Source: http://greatist.com/eat/eat-like-great-grandparents?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Think of a time before before Doritos and Entenmann’s. Few of us can remember when grocery stores weren’t overtaken by aisle upon aisle of processed food. But our grandparents (and certainly our great-grandparents) could.

A new book, 100 Million Years of Food: What Our Ancestors Ate and Why It Matters, written by biological anthropologist Stephen Le, suggests we should be eating more like our elders. This line of thinking is far from new. Michael Pollan is famous for saying, “Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” And the paleo craze has many of us eating like cavemen.

But Le’s suggestion is a little different. He says we should look at our own family tree to find out what our ancestors ate. If they immigrated from Vietnam, they most certainly had a different diet than if they came from Ireland. The thinking goes: For much of human history, our ancestors stayed put in one basic geographic area, so they evolved to be great at digesting the local food. Thus, the more people stray from those diets, the more food-related problems and diseases may crop up.

The Mediterranean Diet, for example, has been lauded for years for decreasing your risk of heart disease and increasing your lifespan. But the diet didn’t benefit Northern Europeans like it did the Cretans—whose systems had evolved to better metabolize olive oil. So if you’re to follow Le’s school of thought, you can put down that green juice and…

Source: http://greatist.com/eat/negative-food-messages-make-us-eat-more?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Every day we see messaging that tells us “eat this!” and “don’t eat that!” New research from Arizona State University found that negative comments from the so-called food police may actually lead us to eat more. In a series of studies, participants read a negative, positive, or two-sided message about sugary snacks. People who saw negative messages (think: “all sugary snacks are bad”) ate nearly 40 percent more cookies than those who saw positive ones.

This is bad news for federal PSAs and diet guidelines, which often tell Americans which foods are big no-nos. The key to changing our eating habits may be less about scare tactics and more about showing both sides of the coin—the good and the bad. Participants who saw both positive and negative messages were nearly half as likely to opt for junk food. So next time you read an article about how sodium is so horrible for you, take it with a grain of salt.

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Source: http://www.theminimalists.com/help/

By Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus · Follow: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

Our film, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things, hits theaters May 24, 2016. We partnered with Gathr Films to bring this documentary to more than 400 theaters across the United States. In addition to our upcoming fourteen-city tour, we already have 100 screenings scheduled, but we need to quadruple that number for a wide release—which means we need your help.

Want to help bring Minimalism to your community? Great! Here’s all you have to do:

Visit MinimalismFilm.com
Click “See the Film”
Check for a screening in your area and reserve your tickets

If there isn’t already a screening scheduled in your city, request to host your own and become the Movie Captain for Minimalism at your local movie theater. Hosting a screening is easy: just pick the date, time, and theater where you want to host your screening, and then Gathr will set everything up for you. Screenings can happen only when the screening is “tipped” (i.e., when it reaches its ticket goals), so be sure to get the word out in your community.

If you live outside the U.S., don’t worry—we’re still planning a theatrical release in Canada and Australia, and an online release aft…

Source: http://greatist.com/live/how-easily-distracted-are-you?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Do you find yourself dozing off, watching cat videos, texting, or just zoning out at work or school? There are tons of tips and tricks to regain your focus, but if none of those have worked, you may just have an easily distractible mind. The good news is some research suggests people who can’t tune out distractions may be more creative and intelligent than their peers.

So just how unfocused are you? Click the button below and play a quick game put together by The Science of Us to find out.

Play the Game!

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Source: http://greatist.com/live/best-dating-advice?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

If you feel like you’re the only one who hasn’t found that near-perfect partner, you’re not alone. In fact, 64 percent of the millennial generation is in the same singles-only boat.

And while there are plenty of benefits to being (and staying) solo, we understand the allure of finding that special someone. To help you out, we’ve rounded up 10 science-backed, expert-approved ways to boost your dating prospects, whether you’re dating online or IRL. Listen closely, and you may not be so single come next February 14th.

If You’re Dating Online: 1. Perfect your online presence.

Whatever dating service you choose, take time to polish your profile, says Lori Salkin, dating coach and head matchmaker of YU Connects. Avoid swear words, as these can make some people wary, and use spellcheck to be sure you don’t come off as careless or… less than smart.

But don’t be afraid to be funny and show your sense of humor. This make you seem more approachable if someone appreciates your wit, Salkin says. Plus, if someone opts not to message you back because they don’t like your style of hamming it up, that’s fine—you probably wouldn’t get along with them anyway.

Finally, keep it simple. No …

Source: http://greatist.com/health/super-bowl-recipes-snacks?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

The Super Bowl is all about football, booze, commercials, and most importantly, snacks. But don’t worry, just because we say “guilt-free” doesn’t mean we did away with the wings and chili.

To make sure you have enough healthy snacks to last through the halftime show, we’ve rounded up 41 of our favorites—from chips and dips to meatballs, quesadillas, and sweet treats to blitz your party-goers.

