We selected these blogs because they are all platforms that are educating, inspiring and empowering a community of online female readers with the information and tools that they need. If you would like to tell us about a blog that we missed, please feel free to nominate them by emailing info@plushcare.com!
Women’s health is about empowering women to live a life that is mentally, emotionally and physically healthy. There are many ways to achieve a healthy lifestyle and many practices that one can adopt to achieve their own version of healthy. Some of these practices might include exercise, healthy eating, mindfulness, proper health care, disease prevention, self-love, and more!
The blogs we have chosen each take a different approach to women’s health and help provide their readers with the tools they need to achieve the health that they want. Some of the websites take a medical angle, focusing on providing reproductive and sexual health information as a way to help women make decisions about their physical health. Others focus on recipes and workout routines, enabling women to design and live a healthier lifestyle in their day-to-day lives. Many of the sites also include mindfulness practices as a key to living a healthier life (i.e. meditation, yoga, self-reflection), as these practices tend to reduce stress and increase happiness levels. And some of the sites focus on increasing self-love and acceptance, because women shouldn’t have to worry about their shape, size, shade, or ability in their day-to-day lives. Regardless of their methods or ideas, each of the blogs we have chosen to highlight below are focusing on educating and empowering women, ultimately using their platforms to create a stronger, happier and healthier population of women across the world.
1. She Knows
We all know that being a healthy woman involves more than just working out a couple of times a week and eating healthy - achieving health and wellness also means embracing your community and utilizing the resources you have available to you. This all-encompassing news platform written for women, by women, does just that, providing women with the community they need to thrive. She Knows states that its mission is to empower women to discover, share, and create. With news and articles on everything from food to pop culture, DIY to fashion, and parenting to decor, She Knows is a great go-to website for all things women. They have videos and articles in their “special series” that aim to help women achieve their goals, featuring topics like Pursuing Your Passion and 100 Inspiring Women. They also feature a health section with more specific information on women’s health, including articles on fitness, diet, reproductive health, children’s health, and more. She Knows is a great holistic resource that allows women to explore topics surrounding health and their daily lives. (https://www.sheknows.com/)
2. Thank Your Body
Looking for holistic, alternative approaches to health? Look no further - Thank Your Body has everything you need to tackle your health from all angles. They want to help you simplify your health and make it as easy as possible to figure out what’s healthy and what’s not. And they break this process down into 3 simple steps for their readers: Eat Better, Move More, and Avoid Toxins. Their Eat Better guide focuses on providing tips to make healthy eating easier. They advise people to focus on cooking real meals for themselves as a way to improve eating habits. The best way to do this? Meal planning. The Move More page also helps decipher the craziness of creating an exercise routine by focusing on movement, rather than a specific, day-to-day set of exercises. The Avoid Toxins guide does what one might expect - helps you to avoid the toxins you might encounter. Whether you want to learn about being healthy without driving yourself crazy, or the different candles that could potentially be toxic to you, Thank Your Body can help you navigate the craziness of this world and achieve an all-around healthier lifestyle. (https://www.thankyourbody.com/)
3. Healthy Women
Healthy Women is a leading source of independent, nonprofit health information for women. The website provides “objective, research based health information” reviewed by medical professionals. Healthy Women provides extensive resources on pregnancy and parenting, sex and relationships, healthy living, healthy aging and diseases and conditions. It serves as an information hub for women of all ages facing all kinds of different issues. One of the ways they do this is by creating “online health centers,” which serve as a go-to source for information on any of the above topics. They have a regular e-newsletter, partner with clinics across the country to disseminate information, and create regular national health campaigns. Healthy Women also provides tools to help monitor health like an ovulation calculator, a body mass index calculator, a fatigue severity scale, a due date calculator and a target heart rate scale. The site has won numerous awards and recognition for their work with women’s health. (https://www.healthywomen.org/)
4. Healthista
Healthista is an online magazine that provides news and advice on all things women’s health. Founded by award winning journalist Anna Magee, who wanted to bring the knowledge of health experts to a broader female audience. But you won’t find any nonsense product advertisements or women smiling at salad on this site--Healthista aims to be smart, useful, and real in their advice to women. The website features information on fitness, food, mental health, sexual health, and disease prevention. They provide advice and articles from health experts - doctors, nutritionists, personal trainers, psychologists and consultants - on each of these issues. They also provide instructional exercise videos, cooking videos, and other tutorials to help you live your healthiest life. Healthista includes product reviews to inform its readers on which health products provide the best bang for your buck. Since its establishment in 2016, Healthista has blossomed into one of the foremost online women’s health journalism platforms. (https://www.healthista.com/)
5. Girls Gone Strong
