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Count your calories. Mind your macros. Measure your portions. Weigh your food. Watch your carbs. Don’t eat processed food. Limit sugar, and flour, and fried food. Don’t you dare get sprinkles on your ice cream, and actually don’t eat dairy or gluten or soy or nonorganic strawberries! Are you overwhelmed by all these restrictive food rules? If so, welcome to food freedom.
Food freedom is a term used by those in the intuitive eating and antidiet movement. Kirsten Ackerman, MS, RD, CDN, who hosts the Intuitive Bites podcast and identifies as a fat-positive dietitian, said, “food freedom is being able to experience the pleasure of food while not being fixated, overwhelmed, and stressed out by it.” She added that food freedom is about allowing food to be joyful, but not allowing it to take over our lives.
Licensed metal health counselor, Molly Bahr, LMHC, who’s also an intuitive eating counselor who specializes in HAES (health at every size) and is fat-positive, added that “food freedom is the experience of liberating ourselves from chronic dieting and adhering to rigid rules about when, what, how often, and how much to eat.” As we heal our relationship with food and our body, we’re able to enjoy the food we want to eat and then move on, allowing us to spend our time, energy, brain space, and money on things that really matter.
Registered dietitian Brenna O’Malley, creator of the health blog The Wellful, told POPSUGAR, she thinks of food freedom as being in a place with your body and with your relationship to food, which puts you back in the driver’s seat, where you’re making choices from a place of what feels good to you instead of feeling controlled by food or fear.
For Nicole Cruz, RDN, who specializes in helping clients make peace with food and their bodies, food freedom is getting invited to a friend’s barbecue and not worrying about whether there will be something there you can eat. She said, it’s showing up and eating whatever looks good without feeling guilty or thinking, “I have to get back on track or work this off tomorrow.” It’s eating the food you want and not feeling like it’s calling you or like you can’t stop eating. Food freedom means you can go to an event and focus on enjoying the company more than thinking about the food.
Absolute food freedom doesn’t just happen overnight. Bahr said, this process has many levels to it, and everyone is different in the way they approach it. Many of us have spent years or even decades with diet culture, so it’s hard to just flip a switch and instantly find food freedom.
Absolute food freedom can only happen after healing your relationship with food, explained Brianne Collette, RD. There could be stages leading up to it where you’re learning how to do so. Moving to food freedom and away from dieting and tracking your intake can be very scary, so the process may be gradual as you slowly get rid of food rules, recognize that it’s OK, and start to let go of more.
Achieving food freedom means no longer feeling guilt and shame for eating foods we like, Bahr said. There’s no more spending time counting, tracking, measuring, or “playing the game of food Tetris because we trust an app more than we trust our bodies.” With food freedom, we’re able to honor our hunger and fullness cues without constantly questioning or judging them.
When you have food freedom, you can make food choices without rules and view all food neutrally, as opposed to good or bad, explained Cruz. Food will no longer define your worth because you’ll feel the same about yourself whether you eat an apple or cookie. Food will have an appropriate amount of space in your life, but won’t be prioritized above everything else. You’ll no longer fear food and will say yes or no based on your preference, not based on rules.
And it’s more than just about food, Collette said. “It’s being able to say yes to spontaneous date nights without worrying about calories. It’s about enjoying food beyond just fuel, as pleasure and comfort, and most of all, not letting it dictate how you run your life,” she said. Food is a vital part of our existence and we need it every single day. With food freedom, food no longer dictates how you feel about yourself day in and day out.
“Our culture supports a disordered relationship to food and our bodies that normalizes food and body fixation,” said Ackerman. Ultimately, food and body fixation steal our time away from engaging in aspects of our lives that are meaningful and fulfilling (our passions and our relationships, for example). When we find food freedom, we open up our time and energy to be spent on those things again.
