some leaking from the incision. Patients may have to wear compression garments for a short period of time after the procedure and avoid strenuous activity for as much as two weeks after treatment. The company behind the procedure promises results will improve over time and should last up to a year.

Other Laser Techniques

Cellulaze is a brand name (and one of the most popular treatments), but there are other radiofrequency lasers out there that are used to address the appearance of cellulite. Dugar says these devices use suction pulsing technology to help “separate the fibrous septa from the skin to reduce the herniation fat,” but warns that the efficacy of these is still low, and results are not permanent.

Fillers

Just as some people get fillers injected into their face to address fine lines and wrinkles, it’s possible to use injections to address cellulite. “These injectable treatments can be used to mask the appearance of cellulite by filling in the dimples,” Shah explains.

Brazilian Butt Lift

One of the most invasive cellulite treatments is less of a treatment and more of a way to mask the dimples by creating a barrier between the skin and the subcutaneous tissues below, Dugar says. A Brazilian butt lift involves liposuction, pulling fat from your flanks, abdomen, arms, and legs, and re-injecting that fat into your buttocks and thighs.
“When done properly, you can effectively create a barrier between the skin and the fibrous connective issues below, thereby reducing the appearance of the cellulite,” Dugar says. But, he warns, “this may only be temporary as studies have never shown that this is an effective treatment for cellulite. I have noticed that it can temporarily decrease the appearance of it.”

Diet and Exercise

No, it won’t eliminate all your cellulite, but it can have an impact, Shah says, at least on how your cellulite appears. “Being overweight may worsen cellulite because the more subcutaneous fat you have, the more likely it is to put stress on the connective tissue and bulge,” she explains.
Of course, cellulite can also happen in thin individuals, and exercise does not necessarily get rid of cellulite completely, but it can make it appear differently beneath the skin.
“As the connective tissue underneath the skin weakens or loses elasticity, it allows the fat to bulge,” Shah explains. “Strengthening the muscles in those areas will in turn tighten the skin (and burn excess fat overall), making the skin appear smoother and cellulite less noticeable.”
Any exercise is good exercise, but if you’re looking at your workout as a cellulite treatment, you’ll want to mix up your fitness routine.
“Combining aerobic activity with strength training is key to improving the appearance cellulite, and aerobic/cardio exercise alone is unlikely make much of a difference,” Shah says.
At the end of the day, cellulite may not be something that we can beat or even need to be that concerned about. But if you’re focusing on a healthy lifestyle, from diet to exercise to water intake to avoiding smoking, you may be able to help stave of developing more and help the cellulite that’s already there be just a little bit less apparent. If nothing else, a healthier lifestyle will equal a healthier you.

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Mindful Parenting Motherhood

Cosmic Kids Yoga: Jaime Amor Talks Anger, Mindfulness, And Better Ways To Teach Our Kids

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date April 24, 2018

Since 2012, Cosmic Kids Yoga has been a positive force in the sometimes questionable world of online children’s entertainment. The concept is simple: Teacher Jaime Amor guides kids through a series of poses using a colorful cadre of animals to make the lessons more appealing to young minds. She stands on a round yoga mat, talking directly to her audience, bringing them through “yoga adventures” that invite them to use their imaginations while moving their bodies.
If Cosmic Kids Yoga stopped there, that would be enough, but Amor has a bigger mission. In the vein of legendary television presenters like Mr. Rogers, she focuses on imparting useful lessons to her young audience, teaching them how to handle difficult emotions, confront personal challenges, and interact with their world in healthy, positive ways.
Over the last six years, Cosmic Kids Yoga has grown. Episodes like “Pedro the Penguin” quickly gained hundreds of thousands of views, and the Cosmic Kids YouTube channel now has more than 200,000 subscribers.

We spoke with Amor to discuss how yoga can help children—and to find out what’s next for Cosmic Kids Yoga.

HealthyWay: We mentioned this in our emails, but a few of our editors have kids that are big fans of yours.

Amor: Aww, that’s amazing! That’s so encouraging when we hear it. I always thought that if the kids like it, we’re doing something well.

What is it about Cosmic Kids Yoga that you think makes it such an effective form of exercise for children?

It really works on multiple levels. Firstly, because of the way that they’re physically engaged, they’ve got something physical to do. And secondly, the stories just keep them wanting to continue along on the adventure.

You’ve got quite a range of stories, too.

Yes, you’ve got everything from mermaids to space monkeys to baby seahorses. The kids are really interested in all of the cute, fun characters.

There’s a practical side—all the things that I’ve done in the videos are things that I’ve practiced and done with kids in real-life classes, so I know that they work.
And we have these practical life lessons where kids are able to take some of the techniques that they learn in the stories and then apply them to their real life, you know? If they feel like they need some headspace and calm, they’ve got their 10-down count that we learn in Lulu the Lion Cub. It’s about slowly breathing and counting down from 10 to one.
That’s a proper mindfulness technique, really. But it’s also really practical for a kid; if they ever notice that level of stress in themselves, they can just engage it. I think it’s the combination of the fun factor and the practicality of it that really makes the kids want to do it.

And yoga feels good—that’s certainly something!

Yes, it feels good! I think that moving your body, doing these yoga poses feels great. And kids love moving. They’re always moving in some way. That’s how we work out what our bodies can do.

Mindfulness isn’t really something that we focus on as a culture. We don’t really give children the tools that they need to deal with their emotions in a healthy way.

Yeah, exactly. And I think what I’ve found is that, in the stories, we can create an event—a situation—where a particular feeling or challenge will crop up.
Perhaps our brothers and sisters have been making fun of us. Well, Lulu the Lion Cub, she hasn’t learned how to roar yet. She’s feeling those same emotions, because her brothers and sisters are saying, “Wah, wah, you haven’t learned how to roar yet!”

That’s a real thing that a lot of kids will relate to. So we’ll go with Lulu on a little journey to see how she might help herself deal with that frustration in those moments. There, vicariously through a character, you’ve learned a technique, but it doesn’t feel like you’re being told what to do. It’s not being pushed on you; it’s being offered as a solution.
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And in the stories, I often make the kids the heroes. They’re the ones actually giving Lulu the advice that she might take to help herself.
When you put kids in control like that, when you give them that hand of power, they say, “I know what I’m doing; I feel confident in this.” And so when they’re confronted with that situation, they really feel that those tools are at their fingertips, ready to use.

Speaking of practicality, we were wondering about some of the practical elements of the show. Who comes up with all of the creative ideas?

We have a really small team. I generally come up with the stories. I work with Martin, my husband, and we work very much as a team to decide on the message. What do we want to do in this story? What do we want kids to take away with them?
And then I’ll go away and I’ll build a plot around situations that kids might have found themselves in, then try to relate that to the animal world. What’s brilliant about the animal world is that it lends itself to yoga; obviously so many yoga poses are based in nature. It really helps to create a yoga journey that I can put together with that story.
Then we rehearse a few times. I go to schools, and I try [the story] with different groups of kids. I’ll figure out what bits are working, what bits aren’t working, and then it’s ready for the green screen studio.
We go into the studio once every four or five months. I’ll have spent three or four weeks trying to cram as many stories as I can into my head, and then I’ll try to film over a couple of days, between six and 10 stories.

Cosmic Kids Yoga uses a lot of green screen. Is that a challenge?

It is, but I’m used to it now. Initially, it was quite interesting. It was just a piece of fabric that we put up in a local village hall.
Now, [the studio] is five minutes down the road from us, and it’s a proper, full-on, wonderful, infinity curve green screen, which is absolutely amazing.
In the room, usually, there’s me, my husband Martin, and Konrad, who’s our third team member. He does all of our production, films it, and does all of our backgrounds. He’s an incredibly talented guy, so he knows how to build these wonderful worlds.
So it’s the three of us. There’s also Nick, our animator, who draws our little characters that appear sometimes at the beginning of the session. That’s it, really; it’s a very intimate affair, so I feel incredibly relaxed.
I think about the camera like it’s a group of kids I’m talking to. I think that’s another factor that helps the kids get it. They really see me talking to them—because I am talking to them. There’s a lens in the way, but I don’t think about it like that.

