Take care of yourself while taking care of the planet—it can be done!
 We know it sounds too good to be true—doing something good for yourself and for the environment—but with these eight easy ways to live healthy and green, you can get double the results for your efforts and feel great about your choices, too.
1. Walk or Bike to Work
The average commute time in the U.S. is 25 minutes—ick. That’s a whole lot of sitting in a car, bus or train. Combining low-impact exercise with your commute builds movement and stress relief into your daily routine while reducing energy usage and vehicle emissions. If you live close enough to work to commute by bike, the value of all the stress, pollution, sitting and expense that are avoided by not using a car and dealing with traffic is priceless. There’s no smarter good-for-you, good-for-the-planet two-fer.
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The Environmental Working Group released its latest Sunscreen Guide, which parses 1,400 sunscreens currently on the market.
The Environmental Working Group released its seventh annual Sunscreen Guide this week, looking at the safety and efficacy of on-the-market sunscreens and ranking the best and worst. This year’s survey revealed that only about a quarter of the more than 1,400 tested products “offer strong and broad UV protection and pose few safety concerns,” according to an EWG press release.
Interestingly, the FDA’s sunscreen labeling guidelines finally kicked in this year, barring manufacturers from using misleading words like “sunblock,” “sweat-proof” and “water-proof” and imposing standards on sunscreens that claim to offer broad-spectrum protection. However, EWG found that even with these regulations, the “analysis of 750 beach and sport sunscreens found that the new FDA rules have not led to dramatically better sunscreens than those offered in previous years.” Womp wooooomp.
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Check out the new digs at Sip-N-Glo.
Heads up, juice fans: There’s a new fresh-squeezed watering hole on South Street. Sip-N-Glo opened up shop yesterday at 932 South Street, across from Whole Foods. The store’s marketing rep tells me it’ll be in soft-opening “preview” mode for the duration of the summer, with a grand opening set for early September. Sip-N-Glo is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. everyday except Tuesday.
Foobooz has the full menu here, which includes seven juices and seven smoothies. The Bees Knees smoothie has my mouth watering: banana, spinach, honey, cinnamon, Greek yogurt and unsweetened vanilla almond milk. What’s catching your eye?
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Do you buy it?
Note: I had to pull up several sources to even begin to understand where Men’s Health got its data for its Best Cities for Exercise list, which ranks 100 U.S. cities according to how “contagious” their fitness culture is. Bear with me on this one: The list came from a comment made by Jeffrey Hallam, a Ph.D. and founder of the University of Mississippi Center for Health Behavior Research, who said that a region’s overall “attitude” toward health and fitness could have an impact on an individual’s attitude toward those things. In other words, if people around you are prioritizing exercise, there’s a good chance you will, too.
“In Portland, Oregon, many people bicycle or walk everywhere, and there is a social expectation that others should bike or walk,” Hallam said. “But in Mississippi, that expectation to be physically active isn’t as strong.”
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New research on work out timing could mean big things for your Zzzs.
• This seems simple enough: Work out in the morning to sleep better at night, a new study finds. [Runner's World]
• Did you know duct tape can remove warts and help fend off blisters? It’s true. Here, 15 duct-tape hacks for the health-and-fitness set. [Greatist]
• Stock up on fish oil, people. New research found the supplement could offset some of the bad health effects of junk food. [Men's Health]
• New York Mag dives deep (deeeep) into the world of public, shame-based dieting. [New York Magazine]
• If your workout wardrobe is in desperate need of some color, may I suggest a pair of these super-bright sneaks? [Blisstree]
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Even better: this one's for charity!
If you’re a Flywheel fanatic and Rihanna fan, I’ve got your double-time fix right here. Center City’s Flywheel studio is hosting a charity ride on Wednesday to benefit Court Appointed Special Advocates of Philadelphia (CASA), whose mission is “to train and support community volunteers to advocate for the health, safety and well-being of abused and neglected children.”
Flywheel will provide a rockin’ Rihanna playlist during your ride (“Only Girl in the World” is a perfect workout anthem), raffles for Lululemon and Athleta gift cards, and treats from Fuel. In exchange, you’ll cough up a $25 donation for CASA. That’s fair, right?
Register for the event by going to the CASA site and clicking “donate”; on the donation page, type in “Flywheel.” Just make sure to print out the page, which serves as your ticket to ride (rejoice in the reference, Beatles lovers.)
$25 donation, May 22nd at 7:30 p.m., Flywheel Center City 1521 Locust Street, Philadelphia.
>> Have a health or fitness event you’d like to share with Be Well Philly readers? Email eleaman@phillymag.com with details.
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Strap on your running shoes, find some open road, and go.
I’m loving the warm weather (when it’s not raining, of course) and am taking full advantage of being outdoors as much as possible these days. No matter where you live, you should be able to find a running trail, track, safe road, or just some open space to run around—because that’s all you’re going to need for this workout.
In light of the interval workout trend, which just got a nice little boost from the New York Times, here’s a challenging interval workout for runners to get you outside and moving. It’s fairly straight forward, I think—sprint/recovery repeats for each interval—but note that between each set, you’ll jog for three minutes to recover. Good luck!
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And it's sort of confusing. Also: expensive.
 I just got an email from the folks over at Rodale, the Emmaus-based publisher that puts out Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Prevention and more, touting a just-launched online store called Rodale’s (naturally) that offers “stylish, well-made and consciously curated items across most retail categories that include apparel; accessories and beauty; kitchen and garden; fitness; bed and bath; gifts and books; and general care.”
To be honest, all those retail categories confused the pants off me (like, does Rodale have a secret bedding magazine I don’t know about?), but it’s the prices that just had me choking on my lunch. For example, this organic cotton long-sleeve t-shirt is $80. This boxy scoop neck tee, made of a hemp-organic cotton blend, is $118, and this ultra-basic racerback tank is $60. There’s more: These (kind of ugly) jersey shorts are $80, and this shawl-like cardigan, again made of organic cotton, will set you back $190.
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A new roadblock for a popular Change.org petition.
 Since we’ve been following the Victoria’s Secret “survivor bras” saga for a few months now, we thought it fitting to let you know that … literally nothing is going to come of it. Wait, what?
The latest news is that Vicky’s won’t be making them after all. Womp woooomp. To jog your memory, 27-year-old Allana Maiden started a Change.org petition back in January to get support for her idea of a bra line specifically made for post-mastectomy bodies that’s both functional and beautiful. The petition was created in honor of her mom, Debbie, who had a mastectomy and wore a prosthetic, and found it difficult to find bras that fit correctly—much less look pretty. Allana aimed her efforts at Victoria’s Secret because she thought the idea was a good fit (pun intended) for the lingerie retailer; after all, they already had the pretty part down, so how hard could it be to peg the functionality?
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Learn the numbers Dr. Oz says can save your life
Cardiothoracic surgeon, author, and television personality, Dr. Mehmet Oz has five numbers that he thinks every American should know. Knowing these numbers, all pertaining to your personal health, is a good way to keep your health in check and stay in tune with your body. Dr. Oz says they are critical to your well-being, and knowing them can help increase longevity. Learn what these numbers are in this video. READ MORE
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