Bahr reassured that we were all born with this ability to eat “normally” and we can return to this. Just as we can trust our other natural body cues that tell us when we’re thirsty, tired, or have to use the bathroom, we can learn to trust our body when we’re hungry, what sounds satisfying, and when we’ve had enough.
Intuitive Eating is a tool for achieving food freedom, Ackerman explained. The framework of intuitive eating provides 10 principles to support your journey to healing your relationship with food and your body. They include rejecting diet mentality, honoring your hunger and fullness, finding satisfaction in food, and coping with emotions without food. Intuitive eating is a method and food freedom is the goal, which means food freedom can be achieved in other ways, without necessarily following the 10 principles of intuitive eating.
Note that the 10 principles of intuitive eating also encompass more than food, Collette said. Intuitive eating also involves body image and exercise — two of the principles are respect your body, and exercise to feel good.
“The journey back to normalizing our eating is about letting go of food rules, giving ourselves permission to eat all foods we want, and uprooting our internalized fat phobia and weight bias,” Bahr said. It’s important to educate ourselves about diet culture and to understand why unrealistic beauty standards and weight stigma are so harmful — emotionally and physically. This process can take a lot longer than you think it will — it may feel really hard and scary and that’s OK.
“I don’t know anyone who can let go of every food rule and practice all 10 principles of intuitive eating right away,” Bahr said. When we gather information about intuitive eating and learn about diet culture, and discover why diets don’t work long-term, it will inspire us to slowly begin to let go of things that keep us in diet mentality. We can gradually feel more comfortable with not using food tracking apps or fitness trackers, not weighing ourselves, and not following diet- and weight-focused social media accounts. Then we can begin to give ourselves permission to eat the foods we want and honor our hunger without judgement. It’s important to be patient with yourself through this sometimes difficult process.
I think it’s important to add that the food freedom and intuitive eating movement aren’t here to shame anyone who wants to lose weight, Collette said. But in order to heal your emotional and mental relationship with food, she said it’s helpful to put weight loss on the back burner. “I don’t believe it’s possible to try to reach food freedom while still attempting to lose weight,” Collette added. “Weight loss inherently means restriction, which is quite the opposite of food freedom. So this might actually be a really great first step — putting weight loss on the back burner and working through it as you go!”
You may be familiar with the term food freedom from a book written by Melissa Hartwig, creator of Whole30, called Food Freedom Forever. After completing the Whole30 program — which is restrictive, but designed to only be done for 30 days — Hartwig suggests that this is the next plan people can use to maintain the healthy habits they made during the past month.
Hartwig does have a similar definition of food freedom as intuitive eating and antidiet experts. “Food freedom is feeling in control of the food that you eat, instead of food controlling you,” Hartwig said. She added that having food freedom means taking the morality out of food, and recognizing you are not a “good” or “bad” person based on what you’re eating. She said, “True food freedom means you never again feel powerless over food.”
Bahr hasn’t read Food Freedom Forever, but said that if you’re following a plan that includes rules on what, when, or how much to eat, you can’t have true food freedom. Repairing our relationships with food and our body, and trusting our own intuition and body cues so we rely on ourselves is what’s truly freeing.
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Sheila Gim
The post What Is Food Freedom? | POPSUGAR Fitness appeared first on Best Of Force Blog.
A long evening walk on the beach isn’t exactly calming if you’re shivering the entire time. When the gentle salty breeze picks up slightly and the sun dips below the horizon, you’ll want to be prepared with the right gear so you can keep your stroll going for as long as possible.
These pants and joggers are made with lightweight, sweat-wicking, and even UV-protecting materials, so you can stay comfortable walking, running, jumping, and dancing on the sand without feeling overheated — because that’s not fun, either.
The post Lightweight Pants Perfect For Long Walks on the Beach appeared first on Best Of Force Blog.
As the last three months have perfectly illustrated, there’s just something about staying at home for an extended period of time that’s inspired loads of people to undergo significant hair transformations. Celebrities in particular have spent a great deal of time experimenting with their own looks while social distancing, cutting and coloring their hair without any help from their glam squads. While pink and blond are two changes that have ruled the color category throughout this period, the long bob (aka the “lob”) has risen in popularity as well.
