Mini-Ep 477: A Few Good Pants Recs

Summary

Forever35 Podcast Mini-Episode 477: "A Few Good Pants Recs"

Hosts: Doree Shafrir & Elise Hu
Date: January 28, 2026

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Episode Overview

This mini-episode centers on listener questions and crowdsourced recommendations for self-care routines, particularly ways to exfoliate your back, high-protein breakfast ideas, postpartum and travel pants, and the ever-essential quest for soft, comfortable wardrobes that fit real life. Doree and Elise tackle everything from “bacne” solutions to leggings that won’t irritate healing C-section scars, with humor, warmth, and their signature down-to-earth energy. Listeners chime in with product tips and personal stories, turning the podcast into a collaborative space for advice on caring for yourself through busy seasons and life transitions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Life Updates and Upcoming Events

(02:24 - 06:59)

• Elise shares she’s entering a busy period, with her birthday, Valentine’s Day, and Lunar New Year all converging in one week. She describes planning a chill birthday by gathering friends at a central LA food hall/restaurant (Rose’s place in West Adams), inspired by impromptu get-togethers she hosts when traveling to New York.
• The hosts lightly joke about the challenge of birthday logistics and reminisce about the difficulties of winter in the Midwest and DC, particularly in the context of their friends and family with kids in winter sports.
• Elise: “There’s a reason I moved to Southern California and not back to DC after being a foreign correspondent. Like, I could not.” (06:24)

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2. Back Exfoliation & Bacne Solutions

(07:32 - 10:18)

• Responding to “Sammy’s” listener question about back exfoliation (possibly bacne), the hosts field several enthusiastic recommendations:
  • Salux (S•A•L•U•X) Skin Cloths: Japanese exfoliation sheets you can pull across your back and hard-to-reach spots, also recommended for butt and back of thighs.
    • Listener from Seattle: “Excellent for the hard to reach areas. Happy exfoliating!” (08:20)
    • Another listener: “Sammy, get yourself a Salix. This thing is the absolute best for exfoliating all over.”
  • Voicemail Advice:
    • Shower right after workouts and change clothes immediately.
    • Avoid letting shampoo and conditioner rinse run down your back.
    • Back facials can really help: “While it sounds crazy, it was important to me…got a couple back facials and it cleared it up so well.” (09:26)
  • The hosts joke about gifting exfoliation tools or facials for birthdays.

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3. High-Protein Breakfast Ideas from Listeners

(10:26 - 11:56)

• A listener recommends her “craveable” breakfast: thick and creamy Greek yogurt (Trader Joe’s), peanut protein granola, and fruit.
  • Doree: “I love like full-fat, whole-milk Greek yogurt and that’s what this is. The container is like navy blue…” (11:04)
• Elise laments her kids’ reluctance to eat protein bars, preferring simple foods like eggs.

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4. Listener Question: One Versus Two Kids

(14:44 - 15:32)

• A listener shares reflections on raising two children, noting personalities play a huge role; her friend’s family kept having children “until each of them had a buddy,” ending up with seven kids.
  • Doree: “That’s...that’s really something. Okay. Wow.” (15:28)
• Hosts acknowledge they received a flood of emails and messages on this, but want to avoid “dish towel” territory (i.e., letting it consume the episode).

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5. Postpartum Wear & Soft Pants Recommendations

(16:16 - 20:58)

• An eight-month-pregnant listener asks for advice on pants that don’t irritate C-section scars, soft robes, and similar comfort wear.
  • Elise recommends:
    • Uniqlo basics (soft sweat sets, affordable robes from Nordstrom Rack)
    • Varley quarter-zips and pants (high-waisted, soft, possibly good for postpartum)
  • Doree (who had a C-section) swears by:
    • Lululemon Align Leggings: “Thick, tall waistband. Doesn’t dig in anywhere, sort of compression, which is good after a C-section.” (17:53-18:22)
    • Belly Band/wraps: Helps provide extra comfort and allow wearing pants that might otherwise rub the scar.
    • J.Crew jersey pajamas: Soft, button-up tops for nursing/pumping (19:38)
    • Maternity jeans with side panels: Good postpartum option.
  • Doree: “Something that’s like slightly compressiony…I think is like the way to go.” (20:50)
  • Elise: “You don’t have to be postpartum to wear any of these soft clothes.” (19:58)