Was there a single experience you had, or a single factor that led to the creation of Cosmic Kids Yoga?

I used to be a children’s entertainer. I would work through the weekends as an actor, and I would dress up as a fairy, or a princess, or a pirate, and I’d go to a children’s party. I would have two hours to make it the most fun, exciting, engaging two hours they’d ever had, and really celebrate the birthday boy or birthday girl.
Quite early on, I realized that I couldn’t just sit there and tell a story in a costume. It occurred to me that if I actually got them to physicalize the story with me as I told it, they would be a lot more engaged.

Sure enough, they were. I used to tell this story—there was a witch, and in order to stop the witch from putting a curse on all of us, we had to learn these five special moves. I taught them five yoga poses, and they’d make the witch melt into a puddle on the floor. They’d all be elated, jumping around. “We did it! We did it!”

It was at that point that I realized—you can make something so much more experiential if you get kids moving. Not only that, you’ve got 25 kids in a room, and they’re very high energy. They’re excited to be at the party. But it’ll be completely pin-drop silent when you’re teaching them these moves.

That’s when I knew that there was this incredible combination of storytelling and yoga that could, in itself, be an activity.

Did you immediately start trying to build Cosmic Kids Yoga?

At that point, I was working at a school—I was running a cookery club. I talked to the headmaster and said, “Would you mind if I tried some yoga with the kids?” He was really open to it, so it started from there.
That grew. I was doing 15 classes a week at various schools all around where I lived. After doing that for about two or three years, Martin, my husband—his background is in innovation—he looked at me as I was dragging my mat somewhere after a long, long day.
He said, “I think we should try filming you and see what happens if we put it on YouTube.” That was where the Cosmic Kids online world was born.
That really made sense to me at that point, because often in my classes, you would find that if it was 3:15 on a Wednesday afternoon, not all the kids felt like doing their yoga at that prescribed time. But that’s when the after-school club is, or when they’ve been told, “You’re doing yoga.” That’s when they have to do it.
Having it available on a video on a platform like YouTube suddenly means that they can do it whenever they want. That meant the world of doing yoga for kids became so much more accessible.

How long after that did it start to become a success?

It took some time, you know. We were delighted every step of the way. When you start from nothing, when you start at zero—you get your first view, and you’re like, “Oh! Oh! We’ve had a view!”

We filmed three in the first day, and we sat on them for about three months because we thought they were ridiculous. We thought they were really odd—nobody was going to watch them.

But we put them up, and they slowly started getting views. We didn’t know anything about YouTube and how it works, so we started paying for ads. We attached ourselves [via ads] to Sesame Street.
From there, we started getting a few more views, then we stopped doing the ads, as we had our own little foothold of teachers and parents. We got feedback: “This is great!” “My kid really likes this!” “I’m going to tell my friends about it.”
Gradually, it became a more organic thing, and it grew really steadily. I mean, it took us about four years to get to 100,000 subscribers, but it’s one of those channels that isn’t really a subscriber-led thing. It’s more about the views.

Now it’s at the point where it’s 2–3 million views a month. It’s quite a bit more significant, and a lot of schools use it.

That has to feel very rewarding.

It is, relatively, yeah. You just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and you keep learning as you’re going. That’s the thing about self-publishing, isn’t it? It’s about putting yourself out there. And you can really see the arc of someone’s journey.

What’s your mindset for growing Cosmic Kids Yoga and bringing more kids into the fold?

What’s really been great is what’s at the core of it. The yoga adventures have been so sticky for the kids—they’ve been waiting for the next video. They’re keen to keep up the practice, and they want the next story.
The variety is really important to them, as I’ve found in teaching my live classes. Every week I go in and they say, “Which story are we doing this week?” You couldn’t say that you’re doing the same one as last week. That’s my motivation for keeping it fresh, and hopefully making it more appealing to more kids.

That’s fantastic. The exercise, obviously, is at the core of that, so let’s talk about yoga in general for a moment. When did you get into yoga?

I was about 19 and I was at drama school and we had a very spiritual voice teacher. She’d run a voluntary yoga session for us, and I found it really, really opened the door, because it showed me you could find this state of relaxation.

I found that really useful when I was working as an actor as well. Being on stage, or working with the camera, if you can find a state of calmness, or steadiness, or peace in yourself, you end up producing a more open and effective performance.

It wasn’t until I got into my sort of late twenties and early thirties that I thought, “Okay, I’m going to take my training and study yoga a bit further.” So I learned how to train and teach in Ashtanga.

Who are some of your favorite people in yoga? And just generally—who inspires you as an entertainer?

There’s my teacher here in the UK—he’s amazing—he’s called Jeff Phoenix. He’s got a pretty big following. He’s been doing it for 20 years, and he just oozes all of this tremendous energy. He’s an inspiration.

Recently, I’ve really enjoyed Dylan Werner, I think he’s really cool. And Patrick Beach. They’re kind of these young bucks that are coming up through the ranks. Back to the classics, Shiva Rea is amazing.
In the showbiz world, I was mostly inspired a few stage actors. Rory Kinnear is brilliant. I know he’s done a lot of movies as well, but seeing him on stage was inspiring. I’ve always loved Helena Bonham Carter—I know she’s absolutely mad, but I just think she’s great! There’s something kind of dangerous about her, and she’s exciting to watch.

Do you have any plans for Cosmic Kids over the next year?

At the moment, we’re in that sort of stage where we just want to keep making it. We’re in a really good groove at the moment. And there’s always new ideas kind of coming up and out of the woodwork. Kids will say, “Can you do a Pokémon one?” or “Can you do one about this movie that’s about to come out?” Kids really love the movie-themed episodes.
We’ve had schools using Cosmic Kids Yoga, and that’s something we’re really excited to see. What other forms could Cosmic Kids take? Could it take the form of a game? Could it use these other technologies we have now—Xbox Kinect, motion capture, even VR? So we’re considering those types of things, anything that could create an even more engaging world that kids could take part in.

We want kids to feel closer, and feel stronger about mindfulness in their own lives. That’s really our focus, just to keep making people aware of it and help more kids discover it.

I think it’s wonderful. Especially helping kids handle emotions in a healthy way is something we really need right now.

Absolutely. The next episode we’re going to be releasing is one of my stories, Mr. Hoppit the Hare, and it was inspired actually by [writer] David Sedaris. I don’t know if you know him. He’s brilliant. I just think he’s just so funny and dry.

And he did this incredible story about animals, which was inspired by Donald Trump building a wall between the States and Mexico. I just thought, well, here’s an opportunity—how do we celebrate diversity? How do I appreciate who’s in my community, and look around and see what’s happening around me, and recognize the good in it?

It’s interesting where your journey takes you, and how exactly how we can help kids learn about their own mental health, but also show them socially where everything is and how it’s unfolding in front of them.

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Mom x Body Motherhood

Clogged Milk Ducts Suck; Here's How To Fix Them

Post author By Abigail Rasminsky
Post date April 23, 2018

Kelly Smith worked for years to get pregnant. When her twins finally arrived, she knew she would breastfeed them—but she had no idea how intense that would be. “I was an overproducer so even after feeding twins,” she explains, “my boobs would still be engorged.”
She faced a terrible cycle: She just wanted to empty her breasts, but if she pumped, it stimulated more milk production. So she basically had to ignore the engorgement, which led to chronically clogged milk ducts.
“I’d get hard walnut-sized nuts. In a regular breast, you’d think, Oh my God, I have cancer.” She’d spend the next 24 hours touching her boob and trying to massage out the clogged duct with her thumbs, an electric toothbrush, or a vibrator. An electric pump was too stimulating, so she used a hand pump in the shower, while the hot water worked to break up the clogged duct.
Kelly, of course, knows how lucky she was to be able to breastfeed her babies, but there was a downside to being chronically engorged for 14 months—other than the sheer discomfort and the many, many experiences with clogged milk ducts.
“You can’t talk about it because you’re an overproducer,” she explains. “Everyone is complaining about being an under-producer. Even my lactation consultant would say, ‘You should thank your lucky stars,’ and I’d think, No, I’m in horrible pain all the time.”
Your experience may not be this extreme, but clogged milk ducts are not uncommon. “50 percent of the women I work with develop this during their breastfeeding journey,” explains the L.A. Lactation Lady, Julie Matheney, international board-certified lactation consultant (IBCLC). “Some women are simply more prone to clogs because they have a higher fat content in their milk. The fat separates and clogs the duct more.”

