Author: Amare Salutem

Psychotherapy can make a major impact on your life.  The ideas in this post are experiences I have had, in addition to changes I have seen in clients. In this post, I am not going to go into specifics, because there are many different types of psychotherapy and we all have different experiences in therapy. It is important to note that not all therapy is created equal – and it shouldn’t be. No two clients are alike, and each has their own needs from therapy. Therefore, not everyone will have the same experiences I list in this post. In addition, what you put into therapy is often what you get out. One clinical hour is typically 50 minutes long, once per week. There are 10,080 minutes per week. That’s only about 0.50% of your week in therapy. Think about that for a moment. Efforts put into practice outside of the session are important as well. 

1. Psychotherapy can help you recognize things in yourself you were previously unaware of. Do you get defensive when a certain topic is brought up? Perhaps you shy away from conflict or taking responsibility for occurrences. You may be unaware of patterns because your world view and actions are deeply rooted in the subconscious. You may react to things without knowing the reasons why. A therapist can give an objective viewpoint to your situations and offer an alternative approach. 
2. Psychotherapy can challenge you out of your comfort zone. Therapy is not the same as “coffee-shop talk”. Meaning, you won’t just be sitting around for about an hour a week and telling the therapist only about what you did that week. Therapy can be hard work. You’ll likely discuss topics you may have been holding back or discover things about yourself that you want to work on. This can be uncomfortable, but when we are uncomfortable (as long as you are safe), that’s where growth occurs. If you stick with it, you’ll likely be a very different person after therapy. 
3. Replace unproductive behaviors with more productive ones. As mentioned earlier, there are different types of therapy. In some, the therapist will help a client replace unproductive behaviors with more productive ones. Notice I didn’t write “break habits.” It’s very difficult to suddenly break a habit. It takes time. For example, a client who is looking to cut down social media likely won’t just stop social media all of a sudden. What will the client do instead? For example, they may replace going on social media with taking a walk or calling a friend. It’s usually easier to attach a new habit to a pre-existing habit. For example, a client may decide to put their phone away at 9:30pm, before they brush their teeth. Choosing these more productive behaviors is a collaborative approach with your therapist. They will not simply tell you what to do. This is because a goal of therapy is to empower clients to make life decisions on their own. 
4. Learn coping techniques. Learning how to cope with certain situations in life as well as mental health concerns is a common strategy in therapy. Coping techniques are usually specific to each client in their situation. Reacting to situations may be due to a lack of coping techniques. With them, a client can improve their emotional self-regulation and act in a healthier manner. 
5. Have someone listen to you and validate your feelings. It’s rare to find a person who will sit and listen to you for 10 minutes straight let along one hour of undivided attention. Some things are difficult to talk about and we may not want to talk about them to our best friend or family member. A therapist will not judge and allow their bias to filer what you are saying. This can be very validating. Although a therapist can validate your thoughts, emotions, situation, etc., the therapist will ensure that you are not relying just on them for validation. It’s important that the client will be able to validate themselves. 

These are five common ways in which psychotherapy can potentially change your life. Have you experienced any of these changes? Has therapy helped you grow in other ways? Let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading and take care!

Hello, in this post we are going to go over a simple breathing exercise to help decrease stress levels called box or square breathing. 

Stress is a normal feeling. You may feel stressed due to physical or emotional reasons and is something all humans experience at one point or another. Usually when we think of stress, it is in a negative light. However, some stress can be healthy and even motivating. This is known as eustress. The Yerkes Dodson law shows the relationship between stress and productivity.

However, when stress levels become too high we may feel fatigued, exhausted, anxious, and this build-up over time can lead to disease. In fact, a large reason why people visit their primary care physician is due to stress-related issues. If we don’t deal with our stressors than over time it can negatively impact our physical health.

The technique I want to share with you, box breathing, is very simple yet effective. I learned it while going to a workshop for healthcare professionals on the topic of anxiety. The reason why this works so well is it helps put you in the present moment. Usually our stressors and anxiety lives in the future, over things we can’t control but when we bring ourselves in the present moment it puts our issues into perspective. 

In addition, deep breathing not only helps put us in the present moment, but it helps calm down the sympathetic nervous system, involved in the fight vs. flight response. When we breath out deeply, our vagus nerve is stimulated, which is involved with our parasympathetic nervous system, rest and digest. It is very difficult to physiologically be both in a state of calm and a state of high stress at the same time. 

When you feel stress levels dip into higher levels, it can be paralyzing and difficult to get anything done. Instead of trying to continue trucking along, I recommend trying box breathing. 

Let me go over how box breathing works. You will breath in deeply for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds, then repeat as many times as needed. Make sure you “breath from you diaphragm.” I used to hear this phrase all the time when learning how to play the flute. You aren’t actually breathing from your diaphragm, but harnessing the diaphragm to help you breath more deeply. The diaphragm is a muscle, which helps separate the thorax and abdomen. The more the diaphragm is contracted, the more the thorax can increase it’s volume to help the lungs inflate with more air. If you breath too shallowly, it may make you feel light-headed. 