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6. Travel Pants Recommendations from the Forever35 Community

(21:13 - 29:21)

• North Face Aphrodite 2.0 Pants (from REI):
  • Wide, comfortable waistband, good pockets, and straight leg. Still holding up after years.
  • Doree notes: “My only potential concern is that they look a little low rise…all the pictures on REI’s website is—they come up way below the belly button.” (24:50)
• Lululemon Joggers via Poshmark:
  • Old (pre-2020) versions recommended for superior quality; can identify by a circle around size number.
• Spanx Air Essentials:
  • Multiple listeners and a voicemail weigh in:
    • Fabric is soft; was ‘sweatshirty’ in older versions but is now more ‘scuba-y’ and less breathable.
    • Major downside: no pockets! (Listener: “Air Essential to me, I need pockets, pockets, pockets.” [28:40])
    • Good for loungewear/sleep, but not ideal for travel due to lack of pockets and tendency to get hot.
  • Elise hopes Spanx will listen to the demand for pockets: “This pockets issue—you would think that the Spanx consumers have already written in and made a lot of noise about this. So hopefully they’ll reconsider their position on pockets.” (29:21)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Bacne Products:
  “Sammy, get yourself a Salix. This thing is the absolute best for exfoliating all over, including hard to reach spots. … A holy grail product, imho.” (08:27)

• On Soft Life Postpartum:
  “You don’t have to be postpartum to wear any of these soft clothes. You can keep living the soft life long after this baby is out in the world.” — Elise (19:58)

• On Parenting Logistics:
  “There’s a reason I moved to Southern California and not back to DC after being a foreign correspondent. Like, I could not.” — Elise (06:24)

• On Pockets in Travel Wear:
  “Air Essential to me—I need pockets, pockets, pockets.” — Listener voicemail (28:40)

• On Family Size Decisions:
  “My friend’s parents decided to keep having children until each of them had a buddy since the first two didn’t click…They have seven children, so take this approach with a grain of salt.” — Listener text (15:16)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Life Updates, Birthday, LA vs. East Coast Winters: 02:24 - 06:59
• Back Exfoliation & Bacne Advice: 07:32 - 10:18
• Protein-packed Breakfasts: 10:26 - 11:56
• One vs. Two Kids Question: 14:44 - 15:32
• Postpartum & Soft Clothes Recommendations: 16:16 - 20:58
• Travel Pants Community Recs: 21:13 - 29:21

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Summary Takeaways

• Listeners provide a trove of practical product recommendations for all aspects of self-care—including skin, breakfast, new-mom wardrobe, and travel comfort.
• Community dialogue is lively, with listeners and hosts dialoguing over everything from robe softness to the necessity of pockets.
• Advice prioritizes comfort, confidence, and adaptability for real-life seasons—whether you’re healing from surgery, on the road, or just trying to keep your protein up at breakfast.
• The episode underscores the podcast’s supportive, resource-sharing spirit, helping listeners care for themselves with humor, insight, and collective wisdom.

Transcript

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[Dory Shafrier]

I am really feeling that the busy season has started. I don't know about you, Elise. Yes, but I think what's really important is that we need to remember to put a little bit of ourselves first too. And we can do that with the brand new Peloton Cross Training Tread plus. Powered by Peloton iq. It's Peloton's most elevated equipment with real time guidance and endless ways to move alone or with your favorite instructors. It's cross training reimagined with features designed to help you reach your goals effortlessly and personally. I know that having a plan helps me stay motivated. Knowing that I have a certain class on a certain certain day, even at a certain time, helps me move forward with my fitness goals, even if I don't really want to show up on that certain day or certain time.

[Elise Hu]

I get it. Yeah.

[Dory Shafrier]

Peloton IQ provides just that with their personalized plans and recommendations. This can include weekly recommended classes led by instructors who match your mood, vibe and personality. Not to mention the variety and workouts available. Go on a 45 minute run on the tread plus or a 5 minute stretch off of it with one smooth spin of that swivel screen. It offers endless ways to train for a well rounded routine. No matter how busy you are, let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push and go Explore the new peloton cross training tread [e-mail]. Hello and welcome to Forever 35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I'm Dory Shafrier.

[Elise Hu]

And I'm Elise Hu and we're just two friends who like to talk a lot about serums.

