The Livelong Woman, September 2026
Have you ever pushed off an annual physical because you wanted to lose a few pounds first or change your eating habits in an effort to get one of your biomarkers “optimal”? If so, you aren’t alone. We are living in a culture obsessed with optimizing everything. (I’d be glad to never hear or read the word “maxxing” again.) But according to psychotherapist Jessika Fruchter, LMFT, that short-term pressure can keep us away from the care that is meant to protect us in the long run.