Optimized Life Health

What trends are shaping the health and wellness industry right now? Since COVID-19, I have seen a shift in individuals, taking control of their own health and not simply delegating their wellness to a provider, which I think is a great thing. There’s also more of a focus on longevity and quality years of life rather than just looking for and eliminating disease. People are willing to spend more time and money on their personal health as is increasingly seen as very valuable

How do you approach holistic well-being with your clients or audience? With my individual clients, I’d like to ask about all areas of their health and life so I can identify the things that are causing symptoms. I also like to get a complete set of labs so we can address the entire picture. I work together with each client to individualized their plan on what is going to work best with them and their life. With a broader audience, I want to bring some of the most common problems I see, and some of the best solutions I have found. I also want to dispel common myths and misconceptions and change the way the average person thinks about their personal health and getting healthcare.

What challenges do you see in helping people sustain healthy habits? Most of the challenges I see are in the person‘s mindset. Many people have a very discouraging outlook on their ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Once I am able to gain their trust and shift their mindset to be more positive and proactive, we typically see results and benefits quickly, which helps them stay more motivated over the long-term.
I also encounter a lot of people thinking that being healthy also means never having fun or being uncomfortable or depriving themselves. I help them make changes that feel truly deeply good. Helping each person feel the best they’ve ever felt is my main goal when I approach each person I interact with.

Most of my clients are willing to get started on a more healthy lifestyle plan, But many give up when they get derailed in someway. To Overcome this, I help them see the positives and how far they’ve come and how to gently redirect back to their plan and focus on feeling better.

How do you tailor programs for different fitness or health needs? First, I listen to the goals of each client. Most people want to lose fat, so I help them think about how we can incorporate cardio and strength training into their daily routine, but I look for what that person enjoys doing and I break it up into manageable lengths of time that will work for each person. Same goes for nutrition, I generally look for what the person is already eating and how we can adjust it to make it more protein, and Whole Foods focused. I look with the patient at their labs in the symptoms they are having and we identify what they might need additional supplements /treatment treatments for. Each person situation and body is different so all of my plans for each person have similar categories: of course I look at exercise, sleep and nutrition, as well as supplements and hormones, but within those categories, the plans for each person can look very different.

What role does technology play in supporting wellness today? Technology plays a huge role and I like to recommend to my patients that don’t feel they have time to go to the gym different fitness apps that give them short workouts they can do on their own. Or if I have a patient that we decide (Yoga) is going to be good for strength training. I have a yoga app that I like to recommend to my patient. I also often recommend guided meditation for anxiety or insomnia, and there are apps that work well for this. For patients that feel overwhelmed with making their nutrition plan I often recommend using ChatGPT to make a week of meal plans that are protein, focused, and Whole Foods as well as a grocery list. My electronic medical records system has the ability for the patient and I to communicate over messaging and to share lab results. I think technology can very much improve communication and care between patients and providers.

Can you share a story of transformation you've witnessed? I had a patient once come to me who was 20 pounds overweight and cried her entire first visit with me. She thought that her overweight was a personal failure and she had been invited to a cruise over the summer which she was refusing to go on because she did not even want to put on a bathing suit. I spent a lot of time, encouraging her And gently identified with her that she is a perfectionist. I helped her deal with the perfectionism and talk to herself in a more positive and encouraging way. I drew a panel of labs in the office and found that her vitamin D was dangerously low. Of course my treatment plan with her involved supplementing the vitamin D along with changing her lifestyle, and I gave her a low dose of a medication to help her with the weight loss. As we work together, she became visibly more confident and happy, all of her symptoms improved along with her weight and she did in fact go on her trip and have an amazing time. She still follows up with me periodically and is at her goal, weight and very happy.

What motivates you in this industry every day? I see a lot of people suffering, and when people come to me, they have often been dismissed or discouraged by themselves or others in the past. I very much want to alleviate that suffering and show each person how good they could feel with a few changes. Most often patients come back telling me They feel so much better and they are so grateful to have started working with me. Often people send me their closest friends or family members, which shows me how much they value and trust the care that I’m giving. I want to help each individual that comes to me feel the best they’ve ever felt and that gets me out of bed and excited to do my work each day. I also want to bring this same message of positivity and holistic health optimization to bigger audiences, and this motivates me too. I know what I’m seeing a lot in Individuals is common in our population and I would love to have an even bigger impact.