[Dory Shafrier]

And this is a mini episode where we hear from you, we share comments and your thoughts, and we answer your questions to the best of our ability. But please remember we are not experts, we are podcast hosts and we always encourage you to seek support first and foremost from a medical and or mental health professional as needed.

[Elise Hu]

Yes. Yes indeed.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yes indeedy. What's going on, Elise?

[Elise Hu]

We are now rounding. I guess by the time this episode comes out it'll almost be the end of January already, which is pretty wild. I know.

[Dory Shafrier]

How did that happen?

[Elise Hu]

I know, I know. And February. There's always like the trifecta of activity for whoever is the romantic partner in my life. Because there's Valentine's Day, my birthday, and then the lunar New Year, all within, like, five to six days usually. So Rob is really gearing up. He's like, okay, I need to make sure I'm emotionally prepared for this because this is a lot. And as you know, I love my birthday. So I'm like, well, what are we doing for my birthday? Where are we going? What do you have planned?

[Dory Shafrier]

Right.

[Elise Hu]

What do we have going on? Did you know it's my birthday three days after Valentine's Day? He's like, I am aware. Oh, my gosh. But I am going to keep it chill. I. I decided since we now have a restaurant that our good friend Rose owns, and it's become like our cheers where everybody knows your name. The cool thing about the restaurant is the restaurant is just one part of it. Like you've been. So it's like the rest of it is this giant food hall surrounded by a bunch of food. Food stalls. And so what I was thinking is, and I texted Rose about this, just like finding an area in the kind of food hall area to take over, to occupy so that friends can kind of just come and go on a Friday night or a Saturday night, and then they can get their own food or drink from any of the five or six different food stalls and bars all around. And then we can just kind of hang and catch up and. And that is my way of keeping it chill for birthday celebration. It worked out really well in New York. I don't know if I told you.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yeah.

[Elise Hu]

That I just put up a signal flare. This is what I do every time I'm in New York. I, like, just pick a bar and I put out a note to the friends who all live in New York and say, hey, I'm here. And if you can make it come out. And then you never know who's going to turn up. And sometimes people I haven't seen in, like six years, and other times it's somebody I just talked to on the phone that day, and they were like, oh, yeah, I'll come down. So it's fun. And we'll just do kind of an LA version of that. And the restaurant's pretty central. It's in West Adams, so it's not going to be like having people come out to Santa Monica, which I have done before for my birthday, which is a lot to ask of some people, so depending on where they live.

[Dory Shafrier]

So true.

[Elise Hu]

Yeah. I'm excited about that that's kind of going on and then trying, trying to get to go to New York again actually in February because there's the podcast festival on Air Fest.

[Dory Shafrier]

Oh, yeah.

[Elise Hu]

And yeah. And one of my bosses for one of the parenting podcasts, she was like, I got passes to this. So I'm sort of like, well, do you want to maybe send me? That'd be fun.

[Dory Shafrier]

Does she. So does she want to send you?

[Elise Hu]

Yeah, I mean, I feel like the jury's out. Right. It wasn't an immediate yes.

[Dory Shafrier]

It wasn't a no.

[Elise Hu]

So I'm hoping that we get to do that before the end of February because my tour of like mid sized or small obscure California towns due to that mid size or obscure California towns that host soccer tournaments and volleyball gyms is really getting pretty repetitive.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yeah. Although as I texted you, at least you're not my sister in D.C. whose daughter is into synchro ice skating. Because the description of what they need to do for these like turn. Are they tournaments meats? I don't know what they're called. Yeah. Is like insane. And this weekend in D.C. is going to be so cold. And it was like, dress warm.

[Elise Hu]

Warm up.

[Dory Shafrier]

Maybe outside, it's like, what?

[Elise Hu]

But also because there's the dance element when it comes to figure skating and ice dancing. Like, there's all of the hair requirements, makeup requirements, costume requirements, and that's totally typical in dance. It's like your hair needs to be half up or your hair needs to be in a clear bun and you need to wear this color and not that and like these shoes, but like to do that and be outdoors and like trying to stay warm. There's a reason, there's a reason I moved to Southern California and not back to D.C. after being a foreign correspondent. Like, I could not.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yeah, could not. Like we, I, I feel like, you know, by the time this airs, the, the weather event will be over, but the like almost the whole rest of the country is in for some pretty crazy ice and snow and cold. So if you are listening to this, I hope that you got through it okay and you're doing all right because it sounds, at least right now, before it starts, it sounds like it's going to be pretty bad.

