HealthCareTips blog

The association between fasting plasma glucose and glycated hemoglobin in the prediabetes range and future development of hypertension [Geva et al., 2019]

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The Risky Anti-Aging Pill Men Are Taking Now

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7 Ways Seeing a Therapist Is Better Than Talking to a Friend

Ditch the notion that therapy sucks.

I’m a bit biased about the positive effects of seeing a therapist, but I often have a new client come to me and say, “I was so scared to come here today,” or, “Well, that wasn’t really so bad. I thought it was going to suck!” The truth is, seeing a therapist doesn’t have to suck, and if going to therapy does suck for you, find a new therapist.

There are so many people to choose from, so continue looking until you find someone who resonates with you, someone you respect and would want to have as a friend. Being very clear though, this person can never be considered a friend in any social settings, outside of the therapy office.

It’s a boundary violation and an ethical issue, but if you like him or her, as you would a friend, you’ll be more willing to talk and trust, to open up as a whole. Find someone you like and respect, and then start talking!

Should I See a Therapist? 10 Questions to Determine If Therapy Is Right for You

And why should you turn to therapy instead of your friends? Here are 7 reasons why, despite misconceptions, seeing a therapist is actually wonderful for you and your mental health.

1. You Get One Full Hour (Sometimes Two, If You Ask Nicely) to Talk About Yourself.

Not to mention, you get to do so without worrying about judgment or having to see your therapist in the drop-off line at your kid’s school after a session. The best part, though? You don’t have to worry if you’re giving your therapist enough time to discuss herself, because she won’t talk about herself.

You don’t have to worry if you sound crazy, selfish or even if you go into a full-blown “ugly cry.” Go for it! This is your time. Therapists always have plenty of tissue on hand to mop up your tears. It’s exactly the place to feel and experience all of your emotions.

You can get mad, storm out, and the therapist will still be there the next week, wanting to talk about your experience. Where else can you get that kind of dedication and attention?

2. You Can Go to Your Dark Places and Remain Safe.

A good therapist won’t react to your “dark places” or “hard things” with discomfort. And, unlike a friend might, they wouldn’t dare say, “Um, you’re just too dark for this ‘friendship’ to work.”

Therapists provide a container for you to bounce around in. In a good therapeutic relationship, the therapist allows you to go to the edge of your fear or darkness and, at times, sanity, without actually going over.

The therapist helps guide you and allows you to become more enlightened along your path to self-discovery and/or recovery. The therapist will not let you crash, but walk with you right up to the crash scene and emotionally hold your hand; they will facilitate your arrival on the other end, through the dark places.

3. You Get Someone Who Actually Keeps Your Secrets.

In fact, the law requires therapists to hold secrets and not divulge them to anyone. Unless you’re going to hurt yourself or someone else — then, okay, they legally have to tell.

But that’s a good thing, right? Otherwise, secretly jealous of your best friend? Secretly resentful of your brother? Secretly worried whether you should or shouldn’t marry your partner? Your therapist keeps those secrets and, even better, provides space for you to explore what’s really going on behind those feelings you feel uncomfortable admitting or sharing elsewhere.

4. Therapy Can Be Fun…at Times.

A good therapist is able to help you laugh at some of your issues, in a loving and productive way. We all take ourselves and our lives so seriously, but sometimes, it’s truly helpful to have someone in your life who helps you find the levity in an otherwise ridiculous or challenging situation.

5. Therapy Provides Unbiased Insights Into Your Behavior.

Most everybody else in the world gives you their opinion about your life, your choices, or your challenges, based on their own experiences. However, a therapist’s experience doesn’t really matter, because he or she is not your BFF.

A therapist shows you the pros and cons of a situation, helping you make the best decision for yourself.

5 Things Your Therapist Thinks (But Doesn’t Tell You)

6. Therapy Provides Structure and a Touch Point.

That regular, weekly appointment becomes a place of refuge and relief when everything else in your world seems like it’s coming unhinged. Hopefully, your therapist’s office is the one place where things make sense and you feel safe.

7. A Good Therapist Plays Many Roles for You Along the Way.

Sometimes you might need a good swift kick in the pants, other times you need a steadfast cheerleader, other times you’ll require (if nothing else) a good, strong, silent shoulder to cry on. Your therapist, if you see them for a period of time — truly allowing yourself to trust and be vulnerable — becomes all of those things to you as your unique journey of self-exploration warrants.

So go to therapy! With so many different kinds of therapeutic interventions, techniques, theories, and practices, “going to therapy” seems stressful and confusing. But actually, much of that stuff doesn’t really matter.

In fact, studies on the outcomes of a positive therapeutic relationship found that the true test of success in therapy is if you have a positive, trusting and friendly therapeutic relationship with your therapist. Find a fun therapist you trust. Then, therapy becomes an awesome to support and enhance your life.

This guest article originally appeared on YourTango.com: 7 Ways Seeing A Therapist Works, And Is Better Than Talking To A Friend.

