Hilary Duff uses this ketogenic diet staple as a moisturizer—but does it work?
Actress Hilary Duff makes her own elbow moisturizer from avocados—since the fruit is packed with vitamins B and K, but does it really work in the long term?
Hilary Duff uses this ketogenic diet staple as a moisturizer—but does it work?
Actress Hilary Duff makes her own elbow moisturizer from avocados—since the fruit is packed with vitamins B and K, but does it really work in the long term?
Lizzie McGuire may have thought science class was a drag, but IRL, Hilary Duff‘s quite the DIY beauty queen. Between coffee grinds, coconut oil, and honey, the Younger actress-slash-mama has some serious at-home wellness prowess when it comes to her skin-care habits.
While the star’s got her beauty faves for beating everything from puffy eyes to airplane face bloat, she recently shared a moisturizing hack for a place that tends to be forgotten: your elbows. According to New York dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, MD, due to all the friction, the skin there gets drier than other parts of your body.
Duff’s secret? Everyone’s favorite healthy fat: avocados. “When we were little, my mom would save the avocado peels with some meat still left inside the halves when she was making guac,” she tells me. “She’d then put them on her elbows, and sometimes even her knees, as a moisturizer.”
Yes, she means you rub it on directly from the fruit itself. “It’s super simple,” Duff explains. “Cut the avo in half, and then after eating most of the avocado meat, you just kind of rub the empty shell on the dry skin.”
“Avocado meat is naturally fat-rich, which has moisturizing properties for the skin,” —Shrankhla Holecek.
Does the toast topping truly have skin benefits, though? “There’s actually something to this!” says Shrankhla Holecek, Ayurvedic expert and founder of beauty brand Uma Oils. “Avocado meat is naturally fat-rich, which has moisturizing properties for the skin. Plus, they’re packed with nutrients like vitamins such as B and K, which can have repair properties for the skin as well.”
And don’t worry, it doesn’t matter if the avocado is ripe or not. In fact, clinical researcher and beauty expert Leigh Winters, an instructor at Columbia Business School’s Venture for All program says, the less-ripe the better. “If the fruit is picked too early, it might be too watery to eat, but that may actually make it a better hydrator for your tough elbow skin.”
Just don’t expect the avocado mash to boost your overall skin health too much. “It’s moisturizing for sure,” says Winters. “But in order to see any real difference in skin tone and suppleness, you’re going to need more than the active ingredients in just one avocado,” Winters says, noting that avocado oil may be the fruit’s perfect pairing.
At the very least, the beauty hack’s bound to make your elbows look, ahem, younger (had to).
Most people have a love-hate relationship with eggs right now. The breakfast staple is hard to find at many stores but, even when you manage to track a carton down, the sky-high prices are enough to make even the most devoted egg fan rethink their choices.
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Data from the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows a clear uptick in prices over time, with wholesale prices (what the store pays egg suppliers) in New York jumping 52 cents to $7.24 per dozen in December alone. In California, a dozen eggs will now set you back almost $9. Exact prices vary by location, but a USDA report from this week shows that egg prices are continuing to rise. With bird flu continuing to swirl in flocks, you can expect those prices to stay up for a while.
If you like to have your eggs scrambled, boiled, or fried, you may decide to buck up and pay more for a dozen while being mindful of how often you eat them. But if you tend to use eggs in baking, it can be helpful to know there are other options that give you the same taste and texture you’re after without blowing a ton of money. With that in mind, I tapped three dietitians for their advice on the best egg substitutes, plus how to use them so you don’t end up feeling deprived.
What is the best way to use egg substitutes?
Many substitutes aren’t designed to replace eggs that you’d eat as a main attraction on your plate. Instead, they’re best used in a baking recipe, although each has its own niche. “Eggs in recipes not only add protein and nutrients, but moisture and also act as a binder to hold other ingredients together as they cook or bake,” says Nancy Oliveira, RD, manager of nutrition and wellness services at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “They also help to trap air which causes baked goods to rise and become fluffy.” In order to work, substitutions need to have similar properties, Oliveira says.
“Before you replace eggs in a recipe, you need to know what they were there for,” Christy Brissette, RD, dietitian and owner of 80 Twenty Nutrition. “Was it to help it rise when baking, to bind it together, or was it adding moisture?”
If you’re baking something that needs to rise, Brissette suggests adding ½ tsp of baking powder along with your egg-replacing ingredient, if it isn’t already in the recipe. “For baking, mashed banana, applesauce, mashed avocado, puréed pumpkin, pureed sweet potato or silken tofu help bind the ingredients together and add moisture,” she says. Just add ¼ cup to replace one large egg in a recipe. Brissette warns that some of these ingredients can alter the flavor of the final product, so choose your substitutions carefully.
If you need something to bind your ingredients together, Brissette suggests using ground flax seeds or whole chia seeds. Mix 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds or chia seeds with 3 tablespoons of water and let sit for five minutes. “This will form a gel that you can then add to your wet ingredients,” Brissette says, noting that this hack also adds more fiber to your dish. “These options work well in recipes for quickbreads such as pancakes, muffins, and zucchini bread,” she says. The flavor of this combination is neutral, Oliveira says, and “you get a boost of omega-3 fatty acids, too.”
In recipes like burgers or meatballs, the egg acts to bind the ingredients together so they don't fall apart, Brissette says. “If I don't have eggs on hand, I'll use oats, cooked rice, or breadcrumbs with a bit of water,” she says. “You can also sub in mashed sweet potato or mashed potato or squash to help it bind and add some moisture.”