[Elise Hu]

Yeah. Yeah. Check on your neighbors.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yeah, check on your neighbors. Well, Elise, we got a couple of responses to Sammy's question about back exfoliation.

[Elise Hu]

Yeah. We weren't sure if it was back knee or not, but we were like, maybe it's backne and if it's backne.

[Dory Shafrier]

It'S This, I mean, I think it was backne, but a few people recommended the Salux skin cloths.

[Elise Hu]

Okay.

[Dory Shafrier]

I don't know if I'm saying that correctly. S A L, U, X.

[Elise Hu]

Okay.

[Dory Shafrier]

And it sounds like these are. So someone said to Sammy's question regarding back exfoliation. I love the Korean exfoliation mitts that Elise mentioned specifically for exfoliating the back. I highly recommend the Japanese sheet exfoliators. And that's what these are. They're called salic. You hold it in each hand and pull it back and forth on your back, shoulders, butt, and back of thighs to exfoliate. Excellent for the hard to reach areas. Happy exfoliating from Seattle. And then someone else wrote in with the same recommendation and said, sammy, get yourself a Salix. This thing is the absolute best for exfoliating all over, including hard to reach spots. I lather mine with regular bar soap, but it works with anything. Soap, body wash, etc. Leave skin soft and smooth and never gets moldy. A holy grail product, imho. Hope that helps.

[Elise Hu]

Yeah, love that.

[Dory Shafrier]

And then we got a voicemail about this as well.

[Listener/Caller]

I have acne recommendations for you. I used to get really, really, really bad acne. And I spoke with like a dermatologist, esthetician and whatnot. And kind of the general takeaway is if you work out, take off those clothes and. Or wash your back asap. Also, even when you're kind of washing your hair and the soap is coming down your back, like, try not to do that. Maybe try to lean forward.

[Dory Shafrier]

Also.

[Listener/Caller]

I don't know if it was just happenstance, but I got a couple back facials and while it sounds crazy, it was important to me. It was like a huge source of. I don't know, I was just like, really kind of embarrassed by it and wanted to kind of step it up a notch. And I got a couple back facials and it cleared it up so well. So, yeah, those are some of my recommendations. Make sure it stays clean. Take when you're working out, take that stuff off, clean it. Don't even get. Don't get shampoo and stuff on it and get it. Maybe try, if you've got some funds, try a back facial. All right, good luck. Bye Bye.

[Elise Hu]

Well, now we have an idea for what to get Sam Junio on their birthday.

[Dory Shafrier]

Oh, yeah.

[Elise Hu]

That sounds so luxurious actually to have.

[Dory Shafrier]

But their birthday isn't. Their birthday isn't for a while, so we might have to come up with some other reason to get it done.

[Listener/Caller]

Okay.

[Elise Hu]

Or we send. We send this exfoliating. Right, the exfoliators.

[Dory Shafrier]

Exactly, exactly. Okay. And before we take a break, on a totally different note, we got a text that said. Hey, just needed to send you a text to share my favorite and dare I say craveable breakfast. All from Trader Joe's. The thick and creamy Greek yogurt with the peanut protein granola. And then add whatever fruit I have. Blueberries, strawberries, oranges, bananas, whatever. I've been trying to increase my protein intake in the morning, so this helps. I also love the thick and creamy Greek yogurt. It is very good.

[Elise Hu]

Is it near the regular Greek yogurt?

[Dory Shafrier]

Yes.

[Elise Hu]

Okay.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yes.

[Elise Hu]

Because we get a lot of Greek yogurt but it's usually that like non fat kind that's kind of boring.

[Dory Shafrier]

So the thicken, I mean I love like full fat whole milk Greek yogurt and that's what this is. And it's the container is like navy blue.

[Elise Hu]

Okay.

[Dory Shafrier]

But it's really good. But I've never had the peanut protein granola, so that's intriguing.

[Elise Hu]

It sure is. I keep trying to have the girls like have some of these protein packed bars that are available, you know, like they have.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yeah.

