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Live Smart, Savvy & Strong: Top 10 Tips for Health & Wellness

 

 

So many people have asked me about my wellness journey (and subsequent loss of  50 pounds last year), that I decided to do 10
days worth of blogs—one idea per day for 10 days. These are the top 10 things I did and would recommend to others.

 1. Dr Mark Stengler

I made a change in 2012 to completely switch to a doctor who had more TIME to spend with me, learning about ALL my life,
history, and habits. I also wanted a doctor who would (could) take a more holistic, natural (and innovative) approach to help me create a personal plan from comprehensive tests and interviews.  One thing I really appreciate about Dr Stengler is he has two full degrees: one in medicine and the other in theology, so he CARES that we all live longer and stronger (and it matters to him that I
live a life that reflects God and have the energy to keep serving God as long as possible!)

          I have linked to Dr Stengler here (watch his TV show co hosted with his wife or subscribe to his newsletters for free health and
wellness tips). If you want to give him a visit he is located in San Diego County). If you live further away from Southern California, in 10 Secrets to Living Smart, Savvy and Strong, I share a link to a listing of other doctors that have similar medical philosophy.

          I have known and trusted Dr Stengler’s advice for several years (and have even quoted him in my books) but my insurance didn’t cover his care so I UNWISELY delayed changing physicians because I was going to need to pay out of pocket. Well, my health check up in January 2012 gave me unwelcome news so I thought ‘What I am doing with my traditional health care provider is not working!”  In
addition, I felt rushed anytime I had an appointment with my traditional health care physician. The last straw was each time, no matter what question or conversation, the traditional doc just signed the same prescription forms I had been on—and some meds had been prescribed for YEARS. (I later learned that one of these was actually stopping my body’s ability to process food correctly).

          When I got the bad news from my regular January check up, I remembered the definition of insanity:”Doing the same thing but expecting a different result”. I knew I had to do something different, so I called Dr Stengler- best decision of my year!

          On the other hand, Dr Stengler gave me a set of very detailed tests and spent over an hour in an appointment learning all the details of my life, schedule, stress, sleep patterns, family and personal medical history and the hopes, dreams and goals I wanted (and needed) to accomplish. When the results returned, he walked me through each intricate detail, explaining what my body
needed and how I could get new choices going to reverse the negative unhealthy patterns and regroup to move forward in the positive. I left with a detailed, do-able (but challenging) plan that I could begin immediately.

          I left the doctor’s office and went straight to my local health food store (Sprouts and Whole Foods are good ones). Then I ordered the books to read to gain new needed information, and then I went home and purged everything not on my “healthy food” list out of my pantry/ refrigerator, and announced to my family the plan for the new me. (I had years before rid the obvious things like
all sugar, processed foods, snack food, etc) but this time I got rid of items that others could eat but for me caused negative impact. (I will cover the details later under the food post day).

          I knew my husband, children (and my personal assistant) would be the people who would see what I was eating and how much I was exercising. Accountability is a very good thing—and so is encouragement!

          I shared my wellness information with those I loved: friends, family, and staff—and they  shared wellness and
health information with me. Each day, we all became more and more informed and disciplined so we all could gain the best life possible.  As I look back on 2012, the most drastic change in my wellness journey was a change in physicians. (And my wellness is worth every cent! Being healthy is definitely much less expensive! Illness and medications are almost non existent, and my productivity is multiplied! ) If you are not getting the answers you need, look again, there are many people in the medical field who do care- so take the time to find the right one for your care.

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