Photo: Ambitious Kitchen

1. Pesto and Turkey Cucumber Roll Ups

Melding two classic sushi ingredients—cucumber and avocado—these rolls swap the salmon and seaweed for turkey and pesto. While slicing the cukes paper-thin can be pretty tricky (Tip: use a mandoline), there’s no baking, grilling, or sautéing involved in order to get this appetizer to the table.

<img src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_main/public/sweetpskins.jpg?itok…

Source: http://greatist.com/live/eyes-tearing-cold-weather?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

We don’t hate winter (see: bundling, ice skating anywhere), but that doesn’t stop us from all-out crying after two minutes in the cold. Deep-seated emotional pain? Nope—it’s our eyes’ normal biological response.

The Need-to-Know

Your eyes need to stay lubricated to see, which doesn’t go well with cold, dry winter air, says James Auran, M.D., chief of ophthalmology at New York’s Harlem Hospital Center. The wind and lack of moisture leads your eyes to tear up, trying to keep themselves at max visibility and minimum discomfort. It’s basically a reflex response—and when the tears overwhelm your tear ducts, they make a dramatic exit down your cheeks (and nose, so no worries about wiping it on a sleeve).

The lack of humidity makes your eyes tear more, as does brightness: All that light reflecting off snow makes your eyes more sensitive. Recent research has found that your eyelash length also plays a role in how much you tear up. Lashes at one-third your eye’s width best keep tears from evaporating (meaning less reflexive waterworks), with any longer funneling air in and creating more irritation, and any shorter allowing greater evaporation of tears—triggering a flood of them to keep you seeing.1

Your Action Plan

Glasses are …

Source: http://greatist.com/live/fake-backlash-new-barbie?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

You no doubt know by now that some new Barbies hit the market last week. The iconic dolls now come in petite, curvy, and tall shapes and also have a whole bunch of new skin tones and hair styles. As a lover of body diversity, I’m stoked on the new Barbie. But I’ve also been bracing myself for the inevitable backlash that happens whenever there’s a public conversation about women and weight.

Photo: Mattel

Believe it or not, this time it hasn’t come.

Sure, there were the usual fat-shamers mouthing off, and Twitter trolls lambasting those “stupid SJWs” (as in, social justice warriors). But my deep dive into the social media chatter and press coverage found that an overwhelming majority of the reactions to the new dolls have been good, if not straight up effusive. So imagine my surprise at seeing in The Sun that “Barbie’s New Makeover Sparks Social Media Backlash.” Oh, wait, it hasn’t: The British tabloid had simply cobbled together a handful of pissy, random tweets looking for those sweet, sweet controversy clicks. In fact, a few media outlets are trying their damndest to find something negative to say about the new Barbie line. The Daily Mail had its own version of the “soci…

Source: http://greatist.com/live/when-complaining-crosses-the-line?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

From job woes and relationship troubles to health problems and financial concerns (not to mention long lines, lukewarm coffee, and other daily annoyances), everyone’s got something to complain about.

In some ways, this is a healthy and normal part of life. Voicing concerns, identifying pervasive stressors, and figuring out how to surmount the many minor frustrations our days bring us are all part of being a healthy, functioning human.

And if you’ve ever bonded with someone over a shared dislike (like the latest movie everyone’s raving about that you hated), you know firsthand that group-level griping can be a quick route to feeling closer with others.

The problem: Too much time spent focusing on the negative—and drawing everyone’s awareness to what’s wrong in your life—can lead to some seriously un-fun consequences. From pushing away friends (or making them equally miserable) to wrecking our own health or quality of life, complaining can go wrong in so many ways.

There is no scientific evidence that venting helps us calm down.

If you think blowing off steam helps you feel better, think again. “There is no scientific evidence that venting helps us calm down,” says Brad Bushman, Ph.D., professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University. In fact, his research shows that ruminating over remarks that angered you (or in his particular study, working out aggression by walloping a punching bag) only mak…

Source: http://greatist.com/move/strain-sprain?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Whether you’re shoveling snow, walking to work, or playing a game of pick-up basketball, it’s bound to happen sooner or later: pain. Maybe you say you “strained a muscle,” “sprained your ankle,” or even “tore” something. But what’s really going on here?

“Sprain and strain are medical terms, but both of them can mean tear,” says David Neuman, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at NY SportsCare.

In short, strains involve tearing or over-stretching a muscle or tendon, while sprains are the tearing of a ligament (more details on that soon). Strains and sprains come in three different severities: grade I, grade II, and grade III. The higher the grade, the more painful and severe the injury.

A grade I strain or sprain can be a very slight tear or over-stretching a muscle and may have little inflammation, Neuman says. Grade II is slightly more severe, and grade III is a complete rupture of the tendon or the ligament.

With a grade III, you’re going to experience a high level of pain, says Colleen Brough, a physical therapist and assistant professor at Columbia University in New York City. “It doesn’t get better, and a person really can’t tolerate weight bearing or walking on it.” Chances are, if you have a grade III injury, you’ll know it.

But what about all those other times when you’ve just got a little pain and you’re not exactly sure what to do next? We’ve rounded up answers to your most common sprain and strain issues.

Is…