[Elise Hu]

Breakfast bars from Kind. Kind Bar puts out breakfast bars and things and they're really not into it. They're like, yeah, how about we just eat eggs for protein? Like we just, we'll just eat, eat, eat it and not like eat it in the, you know, old fashioned food rather than infused into my breakfast bar or whatever. So.

[Dory Shafrier]

Right.

[Elise Hu]

I keep trying. I. It's not going over that well.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yeah. Good luck. All right. All right, well we're going to take a short break before we do that. Our voicemail number is 781-591-0390. If you have any questions, comments about Bacne protein, anything else, call or text us and you can email [e-mail] we also put links to everything we mentioned on the [e-mail] and on Instagram we are @forever35podcast. Our Patreon is patreon.com Forever35. We have tons of bonus content on there, plus our Forever 35 newsletter plus ad free episodes. So check that out. And our favorite products are shopmyus/forever35. And after the break we have some more comments on the 1 vs 2 kids question and then also a request for pregnant postpartum wear.

[Elise Hu]

Okay, we'll be right back. It's time to channel that fresh start energy of the new year and finally launch your business with Shopify 2026 is the year you rewrite your story, own your future, and make your entrepreneurial dreams come true with Shopify. It gives you everything you need to sell online and in person. Whether you're a household name or a first time business owner just getting started, millions of entrepreneurs have already made this leap. You know you've seen that little purple button when you're shopping online at places like Rothy's or Allbirds. Shopify gives you all the tools to easily build your dream store by making the process simple. Choose from hundreds of beautiful templates that you can customize to match your brand and use Shopify's built in AI tools that write product descriptions and headlines and help you edit product photos. Marketing is built in too, so you can create social campaigns and email campaigns that reach customers in 2026. Stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.comfore35 go to shopify.comfore35 that's shopify.comfore35 hear your first this new year with Shopify by your side.

[Dory Shafrier]

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[Listener/Caller]

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[Dory Shafrier]

Push you past your goals with routines tailored to you. Give the new Cross Training Series terms apply. All right, we are back and we got this text that said I'm writing in about the one versus two kid question. We have two girls spaced pretty close together and I think some of it depends on the personality of the older child. My oldest needs so much attention, but I traveled with my younger one alone last summer and it was so easy compared to our normal vacations. I have a friend whose parents decided to keep having children until each of them had a buddy since the first two didn't click.

[Elise Hu]

Oh my gosh.

[Dory Shafrier]

They have seven children so take this approach with a grain of salt. Wow. That's.

[Elise Hu]

That's a choice.

[Dory Shafrier]

That's. That's. Those are choices.

[Elise Hu]

Yes.

[Dory Shafrier]

That's really something. Okay. Wow. We got. We got a few more like voicemails and emails about this, but I was starting to feel like we were veering into dish rag territory.

[Elise Hu]

Not dish rag, dish towels.

[Dory Shafrier]

Sorry, dish towel territory. So I wanted to be mindful of that and not have it monopolize our entire episode. But clearly people have a lot of thoughts about this, so thank you for all of your emails and texts and voicemails about this topic.

[Elise Hu]

Yeah. And sort of tangentially related or adjacent to this is a woman who writes in who says she is eight months pregnant and trying to figure out what the heck people wear postpartum. If you are the Forever 35 brain trust, have any suggestions for pants that don't irritate C section scars, cozy robes and the like, I would greatly appreciate it. My mind first goes to. I don't have a lot of cozy robe recommendations. I have a few robes that I occasionally wear and I just got them from Nords from Rack. So I. They're not like particularly special, they're just, you know, affordable. And I wore robes a lot during COVID and we were home all the time. But postpartum I really liked just like the basics from Uniqlo. So pants from Uniqlo. The. They have like sweatshirts, just sweat sets and all of that was very comfy. But I want to shout out. I think I mentioned this last episode or the episode before that I'm really into my quarter zip from Varley and Varley also has pants that go with the quarter zips and so I don't know where if they're high waisted enough to not interfere with the C section scar area in particular. But I have been really happy with Varley as like for soft pants and soft clothes, soft life clothing. What about you? What do you remember wearing or do you have any recommendations in this area?

[Dory Shafrier]

Yeah, I remember wearing a lot of the Lululemon align leggings both during pregnancy and postpartum. And what I liked about the align leggings is. And also I should say I had a C section so I'm like I totally am with you. But the align leggings have a really like thick waistband and I don't mean like thick like width wise, but I mean like it's very tall. Do you know what I'm saying?