The lob haircut has long been a celebrity favorite, worn in many iterations by people like Kylie Jenner, Khloé Kardashian, and Demi Lovato, but we’re seeing it pop up a lot more now that many of them have taken a temporary break from seeing their stylists.
Check out a few stars we’ve noticed wearing the lob haircut trend ahead.
The post Lob Haircut Post-Lockdown Celebrity Trend appeared first on Best Of Force Blog.
Simone Biles graces the August cover of Vogue, and with the postponement of the 2020 Olympics, she reflects on her gymnastics journey, negative comments about her body, being a Black gymnast, Larry Nassar’s abuse, and her plans for the 2021 Olympics.
At age 19, Simone wowed the world with her wins in Rio in the 2016 Olympics, where she took home four gold medals and one bronze — the first female American gymnast to do so at a single Olympics. Although gymnasts typically peak when they’re teenagers, Biles, now 23, is unstoppable. But she faced struggles along her journey and was criticized for her appearance with rude comments. Biles said in the interview, “They focused on my hair. They focused on how big my legs were. But God made me this way, and I feel like if I didn’t have these legs or these calves, I wouldn’t be able to tumble as high as I can and have all of these moves named after me.”
Biles also commented about what it was like being a Black gymnast, and how she felt about being in a sport where there weren’t many athletes who looked like her. She said, “Growing up, I didn’t see very many Black gymnasts, so whenever I did, I felt really inspired to go out there and want to be as good as them. I remember watching Gabby Douglas win the 2012 Olympics, and I was like, ‘If she can do it, I can do it.‘”
In the backdrop of her winning gymnastics career, Biles was dealing with abuse from Larry Nassar, the former gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexual abuse to hundreds of gymnasts. Recently, this story has come to light again with the release of the Netflix documentary Athlete A, which includes interviews from some of the over 150 women who first came forward about Nassar’s abuse. Over 500 female gymnasts were survivors, including all five members of the 2012 Olympic team and four of the five members of the 2016 team, including Biles. She shared what a confusing and emotional period it was after Nassar was let go as the gymnastics team doctor in 2015.
Biles explained that while on tour she had really bad anxiety. For example, while walking down a hall, she feared somebody was following her. “I just had a lot of issues that were unexplained until I finally figured out why. The dots connected,” Biles said. She was very depressed, and coped by sleeping a lot to escape her thoughts and the world. “At one point I slept so much because, for me, it was the closest thing to death without harming myself.” She recalled this as being a really dark time.
In training for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Biles had to train at the same facility where she was abused. And when it was announced that the Olympics would be postponed to the summer of 2021, her mother Nellie said Biles was crying and yelling, and added, “The loss is like [Biles] got a divorce or someone died, and she lost that person. That’s how deep I believe the loss was.”
Biles commented, “Obviously it was the right decision, but to have it finalized — in a way, you feel defeated because you’ve worked so hard.” Back in April, Biles wasn’t sure if she wanted to go to the Olympics in 2021. Now, she’s sure and said, “I’m starting to train toward it.” We can’t wait to see what she accomplishes next summer.
The post Simone Biles on the Cover of Vogue August 2020 appeared first on Best Of Force Blog.
Now, I consider myself in my longest, most consistent stretch as a yogi. Since the spring, I’ve been practicing at least three times a week. Although I’m only ever on my mat for about 30 minutes at a time max, I can already see so much progress in my poses and feel less stiffness in my joints.
To keep myself on track to graduate from my beginner status and continue my regular practice, I’ve given myself four achievable goals to work toward over the summer.
One of my horrible workout habits is not cooling down. Truth be told, I’ve gotten a lot better about not running off after the last rep in strength classes, but, lately, I’ve been getting lazy with it when it comes to yoga.
