The 2018 roundup

Little things that made my life better this year.

3 min readJan 6, 2019

1. Time-restricted feeding (aka intermittent fasting)

Inspired by the research of Dr. Satchin Panda, I set the goal at the beginning of 2018 to practice time-restricted feeding (TRF) at least 5 days a week. I aimed to consume all food/drink within an 8- or 10-hour window each day, fasting from everything except water for the remaining hours. The effect on my sleep (yes, sleep — weird, right?) was incredible, & I experienced improvements in overall energy & mental clarity as well. TRF hasn’t been extensively studied yet, but these are common experiences for those who practice it.

Try it yourself & help further Dr. Panda’s research by downloading his myCircadianClock app.

2. Scrunchies (link)

Curly hair + fine hair + hair ties = breakage. Sick of trying to untangle my hair from its daily updo without hurting anything, I decided to copy the “Blurred Lines” models & get some satin scrunchies. Hope these stay in style for a while, because I’m never going back.

This girl doesn’t know how much she changed my life.

3. “Hammies” (link)

This one’s for my low-carb fam. Super simple, convenient, & delicious, these ham/egg cups (we call them “hammies” at my house because we’re us) have been a staple in my life since September. Love love love.

Honorable mention goes to bacon-wrapped dates, another staple in my household. Stupid easy & soooo so good.

4. Habitbull (link)

If you’re looking to build daily/weekly habits this new year, give this app a spin. Anyone who’s “clean streak”-oriented will love that it allows you to incorporate cheat days without breaking your momentum. The free version allows you to track up to 5 habits (which you can set up as either a binary yes/no or a numeric value), & measure your success rate for each. I can’t wait to recalibrate Habitbull with my 2019 goals this week.

5. Therapeutica sleeping pillow (link)

In 2016, I became an evangelist for electric neck massagers. This year, in the same spirit, I became just as enthusiastic about the Therapeutica sleeping pillow, which gives your neck great support whether you’re a back sleeper or a side sleeper. The pillow helps me sleep so well that I bought multiple, keeping one in each of the cities where I spend most of my time.

I use the petite size, but I recommend taking your measurements before ordering.

6. DevaCurl (both the shampoo & the salons)

I took shampoo suggestions from Facebook friends earlier this year & couldn’t be happier with DevaCurl, which was recommended to me by at least a dozen women. I had been increasingly feeling like anything with suds was damaging, so I was looking for something gentle but effective.

I tried the shampoo & loved it. But just as importantly, I tried going to a DevaCurl-certified salon & was blown away — best haircut of my life! The stylist understood my curls better than I did myself. Find a curly hair salon near you by using DevaCurl’s salon lookup.