What are clogged milk ducts?

“A milk-clogged duct is an obstruction in the ductal system of a lactating breast,” explains Rowan Smith, IBCLC, a doula based outside of Montreal. A clog can happen anywhere inside the breast—from deep inside, all the way to the nipple pore. When you get a clogged milk duct, it means that the milk has sat in the breast for too long.
And it’s not just milk—it’s milk fat that creates the obstruction. “A mother’s breast milk is like milk sitting in the fridge,” Matheney explains. “Cream rises to top. The fat floats so it can separate. The fat thickens and sits in the ducts and they clog.”
When it’s pushed through—which can really, really hurt!—it can look like a curd, a string, or a chunk.

Why is this happening to me?

In all cases, a clogged milk duct is caused by milk stasis, that is, milk sitting too long in your breast. Not enough milk is being removed, and when excess milk accumulates, it thickens and has a hard time coming out. Beyond that there are two main categories of problems:

Infant Causes of Clogged Milk Ducts

Your baby is not emptying your boob well enough. This can be due to prematurity (the baby is teeny tiny and can’t suck well) or immaturity (the baby hasn’t quite gotten the hang of the whole breastfeeding thing yet).
There is a latch problem. This is so, so, so common, and there are myriad reasons for it. Maybe there’s a tongue-tie restriction; maybe the baby has some nerve and muscle restriction from being cramped up for nine months. “Most moms are told they have a good latch,” says Rowan, “but if it doesn’t feel good, something is wrong.” Lactation consultants are Godsends when it comes to this stuff.
The baby is sleeping too long. Yes! There’s such a thing (early on)! This, too, lets your milk accumulate and can cause clogged milk ducts.

Maternal Causes of Clogged Milk Ducts

You may not be feeding enough. Maybe you’ve gone back to work and can only pump once or twice a day. Or perhaps you have meetings or errands that keep you away from the baby and off your breastfeeding routine. Basically, your poor boob isn’t getting enough opportunities to be drained.
Your sleeping position may be the problem. If you sleep on your stomach, your milk can’t flow properly and can cause a clogged milk duct. Try lying on your side instead.
Your bras are too tight. Give your boobs some room to breathe and for the milk to flow! If you can, visit a shop that specializes in nursing bras. It is well worth the expense. You’ll be living in these suckers for a few months (or years), and they should fit you properly.
You’re holding your breast too tight while you’re feeding. Your boob doesn’t need as much support as your baby’s head! Ease up on your grip and see if that helps ease the clogged milk ducts.
Your baby carrier might be the culprit. If it’s squishing your boobs, it’s preventing the flow of milk.

How I can prevent clogged milk ducts?

“The best way to prevent clogged milk ducts is to frequently empty the breast well,” says Matheney. If you’re committed to breastfeeding, this means your baby will pretty much glued to you: “In first few weeks, feed consistently around the clock,” Matheny advises. True, you probably won’t be able to get a single thing done, but it won’t last—before you know it, your baby will be eating food and walking and talking.
Establishing a good latch and proper supply is key to a successful breastfeeding experience, so for your own sanity, it’s wise to just give yourself over to it.
“Most women have enough milk at the beginning,” explains Rowan, “but your breasts need lots of stimulation. The books say eight to 12 times day, or every three to four hours—but it’s actually much more frequent.” When she teaches prenatal classes, Rowan asks soon-to-be parents to write down everything they ate or drank in the last 24 hours—including sucking on candy—to give them a sense of feeding frequency. Her students will say they ate between six and 35 times a day.
“Adults, like babies, get comfort from food. We’re grownups and expecting babies to conform to eight to 12 times a day! I hear so many moms say, ‘He can’t be hungry, he ate 30 minutes ago!’ Go ahead and feed. Not doing so can cause the milk to get clogged.”
If you have to go back to work during those prime breastfeeding months, pump as often as you can with a high-quality pump to prevent clogged milk ducts. Rowan also recommends a few minutes of breast massage and compression (essentially deep massage) before doing your regular pumping routine, followed by one or two minutes of hand expression.
“You can think of your breast like toothpaste tube—you don’t want to start squeezing or emptying it in the middle!” Matheney says. Start from the back of breast and move to the nipple, and then all the way around breast without missing any ducts. She also suggests familiarizing yourself with your boobs to figure out where the ducts are so you can do compression behind the lumps. “Squeeze the milk down to the nipple to encourage it to flow,” she explains.
A few other ways to keep your breasts free of clogged milk ducts:

Change up nursing positions.
Don’t wear bras as often—you’re taking them on and off so much, why not just let your breasts breathe? If you’re home alone with the baby, let ’em hang free.
Drink lots of water.
Rest as often as possible.

Help! How can I fix my clogged milk ducts?

Okay, so despite all your best efforts, you’ve got a clogged milk duct. We know it’s painful—so painful! But ignoring the problem only makes it worse and can lead to a real infection (see below), so it’s best to go at it aggressively now.
Here are a few things to try:

“Heat melts the fat, like butter in a pan,” says Matheney, so a hot shower or hot compress is always a good place to start. Massage the crap out of it while you’re in there.
Clogged milk ducts respond well to vibration, so pull out that vibrator or electric toothbrush to break up the fat.
If the clog is in the nipple—ouch, indeed!—this is called a milk blister or a bleb. It’s usually on the tip of the nipple and looks like a whitehead. Put olive oil or coconut oil on a cotton swab and make slow circular motions to break down the fat.
If you’re a chronic overproducer, some women find success supplementing with sunflower lecithin, which is a fat emulsifier that can thin the milk. Discuss with your doctor before starting any supplements.
Nurse a lot on the side that’s clogged—in fact, start on that side. Whatever you do, don’t ignore it, because it could turn into mastitis.
This is rather, uh, controversial but some women—like Kristen Bell—have their husbands suck out a particularly clogged duct. Seriously. That said, if your husband can get it out but your baby can’t, there might be a bigger problem (you think?): It could indicate an issue with your little one’s latch since the baby should be able to.

If You Have an Oversupply…

Moms’ boobs are magical because they generally produce exactly what your particular baby needs. But sometimes—like in Kelly’s situation—you have way more milk than you know what to do with.
Remember: The more you pump, the more you make, so even though it might be tempting to pump to “empty out”—or check on how much you’re producing—you’re only signaling to your body that it needs to produce more milk, which exacerbates the cycle.
If it’s coming out like water out of a fire hose, express a tiny bit before to soften the breast and slow the velocity of the milk, Rowan suggests.
Matheney recommends eliminating pumping completely to stop the signals to your body to keep producing so much. But Rowan says in extreme cases—particularly for women with chronic problems or ducts that are verging on mastitis—you can try pumping both breasts first thing in the morning (and not again) so they can really soften. Matheney also suggests drinking tea with peppermint leaves (which dries up supply), and placing cabbage leaves in your bra to decrease supply and regulate your output.

So can clogged milk ducts be a problem for moms with a low supply?

Totally. “It can happen to anyone who waits too long,” says Matheney. And in fact, volume doesn’t matter as much as how often you’re removing it. “Think of your breasts as different-sized Tupperware—they have different storage capacity.” If you have less storage, you may need to nurse more often. No matter how much milk you’re producing, you still run the risk of a clogged milk duct.

What’s the difference between clogged milk ducts and mastitis?

Mastitis is a full-fledged infection, and it feels like one. It’s usually caused by a milk duct that’s been clogged way too long. You can also get mastitis when bacteria from your baby’s mouth enters in through the pores of your nipple and infects the breast.
If you have the following symptoms, it’s really important to call your doctor because mastitis can get worse quite quickly:

Serious tenderness or warmth to the touch
Flu-like symptoms—you feel worn down, achy, and lethargic
Fever of 101° or higher for more than 24 hours
Breast swelling
Red wedge-like shape on breast
Continuous pain, even while breastfeeding

A dose of antibiotics will usually make you feel better within two days. If you don’t feel better during that time, get back in touch with your doctor to rule out a more serious infection.

