How This Social Media Hashtag Is Feeding America

Avocado Egg Salad

Made with four ingredients, this mayo-free avocado + egg salad is a game changer. It’s a fabulous make-ahead lunch that will give your work day some extra excitement! (via The Roasted Root)

Autumn Avocado Toast

We’re confident this toasted avocado toast treat can be enjoyed all year long, especially on chilly days or nights when you’re craving something that's both sweet and savory. (via How Sweet Eats)

Cottage Cheese Avocado Toast

Cottage cheese is a super easy way to give your avocado toast recipes a boost of protein! Its cheesy, creamy consistency blends exceptionally well with mashed or sliced avocado, and in this delicious case, fresh tomatoes. (via The Fast Recipe)

Roasted Chickpea Avocado Toast

Same goes for chickpeas! They're a nice, cheap source of vegan protein that can make your avocado toast recipes more fulfilling. This recipe calls for you to pan-roast them, so they get crispy and flavorful. (via Two Peas & Their Pod)

Avocado Toast with Roasted Asparagus on Multigrain

This loaded toast is good for meals beyond just breakfast. The hearty roasted asparagus will warm you up from the inside out, all while incorporating tons of vitamins and minerals in each bite. (via Vanilla and Bean)

Avocado Toast with Brown Butter Sesame Seeds

The brown butter sesame seeds that adorn the top of this toast add a much-needed note of umami, balancing out the creamy avo in no time. (via The Original Dish)

Grilled Corn, Feta, + Egg in a Hole Avocado Toast

Bet you've never seen an avocado toast recipe like this before! This pick gets topped with grilled corn, feta cheese, egg, and if you feel like going gourmet with it, some fresh peach slices. (via Half Baked Harvest)

Avocado + Heirloom Tomato Toast

We can all agree that avocado toast is what dreams are made of. But when you add fresh, ripened tomatoes and drizzle some balsamic vinegar on top, it takes your avocado toast dreams to a whole new level. (via Blissful Basil)

Open-Faced Lemon Pepper Artichoke and Arugula Sandwich

Better known as fancy toast, this gourmet knife-and-fork meal tastes as good as it looks. With a stellar combo of white bean hummus, artichokes, lemon juice, baby arugula, and sweet balsamic glaze, this savory-yet-subtly sweet avocado toast will likely become your new favorite food. (via Veggie and the Beast)

Avocado Toast With Charred Tomatoes, Garlic Shrimp and Fried Egg

Perfect for lunch, dinner, or even a late night snack, this flavorful and nutritious version of avo toast will have you thanking the food gods! (via Domesticate Me)

Avocado and Crab Crostini

Top your avocado toast with fresh, buttery crab and toasted baguette slices, then be prepared for your life to change — it’s that good. Serve these slices as an appetizer when hosting your next soirée, and your guests will be begging for the recipe. (via Confessions of a Chocoholic)

Green Goddess Toast

Roasted spring vegetables, tahini sauce, and avocado. Do we even need to say more? (via Feed Me Phoebe)

Vegan Hummus on Avocado Toast

If you’re getting a little bored with your avocado toast, but don’t want to put in a ton of effort to renew the meal, this recipe is for you! Slow-roasted tomatoes, hemp hearts, avocado, and hummus make for a winning combination. This also makes for the perfect post-workout snack! (via Oh She Glows)

Avocado Toast With Crisped Prosciutto

This take on avocado toast will make you hungry just thinking about it. Don’t say we didn’t warn you! (via Honest Cooking)

Spicy Steak and Avocado Toast

Don’t be afraid to step outside the box when it comes to your avocado toast recipes. Whether you’re headed to a summer potluck or making a meal for your boo, this filling steak dish will thrill even the pickiest eater. (via Heather Christo)

Smoked Salmon and Smashed Avocado Tartines

You’ll get a nutrient-rich dose of heart-healthy fats, vitamins, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids with these tasty avo-smothered tartines. (via Baker by Nature)

Spicy Maple Bacon and Scrambled Eggs on Avocado Toast

Are you just drooling reading the name of this dish? We are! Pair this crave-worthy comfort food with mimosas, and declare yourself the queen of brunch. (via Domesticate Me)

B+C: Why do you think so many of us are overthinking things, especially in the age of modern social media?

Amanda Montell: I decided to title the book The Age of Magical Overthinking because I couldn't help but notice that there just seems to be an inexplicable, excessive [amount of] delulu in the culture despite the fact we're living in the so-called information age. Everything from people with Master's degrees basing their genuine decisions on astrology to, you know, my neighbors opting not to get the Covid vaccine because a TikToker — a like, white girlie with a Bindi — told them it would downgrade their DNA.

Stuff like that didn't seem to check out for me, especially since we're ostensibly living in a time when you can fact check anything with the click of a button. I was like, 'What is going on here,' and as it turns out, what is going on is this innate clash between our innate decision-making shortcuts — the processes by which we always jump to conclusions in order to make quick decisions to make sense of the world enough to survive it. There's a clash between those age old decision-making methods called cognitive biases and the information age in a way that is ending up pretty explosive for society at large...and is causing us a great deal of existential pain.

So, magical thinking — or the idea that our internal thoughts can affect external events — is a human quirk that has been around since the dawn of our species. But I think overthinking is really a product of the modern age or result of this capitalistic pressure to be right about everything under the sun...

B+C: How do you think this is impacting the way we interact with each other?

Amanda Montell: There's a lot going on. We need to interact in person in order to have empathy...to establish the social glue that keeps us from getting into extremely fraud and sometimes violent ideological conflict. I think there's the idea that the internet is causing ideological rifts to widen and I think in a way that's true, but what's more problematic is the fact we are engaging in social discourse in a medium that prevents that empathy from holding us together.

