Intimidated by cooking the fish at home? Even beginners can master this basic technique, which results in perfectly flaky filets every time. At the grocery store, look for Wild Alaskan salmon, which is the cleanest (low-mercury) variety of the fish, and is exposed to fewer toxins than farmed Atlantic salmon. And whenever possible, buy salmon that has been locally caught. Store it in the refrigerator, and use it within two days of purchasing....

More specifically, dehydration can be a major cause (and remember that caffeine and alcohol are both dehydrating), as can a high salt intake, points out Sydney Givens, PA-C, founder of Skincare by Sydney. (Hence why you wake up puffy if you’ve had too many chips and margaritas the night before.) A lack of sleep, allergies, and even the weather can also contribute. The good news? There are easy things you can do, both to address the root cause(s) of the issue and to quickly de-puff when swelling does strike....

What You Need napkin, flat surface Follow These Steps

In fact, there is more food in landfills than any other kind of waste. As this food decomposes, it emits methane, a warming gas that the EPA says is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. All said, food waste produces some 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse-gas-emitting country in the world. If you’re thinking about all of the food your family tosses out every week, don’t worry....

So, how do you identify your curl type? Hairstylist Andre Walker started a curl typing system, which is still used today and provides a way to label hair types based on texture. It utilizes numbers 1 to 4, with one being straight hair and four being kinky texture and subcategories (A to C). A has the widest diameter or pattern size, and C has the smallest. It’s a lot to think about and remember when you’re shopping for products, looking for new ingredients, and trying to style them, so we asked professional hairstylists to break down the different types of curls, so you can easily ID your curls, shop better, and style smarter....

What Is Scalp Acne? Acne on the scalp is similar to acne on the face. “Clogged pores can occur on the scalp and often do, as this area tends to be densely populated with sebaceous or oily glands,” explains Blair Murphy-Rose, MD, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City. “Pimples form on the scalp when a pore is clogged and bacteria is trapped, leading to inflammation.” Scalp acne is usually located on the scalp and back of the head, and manifests as small pimples that are very similar to those that we can find on our face....

“Sous vide is the process of sealing a product, be it steak or carrots, in a protective barrier, most often plastic, vacuuming out the air and cooking it in a water bath at a very precise temperature,” explains Chef Sean Wheaton, vice president of culinary at Cuisine Solutions, which sells gourmet sous vide meals for home and restaurant use. Unlike boiling, poaching, or steaming an ingredient, with sous vide cooking, the food isn’t touching the water, so it isn’t losing flavor during the cooking process....

Off he went to the store to purchase the cake mix, only to return to find that we didn’t have the vegetable oil the recipe required. Instead of going back out to the deli, we decided to improvise with whatever we had on hand. Here’s how this off-the-cuff ingredient substitution created the best boxed cake we’ve ever tasted. Ingredient Substitution After going back and forth about what to use instead of vegetable oil, we decided to try coconut oil....

I’ll jump on any mention of a new method for making a better from-scratch margarita (skip the Triple Sec and use fresh-squeezed OJ) or a way to reinvent the Moscow mule (make them into slushies), but my favorite home-mixology experiment to date has been incorporating as many fresh herbs, spices, and fresh-slash-frozen fruits as possible. Between the finally-growing herbs on my countertop and a pantry filled with an excess of nothing but booze, spice bottles, banana bread, and frozen blueberries, making infused cocktails has been a solid creative outlet and for me and my sanity....

The most traditional way to stuff chicken breast is to cut a two to three-inch length-wise slit into the thickest part of the breast to create a side pocket that will hug the stuffing mixture. Using toothpicks to seal the pocket helps to keep the filling in, but it’s not a must if you don’t have any on hand. This classic method works great for grilled or pan-seared chicken breasts....

Here’s a step-by-step guide to coordinating meals for friends and family. Susannah Ludwig, a life coach in Brooklyn, N.Y., helped organize a meal train for a friend with cancer. “She had a six-month treatment schedule,” Ludwig says. “I asked her priorities, and she asked for meals for the days immediately after treatment.” If there are kids, factor in their appetites as well. When Katherine Bell Butler of Sharpsburg, Ga., lost her husband, she had two young kids....

Cake is great. You are allowed to eat cake and truly enjoy it. But your body does require variety—a reasonable balance of disparate, nutrient-loaded, energy-packed foods—in order to feel good and function well. If you’re reaching for goodies like cake every single time your stomach growls, you’re missing out on opportunities to feed your body with other valuable goodies, too (like fiber, protein, probiotics, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals). The Secret to Making Balanced Food Choices How can you make it easier to choose something like fresh fruit over cake (again)?...

Unless you order produce online, you can have some control over the crispness of your cucumbers and the juiciness of your nectarines–as long as you know what to look for at the supermarket. We’ve compiled the ultimate A-to-Z guide to choosing produce like a pro. Created with expert advice from the USDA, a nutritionist, and a recipe developer, this handy chart takes the guesswork out of grocery shopping. Print this guide and keep it handy the next time you’re perusing produce; you’ll know exactly how to pick the best of everything on your list....

Weight Heavier, thicker towels tend to offer the softness and absorbency any sensible person wants from a bath towel, but judging if one is heavy or thick enough can be tricky, especially if shopping online. This is where grams per square meter (GSM) comes in. A towel’s GSM refers to its weight and, typically, according to the Micro Cotton team, the higher a towel’s GSM, the better performance you can expect....

We’ve all been there—worried that reaching out to someone you used to work with will seem disingenuous or like you’re asking for something you don’t deserve. But the thing is, people really do get it. Chances are that someone you reach out to could realize they’d love your guidance or require a favor in the very near future too. So let go of your guilt and focus on making the most of your existing network....

Acute Inflammation (“The Good”) Your body has an inflammatory system that can respond to trauma and infection, says Maria Borelius, a biologist and author of Health Revolution: Finding Happiness and Health Through an Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle. The first type, called acute inflammation, is a response where an area of your body hurts and becomes red and swollen because it’s circulating more blood there to repair damaged tissue. Say you accidentally slice into your thumb while chopping an onion—it will likely throb and stay red and swollen for a few days as your body heals....

So how can you remove them safely? If the icicles are less than 1 foot long and 1 inch wide, they can be removed with a telescoping roof rake (like Snow Joe rake, $49.99; amazon.com), says Don Mandeville, a Home Depot district manager in Flint, Michigan. (Call a contractor for help with larger ones to prevent roof damage.) Wear safety goggles and gloves (icicles can hurt), extend the rake from a distance, and gently push the base of the icicles to free them....

Why Table Setting Is Important You may be wondering, “Why bother learning the correct way to position plates and silverware? The food will taste the same either way!” Here’s why: It signals to guests who do appreciate proper table settings that their feelings are important to you. You’ll be setting an overall tone—that it’s your pleasure to dine with them. Also, a properly set table can make the food itself look better....

Lifting weights doesn’t just enhance your quality of life (yes, lugging grocery bags from the car will, in fact, be easier), but “strength training is very important, more so than cardio, for long-term health and longevity,” says Stacy T. Sims, Ph.D., exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist. Plus, as we age, we start to lose that good-for-you muscle, making it all the more important to maintain it. In fact, Sims notes, “if you’re not strength training, you can lose up to 50 percent of your lean skeletal body mass by your 80th birthday....