Is there anything worse than mastitis?

Yes. If you ignore the clogged milk duct and it turns into an infection that you also ignore—or if you refuse to go on antibiotics—mastitis can turn into an abscess. Basically, the breast gets a pus-filled cyst, and the only intervention is to have it drained by a trained breast surgeon in order to get the bacteria and fluid out. It takes six to eight weeks to recover after the corrective operation, and sometimes the surgeon has to leave a drain in until all the fluid and pus comes out.
You might be able to breastfeed during this time, but often the other breast needs to do the bulk of the work, which is not much fun.

This sucks. I want to stop breastfeeding.

“When women say they want to stop feeding because of a clogged milk duct, I listen and empathize,” Rowan says. “If they stop that moment, though, it will likely develop into mastitis or an abscess. So I recommend we get through this hump and then we can discuss stopping. But first we have to deal with the problem.”
The moral of the story here is: If you think something is wrong, get it checked out ASAP. Women tolerate pain differently, so it’s sometimes hard to gauge the severity of the problem, but trust your gut on this one.
And be aggressive early on—a clogged milk duct is painful, but much less painful than it will be if it turns into something more serious.
[related article_ids=22144]

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Mom x Body Motherhood

"American Ninja Warrior" Competitor Lisa Eicher Talks About Down Syndrome, Adoptions, And Facing Difficult Challenges

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date April 23, 2018

Lisa Eicher doesn’t shy away from challenges. She’s competed twice on American Ninja Warrior, she’s a mother of four, and her family pets include a pig and and a three-legged dog (yes, really). Two of her children are adopted from Bulgaria, and they have Down syndrome.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Feb 2, 2018 at 9:04am PST

When Hurricane Harvey damaged the Eichers’ home in 2017, forcing an emergency evacuation, she greeted firefighters with a frank warning.

“I just told them, ‘We’ve got two kids with Down syndrome, a three-legged dog, and a pig, all of whom are going to be pretty freaked out,'” Eicher tells HealthyWay. “And they were just like, ‘You know, that sounds great. Bring them on.’ They made it so much less scary for everybody. It was crazy—but not too bad.”

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Dec 6, 2017 at 8:35am PST

As we learned, Eicher has a simple (but crucial) message: Instead of ignoring differences, celebrate them. Instead of shying away from challenges, face them head-on. She’s using her American Ninja Warrior appearances to spread that message to as many people as possible. And given what she’s accomplished, it’s hard not to feel inspired when she starts talking about her journey.
We caught up with Eicher to find how she stays motivated while training, why she decided to adopt, and what most people don’t understand about Down syndrome.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
HealthyWay: Are you guys back in Houston?
Lisa Eicher: Yes. We moved back into our house maybe a month ago. We’re still not totally done with repairs and other stuff, but we’re slowly getting there.
I’ve got some friends from the area. They ended up getting lucky—not much damage—but I take it that wasn’t the case for your house.
It was a lot of damage, yeah, but we’re back in there. All is well. Slowly but surely!
I wanted to speak to you about your children with Down syndrome. In pieces you’ve written online, I appreciated how you said that Down syndrome isn’t a negative, and that people aren’t necessarily being helpful by pretending that it doesn’t exist.
Yeah. With Ninja Warrior, our whole thing is: Ninjas don’t count chromosomes. For us, that really just means that being a ninja is more than competing on the show. It’s all about including everyone, no matter what.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Mar 23, 2018 at 12:53pm PDT

And that’s kind of our message, in general. It’s about inclusion and kindness, no matter what our differences are. I guess that with my adopted kids, who both have Down syndrome—I don’t think I would recognize the need for this type of advocacy if not for them. I’ve seen them … getting nasty looks, or kids—even adults—being mean to them. Stuff like that. The idea is to accept them as who they are.

They are different. I don’t need to pretend that Archie is the same as all the other 13-year-old boys in his school, because he’s not. He’s different, and that’s okay.

Sevy—our most recently adopted—she’s been with us for less than two years, and she’s very different. She’s non-verbal, and she has a lot of institution behaviors from being in orphanages and institutions for so long.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Jan 10, 2018 at 10:17am PST

Instead of trying to hide her differences or make her act like other kids, we just celebrate the fact that she’s different. I mean, she is. I’ll straight-out say she’s one of the strangest kids in the entire world. She’s a very strange child, but I love that. It’s something that we celebrate, her uniqueness.

Our message is not to say that they’re more alike than different or that they’re just like everyone else, because that’s not true. It’s okay to acknowledge those differences.
My mother was a special education teacher, and in my house there was never that taboo of talking about what the differences are. But then you get around people that aren’t used to Down syndrome or autism and they try to ignore the differences. I think, for them, it comes from a good place.
Totally. But it can be just so uncomfortable, because—well, for us, you can stare all you want. If you’re interested in my kids, that’s fine! Come up and ask questions and ask us all about them. It’s worse when people either run away or turn their heads.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Nov 17, 2017 at 1:04pm PST

We’ve had lots of instances where we’re, say, at a playground, and Sevy will go over to the swings, and all the kids at the swingset leave. It’s very obvious. Or when the kids say, “Why is she talking like that?” or something, and the parents shush them.

I want to say, “No, it’s okay, I’d love to explain why she’s talking like that.” She is talking different, and we can acknowledge that. We’re not trying to hide it.
There’s no shame in those differences.
That’s kind of our whole thing. We had an incident recently where these teenaged girls were giving Sevy really nasty looks at a basketball game. They were older, about 15, so they should’ve known better.
We made this little video where Archie explains how to talk to him and his sister. He’s just like, “Say ‘Hi,’ ask ‘How are you doing?,’ Ask us our names.” That’s kind of our whole thing. It’s okay to engage with us.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Feb 5, 2018 at 11:01am PST

You have a different perspective on this, because you adopted these children knowing they have Down syndrome. Could you speak to that process?
Oh, yeah, for sure. I always knew from a really young age that I really wanted to adopt one day, ever since I was a kid. It was just in me. I knew that that would be part of my life.

My husband and I started dating when we were 15, and [when we were married] we’d already talked about stuff like that. We always said it would be a “one day” thing. We kinda pictured that we’d have a few kids biologically and sometime later we’d adopt.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Mar 16, 2017 at 10:17am PDT

I also had a passion for working with people with special needs. When I was in elementary school, I was in a program where we left campus once a week to visit this school with severely disabled students. You had the option of going and volunteering in those classrooms, so I started doing that. That’s when my love for that whole world grew.

My husband and I babysat a boy with Down syndrome in high school, and then we coached this Special Olympics team. All of these things kept growing that passion, and then after Ace—our firstborn—turned 2, we started talking about adding one.
Had you made the decision to adopt a child with special needs by that point?
Well, we didn’t really know what adoption going to be like. Once we decided to adopt, I did some research, and I came [across] this organization called Reece’s Rainbow that is basically a Down syndrome adoption ministry.
So when I found that, I was like, “Oh my goodness, our two biggest passions are colliding.” I just knew that’s where we’d find our next child.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Sep 6, 2017 at 1:39pm PDT

My husband was, of course, on board, so we tried to find out which countries we’d qualify for and all of that. Bulgaria was the best fit for us, it seemed. At this point, we’re thinking about adopting a baby with DS, younger than Ace, who’s just 2 at the time. That was our only requirement—baby. We didn’t care whether it was a boy or girl, or whether they had heart defects or whatever, they just needed to be younger than Ace.
[Editorial note: Eicher mentions heart defects here because cardiovascular abnormalities are common among individuals with Down syndrome. According to the National Down Syndrome Society, about half of all infants with Down syndrome have some type of heart defect.]
Then, for some reason, the director of Reece’s Rainbow randomly sent me an email that said, “How about this little boy? He’s been waiting for a really long time.” I read his bio, and I saw that he was 7, and I was like, “Oh, no, no, no, that’s too old.” And then I clicked and saw his picture.
It was just an immediate reaction. 100 percent. That’s our son. My heart ached for each one of those children, but this feeling was very different. It was like an instant knowing.
How did people in your life react to your decision?
I think the hardest part was telling our families. Or mostly my family—I grew up in a very conservative and kinda cookie-cutter place. I had a great community, a great family, great friends, and all of that, but—well, it’s just that everybody does the same thing. This was pretty big, and I think it was outside of what anybody could understand. They couldn’t understand why we would do this.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Nov 26, 2017 at 10:07am PST

