What an Initial Appointment Looks Like

I love the quote, “If you don’t make time for your health, you will be forced to make time for your illness" because I believe everyone should stay on top of their healthcare appointments just like you would an oil change for your car, or dentist appointment for your yearly cleaning. Taking time to tune your health is just as important (if not more) as these day-to-day visits.

Many people come to me because they’re having health concerns and are struggling to find answers. However, it’s just as important to seek Naturopathic care when you have no concerns. If you don’t make time for your health, you’ll be forced to make time for your illness. 

In an initial visit, we go through all components of your health: digestion, nutrition, sleep, energy, mood, menstrual history, physical activity, family history, past medical history; we review your blood work if you've had any done; we review supplements if you're taking any. We talk about whether you should take supplements and what some of the priorities and goals might be for you in terms of feeling your best, preventing disease and optimizing your health. 

We will often run preventative and proactive blood work such as blood sugar, cholesterol, thyroid, and nutrient levels. We really can't know by looking at you if your vitamin D levels are optimized or if you're B12 deficient. If we never look at your cholesterol or your blood sugar, we have no idea if it's a concern. I've had many seemingly healthy people that actually have quite elevated cholesterol and catching that in their 30s or 40s has allowed us to implement strategies to protect their heart health and decrease their risks for years to come. 

Talking about your health plan now, helps us to support your hormone health, bone density, and muscle mass as you age; and the baseline status tells us what we need to think about for future. 

We want you to be feeling great in your 80s!

It is so much easier to treat things when we catch them at early phases.  

Furthermore, many people don't necessarily need to take many supplements. We want to be strategic here, are there things your body might be missing? Are there things you're at risk for that we need to address? In this case we might put supplements in, but for many people that might just be one or two things. The internet makes us feel like we need all of the latest collagens, green powders, hormone detoxifying combo, beef tallow and biotin but in many situations these are not the priorities. 

Sitting down with someone like myself whose entire job is to be up to date on health research and create health strategies for people is such valuable time and money spent even if you have no concerns!