Looking for a website that can help boost your confidence and your strength? Look no further - Girls Gone Strong is the ultimate empowerment website. Their motto is “we envision a world full of women who strive to be more, instead of less.” The site aims to arm women with the knowledge they need to build their strength and their confidence, not because anyone is telling them to, but because they deserve to be strong and happy. They provide free guides like the “7 Day Love Your Body Challenge” and “5 Myths of Strength Training During Pregnancy” to help you improve your health, strength and diet to help you achieve your best self. And if you want more, you can purchase handbooks that provide more specific, targeted information. Girls Gone Strong has accumulated numerous accolades and mentions by magazines like Time, People, Cosmopolitan and more. (https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/
6. International Women’s Health Coalition Blog
Looking to keep up with women’s health politics and current events? The International Women’s Health Coalition Blog is a great place to start. The organization aims to promote women’s and girl’s health to achieve social, environmental and economic justice and equality by arming women with the information they need to advocate for themselves. In tandem with these goals, their blog provides information on all of the major women’s health related current events. Some of the most recent headlines include 2017: A Year of Hard Fought Wins for Women and Strength in Numbers: Argentina’s Women’s Health Movement. These are just a snapshot of the all-around empowering feel of the website. They do an excellent job of balancing hard (and sometimes difficult or maddening) facts with uplifting success stories. The International Women’s Health Coalition Blog can (and should) be your go-to news source for women’s health policy and current events. (https://iwhc.org/blog/)
7. Speaking of Women’s Health
Speaking of Women’s Health is an online platform run by the Cleveland Clinic Center for Specialized Women’s Health whose mission is to educate women to make informed decisions about health, well-being and personal safety for themselves and their families. This website is unique in its health focus - they provide disease and treatment guides for all-things women’s health. From cancer to kidney disease to reproductive disorders, Speaking of Women’s Health has you covered. The site also features a “Be Strong” page, a “Be Healthy” page, and a “Be In Charge” page, all of which aim to help women to be happy and healthy in their day-to-day lives. As you might expect, Speaking of Women’s Health’s Be Strong page emphasizes the importance of exercise and fitness, while the Be Healthy page focuses on food and nutrition and the Be In Charge page focuses on relationships and sexual health. Lastly, Speaking of Women’s Health offers health calculators, to help its readers stay on track with their health and well-being. If you’re looking for a medically-oriented women’s health website, Speaking of Women’s Health is an excellent place to start! (https://speakingofwomenshealth.com/)
8. Holistic Squid
Holistic Squid is run by a Southern California based Chinese-medicine specialist named Emily. Emily writes on beauty, fitness, health, illness remedies, nutrition, food, family life, and travel. Her extensive knowledge on Chinese medicine and holistic health fuels all of her writing, which aims to help her readers achieve a healthy, balanced, holistic lifestyle. Her recipes feature everything you might need to keep you and your family happy, healthy and nourished - from homemade Spanish rice to homemade vitamin gummy bears, Emily has it all. And unlike other blogs, whose beauty sections provide product recommendations, Emily actually has recipes for beauty and reviews of different beauty myths. She also has tips on starting a family, reviews of different nutritional fads, and much more. Holistic Squid is a great place to go for a comprehensive guide on staying happy and healthy with at-home recipes and regimens. (https://holisticsquid.com/)
9. Body Positive Panda
If you’re at all familiar with the body positivity movement, you know that Body Positive Panda was instrumental in launching the movement into the international spotlight. For those that don’t know, body positivity is about accepting and loving your body, no matter size, shape, age, gender, shade or ability. This movement has become a pillar of women’s health over the past couple of years, as women have banded together online to knock down unhealthy body standards and expectations. Body Positive Panda has become a leader of this movement with her blog and instagram presence (@boposipanda). They post powerful messages like “Just a reminder in case your mind is playing tricks on you today: You matter. You’re important. You’re loved. And your presence on this earth makes a difference whether you see it or not.” The blog has articles on how to beat food guilt, why certain diets are harmful, etc. If you are looking to ditch your body guilt and find self-love and acceptance, Body Positive Panda is absolutely the place to be. (http://www.bodyposipanda.com/)
10. Planned Parenthood
Looking for information on sexual and reproductive health? Planned parenthood has got you covered. An established name in the reproductive health business, Planned Parenthood has made it its mission to provide women with the information and care they need to live strong, healthy lives and fulfill their dreams. Over the past 101 years, Planned Parenthood has become the go-to resource for all things women’s health, and their blog has allowed them to further their reach and audience. The Planned Parenthood informational site provides information on things like abortion, sexual/gender orientation, sex and relationships, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, health and wellness, emergency contraception, and more! They have certified medical professionals that have provided all the information necessary for you to make an informed decision about your sexual health and well being. They also provide resources for teens and parents so that everyone is armed with the information they need to talk to their loved ones about these health issues. Planned Parenthood is a great website to look at if you want helpful advice to help inform your sexual health decisions. (https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn)
Sources
CDC. Women's Health at https://www.cdc.gov/women/index.htm
Medline Plus. Women's Health at https://medlineplus.gov/womenshealth.html
Mayo Clinic. Women's Health at https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/womens-health/basics/womens-health/hlv-20049411