That was a huge challenge. And getting Archie home, that was a breeze, it was a very simple adoption. He had some typical behavior [issues] when he first came home, but otherwise, he fit seamlessly into the family. He and Ace were best friends right off the bat.
I read on your blog that Sevy was much more difficult.
Sevy—she had a more traumatic background. Archie does have a very traumatic past, but for one thing, we got him out [of the orphanage] when he was 7, and Sevy was close to 13 by the time she came home. She has a lot more behaviors that are indicative of a traumatic past and of being in an institution for so long.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Jan 19, 2018 at 1:18pm PST

So, yeah, she has had more of a struggle with bonding, specifically to me, and she’s just a little bit more—she has to be on her own, in a sense. For 13 years, she kind of had to fight for everything, so we’re working really hard to reverse all of that damage. It’s been tough.
Yeah, I imagine so. I know that your daughter Ace was a big motivation for you on American Ninja Warrior. How did she compel you to get involved?
We’ve always watched American Ninja Warrior as a family, and—whoa, I guess it was a couple of seasons ago—I wasn’t in any kind of shape at all. I was probably more out of shape than I’d ever been in my life. I’d been an athlete previously, and Ace—I guess she knew that I had it in me. While we were watching, she just said, “Mom, you could do that.”

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Oct 27, 2017 at 10:53am PDT

And I mean, I literally laughed, but she kept being persistent about it. I just thought, “Why is she even keeping on about this? Obviously, I can’t do any of that stuff. I can’t even hang from a bar, let alone do a pull-up or any of the things that are necessary for that show.”

Then, I was watching Archie a couple of days later on the swings. He loves to swing, but he couldn’t pump. It took him a really long time to figure out how to pump his own legs, and he’d been working on it for years, literally. He finally got it this one day.
And it just hit me. Well, they have to work so hard for things that [are] simple, everyday things for us—pumping your legs on a swing, riding a scooter, or just pedaling a bike. I was like, “Maybe I can work for something that seems impossible. Even if I don’t get it, at least I can show them that I tried.”

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Feb 20, 2018 at 12:24pm PST

I started training about six months before the competition. I ended up being chosen for the show, and I competed in San Antonio last year, and then again in Dallas this year. It’s been a crazy, crazy experience, and right now, I’m still training. I’ll do it again next year.
Was there a challenge you weren’t expecting, either in the training or in the actual competition?
I think I underestimated the mental aspect of it. So much of it is mental strength. I was actually more prepared, mentally, for my first season than this most recent season. We were out of our house for six months, and I just wasn’t as focused.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Mar 25, 2017 at 3:50am PDT

I actually did better last season than I did this season. I got off on an obstacle that I completed last season. I really think I just cracked under the pressure—I mean, it’s quite scary, standing up there under bright lights with the cameras right in your face. It’s a whole production.
I was going to ask you how you stayed motivated, both physically and mentally. American Ninja Warrior certainly isn’t easy.
It’s not. Again, my kids are my motivators, and I mean all four of them.
American Ninja Warrior has made my family so much stronger in all ways. My kids Sevy and Archie—you know, people with Down syndrome have low muscle tone in general—and they were both pretty physically weak before we started all of this.
That’s especially true for Archie, but he did his first pull-up the other day. He can hang from a bar forever, and the same with Sevy.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Feb 16, 2018 at 11:12am PST

They can hang from ropes or climb rock walls. It’s just become part of our life now. I think I’m kind of the glue for that. I mean, there are days where my friends are out at happy hour hanging out, and I’m training and I’m like, “I don’t want to do this.” But I just have to remember why I’m doing it. I have to remember the message that we’re trying to spread as a family. The bigger the platform, the more people that hear the message, so yeah—there’s a lot of motivation to keep going.
The “glue” thing kind of goes both ways. They’re inspiring to you, and you’re hoping to be that for them.
Right. Exactly. Exactly.
Do you have any advice for anyone who’s thinking about trying out for American Ninja Warrior?
My advice, for anyone who even feels like they have an interest in it, would be just to go for it. There are lots of ninja gyms and similar types of gyms popping up all over the place. It’s so much fun. It’s just such a fun way to train, and you see the progress so clearly.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Mar 24, 2018 at 4:39pm PDT

I couldn’t even hang from a bar when I started, and within a few weeks, I was doing five pull-ups in a row. You see the progress, and it feels really good to achieve these things.
So, yeah, just go and try it. Everybody who tries it out gets hooked.
What is something that a typical person could do differently when they’re interacting with people with Down syndrome?
I would say just to be aware of their differences. Many times speech is an issue, for instance. Be aware of the differences and their struggles. Don’t ignore those differences, but don’t let them be a deterrent from interacting.

A post shared by Lisa Eicher (@eicherumba) on Mar 21, 2017 at 2:13pm PDT

Don’t be afraid. There’s nothing scary about them. Yeah, they’re different—and we can all acknowledge that—but that’s a good thing.

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Health x Body Wellbeing

What's The Best Birth Control? The One That Works For You; Here’s How To Find It

Post author By Kelly Burch
Post date April 22, 2018

You know that you don’t want kids (or more kids) right now, or maybe ever. But you don’t want to have to worry about changing your lifestyle choices in order to avoid pregnancy. Instead you want the best birth control: something that is reliable at preventing pregnancy, doesn’t have nasty side effects, and fits in with your daily schedule.
Luckily, in 2018, you can have all those things.
For decades, birth control meant one option: the pill. Now, however, there are myriad choices. Women looking for the best birth control can chose low-hormone or even non-hormonal options. There are birth control options that you take daily, only use when needed, or get once and don’t have to think about again for years. You can even decide whether you want to have a monthly cycle or would prefer to skip your periods altogether.
All that choice is a wonderful thing because it allows you to find the best birth control for your body and lifestyle. Unfortunately, it can also be a bit overwhelming. Choosing the best birth control can mean doing a lot of research—and some soul searching—to decide what you really want.
HealthyWay spoke to women’s health experts about the advantages and disadvantages of the most common [linkbuilder id=”736″ text=”forms of birth control”], as well as what women should consider when trying to find the best birth control option for them. Here’s what they had to say:

What is the best birth control?

Finding the best birth control is individual to each woman, says GG Collins, MD, a fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a fertility specialist in Progyny’s provider network.
“There are benefits to each form of contraception, and matching the option that works best with your lifestyle and minimizes your side effects is the right choice,” she says.
Considering the effectiveness of the birth control, how long it is designed to last, and any side effects are all important when you’re trying to find the best birth control for you.
Here’s a breakdown of these factors for popular birth control options, arranged from most effective to least effective at preventing pregnancy.
As you consider what’s the best birth control for you, remember that most of these forms of birth control do not protect against sexually transmitted infections or diseases.

Copper IUD (ParaGard)

Effectiveness: Intrauterine devices (better known as IUDs) are the most effective form of birth control, preventing more than 99 percent of unwanted pregnancies. The copper IUD prevents pregnancy as soon as it is placed. It is also an extremely effective form of emergency contraception: If it is placed within five days of unprotected sex it will prevent pregnancy more than 99.9 percent of the time.
How It Works: All IUDs are t-shaped devices that sit in the uterus and disrupt how the sperm would normally get to an egg. With the sperm unable to reach the egg, pregnancy is unlikely to occur. The copper on ParaGard also provides an additional level of protection by creating an environment that is toxic to sperm and eggs.
This may be the best birth control for you if:

You want effective, long-lasting birth control. The copper IUD can prevent more than 99 percent of pregnancies for up to 12 years.
You do not want hormonal birth control. The copper IUD has no hormones, making it a popular choice for women who don’t want to disrupt their natural hormonal balance. “Many women choose the copper IUD because it does not have a hormonal component,” Collins says.
You’re breastfeeding. The copper IUD can be used by breastfeeding moms.
You need emergency contraception after having unprotected sex.
You might want to become pregnant in a few years. Fertility returns quickly after any type of IUD is removed.