Even though I look forward to the glorious release of Savasana, sometimes my racing thoughts take over. I try to get ahead of the day by closing out of my yoga app early and getting some errands done. But, I know I’d have a much smoother, less stressful start to my morning if I stayed on my mat through Savasana.
I dream of mastering Crow Pose. I’ve always envied anyone who was able to balance on their arms. But envying and simply dreaming isn’t getting me any closer to performing Crow Pose. I’ve notoriously given up and gone into Child’s Pose the very second my instructor even announced the pose because I was afraid of failure — and falling on my face.
The other day, though, thanks to my instructor’s words of wisdom, I pushed away the fear and attempted to get into the pose. I fell over a lot and my arms were shaking, but I kept going. After trying and trying and trying again, I managed to balance on my arms for a second or two. It felt amazing! I know that if I keep practicing, I’ll work up to holding Crow Pose for even longer.
When I’m working through a fast-paced flow, I hold my breath without even noticing it.
But it’s the continuous breath work in yoga — the combo of deep inhales and exhales — that helps calm me down in moments of tension. In an effort to be more thoughtful in my practice and really reap those relaxing benefits, I’d like to start connecting my breaths with my movement.
I start to let my mind wander after about 25 minutes on my mat. Instead of working through my pent-up energy during a flow, I begin making laundry lists of things I need to do in my head — then, I count down the minutes until I can roll up my mat. Because of that, the last quarter of my practice feels like a wash.
Dedicating an hour to meditative running is no problem for me whatsoever — and I hope to build that same relationship with yoga. I know my anxiety levels, my pose technique, and the health of my joints will be better for it.
Click here for more health and wellness stories, tips, and news.
Image Source: Getty Images / Prasit photo
The post Beginner Yoga Goals to Work Toward on Your Mat appeared first on Best Of Force Blog.
One word, BURRATA. Guys, if you haven’t tried burrata you’re seriously missing out. It’s like a mash-up of mozzarella and ricotta, semi-firm cheese on the outside, CREAMY in the middle. It’s GOOD. This Keto Cheesy Marinara Chicken is super simple. We’ve got seared chicken, burrata, splashes of marinara, and wilted baby spinach.
This is one perfect low-carb Italian meal.
The idea for this came from my grandmother who’s favorite dishes is something similar from a local Italian restaurant. We tried to recreate it with a few spins of our own, hence the burrata, and it turned out fantastic!
Need another side dish? Try this Mediterranean Asparagus! We made these on the same day and it was a winning combo.
We start by searing some chicken in lots of quality olive oil until it is nice and golden on both sides and cooked through. At the end, stir in the garlic cloves and cook another minute before removing the chicken and adding more olive oil + butter to the skillet along with the spinach.
I’m always AMAZED at how much spinach cooks down. So crazy. This spinach though is so, so good with the garlic butter…heaven.
To serve we simply plated the chicken over the spinach and added the splashes of marinara to the top along with the burrata and some fresh basil.
We use a sugar-free marinara, typically Rao’s. You can also make your own really easily! Simply grab some crushed tomatoes, olive oil, Italian seasoning, and salt. Maybe a garlic clove and a pinch of red pepper flakes…
You’ll just heat the olive oil up and then add the spices and garlic to the oil and toast for 30 seconds. Add in the tomatoes and stir until combined, heat until hot. It’s super easy to make your own in a pinch!
This Keto Cheesy Marinara Chicken with Garlic Wilted Spinach is an awesome low-carb Italian dinner.
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: 30-minute
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 549kcal
Season the chicken cutlets on both sides with the salt and pepper.
In a 10” or larger cast iron skillet, heat the ¼ cup of olive oil over medium heat. Add in the garlic and cook 30 seconds more.
Place the cutlets in a single layer in the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes per side until golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165° F.
Remove the chicken from the skillet and transfer to a plate. Spoon half of the leftover oil and garlic over the chicken, leaving the remaining oil and garlic in the skillet.