[Elise Hu]

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I have some.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yeah. So it doesn't like dig in anywhere and they're sort of compression which is good after you have a C section. I also had, you know, I think they'll either give you a wrap or you can get one of those wraps like a belly band kind of thing. And I found that to be really helpful. And you can put. You can like wear pants over that that you might not that the waistband might be like hitting in a weird place if you weren't wearing it. If that makes sense. Because the band is like covering the area. Yeah, anything sort of like Soft, high waisted, but like a little bit compression. Like, you don't want a waistband that cuts into you, but something kind of like flat and tall.

[Elise Hu]

Yeah.

[Dory Shafrier]

Which is what the align.

[Elise Hu]

The align would be good for that. Right?

[Dory Shafrier]

Are good for that. So. Yeah, so that would be my recommendation. I also remember I had a pair of J. Crew pajamas that were like, like jersey material. And what I liked about those two is that they were. The top was button up, so for like, if you're nursing or pumping, that was really convenient also. And they were just so, like soft and nice. So. Yeah, so that was another.

[Elise Hu]

Don't have to be postpartum to wear any of these soft clothes. You can keep living the soft life long after this baby is out in the world.

[Dory Shafrier]

I will also say, like, you're probably not gonna be wearing, like, jeans that much, but if you have maternity jeans, those are also great for postpartum. Especially the ones that have like the side panels, because the ones with like the big elastic, like stretchy materials, sometimes those are. Yeah, sometimes those are a little too big after, like after you're not super pregnant anymore. But the ones with the side panels just kind of like expand nicely and that's that point that just always like, feels. Feels nice, feels better. But. Yeah, you don't. Something that's like slightly compressiony, I think is like the way to go.

[Elise Hu]

Yeah. Okay. Hope that helps.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yeah, I hope that helps. Okay, we're gonna take another break after the break. Kind of along the same lines actually as this question. We have some recommendations for travel pants.

[Elise Hu]

That's right, our. We had another listener who had been asking for travel pants, and some of you in the Forever 35 community have responded. We'll hear from those folks after the break.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yep. All right, we'll be right back.

[Elise Hu]

Hey, y', all, it's Elise. And this new year, I really want to cook at home more. Need to save money and I want to cook more interesting foods at home. HelloFresh brings back the joy of the kitchen with recipes that feel good and taste good. Night after night. You get to choose from 35 plus high protein weekly recipes, including new Mediterranean and some GLP1 friendly options. Everything is made with wholesome ingredients like sustainably sourced seafood and 100% antibiotic and hormone free chicken. I love that we can also get seasonal produce that's delicious like stone fruit or corn without having to worry about getting to the store. Because when dinner tastes this good, nothing hits like that. Home cooking. Go to hellofresh.com forever3510fm to get 10 free meals plus a free Zwilling knife which is a $144.99 value on your third box offer valid while supplies last free meals applied as discount on first box. New subscribers only varies by plan it's time to channel that fresh start energy of the new year and finally launch your business with Shopify. 2026 is the year you rewrite your story, own your future and make your entrepreneurial dreams come true with Shopify. It gives you everything you need to sell online and in person. Whether you're a household name or a first time business owner just getting started. Millions of entrepreneurs have already made this leap. You know you've seen that little purple button when you're shopping online at places like Rothy's or Allbirds. Shopify gives you all the tools to easily build your dream store by making the process simple. Choose from hundreds of beautiful templates that you can customize to match your brand and use Shopify's built in AI tools that write product descriptions and headlines and help you edit product photos. Marketing is built in too so you can create social campaigns and email campaigns that reach customers in 2026. Stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.comfore35 Go to shopify.comfore35 that's shopify.comfore35 Hear your first this new year with Shopify by your side.

[Dory Shafrier]

Foreign we are back and our first recommendation is for a pair of pants from rei. This person says I have a pair of the north face Aphrodite 2.0 pants that I ordered from REI in 2019 and are well loved and still holding up. Great. I've worn these for air travel. I recommend them. The waistband is comfortable, a few inches wide with a drawstring, pockets and a straight leg. See you got to get that wide waistband.