Aquafaba—or the liquid that’s left over in a can of chickpeas—is a great option as a binder in baked goods or vegan mayonnaise, per Brissette. “You can even use it to replace egg whites in recipes like meringue and macaroons,” she says. “Just whip it up in a mixer with some cream of tartar for three to five minutes to form stiff peaks.” Aquafaba doesn’t contain a lot of nutrients but it’s easy and many people already have cans sitting around. “It’s great to repurpose the liquid that we would normally toss out,” she adds.
Overall, using egg swaps in your recipes may take a little trial and error. But, once you find one that works for you, it could end up saving money in the long run—and adding in extra nutrition in the process.
Commercial egg replacers (these are usually made from potato and tapioca starch with added leavening agents like baking soda, Johnson says)
Mayonnaise (it contains egg, plus provides great moisture for baked goods)
How to get 12+ grams of protein elsewhere
Two eggs deliver about 12 grams of protein. And, if you’re limiting your egg use or skipping it entirely, it’s fair to wonder how else to get in that much protein. “There are many other ways to obtain 12 grams of protein beyond eating two eggs, including plant-based and alternative protein sources,” Johnson says.
Those include:
2 ounces of animal meat, ~14 grams of protein
⅔ cup Greek yogurt, 12 grams of protein
3 tablespoons of peanut butter, 12 grams of protein
½ cup cottage cheese, 13 grams of protein
1 ½ cups of milk, 12 grams of protein
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You could call your brain and heart the co-captains, board of directors, command center (you get it) of your body. And yet it’s easy to move through a day, a week, or a year without checking in on either of them.
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But let’s get real—if the command center of your body isn’t functioning optimally, nothing in your body will be functioning optimally, so proactively supporting your brain and heart is seriously important. Luckily, there’s an easy way to support both using an ingredient you’re probably familiar with: cocoa. Specifically, cocoa flavanols, which are polyphenols found in the cacao plant that are known to promote healthy blood flow.
Quick science lesson: Flavanols are a subset of flavonoids, a group of compounds found in plants (including fruits and vegetables) that help increase your body’s nitric oxide production, which in turn allows your blood vessels to widen. Widened, or dilated, blood vessels function more effectively and help your body’s systems—your heart, your brain, and everything in between—function better, too.
That’s why registered dietitian Amy Shapiro, MS, RD, says incorporating cocoa flavanols into your routine is a simple way to boost your body’s overall functioning. But before you take free rein to eat as much chocolate as you want for the sake of your health, know that it would take a lot of brownies to fully reap the brain and cardio benefits of cocoa flavanols—and Shapiro cautions the unhealthy levels of sugars and fats associated with this kind of consumption (and direct heat from baking removes health benefits of flavanols). Instead, “a flavanol supplement would provide a concentrated, sugar-free [serving] of these compounds, making it a more effective way to support brain and heart health,*” she says.
CocoaVia™ capsules and powders are made with Cocoapro™, a cocoa flavanol extract that’s 24 times more concentrated than cocoa powder. These high-quality supplements are formulated specifically to help sustain long-term brain and heart health with virtually no effort, since you can take them in capsule form or stir them into your favorite beverage.†*
Plus, you can get 20 percent off all CocoaVia Cardio and Memory products (excluding the Cardio Stick Packs) with code WG2025. What better way to start giving your co-captains some love?
The brain benefits of cocoa flavanols
Incorporating a cocoa flavanol supplement into your daily lineup can help support your cognitive health by improving blood flow and neuron functioning†, Shapiro says. “Enhanced blood flow to the brain [may] support memory, focus, and overall cognitive function. By [supporting] neurons, flavanols also help preserve and maintain brain health as we age, improving overall quality of life.”
CocoaVia Memory+ is formulated with 750 milligrams of cocoa flavanols—which studies suggest is the clinically proven serving for improving three types of memory (including word recall, spatial memory, and long-term memory) in as few as eight to 12 weeks. CocoaVia Memory & Focus combines the flavanols with lutein, a carotenoid nutrient that Shapiro says is best known for its impact on eye health, but also has major cognitive benefits.†
Bonus: Memory & Focus is formulated with 50 milligrams of naturally occurring caffeine (or about one half the amount in a cup of coffee) to give you a little energy boost alongside all that brain support.
The cardio benefits of cocoa flavanols
As for your heart? “Cocoa flavanols support cardiovascular health by improving blood vessel elasticity…and enhancing blood flow—effects that are crucial for [retaining] healthy blood pressure…and promoting overall circulation, which benefits the entire body,” Shapiro says.
And the science supports her insights. From 2015 to 2020, Brigham and Women’s Hospital conducted The Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study, or COSMOS. More than 20 thousand participants opted into the five-year study, which investigated the long-term impact of flavanols on health—and showed that participants who received 500 milligrams of cocoa flavanols daily, in accordance with the study protocol, had a 39-percent reduction in deaths from cardiovascular disease compared to those in the placebo group.
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CocoaVia’s heart health support comes in the form of capsules and powder, taken daily. If powder’s your preference, stir a scoop (or a stick pack) into hot water or coffee for an easy upgrade to your morning mug, or get fancy with a batch of chocolatey overnight oats for breakfast, protein energy balls for the mid-afternoon slump, or black bean dip for your next taco night.
There’s never a bad time to offer your body’s board of directors a little extra support—so snag these heart and brain supplements* while they’re 20 percent off, and celebrate your new routine with a steamy cup of cocoa.
*Always talk to your doctor about adding supplements to your routine.
† This statement has not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Hey wellness seeker! Friendly reminder that—like all of wellness—the supplements you take are personal. Well+Good always recommends checking in with your health-care provider before adding a new supplement to your routine.
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