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the butter to the skillet. Add the spinach in batches allowing it to wilt before adding more. Once all the spinach has wilted and cooked down place the spinach on a serving tray and place the chicken on top.
Top serve, top the chicken with splashes of the warmed marinara sauce, and the burrata. Garnish with basil, some flaky sea salt, and serve.
Nutrition Facts
Keto Cheesy Marinara Chicken with Garlic Wilted Spinach
Amount Per Serving
Calories 549 Calories from Fat 351
% Daily Value*
Fat 39g60%
Saturated Fat 10g63%
Cholesterol 137mg46%
Sodium 861mg37%
Potassium 1043mg30%
Carbohydrates 7g2%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 2g2%
Protein 44g88%
Vitamin A 7062IU141%
Vitamin C 24mg29%
Calcium 240mg24%
Iron 3mg17%
*
Nutritional values are estimates only and do not include carbs from sugar alcohols.
The post Keto Cheesy Marinara Chicken Recipe appeared first on Best Of Force Blog.
Ahhh, humidity. It’s like the minute temperatures rise above 80, my hair gets a mind of its own … and it’s running the show. Straight styles get puffy, and my curls fall flat pretty much the minute I leave my air-conditioned apartment. And because my hair is treated with both a relaxer and color, those chemicals also make my hair drier and more prone to breakage in warmer months.
Since I prefer my hair sleek (especially when I’ve spent all that time blow-drying it), I’ve gathered quite the arsenal of products I rely on when dealing with my fickle summer hair. There’s a mix of creams, oils, and sprays to smooth it out, whether I’m wearing it straight or air-drying into well-defined waves, and some even add sun protection, too.
Ahead, find my favorite humidity-proof styling products — they’re all sold right at Sephora.
The post Editor-Favorite Styling Products For Smooth Hair appeared first on Best Of Force Blog.
Coming off of a decade-plus competitive gymnastics career, I didn’t know how to approach fitness in college. My four-day-a-week practices were enough to keep me fit and stronger than most people my age and, for the most part, I’d never set foot in a gym. I had to find a way to put all of my athletic ability into the cardio machines and weights — what the hell was a StairMaster?! — and though the process was hard, I eventually established my footing and discovered balance (turns out, exercising for two-hour sessions, six days a week when you’re a full-time college student wasn’t sustainable or good for me, for that matter). And, as I also discovered, many people were going through a similar transition.
After a rocky start of navigating the best equipment and workout schedule for my body, I found my rhythm and love for my gym time. It was physically challenging and mentally freeing. And, the best part? I was able to incorporate bodyweight moves I used to do during conditioning session at gymnastics practice (I still do this today). Plus, when I couldn’t make it to the gym, I became a pro at working out in my dorm and, later, at my off-campus house. I’d put on a good playlist, roll out my yoga mat, and stream videos or follow along to apps on my phone. Oftentimes, I’d be at the gym pretty late and would have to leave around closing time, needing 15 more minutes or so for abs or a quick glute burn. So, I’d finish it up in my room.
Keep reading for some of the at-home products I used back then that I incorporate into my fitness routine today. I’ve replaced most of the equipment since my college years, though I still use a lot of the same products I utilized for home workouts then. Now, I have access to weights and a whole slew of cardio equipment in my current living situation, but ahead, you’ll find the fitness products that were my tried and true in college that I continue to rely on. Plus, find more products I think will prove useful for home workouts here.
The post Home Workout Equipment I Used in College That I Still Use appeared first on Best Of Force Blog.
Last March, Emilia Clarke wrote a powerful essay revealing that she experienced two life-threatening brain aneurysms during her first few years of filming Game of Thrones. The injuries were treated through several painful surgeries, resulting in Clarke spending weeks at the hospital in recovery. Years after her last procedure in 2013, Clarke remembers how her healthcare providers “saved her life” in a heartwarming letter.
