Wellness Tip:
Vary Your Proteins
You’ve heard it a million times by now: protein is important, so make sure you’re getting enough of it. And yet, that’s not the full story. Researchers are increasingly finding that the quality and variety of the protein you eat matter too.
Animal foods like meat, dairy, and eggs generally provide more of the essential amino acids your body needs in the right proportions than many individual plant foods. That’s why not all 10-gram servings of protein are necessarily equal.
For example, a tablespoon of peanut butter contains roughly the same amount of protein as an egg. But because eggs contain a more complete balance of essential amino acids, you’d need to eat around four times as much peanut butter to get the same benefits.
Does that mean you have to eat more animal foods? Not at all. The key is variety and how you balance your foods. Pairing, say, rice with beans or nuts with whole grains gives you a more complex nutritional profile than eating those foods alone.
Read more about protein pairings here. The bottom line is not to just chase your daily protein target. Mix up your protein sources to give your body a broader range of amino acids and nutrients.
Routine Breakdown
Dr. Natacha Bonjout, Founder of Bonjout Beauty
The Evening Routine of a French Beauty Founder
French pharmacist-turned-beauty founder Natacha Bonjout is a bit of a night owl. Whether at home in New York or traveling, she keeps her evenings sacred. Here’s her routine.
The Routine:
6 pm: She’s still working while their au pair gives the kids dinner.
7 pm: Stops work to spend time with her kids. “This is really our moment together. Usually, we sit on my bed, read two to three books, then they go to bed, and it’s my time to have dinner.”
- 8 pm: Late but light dinner with her partner. “We eat a lot for lunch, like pasta, and then for dinner we’ll have something like a beautiful, colorful salad or a poke bowl.” She keeps the dimmers low and lights candles.
- 9 pm: Works more. “I like it when everyone’s asleep, and it’s quiet, and that’s when I like to do my writing.” However, she tries not to work past 10 pm: “It’s hard with kids waking you up early to get enough sleep.”
- 10 pm: Showers and does her skincare ritual. The final step is a small drop of perfume on her wrist. “It’s really my moment to reconnect to myself when I apply it. This is my comforting moment where I feel, ‘Okay, you can go to bed now.’”
- 11 pm: 15 minutes of relaxing music, then sleep, with phone kept out of reach.
Why it works:
- Natacha’s routine is built around small rituals: the nightly reading with her kids and dinner with her partner strengthen family bonds; her beauty routine is a slow and non-negotiable moment of self-care. The final drop of perfume serves as a cue that the day is done and it’s time to rest. Rituals are powerful because they give us a sense of control and certainty in an uncertain world, which helps reduce stress.
Not everyone has an hour to spend on a beauty routine (though it makes a little more sense if you run a beauty brand). But whatever your version of “me time” looks like, taking a few minutes each day for a small, intentional ritual is always worthwhile. What’s your favorite self-care ritual?
