The 7 Steps to Creating a Lifetime of Wellness, Vitality and Longevity
Wellness for Life, what a concept! The key to accomplishing this is relatively simple. Our wellness, or lack thereof, is primarily the byproduct of our lifestyle and habits. The more healthy habits we have and the fewer unhealthy habits we have, the healthier we are. Overall, we want to replace our unhealthy habits with healthy habits. Over time, this is like consistently adding to our bank account and watching the return on our investment grow steadily. Believe me, there is no better investment than investing in your health.
The seven steps below are key to creating a lifetime of Wellness, Vitality and Longevity. They are foundational steps, which when in place, will contribute to your body’s ability to function as it was designed. The body is amazing; once it has the building blocks in place and its greatest irritants removed, it has a tremendous capacity for becoming healthier and more vital.
For some individuals, certain steps are much more important than others. Since you are here in our clinic you are ahead of the game, having accomplished at least the first two steps. We will go to great lengths to assess which of the remaining steps should have the highest priority for you, taking into consideration your present condition and health goals.
Follow the steps below, watch the improvements in your health, and stay focused on creating a lifetime of wellness. The rewards are well worth the effort, greatly affecting the quality of your life, day in and day out.
Step #1: Choose a Lifetime of Wellness!
Deciding that your health and wellness are top priorities, and that you are ready to take action, is the key first step. This usually involves recognizing that your present level of health is something less or even far less than you are happy with.
Individuals come to me for a wide range of issues and varying levels of health. Some, feel very healthy and want to do everything they can to maintain their high level of health for the rest of their lives. Others have recently recognized a problem that is persisting, and want to address it before it becomes more serious and possibly chronic. A large percentage remember once upon a time feeling much healthier than they do now, and want to feel that good again. Some individuals feel they have always been unhealthy and have never experienced feeling even “normal” levels of health. Some recognize that they are steadily becoming less and less healthy and are quite concerned that if they don’t do something soon, they are going to find themselves in big trouble.
No matter what your level of health is presently, being aware that you want to take action to ensure a “lifetime of wellness” is an all-important first step.
Step #2: Find the Health Practitioner for You!
The good news is that you have already accomplished this most challenging of the 7 steps. However, please read on to better understand its importance.
Finding a licensed healthcare practitioner whose main focus is supporting you in creating a lifetime of health and wellness is often the most challenging of the “7 Steps.” The problem is that most doctors just want to help you manage your symptoms by prescribing you one or more drugs to reduce them, or if things are particularly bad, they might recommend surgery. Of course both of these avenues are appropriate at times, but they fail to get at the root cause of the problem. In many, many cases, major–or even minor–changes in lifestyle will make a more dramatic and permanent change in health without many of the risks that drugs and surgery pose. Unfortunately, there is only a very small percentage of health practitioners who focus patients on the keys to creating health: diet, exercise, nutrition, stress management, and daily habits that promote continually improving health.
We all want to find someone who will help us with our health challenges and symptoms, someone who also will take the time to listen, get to know us, and understand how our conditions affect the quality of our lives.
My main focus is effectively supporting both you and your loved ones in creating a lifetime of health and wellness. I will continually work with you to clarify what health challenges and symptoms you have. I will take the time to personally understand you and how these conditions affect the everyday quality of your life. I welcome your feedback, have great respect for you and your experience, and recognize that you can have important insight into your own unique health challenges. In the long run, my job is to assist you in doing everything you can to create a lifetime of wellness, while providing you with my expertise and treatment so you can achieve the greatest results possible.
Once you have found a licensed health practitioner that you respect, that respects you, and is committed to supporting you in creating a lifetime of wellness, you will understand how this person can be your greatest health resource and support.
Steps #3 – 7:
The remaining steps are not necessarily in a specific order. Some individuals’ health priorities will be different than others. At times, addressing one of these will require addressing two or three different steps to get the kind of results you desire.
Step #3: Reach your “Ideal Weight!”
Most Americans today are well aware of the many problems associated with excess weight. There have been volumes written on this issue and we are continually bombarded with endless articles on the subject. Most people know what their ideal weight is, as they were at that weight once upon a time, and they remember how good they felt when they were slimmer and trimmer. The good news is that with the proper program, losing weight is a very doable step and one that will yield many noticeable health benefits.
If achieving your ideal weight or at least a lower weight is a key for you, I will assist you in creating a weight goal and provide you with all of the key aspects of a healthy weight loss program. Don’t worry if you want to get healthier and don’t want to make weight loss a primary focus at this time. There is still much we can do to assist you in becoming healthier while leaving the “ideal weight” step until a later time.