The new book Dear NHS: 100 Stories to Say Thank You, which is out on July 9, features 100 personal stories to honor the healthcare workers in the U.K.’s National Health Service who have gone above and beyond for their patients. In Clarke’s letter, which was recently published in The Sunday Times, the Game of Thrones actress expressed her deep appreciation for the nurses, doctors, and cleaners who helped her through her difficult recovery post-surgery.
Clarke, who was treated at a hospital in London, specifically thanked a nurse who suggested the actress have a brain scan, when everyone else “struggled to find an answer when [she] was first admitted.” She also showed gratitude for her anesthetist who “kept [her] giggling” before her surgery, the nurses who took care of her “with as much kindness as if [she] had been their own daughter,” and the cleaners who gave her “a reassuring smile and a knowledge that they’d seen worse.”
“In all those moments, over those three weeks, I was not, not ever, truly alone.”
The 33-year-old actress, who has since founded a charity to help raise money for people recovering from brain injuries, also highlighted a scary moment when she was in the ICU following a “severe bout of dehydration-led aphasia,” in which she lost her ability to speak coherently. Instead of asking her loved ones to leave per hospital guidelines, one of Clarke’s nurses allowed her mother to stay and hold her hand. “She saw that, in this moment, she held my fragile mind, and its capacity to pray that I wouldn’t be next, in her hands … In all those moments, over those three weeks, I was not, not ever, truly alone.”
Read the letter in its entirety on The Sunday Times, and check out Dear NHS for more moving letters by contributors like Paul McCartney, Emma Watson, and Malala Yousafzai.
The post Emilia Clarke Thanked Healthcare Workers in Emotional Letter appeared first on Best Of Force Blog.
Whenever Selena Gomez drops a new music video, she never neglects the tiny details of her beauty look, right down to her perfectly planned manicure to match the theme. (We’re referring to her nail art for the launch of her latest album, Rare.) The same goes for her red carpet looks and pretty much any other time she’s out in the public eye — we’ve never seen her without a killer manicure.
We have Tom Bachik to thank for all of the nail inspiration that Gomez serves up. Bachik has been her go-to manicurist for years and is also responsible for some of Jennifer Lopez’s best nail looks, as well as those on Hailee Steinfeld, Kim Kardashian, and Margot Robbie.
From clean, single-color manicures to bedazzled rhinestone nail-art looks and classic nude nails, Gomez has tried it all. Her signature color, though, is a crisp and bright red that she wears often. Whether you are a fan of minimalist nail trends or like to go bold with your manicures, Gomez has a mani moment you can pull inspiration from.
Keep scrolling to check out Gomez’s best nail looks to date.
The post Selena Gomez’s Best Nail Looks appeared first on Best Of Force Blog.
If you need some positive energy and a quick cardio workout, look no further. This 15-minute dance workout from Kukuwa Fitness is a fun, powerful, no-impact calorie burner that’ll get you sweating and smiling. The view count is proof: posted in April, the workout already has over 2.5 million views!
Led by Kukuwa Kyereboah-Nuamah, CEO of Kukuwa Fitness, ACE-certified fitness professional, and professor of African dance and culture, the workout takes you around the continent, featuring dance styles from Malawi, Mali, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Nigeria. You’ll be moving and dancing the whole time, with exercises that combine squats, punches, and kicks, all in step with the powerful beats. “KUKUWA African Dance Workout is not only a workout, it’s an education and journey,” says the brand’s website, which adds that each workout has moves that work “your arms, waist, legs and hips to a blend of Central, East, South, West, and North African rhythms.”
This workout takes you from warm-up to cooldown, so all you have to do is throw on your comfy clothes, hit play, and get moving. Watch the full workout above! (PS: More Kukuwa Fitness workouts are available on the brand’s YouTube channel and website.)
The post Try This 15-Minute African Dance Workout to Break a Sweat appeared first on Best Of Force Blog.