This may not be the best birth control for you if:

Some women shy away from the copper IUD because it must be inserted by a physician. This can be uncomfortable, particularly for women who have not had children, Collins says.
Some women also experience ongoing cramping or irregular bleeding, and more intense periods, Collins says. “The main reason for discontinuation tends to be due to heavier and more painful periods that occasionally occur with the copper IUD,” she explains.

Hormonal IUD

Effectiveness: Like ParaGard, hormonal IUDs (sold under the brand names Mirena, Kyleena, Liletta, and Skyla) prevent more than 99 percent of unwanted pregnancies. However, they can take up to seven days to start working fully, so be sure to use a back-up form of birth control in the meantime.
How It Works: Hormonal IUDs thicken cervical mucus and disrupt sperm’s journey through the uterus, making it less likely that sperm will reach an egg. In addition, these IUDs release the hormone progestin, which prevents the ovaries from releasing an egg. Depending on the brand, hormonal IUDs can prevent pregnancy for up to six years.
This may be the best birth control for you if:

You want long-acting, effective birth control that you only need to think about once. “Once an IUD is in place, women don’t have to think about it,” says Jessica Grossman, MD, CEO of Medicines360. “It’s ‘set it and forget it’ contraception, a key benefit for women ages 20 to 40.”
You have heavy periods. Unlike copper IUDs, hormonal IUDs make periods lighter or can stop them all together. You’ll also likely experience fewer cramps.
You might want to become pregnant in a few years. Fertility returns quickly after any type of IUD is removed.

This may not be the best birth control for you if:

Having a period gives you peace of mind: “Some women like to have a monthly period for social or personal reasons, and many women with the hormonal IUD do not have regular periods,” Collins says. You might also experience irregular spotting.

Tubal Ligation

Effectiveness: Tubal ligation, also known as female sterilization or having your tubes tied, is 99 percent effective at preventing pregnancy.
How It Works: During a surgical procedure, a doctor blocks or cuts the fallopian tubes, the pathway that an egg takes to get from the ovaries to the uterus. With the tubes blocked, sperm cannot reach the egg, so pregnancy can’t occur.
This may be the best birth control for you if:

You are sure you don’t want to become pregnant in the future. This is a permanent procedure.

This may not be the best birth control for you if:

You’re unsure about having kids, or you would like the option to have more kids in the future.
You don’t like the idea of surgery. Unlike many long-lasting birth control options that can be placed in an office, tubal ligation is a surgical procedure that requires some anesthesia (it can be done with general or local anesthesia).

Birth Control Implant

Effectiveness: The birth control implant is more than 99 percent effective at preventing pregnancy. It is effective immediately if you get it within the first five days of your cycle. If not, use backup birth control (like condoms) for a week.
How It Works: The birth control implant is a rod the size of a matchstick that is implanted under the skin of your upper arm. It releases the hormone progestin, which stops an egg from being released, and also thickens the mucus around the cervix, making it harder for sperm to get into the uterus. The implant lasts for up to four years.
This may be the best birth control for you if:

You want to avoid estrogen. While most hormonal birth controls contain estrogen, the implant provides highly effective birth control without it, making it a popular choice for women who want fewer hormones, Collins says.
You want lighter periods or none at all. One third of women who use the implant stop getting a period within a year.

This may not be the best birth control for you if:

You’re squeamish. Inserting and removing the implant is normally an easy procedure, but it does involve cutting the skin open. Sometimes the implant can migrate a few centimeters, making removal more difficult, Collins says.
Most women don’t have many side effects with the implant, but some experience weight gain, cysts, or breast soreness.

The Birth Control Shot

Effectiveness: The birth control shot is 94 percent effective at preventing pregnancy with real-world use (which accounts for women who fudge a little on their shot schedules), but if you always get your shot on time, it is 99 percent effective.
How It Works: The shot contains progestin, which stops ovulation and thickens cervical mucus. You need to get the shot every three months.
This may be the best birth control for you if:

You want long-term effectiveness without an implant or IUD.
You don’t mind visiting the doctor. Although you need to go to the doctor every three months, getting the shot itself is quick, easy, and relatively non-invasive.

This may not be the best birth control for you if:

You forget appointments. You must make an appointment every three months to get your shot in order to reliably prevent pregnancy.
You want to get pregnant soon. Although you need the shot every three months to maintain peak effectiveness, there can be some delay in getting pregnant for up to 10 months after stopping this form of birth control.

The Birth Control Ring

Effectiveness: The ring is 91 percent effective. Because it must be inserted and removed, effectiveness depends upon your ability to put it in and take it out on time, as well as storing the ring properly (out of sunlight and sometimes in the refrigerator). Some antibiotics and other medications can also make the ring less effective.
How It Works: The small, flexible ring is inserted into the vagina for three weeks at a time, and then removed for a week. It releases the hormones estrogen and progestin, which thicken cervical mucus and stop an egg from being released each month.
This may be the best birth control for you if:
You don’t want to think about birth control daily. “Many women like this form of contraception if they would like a longer-acting form of contraception but do not want a long acting device placed like the IUD or implant,” Collins says.
You have other health concerns. The ring can help control acne, PMS, and cysts. It can also help you avoid bone thinning and iron deficiency.
This may not be the best birth control for you if:

You’re not okay inserting it. “The ring placement requires you to be comfortable putting the ring in and removing it from the vagina,” Collins says.
You’re forgetful. The effectiveness of the ring depends on you remembering to put it in and take it out on time.
You’re on other medications. Since some medications can decrease the effectiveness of the ring, talk to your doctor about how your medications might interact with it.

Birth Control Pill
Effectiveness: The original form of hormonal birth control is 91 percent effective with typical use. For optimal effectiveness the pill must be taken at the exact same time every day. Medications and antibiotics can also reduce the effectiveness of the pill.
How It Works: The birth control pill stops ovulation. There are many brand names, but two main types of birth control pills:

Combination pills contain estrogen and progestin that stop ovulation and thicken cervical mucus.
“Mini pills” contain only progestin. They thicken the cervical mucus and stop ovulation, but not as consistently as combination pills. Because of this, mini pills are only about 87 percent effective at preventing pregnancy.

This may be the best birth control for you if:

You’re looking for a simple solution. “The birth control pill tends to be a very popular option for most women due to its ease of use,” Collins says. Because it doesn’t have to be inserted or removed by a doctor, some women feel this is an easier birth control solution.
You’re addressing other health issues. “Some women start the pill for contraception, but also use it to establish regular periods, to reduce acne, and potentially to reduce ovarian cysts,” Collins says.
You need to avoid estrogen. The mini pill is a good option for breastfeeding moms, women over 40, women with gastrointestinal issues, and people who have had negative side effects on birth controls containing estrogen in the past, Collins says.

This may not be the best birth control for you if:

Your schedule is unpredictable. Taking the pill at the same time each day is essential for effectiveness.
You have other health concerns. “Due to primarily the side effects of the estrogen found in birth control pills, there are both absolute contraindications (meaning you should never take these medications) and relative contraindications (meaning speak to your physician before taking and decide if the benefits outweigh the risks),” Collins says. For example, women who have blood clots, impaired liver function, breast cancer, undiagnosed vaginal bleeding, or who are smokers over the age of 35 should never take a combination pill.

The Birth Control Patch

Effectiveness: The patch is 91 percent effective with real-world use. Some antibiotics and medication reduce its effectiveness. It can also fall off occasionally. In addition, the user must remember when to apply and remove the patch for it to be most effective.
How It Works: The patch contains estrogen and progestin that are released into the skin. A new patch is applied once a week for three weeks, then taken off for one week.
This may be the best birth control for you if:

You want something you can apply yourself but don’t want to take a daily pill.