Step #4: Food and Nutrition for Life!
Eating a healthy diet is, without a doubt, one of the most important keys to improving one’s health. For patients committed to a lifetime of wellness and vitality, diet will be a key necessary component. I will review your current eating habits and based on your goals make specific dietary recommendations when indicated.
As you probably already know, nutrition is very important. Unfortunately, there is a vast amount of information on nutrition that is confusing, is based on poor principles, and oftentimes becomes dangerous to your health. Additionally, as you may have already realized, this subject is very complicated. I have studied nutrition for over 39 years and have used it since starting my practice in 1984. I will be working closely with you to ensure that you get the highest quality nutritional care to support you in your short and long term health goals.
Step #5: Stress Management/Relaxation and Rejuvenation for Life!
Most everyone is aware that the stress levels of modern life are very high, and that there are volumes written on the adverse health effects of high stress levels. Unfortunately, only a very small percentage of Americans have a daily regime for effectively creating a deep and healing level of relaxation to balance and minimize the harmful levels of stress, while at the same time, regenerating their inner vitality. Additionally, it is important that we all get sufficient quantity and quality of sleep for our bodies to recover and heal.
At our clinic, sleep quantity and quality, as well as stress levels are reviewed with each patient. We have state of the art stress management techniques and software that can be learned by virtually everyone, even young children! Additionally, we have Tina Lerner, M.A., a biofeedback and relaxation expert with 27 years of experience, to whom we refer patients, and who assists them in integrating these techniques into their daily lives. Creating the habit of an effective relaxation program can be one of the most powerful health enhancing steps you can ever take.
Step #6: Biochemical Detoxification
The breadth and quantity of biochemical toxins in our bodies are relatively shocking to most Americans when they read the facts. A short list of some of these common toxins includes: lead, mercury, DDT and many other pesticides, PCB’s, perchlorate (a toxic compound of rocket fuel), and many more, literally tens of thousands of substances. Many man made chemicals are found in all kinds of household products. Chemicals from plastics, flame-retardants, cigarette smoke, carpets, plywood glues, exhaust fumes, plus the byproducts that escape thousands of factory smoke stacks. Then there are things as simple as our water, which as you know is dosed with chlorine to kill the bacteria. PCB’s are actually a known carcinogen that is a byproduct of the chlorine we add to the water supply and other organic compounds. Besides the chemicals we breathe, eat or drink, there are many chemicals that are created in our bodies every day that are poisonous and need to be processed.
The problem is that the detoxification systems of our bodies can only do so much in a 24-hour period. When our bodies cannot process all the chemicals due to either the overall load, the complexity of many of the man made chemicals, or nutritional deficiencies, they are primarily stored in our fat cells! For some of these chemicals, there are well-documented disease risks. For many chemicals, there is much more research to be done to clarify their harmful effects. Most, if not all, of these chemicals can be found in each and every American. For example, a recent study showed that the rocket fuel perchlorate, was found in the breast milk of all the women tested.
The most aware health practitioners realize that many of these chemicals at best challenge and compromise our health, and at worst are significant contributing factors to the development of many diseases. The good news is that there are excellent products that are specifically designed to increase our body’s capacity for getting rid of these biochemical toxins. I have used these products for this purpose for over 20 years, and the results of this cleanse process usually include numerous noticeable immediate benefits to the patient.
Step #7: Physical Balance and Exercise for Life
It is simple to understand that our bodies, like our cars, need to be balanced. A front end out of alignment or tires out of balance will decrease how smoothly your car rides and will wear out the parts of your auto prematurely. Additionally, it is easy to understand that our bodies were designed for physical activity and that we function best and are healthiest when we exercise our bodies on a regular basis. Keeping the mechanics of our bodies functioning optimally contributes to a more balanced, more pain-free and healthier body. It really is that simple.
At our clinic we evaluate patients for mechanical function from head to toe. We are so dedicated to the importance of mechanical function that we employ the state-of-the-art GaitScan for foot mechanics and orthotics analysis. Oftentimes, mechanical problems contribute to numerous chronic health challenges. The good news is they respond very favorably to our gentle chiropractic, muscle balancing, and spinal distraction techniques. Optimizing musculo-skeletal balance, reducing muscular tension patterns, and normalizing joint function are important keys to optimal health. They promote optimal performance and often are essential in relieving chronic pain patterns and improving one’s overall health.
