Imagine feeling overweight and unwell, and lacking energy and motivation. You can’t get started to do something about it, but the frustration of not feeling well and being out of shape mounts to the point where you need to act.
Such was the dilemma facing Ian Gillman, who wanted a way to change his lifestyle while also removing the synthetic medicines and food preservatives from his system. He thought that by getting into shape, eating wholesome foods, and treating his various health concerns through preventative medicine, he could not only slow the aging process, but make it a more enjoyable one.
Gillman came across the Synergy Integrative Health and Medical Spa in Hallandale Beach, FL, a part of the Optimal Health MD Medical Center chain. Optimal Health is deeply rooted and firmly based in integrative, preventative, and functional medicine, focusing on optimizing overall health. They provide a variety of programs that include Naturopathic Medicine, IV Fusion Therapy, Fitness, Nutrition, and Weight Loss — all designed to reduce the impact of premature aging, as well as help us live the fullest, healthiest lives possible.
The approach draws from healthcare methods known for millennia the world over, but often brushed aside in today’s allopathic medicine rush to prescription medicines. It also focuses heavily on our food and environmental choices, two other major contributors to obesity, disease, and illness due to food preservatives, released chemicals, and other contributors.
Treating The Whole Ian Gillman with Integrative Health
Over some time, Gillman worked with the Synergy Integrative Health and Medical Spa staff to completely change his lifestyle. They started from the inside out, assessing his health status and lifestyle through lab testing. The lab tests, part and parcel of functional and preventative medicine, determine overall health condition, metabolic type, nutrition profile, food and chemical intolerances, hormone balance, and lifestyle condition. They pinpointed all of the contributing factors to Gillman’s unhealthiness, either removing or replacing each with a healthy alternative.
The Synergy physicians treated Gillman by looking at his body as a whole, rather than focusing strictly on the symptoms. Their focus on reducing the effects of premature aging takes them through all 360 degrees of the body’s life experience. Gillman was so taken by the benefits in his life that he became a spokesman for Synergy.
Their approach not only addresses physical health, but also personal well-being. Stress, anxiety, hormonal balance, family history, and lifestyle are all evaluated, with changes made throughout to optimize our inner, spiritual, and emotional lives for greater joy and social harmony. Such programs as Healthy Aging, Longevity and Life Extension, Menopause and Andropause therapy, and various stress reduction techniques are used, including the highly touted Enhanced External Counter Pulsation Treatment, which lowers the number and intensity of angina episodes.
Spending time with functional and preventative medicine specialists is far different than a day at the doctor’s office. It can create a way of caring for ourselves that reduces healthcare costs, decreases our environmental footprint, greatly enhances our diet and fitness, and improves our often stressful lives.
I&T Today Founding Editor Robert Yehling wrote about functional and preventative medicine in Beyond ADHD (Rowman Littlefield: 2017), co-authored with Jeff Emmerson.