This may not be the best birth control for you if:

You’re sensitive to estrogen. “The estrogen levels in women using the transdermal patch are higher than with most birth control pills,” Collins explains. In fact, the FDA now requires the patch to have a warning, since it exposes women to 60 percent more estrogen than the pill does.
You weigh over 198 pounds, in which case the patch may not prevent pregnancy.

Fertility Awareness

Effectiveness: Fertility awareness methods—also known as natural family planning and the rhythm method—are between 76 and 88 percent effective.
How It Works: There are a variety of fertility awareness methods, but all share a common idea: You monitor your monthly cycles (using a chart or app) in order to know when you are most fertile. During that time you either avoid intercourse or use a backup birth control method like condoms, a diaphragm, or a sponge.
This may be the best birth control for you if:

You want to avoid hormones or implants. Fertility awareness relies on your intimate understanding of your body, without any additional prevention methods.
It wouldn’t be a huge issue if you got pregnant. Since fertility awareness methods are less reliable, they’re best for people who wouldn’t be upset if they became pregnant.
You have a solid understanding of how your cycles work. “If you wish to pursue the natural family planning method, it would be worthwhile to consult with a reproductive endocrinologist to grasp a strong foundation in the menstrual cycle,” Collins says.

This may not be the best birth control for you if:

You absolutely do not want to be pregnant. No matter how well you track your cycles, there is always room for error with this method, Collins says. “Natural family planning is the least effective form of contraception as [menstrual cycles often] vary and the peak fertility time periods may shift each month,” she explains.
You have irregular cycles. That makes it even harder to regularly track your fertile window.

Condoms and Withdrawal

Effectiveness: Effectiveness ranges from 78 percent (for withdrawal, also known as pulling out) to 79 percent (for female condoms) to 85 percent (for male condoms).
How It Works: These are options that you are likely to use in the heat of the moment. Male condoms prevent pregnancy (and STIs) by preventing sperm from entering the vagina. Using the withdrawal method, a man does not ejaculate in the vagina, reducing the risk that sperm will meet with an egg and result in pregnancy.
Male condoms and withdrawal alone aren’t the best birth control since they are often ignored in the heat of the moment. “Condoms and the withdrawal method are the least effective forms of contraception as they are often forgotten at the time of intercourse,” Collins says.
Condoms are effective at preventing many STIs, and should be used even by people who are on other forms of birth control. “All patients, regardless of what contraception they are using, should consider the use of a condom from the beginning to protect against sexually transmitted infections,” Collins says.

How to Find the Best Birth Control for You

In addition to considering the information above, it’s a smart idea to book an appointment with your doctor to discuss what the best birth control for you is given your health history, lifestyle, and future reproductive plans.
“Each woman should have a discussion with either their gynecologist or their reproductive endocrinologist about their concerns and desires to match the best form of contraception with what would work best for her lifestyle,” Collins says.
When you’re talking to your doctor, consider these questions:
Do you plan to have children in the future? When?
This question can help you identify how long you would like your birth control to last.
Do you have other health concerns?
Sometimes a birth control method isn’t a good choice for women with certain health conditions. If you’re a smoker, have physical or mental health conditions, or have painful periods, these factors need to be part of your discussion with your doctor about the best birth control given your needs. You want one that is safe to use with your condition or can even help alleviate it, Collins says. In addition, it’s important to talk about any other medications that you’re currently taking, since some medications can affect the reliability of birth control.
If you’re particularly concerned about uterine cancer (perhaps due to a family history), the patch, pill, ring, and shot can offer some protection. The patch, pill, and ring can also help protect you from ovarian cancer.
Have you experienced positive or negative side effects from birth control in the past?
Think about your experiences with past birth control options. Have you gained weight on the pill, for example, or had your acne clear up? Perhaps you enjoyed not getting a regular period when you had an IUD. Think about what has worked well for you in the past (and what hasn’t), and discuss both good and bad side effects with your doctor.
What does your sex life look like?
Considering your sex life is a huge part of finding the best birth control for you. For example, if you have multiple partners, no matter what birth control method you use, you’ll also want to use a birth control method that prevents STIs, like male condoms, Collins says. If you rarely have sex, you might be more comfortable relying on as-needed methods, whereas if you are frequently sexually active, you might want a birth control form that you don’t need to think about in the moment.
If you try something new but suspect it might not be the best birth control for you, try to give it six months before changing, Collins recommends. Of course, if your symptoms are severe (like chest pain or shortness of breath) stop the birth control immediately and call your doctor.
Finding the best birth control for you can be an intensive process, but Grossman says it is important: “Knowing which method best suits your lifestyle is important to your overall health and well-being, and ultimately, for avoiding unintended pregnancy.”
[related article_ids=21584,1000990]

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Fitness Advice x Motivation Sweat

Looking For The Best Workout Apps To Jump-Start Your Fitness Journey?

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date April 21, 2018

Although technology isn’t an essential part of exercising, the best workout apps can help you maintain your motivation as you’re making long-term lifestyle changes. That’s crucial, because changing your daily routine can be incredibly difficult.

We decided to evaluate a few of the most popular workout apps available for iOS and Android devices. Here’s what you need to know before using a fitness app to improve your workout habits—and a few app recommendations for different types of fitness goals.

Why Goals Matter When Choosing a Workout App

Before we start running through best workout apps, we’ve got to make an important point: Unless you set clear, attainable goals, you probably won’t have much success, regardless of which fitness app you download.
Adopting a new workout routine is a major lifestyle change, and lifestyle changes require goal setting. We’re not making that up—hundreds of studies have shown that goal setting increases motivation and improves chances of success. That’s crucial, because you need motivation to establish a routine.
If you’re able to establish a healthy habit (for instance, going to the gym every day) your brain changes its structure to adjust for the new habit. That process starts with setting clear, achievable goals, and workout apps can help along the way.
If you need more proof, ask someone who’s been through an intense, long-term fitness journey.

“I think when anyone is trying to make a change, we get overwhelmed with the possibilities of how much change we want to make, as opposed to taking one simple step,” Danni Allen tells HealthyWay.

Allen, who was the winner of 2013’s Biggest Loser and is currently a marketing director for Planet Fitness in Chicago, shares that “The one thing I wish someone would’ve helped me out with in the beginning is it really does start with making one decision and one step. Everyone wants to make a lot of changes [at once], but when you start with one, and then you add another—before you know it you’re reaching new goals that you never even planned for.”
We swear we didn’t tell her to say that.

With that said, we’d recommend taking a few moments to set some goals. Whether you’re trying to work out more often, manage your diet, or push your strength-training regimen to the next level, setting your goals will help you identify the features that are important to your journey.

Evaluating the Most Popular Workout Apps

Taking all of that into consideration, we looked at a few of the most popular fitness apps. While there’s no perfect option for everyone, these apps have some innovative features that could help you stay motivated. Plus, they’re free—at first.

Fitbit — Best All-Around Workout App for Changing Fitness Habits

Fitbit, of course, produces the most popular step-tracking devices on the market, but their software is just as much of a draw as their hardware.
The Fitbit app allows you to track a variety of workouts, log meals, and engage in challenges with other Fitbit users from around the world. The challenges are especially fun and effective. Research shows that competition is often a better motivator than praise, and Fitbit actively encourages you to issue a challenge to a friend or coworker.

Even if you’re not a competitive person, the simple daily step goals can be compelling.
“If I don’t hit my 10,000 steps in a day, I don’t care how cold it is, I go for a walk,” Allen tells HealthyWay. “I know I need to do that to keep myself accountable.”
That accountability is a powerful motivator, provided that you’re into the idea of tracking steps. Otherwise, you’ll quickly notice that the Fitbit app isn’t exactly versatile. While you can use the app to track non-cardio workouts, it’s not really designed for that purpose, and to get any sort of guided workouts, you’ll have to pay extra for Fitbit Coach ($39.99 per year). Also, while you don’t have to buy an actual Fitbit watch to use its fitness app, you’ll miss out on some of the app’s best features (such as the heart rate monitor) if you forgo the tracker.
Those issues aside, Fitbit offers one of the cleanest total fitness apps available. If you’re considering a step tracker, this app might be good enough to push you over the edge—and that’s certainly how it’s designed.