Go ahead and try a few rounds. Make yourself comfortable. Some people find it helpful to actually draw a square while they are counting, which can further help you focus on the present moment.  Follow the diagram below:

Let’s check in and see how you feel. Next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, consider using this technique. If you found this technique helpful, please let me know in the comments below, as well as your experience.

Hello! Since I’m on a low-carb kick I decided to create another quick, easy, and cheap recipe. I am not suggesting you go on a low-carb diet. I’m not suggesting you don’t. Nutritional science is relatively new. There is still much to be discovered. When working on my bachelors degree in nutrition and food science, low-carb became all the rage. However, my professors were strongly against it. One professor, who researched obesity, always said “everything in moderation.” I don’t necessarily agree with this statement.

In addition to my formal education in nutrition, I have ready books, articles and watched many documentaries on nutrition. I find some of them to be very misleading. For example, one last night was promoting the keto diet. Yes, they are correct in saying fat got a bad wrap. However, the issue wasn’t switching from eating fats to high carb. The issue, which they failed to emphasize in the documentary, was the switch was to HIGHLY PROCESSED carbs, devoid in nutrients.

Not all carbs are created equally. Nutrition science is constantly evolving, and I try to stay on top of it all. However, it is very clear to me that not all carbs are created equally, just like not all fats are created equally. Getting fat sources from whole plant-based foods like avocados and olives is going to be a lot healthier than olive or coconut oil. My mission is to merge my two loves of mental health and nutrition into one practice. I’m super excited about enrolling in a Nutrition and Integrative Medicine for Mental Health Professionals certification. I’ll make sure to update on that soon.

I digress. Back to the recipe! This recipe includes black soy beans. I was excited to try these because for one serving there is only 1g of net carbs! Packed with fiber and also phytonutrients. It can be rather difficult to find black soy beans in a store (and I live next to a bunch of health food stores), so just in case, I added an Amazon link at the end of this blog. On to the recipe!

• 

Ingredients:

• 3 bell peppers
• 3 avocados (optional lime juice, salt, and pepper)
• 1 can black soy beans (15oz)
• 1/2 can black olives (~3oz)
• 1 bag riced cauliflower (~12oz)
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• Seasoning mix #1 (add to either the tofu or black soy beans, your preference): 1tsp chili powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp umami mushroom
• Seasoning mix #2: 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 Tbs dried onion, 1 Tbs chili powder
• Optional garnish: mixed greens & salsa 

Instructions:

1. Take riced cauliflower out of the freezer and thaw.
2. Cut green peppers in half and remove seeds. Set aside. 
3. Wrap the tofu in paper towel (make sure there are no dyes) and put in the microwave for 2 mins. Cut into cubes.
4. Add 1 Tbs olive oil, 2 tsp chili powder, 1tsp garlic powder, and 1 tsp umami seasoning to the tofu. Add to air fryer and set for 15 mins at 400 degrees. 
5. Mash the black soy beans in a pan and add 1 Tbs olive oil, 1 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp chili powder, 1tbs umami mushroom, and 1/4 cup water. Cook until water is evaporated, for about 15 minutes medium heat. 
6. Mash the avocado and add salt, pepper, and lime juice to taste if desired.
7. In a glass baking dish, layer each green pepper half with riced cauliflower, black soy bean mixture, and tofu. You can add any left overs to the baking dish. 
8. Cook at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, until green pepper is tender. 
9. Top with avocado, olives. Optional: serve on a bed of spring greens and add a dash of salsa. 

If you are more visual, here is a link to a Youtube video I created

Thanks for reading and/or watching! Stay tuned for more wellness posts soon!

Depending on where you live, it may be difficult to find black soy beans in the store, so I linked what I found on Amazon:

https://amzn.to/2YNqk5H

Food scale I used in this video:

https://amzn.to/3hGEFbs

I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Thank. you!

Hello! Today we are going to be creating a low carb vegan Indian inspired cabbage recipe.

I’ve seen variations of this recipe in both Chinese and Indian cuisine. I took some ideas from other recipes to create my own. This recipe is cheap, takes no more than 30-minutes to create from start to finish, and of course is healthy. 
Cabbage is the main focus of this recipe.

I really like cabbage because of it’s high nutrient profile. Just one-half cup of cabbage can provide you about  one-third of your suggested daily value of vitamin C (based on the standard 2,000 kcal diet). It’s also high in other vitamins like vitamin K, and also magnesium, fiber and antioxidants which can help reduce inflammation. It’s also very cheap and can be used in so many different recipes. 

Here are the ingredients we’ll be using: 

In the video above I will show you how to create this recipe from start to finish, in addition to the nutrition facts. If you would rather not watch the video, here are the instructions below:

Step 1: Dice your onion and slice the cabbage into strips. 

Step 2: Heat the olive oil for a couple minutes and add the onion. Sauté continuously until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another few minutes. Avoid too much browning. 

Step 3: Add the Beyond Beef and crumble it until it is in a ground-beef like texture. Cook until browned. 

Step 4: Add the curry powder and soy sauce. Cook for a couple minutes. 

Step 5: Add the cabbage strips and cook just until the cabbage is wilted, or until you prefer. You don’t want to cook it too much or else it will get soggy. This recipe makes between four to six servings.

Thank you for watching and/or reading. If you make this recipe or a variation of it please let me know! I’m always looking to try something new. 

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