Athletes have a long history of advocating for racial justice, but leagues have only recently started to support the cause in a visible way. See: the NFL and US Soccer walking back stances against kneeling during the national anthem, the NBA planning to paint “Black Lives Matter” on courts, and NWSL teams wearing “Black Lives Matter” shirts before kickoff. These major moves were prompted by nationwide protests over the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and other Black victims of police brutality and racist violence. Now the WNBA is looking to establish itself as a leader for activism in the sports world, announcing today that it would dedicate its 2020 season to social justice.
What will that look like? When the WNBA returns in late July, playing at a single site in Florida, the first weekend of competition will be “centered around the Black Lives Matter movement,” the league said in a statement. Teams will wear “special uniforms to seek justice for the women and girls, including Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, Vanessa Guillen and many more who have been the forgotten victims of police brutality and racial violence.” Players will also wear Nike warmup shirts with “Black Lives Matter” on the front and “Say Her Name” on the back. “‘Black Lives Matter’ will also be prominently displayed on courts during games,” the league said.
In addition, the WNBA and the WNBA Players’ Association are launching a new platform, “The Justice Movement,” and the WNBA/WNBPA Social Justice Council. The council is meant to create spaces for “community conversations, virtual roundtables, player-produced podcasts, and other activations to address this country’s long history of inequality, implicit bias and systemic racism that has targeted black and brown communities,” the league said.
In doing so, they look to bring educators, activists, and community leaders together with the WNBA community of players and fans, “with an intentional plan to educate, amplify and mobilize for action.” The council will be player-led, featuring stars like Layshia Clarendon, Breanna Stewart, and A’ja Wilson, and advised by Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, and Carolyn DeWitt, CEO of Rock the Vote, among others.
“As many WNBA players – past and present – have said and, more importantly, consistently demonstrated, the reason why you see us engaging and leading the charge when it comes to social advocacy is because it is in our DNA,” said Nneka Ogwumike, president of the WNBPA and forward for the Los Angeles Sparks, in the statement. “With 140-plus voices all together for the first time ever, we can be a powerful force connecting to our sisters across the country and in other parts of the world. And may we all recognize that the league’s stated commitment to us – in this season and beyond – offers a pivotal moment in sports history.”
Some WNBA players have already decided to skip the 2020 season to push for racial justice. Maya Moore, one of the most accomplished players in history, will be missing a second consecutive season to further the fight for criminal justice reform. (She previously focused her efforts on overturning the conviction of Jonathan Irons, who was officially released on July 1.)
“We are incredibly proud of WNBA players who continue to lead with their inspiring voices and effective actions in the league’s dedicated fight against systemic racism and violence,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, emphasizing that the league hopes to carry the torch for social justice beyond the 2020 season. “Systemic change can’t happen overnight, but it is our shared responsibility to do everything we can to raise awareness and promote the justice we hope to see in society.”
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Selecting your next tattoo is no easy task — it’s a big decision that can often be years in the making. There are many factors to take into consideration: personal preference, sentimental value, location, and the latest trends. While we can’t help you navigate the first few factors, we can lend a hand with the latter.
While most people took the spring season off from getting any fresh ink, many parlors have since reopened and started accepting appointments again (or they will be soon). If anything, all of this time at home has given us ample opportunities to gather summer tattoo ideas in preparation for the first session back.
If you’re itching to get inked again, you’re not alone — celebrities like Lucy Hale and Storm Reid have already rushed back to their favorite tattoo artist for a new addition.
For anyone looking to get a new tattoo this summer, you’ll find no shortage of creative and fresh trends to pull inspiration from. “It’s best to do what’s true to your heart — that will always be trendy,” Los Angeles-based celebrity tattoo artist and BodyMark Creative Director Miryam Lumpini, aka The Witchdoctor, told POPSUGAR. Keep reading to see all of her trend predictions.
The post The Best Tattoo Trends For Summer 2020 appeared first on Best Of Force Blog.