Price

Free, although you’ll probably want to buy a fitness tracker.

Recommended if…

You enjoy setting daily step goals, you’re looking for a total-health app, and you’ve got friends with Fitbits.
[link-button href=”https://fave.co/2I7R5XV”] Download On iTunes [/link-button]
[link-button href=”https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fitbit.FitbitMobile”] Download On Google Play [/link-button]
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MyFitnessPal — Best App for Counting Calories

Perennially one of the most popular total fitness apps, MyFitnessPal is more focused on diet than exercise. It keeps an ongoing calorie count, and you can use its built-in calculator to set an attainable daily caloric goal (although it’s best to speak with a physician or dietitian before making significant changes to your diet). You can scan barcodes to easily log foods or choose from thousands of options in the app’s database.
Logging workouts in MyFitnessPal is easy, if a bit simplistic. You can choose from a number of activities, then enter the time you spent exercising. The app updates your goal to reflect the burned calories.

That’s pretty much it, but if you’re counting calories, you’ll appreciate the app’s detailed nutritional breakdowns and not-so-detailed calorie counter. Hey, simple goals are generally better. And if you’re just trying to lose or gain weight, MyFitnessPal gets the job done and doesn’t pack on unnecessary extras. It also has a large online community, which can be quite helpful if you’re struggling to stay motivated.

Price

Free. For more detailed statistics—and to get rid of ads—you’ll need to pay $9.99 per month or $49.99 per year.

Recommended if…

You’re trying to manage your weight or track nutrition. MyFitnessPal is intuitive and easy to use, but it won’t guide your workouts or drive you toward exercise goals, so you’ll probably need to complement it with a separate workout app.
[link-button href=”https://fave.co/2AjDb1a”] Download On iTunes [/link-button]
[link-button href=”https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myfitnesspal.android&hl=en”] Download On Google Play [/link-button]

MapMyFitness — Best Workout App for Tracking Outdoor Exercises

One of the first GPS workout tracking apps, MapMyFitness remains one of the simplest (and one of the best). It allows you to track mileage for runs, walks, bike rides, hikes, and anything else outdoors.
Log in online and you’ll be able to view your past workouts along with information about speed, pace, elevation, and calories burned. There’s also a great MapMyFitness community, so if you’re looking for a running buddy, here’s a good place to start.
If you spend most of your exercise at the gym, however, MapMyFitness falls flat. You can manually enter workouts, but other apps offer a much better set of tools designed for that purpose.

Price

Free. Premium subscriptions unlock additional features, including unlimited mapped routes, for $5.99 per month or $29.99 per year.

Recommended if…

You set single-workout goals, you’re a cardio addict, and you need a simple, no-frills way to track your outdoor workouts.
[link-button href=”https://fave.co/2I7zuiN”] Download On iTunes [/link-button]
[link-button href=”https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapmyfitness.android2&hl=en”] Download On Google Play [/link-button]

Strava — Best Workout App for Getting Competitive

Strava is another cardio app, but if you’re competitive, it’s an absolute must-download. It sets itself apart from other GPS workout apps with its “Segments” feature, which records the fastest times for set routes. You can race yourself to try to beat your best time, or you can take on the sizable Strava community to become Queen or King of the Mountain (QOM or KOM for short).
This fitness app also offers virtual clubs, so you can find like-minded cyclists or runners near you. Strava records data from your Fitbit, Garmin watch, or just about any other well-known smartwatch, but if you’re not wearing a tracker, you’ll still get to see some fairly detailed statistics about each workout.
As with Map My Fitness, Strava’s biggest drawback is that it’s designed specifically for outdoor exercise. But that’s not much of a drawback if you love nothing more than hitting the trails, and the premium features are well worth the expense.

Price

Free. You can pay $7.99/month or $59.99/year for a premium membership, which gives you access to more detailed statistics and more powerful fitness tracking tools.

Recommended if…

You prefer exercising outdoors and you’re motivated by competition.
[link-button href=”https://fave.co/2I3F7OQ”] Download On iTunes [/link-button]
[link-button href=”https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.strava&hl=en”] Download On Google Play [/link-button]

Sworkit — Best Workout App for Finding New Exercises

Sworkit offers a variety of video-guided workout plans that take users through stretches, bodyweight exercises, yoga, and more. You tell the app whether you want to get stronger or leaner, choose an amount of time for your workout, then follow a playlist of videos (in the free version, your options are limited and you don’t get access to full training plans). Premium Sworkit members can also consult with personal trainers.
Although Sworkit is a bit simplistic for dedicated gym rats, it’s a good app for getting in five minutes of exercise on your work breaks. The videos are clean, simple, and easy to follow, and it’s oddly addictive.

Price

Free, but to really get the most from the app, you’ll have to pay for the premium version. That costs $29.99 for three months, $79.99 for a year, or $297 for lifetime access.

Recommended if…

You enjoy variety in your workouts or you want access to guided bodyweight exercises that you can perform anywhere.
[link-button href=”https://fave.co/2I7So9h”] Download On iTunes [/link-button]
[link-button href=”https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=sworkitapp.sworkit.com&hl=en”] Download On Google Play [/link-button]

Keelo – Best Workout App for Punishing, High Intensity Workouts

Keelo is another workout guidance app, but it’s slightly more robust (and dare we say challenging) than Sworkit. It uses the high-intensity interval training (HIIT) approach to deliver big results—and demanding, difficult workouts. If you’re a CrossFitter, you’ll know what you’re getting into.
One significant disadvantage: Keelo is only available in the Apple Store, so Android users are out of luck for the time being. We also wouldn’t recommend this app for beginners; if you’re taking on high-intensity workouts, you should know what you’re doing or have guidance from a personal trainer.

Price

Free, but upgrading to the premium version will cost $11.99 per month, $29.99 per three months, or $69.99 per year.

Recommended if…

You’re motivated by achievement and you love overcoming difficult workouts.
[link-button href=”https://fave.co/2I4wrYr”] Download On iTunes [/link-button]

Charity Miles – Best App if You’re Motivated by Giving Back

Make each movement count with Charity Miles. This altruistic app functions like a pedometer or cycling meter, enabling its users to track their total distance traveled with start and stop functions. The more you walk, run, or cycle, the more money the apps’ sponsors (such as Johnson & Johnson) will donate to the charity of your choice.
That’s right, Charity Miles has more than 30 charities—from the ASPCA to the Wounded Warrior Project—for its users to choose from. After each sweat session, you’re able to see your total distance traveled and how much money you’ve earned for the charity of your choice.
The app also offers a Team feature, through which you can combine your distance with your friends and family to see how much money you can earn as a collective. For an added boost of motivation, the Charity Miles app includes a podcast that offers insights on overcoming adversity and other topics that many current users find encouraging to listen to during their workouts.

Price

Free

Recommended if…

You enjoy running, walking, or cycling and you’re looking for a way to make a difference in the lives of others while taking strides to benefit your personal health.
[link-button href=”https://fave.co/2I1Q6Z9″] Download On iTunes [/link-button]
[link-button href=”https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.charitymilescm.android”] Download On Google Play [/link-button]

What the Best Workout Apps Can (and Can’t) Do

So which workout app is the right one for you? And should you even use your smartphone while exercising? That really depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.
“I think with the way modern tech has helped us advance, [apps] can only help you get to your goals quicker or understand them better,” Allen says. “They allow you to explore and find more opportunities to be successful instead of just following something you heard from a friend or a fellow fitness fanatic. It opens up that many more opportunities.”
But even the best workout app isn’t a replacement for a personal trainer. A workout app can’t study your form, warn about nutritional deficiencies, or tell you to slow down when you’re overexerting yourself. Those are important considerations to keep in mind.

Take fitness apps’ suggestions with a grain of salt, especially if you’re trying to manage your weight. If you’re making major lifestyle changes, speak with your doctor or dietitian to be sure that you’re pursuing a healthy course of action.

Otherwise, have fun—the best workout apps can really enhance your training, even if they can’t quite do everything for you.

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