TGIF! For anyone new here: this is The Skinny, where we serve up curated, need-to-know lifestyle news designed to entertain and save you time, which is everyone’s most valuable resource.

• Digesting the Skinny’s curated news = 5 minutes + more time spent on meaningful activities.

• Mindless social media scrolling = hours you’ll never get back. 

What we’re covering in this week’s snackable news: 

• Avoiding Summer Scaries & how to thrive as glorious summer comes to an end

• Why you should consider making ice cream at home

• The health benefits of having art in your home

• A new, affordable indoor cycling option, Eggo waffle coffee & everything to know about TikTok’s “cucumber guy”

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Avoiding the Summer Scaries

Squeeze the last drops of summer in bliss

The Skinny: Hopefully you are enjoying summer’s final days—by boating, beering, and bonfiring like we are—and The Skinny is here to help you enjoy this moment in time. The goal? Stop worrying that the hum of a blissful “out of office lifestyle” is grinding to an unpleasant halt. 

For an easier transition to “fall vibes” and/or “work vibes,” we have some classic Skinny-esque tips to share. No school supply lists, but rather a roadmap to help you prepare mentally for the transition from working in your bathing suit to a “workish” and “schoolish” lifestyle. 

Not unlike a “New Years Goal,” Forbes recommends treating the end of summer as such, by refocusing on career goals and making changes to what isn’t working.

The end of summer isn‘t just jarring professionally, it’s also been known to wreak havoc on your personal life. Some say the “Summer Scaries” are even worse than “Sunday Scaries,” so some tips to thrive during this period are: 

• Transition slowly by starting with small tasks and then adding to the list

• Create an end of summer ritual: this could be a gathering, trip, or other acknowledgment of appreciation of something you enjoyed this season

• Stay outside (especially now that temperatures are inching toward reasonable)! Remember, we’re working to dramatically reduce that unpleasant “you spend 90% of your life inside” stat. Listen to a new playlist during a walk, garden, read on the balcony, take your coffee outside 

• Practice self care: get those face and hair masks going for your dry AF skin and locks, and brighten up skin with an exfoliator, which is critical in the summer due to the heat, sunscreen and sweat that can clog pores. Hot new product alert to pick up — Cetaphil’s new sensitive skin exfoliator. Finally, mix up a DIY scrub for your “summer feet” 

Now, for food. It’s likely a more “linear calendar” will apply, this means breakfast comes sharply into focus again. So in the same vein, take some small steps towards making it a more intentional time, as opposed to just shoving yesterday’s Italian Combo Salad down the hatch (guilty). To ease in, we’re sharing this stellar list of 25 great breakfast ideas for “back to school” including savory or sweet greatest hits such as:

• Pancake tacos

• Mini citrus monkey bread  

• Sheet pan chilaquiles

• Sheet pan pancakes with peach and strawberries 

• Slow cooker Mediterranean frittata

Crème de la Skinny  

I scream for DIY ice cream

The Skinny: I scream, you scream, we all scream for guar gum? No, thanks; we’d rather make our own. We got this great ice cream maker as a birthday gift and so far, we have LOVED it (though it does require a little planning ahead to freeze the container). Now before you say “OMG that is too much work,” or this “sounds way too ’80s for me,” hear us out: zero chemicals or additives, and you control the flavor.  The basics are below – so it’s hard to complain that it is “too hard to make.” 

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream or regular cream

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1/2-3/4 cups sugar see note

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• Whatever flavor you want to add 

But, back to the guar gum. It’s come to our attention that as ice cream manufacturers are acquired by larger companies, and as consumers scale back on their pints – Unilever reported “disappointing” ice cream performance earlier this year – the quality of the ingredients can plummet. From emulsifiers, stabilizers, additives and fillers, here is what to look out for on the label. What can we enjoy, ice-cream wise? The easiest tip is to look for ice cream with the fewest ingredients, avoid products that aren’t able to even be called “ice cream,” these brands that have the lowest quality ingredients and of course – the “ice cream” sandwiches that don’t melt (though this article makes an argument that it’s not as scary as you might think). 

The final scoop: Another list of which ice creams are made with the best quality, AND  the lowest quality ingredients.   

On exhibit: your walls

Art in your home can have powerful benefits for the brain

The Skinny: New art in your home is one of the simplest ways to transform your mood and take a room, or space, from meh to masterpiece. Think about how you felt the last time you visited a museum, or someone’s home that had an artfully designed interior and artwork that was particularly beautiful, or that spoke meaningfully to you. That feeling, in fact, is a result of the powerful effects that viewing art have on the brain. In case you can’t access the story, a summary:

• A study – in which participants were shown a series of beautiful paintings every 10 seconds, and had their blood flow measured – found that looking at beautiful works of art increased blood flow “in a certain part of the brain by as much as 10%.”

• That part of the brain, the medial orbitofrontal cortex, is associated with pleasure and desire

• In short – looking at beautiful art makes you feel great, and if you want to investigate further, the FT looks at the science of neuroaesthetics, and why we crave beauty and art.  

Add to cart: For those who love NYC and appreciate the stories of its  neighborhoods as moments in time, may we recommend these limited edition fine art prints by artist Richard Goehl. These prints are of the original oil paintings and, for The Skinny subscribers, he’s offering 20% off through August using code SKINNY20. Prints are on acid-free paper using archival inks.

OHM, THERE'S MORE

This week’s newsfeed

• You know we love our hot dog news, so of course we wish we could go to a Mariners game to experience “hot dogs from heaven.”

• Love indoor cycling but hate the high price? Head to Rev’d, which has set a new, affordable membership option deemed “unprecedented” by experts.

• If you don’t know about the “cucumber guy" yet and the creative cucumbers-of-the day, prepare to be wowed via Delish 

• “Easy breakfast” pioneers Eggo waffles are now in the coffee biz and with these waffle flavors now in drinkable form, you can still enjoy the flavors, but LEGGO of the extra calories. 

• Yoga’s benefits are stretching to include the brain: Can it now help improve cognition?

• Aged cheddar, from plants: Based on the realization that the flavors that make aged cheddar delicious don’t come from milk, Plonts has raised a ton of cash and is now on the menu at restaurants in SF and NYC.

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