I think almost everyone can relate to the experience of receiving a curt email from a boss or receiving a salty Instagram comment that sends us into fight or flight. We're responding to non-threats — these sort of abstract disagreements or fake problems — that we're projecting panic onto.

B+C: Can you break down the halo effect for our readers?

Amanda Montell: It was so much fun to explore this particular cognitive bias early in the book because I felt like it really would set up the whole thesis of it quite well. Basically the halo effect is this penchant admire one quality in a person — their fashion sense, their intelligence, the way they blend an oat milk latte — and then assume they must be perfect overall. This halo effect connects to the ways ancient humans used to find role models for survival purposes in our communities.

Ages ago, you used to clock someone in your small village with big muscles...and figure, 'Oh they must be a skilled hunter or they've avoided disfigurement from battle. I would love to align myself with this person for survival,' even though you're jumping to conclusions about them. Their big muscles might not necessarily indicate that they're skilled in battle or they're a good hunter, but it's an efficient enough decision to make.

We're not mapping that conclusion jumping onto modern parasocial relationships. We see a pop star whose music we really connect to and assume they must be educated, worldly, nurturing, they're political beliefs align with ours in this particular time when we're losing so much trust in the government...Basically since the Regan era — our first celebrity President — celebrities have really started swerving into other aspects of life (spiritual, political, etc.,)...

Rapid Fire Q&A

B+C: What are some some of the things you're currently obsessing over?

Amanda Montell: That's so funny you asked that because on this new podcast — The Magical Overthinkers — I also am opening every episode by asking 'What's an irrational thought spiral that's living rent-free in your head?'

I am totally overthinking my book tour outfits right now. Speaking of consumerism as like a distracting or numbing exercise, launching a book is very stressful and the one thing that made me feel some sense of relief is just shopping for cute outfits. I've been buying a lot of plaid skirt suits. The vibe is definitely 90s nostalgic, a little dark academia meets cochette.

B+C: If you were to give yourself five days to unplug from social media, how would you spend your time?

Amanda Montell: Great question. You know what? I'm setting up a week like this for myself in May after the book tour stuff dies down. After my last book Cultish came out, I was unwell in the mind. I felt so exposed and so fragile. I was like, 'I need to send myself on some kind of retreat,' so I sent myself on this little solo excursion to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina and it was so healing...I went and lived in an Airstream for a couple of days. I was doing nature walks and lying in a hammock journaling...

The Age of Magical Overthinking

Watch the Full Interview with Amanda Montell:

Here's How Often You Should Cut Your Hair, According To Professionals

I’ll admit it — it had been eight months since my last haircut. My hair had lost its shape, my layers were nowhere to be found, and my ends were begging for mercy. Life got busy over the last few months and I was neglecting my haircare like never before.

My hairdresser could immediately see that I was beyond due for a cut and said I needed to get more taken off than I was hoping. I was definitely disappointed — I'd been working on growing out my hair for a while now, and it just felt like my hard work had completely gone to waste. He explained that getting consistent haircuts is the key to growing out healthy and strong hair, rather than letting it grow and grow until it eventually breaks. So let's dig into the top three things you can do to avoid this scenario!

1. Just Get The Dang Haircut

Also avoiding a haircut like I was? You might want to schedule one at your nearest salon. Like my stylist said, when you wait too long between trims like I did, you risk your hair becoming heavy, dull, and lifeless. When the hair is dry or even dead, it’s nearly impossible for it to hold a curl or style, essentially collapsing on you and taking on more and more heat damage all the while. I know the pain of spending time on a blowout only for it to fall minutes later — it’s the worst.

According to Jack, getting a haircut every 10-12 weeks is the best time frame or your ends will pay the price. Between blow-drying, curling, straightening, sun, and weather, our ends get dry and start to break without the proper care. Getting consistent haircuts allows hair to bounce back, shine, and perform the way we want in a healthy way.

2. Leave-In Conditioners Are Your Friend

His top piece of advice to keep your hair looking and feeling hydrated between trims? Invest in conditioning treatments. Jack swears by the Olaplex conditioning system, specifically the No 3 Hair Perfector. Made with patented OLAPLEX Bond Building Technology™, this conditioning treatment repairs and prevents damage in as little as three minutes. No 3 promises to reduce breakage and visibly strengthen hair, so it’s the perfect assistance to keep ends fresh between cuts. Another conditioning treatments I’ve used and loved for years is the Moroccanoil Intense Hydrating Mask, which is designed to restore moisture, elasticity, and shine to dry hair.

3. Switch Up Your Shampoos

Switching shampoos frequently is a pretty hot tip that I honestly hadn't thought of. Our hair gets used to the same products and grows tired of them, resulting in lackluster locks. Jack’s advice is to switch brands after finishing every bottle of shampoo to bring life back to your hair. Have two brands that you’re loyal to? Even switching back and forth between them after every bottle should make a big difference in your hair. I’m a huge fan of the R+Co Dallas Biotin Thickening Shampoo, which makes my hair look thick and full, as well as the Moroccanoil Hydrating Shampoo, which is so hydrating and gives so much shine.

In the end, navigating your back-and-forth relationship with haircuts often feels like a rollercoaster ride between wanting that fresh look and cringing at the receipt. Luckily, by using conditioning treatments and switching up your products,, you can keep your locks healthy, shiny, and full of life between trims. But take a newly learned lesson out of my book: don't let your ends pay the price for procrastination and just book the haircut.