[Elise Hu]

I'm looking at the photo and these pants could work for postpartum too, maybe because of that wide waistband that we were talking about. This is a recommendation obviously for travel pants, but yeah they look like they would hold up. North Face makes great stuff too and it'll last for a long time. So sure these pants are priced at $95 but if you get a little.

[Dory Shafrier]

Expensive, yeah but if you get hundreds.

[Elise Hu]

Of wear out or hundreds of wears out of it, the per wear cost really drops.

[Dory Shafrier]

I think my only my only potential concern about these pants in particular and I would like want to try them on is that they look a Little low rise.

[Elise Hu]

Yep.

[Dory Shafrier]

So I don't know if our listener has experienced that or what they think, but they do. Like, all of the pictures of them on REI's website is they come up, like, way below the belly button.

[Elise Hu]

Is it just me, or does the model in this photo seem maybe short, too? So, like, the pants look long. I like it when they put the same pants on various people of different body sizes. That really helps me decide whether to buy here. It's just on one model that. And it could be sort of.

[Dory Shafrier]

Oh, you know what? It says inseam. Inseam, 32 inches, which is pretty long.

[Elise Hu]

Yeah.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yeah, so I see what you're saying, Elise, because they do look like they're sort of bunched at the bottom on this model. Yep. Good observation. Thank you. Okay, next text. The next message. This was actually a comment left on our Patreon post about the episode, and this listener wrote, so I like Lulu joggers, too. I recommend new with tags or lightly used on Poshmark. If you can get old versions like pre2020, the quality was significantly better. The. The size tag inside printed that is a number inside a circle versus a square means it's old Lulu.

[Elise Hu]

Oh, okay. So like, when it says 6 or 8 or 14 or whatever, it was a circle around it back in the olden days. That's right.

[Dory Shafrier]

I have pieces from 2013. The Air Essentials is great as a sweatshirt top, but I really advise against their pants because none of them have pockets. It's just really impractical when traveling. I like the sweatshirt, no pockets, and half zip. Also still no pockets. Vori Joggers are great and run large. You know, I think the reason Spanx doesn't have pockets is because they're all about, like, making everything look smooth. And I think they think that pockets, like, disrupt that visual. That's my guess.

[Elise Hu]

Form over function.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yes, exactly. But I agree, you gotta have pockets, especially when you're traveling. So that is. That's a good point that I had not thought about. So thank you for that comment because I. I might have, like, decided to splurge if. You know.

[Elise Hu]

But for the pockets issue.

[Dory Shafrier]

But for the pockets issue. Okay. Finally, we have a voicemail.

[Listener/Caller]

Hey, Dory and Elise. So I am a Spanx Air Essential connoisseur, and I would like to give my $0.02 considering the question about comfy travel outfits. My mom and I were literally at the airport, and we saw this woman in, like, her 60s, and she looked so good. Her outfit was so cute. We asked her where it was from and it was Spanx Air Essentials. And back then the material kind of came in like a sweatshirty material and it was really comfy. My mom got the set. The downside is it doesn't really have pockets. The upside is that it's very comfortable. Senior been a couple years ago, Spanx Air Essentials only has kind of like that kind of like scuba E material that Elise was mentioning and it, it pulls really easy. I've actually got a refund on like half of the items I bought because it doesn't really wear or wash well. Additionally, it does not have any pockets which in Air Essential to me I need pockets, pockets, pockets.

[Elise Hu]

So.

[Listener/Caller]

So I do own several sets and what I wear them to is sleep every night. I love to wear them around the house starting at like 5 o' clock when I get home from work because it still kind of looks like an outfit but it isn't like pajama Y. So yeah, Love Air Essentials. Might not, maybe not for traveling or maybe if you don't need a lot of pockets, it is really, really comfortable. Okay, take care. Also, it kind of gets hot. Like the material doesn't breathe all that well. So like in the summer I like don't wear them for pajamas too. But like right now in the winter, oh my God. I just live in them. They're very, very, very comfortable. Okay, bye bye.

[Elise Hu]

All really good advice. Yes. This pockets issue, you would think that the Spanx consumers have already written in and made a lot of noise about this. So hopefully they'll reconsider their position on pockets.

[Dory Shafrier]

Yes, Pockets forever. All right Elise. That brings us to the end of our mini episode for today. Everyone, thank you so much for listening and we will talk to you soon. Take care.

[Elise Hu]

See you later.

[Dory Shafrier]

Bye.

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