When Relationships Look Different in the Light of Sobriety

I wondered if the bitter taste of the endings would overpower all the other memories of my first sober loves.

I met C at the most inopportune moment imaginable: I was a full-blown heroin addict. He was not.

We met on a video chat website called ChatRoulette, both of us drunk with our respective friends; he lived in California, I in New York. After a few months of daily phone calls and video chats I was head-over-heels in love and flew out to San Diego to meet him, doing my best to appear healthy and normal. I hadn’t told him and didn’t plan to.

C was less a boyfriend than a hostage, an innocent pulled onto a rollercoaster he didn’t yet realize was brakeless. The only reason I was able to hide my addiction from him for a while was because he was so impossibly normal—he surfed, played guitar, had a tight-knit group of equally normal friends. What he saw in me, tattooed and cynical, I still don’t know; perhaps, like me, he needed something different. He’d never known any heroin addicts in his idyllic suburban life, so he missed all the tell-tale signs. Naturally he would think the marks on my arms were inflamed mosquito bites and not track marks, because who would lie about something like that?

I’ll never forget the look on his face when he finally caught me. I get why using heroin would be unfathomable to someone who has never tried it. It must be near impossible to understand the kind of pain and self-loathing that makes heroin seem like a viable solution. By the time he’d caught me I had been making half-assed attempts to get clean for months, but the look on his face was the final push I needed. I left New York and moved in with him in California and despite some false starts, despite the odds, I got better.

In the cold hard light of my fledgling sobriety, the fantasy guy I’d created in my mind began to crumble the way real-estate euphemisms do when you see the actual apartment. You really want to believe that they actually meant cozy and not suffocatingly claustrophobic, but they never do. Never. In my heroin haze I’d romanticized all his flaws: instead of being emotionally repressed with awful communication skills, he was pensive and mysterious. He wasn’t living at home to save money, he was too cheap and emotionally enmeshed with his mother to move out. I loved him even so, tenaciously, holding onto him with white knuckles as the relationship unraveled over the next few years.

The night it finally ended, I felt like I’d been thrown off a cliff. I’d gone straight from drugs to love and for the first time it was just me, unadulterated, crying alone in my car in an empty parking lot.

For the first time, I was really, truly sober…

Find out what Katrina did with that really, truly sober reality in the original article The Magic and the Tragic: Falling in Love in Recovery at The Fix.

Foreskin reclaimers: the ‘intactivists’ fighting infant male circumcision - Emboldened by the body-positive movement and a sense of rage, a growing chorus is pushing back against a common custom

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EVO Hemp Cauliflower Oats

Hemp and cauliflower “oats” is a hearty and filling breakfast that has the traditional texture—without the grains. You can modify the recipe dozens of different ways by varying fruits, nuts, seeds, natural sweeteners, milks, and other toppings. While this recipe used full-fat coconut milk and water, you can use dairy milk or another non-dairy alternative you prefer. We also added collagen for an extra protein boost. Find your favorite taste combination, and enjoy this Primalized classic.

Servings: 2

Time in the Kitchen: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups Frozen Riced Cauliflower
½ cup + 2 Tbsp. Coconut Milk
½ cup Water
2 Tbsp. Ground Flaxseeds
½ Tbsp. Almond Butter
3 Tbsp. Pumpkin Seeds, divided
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 Tbsp. EVO Hemp Hearts
2 Scoops Primal Kitchen® Vanilla Coconut Collagen (optional)
½ cup Raspberries (or sub your favorite berry)
Optional Toppings: Maple Syrup, Hemp Hearts, crumbled Primal Kitchen Coconut Lime Bar

Instructions:

In a pot, combine the cauliflower, coconut milk, water, and ground flaxseed and heat over medium heat. Stir occasionally.

Once it starts to bubble (about 3-4 minutes), add the almond butter and give the mixture a stir. Reduce the heat to medium low and cover the pot. Heat for an additional 5 minutes, removing the lid occasionally to stir.

Take half of the pumpkin seeds and pulse them quickly in a grinder, blender or food processor so they are chopped small but not yet in the form of a powder. Pour the pulsed pumpkin seeds in the pot and stir. Cover the pot again for an additional 2-3 minutes.

When you uncover the pot again, add the vanilla extract and hemp hearts. Around this time it should start resembling thin “oats.” If you are adding the Collagen Fuel, any sweeteners, or additions like cinnamon, add them now. Gently stir the oats uncovered over medium-low heat so it is just bubbling until the mixture reaches the consistency of your liking (keep in mind that it will continue to thicken a small amount after it is removed from heat).

(If the mixture seems too thick, you can add a small amount of additional water or coconut milk. If the mixture is still too soupy and thin, you can either try adding ground flaxseed a teaspoon at a time or continue to cook the mixture uncovered until it reaches your desired thickness.)

Pour the “oats” into a glass or bowl and top with raspberries, a sprinkle of hemp hearts, the remaining pumpkin seeds, and any other favorite add-ons you may have!