Medical Spa Seven wishes you a healthy and happy New Year! As you reflect on 2008 and build your hopes for 2009, we hope you will let us assist you on your journey to wellness. Wellness is all about having a self care plan and staying healthier. It is a 4-step process that is always good to review at the beginning of a new year.

SELF ASSESSMENT
The first step is to assess where you are now and to build a program to help you accomplish your goals. If you want to lose weight, have better energy, sleep better, decrease your stress level or improve issues such as elevated sugars or cholesterol, Dr. Glass is available through consultation at the Medical Spa Seven Wellness Program. Whether you plan a self improvement program at home or allow her to assist you, it is important to have a baseline idea of your weight, your energy level, how your clothes fit, and your sense of peace and direction in your life. You may also consider getting some lab work. If you look at your lifestyle habits and get baseline data up front, that will let you effectively track your progress down the line toward obtaining your goals.

COMMIT TO CHANGES
The second step to the journey to wellness is to commit to find the time and make the changes that you need to make to achieve your goals. Carving out 30 minutes of your day for exercise, meditation or other self preserving activities is sometimes difficult. However, if you realistically assess your daily activities, often it is easy to cut out 5 minutes here and there throughout your day to prioritize your self improvement plan and find the time you need. Sometimes, you can even incorporate exercise into other activities that you already do such as watching the news or your favorite television program. Committing to going to bed earlier too will allow you to get up sooner each day to have time to exercise, pray or read.

GET SUPPORT
The third part of any successful program is to have the support you need. Prayerful focus at the beginning and throughout any undertaking, asking God to help you to stick with it, may be useful. Getting your friends’ and family’s support to keep you on target is essential. And tracking your progress is the true key to staying motivated. Simply writing down the number of minutes each day that you exercise on a month-at-a-glance calendar or documenting a weekly weight can be a good continued motivator. Keeping a journal is also helpful to many people.

REASSESS
Three to four months into your wellness program, you will want to reassess and update your initial data. Look at how your weight has changed, how your clothes might fit differently and if your energy level has increased. Reassess the amount of stress in your life and how your coping skills have improved. Repeat any labwork that you did at the beginning of your program to see what changes have occurred. Get some objective idea of how the lifestyle changes you have made have improved your health. Use this information as a permanent motivator for the rest of the year to continue good habits. Also, whileimproved health and a sense of wellness can bring the reward of balance to your life, and possibly allowyou to come off some of your prescription medications, it is also important to congratulate yourself with some other positive reward. You might have lost weight and want to consider buying some new clothesor you might reward yourself with an extra spa treatment when you meet your goals. Celebrating youraccomplishments is a must.

GOOD NUTRITION
Whatever your resolution this year, it is a good first step on your road to wellness to incorporate a vitamin supplement. Most Americans, even if they eat a relatively healthy diet, do not get all the vitamins and minerals that they need and a supplement is a good idea. Medical Spa Seven carries a full range of supplements from Pure Encapsulations including UltraNutrient, a highly potent multivitamin supplement which incorporates several minerals and antioxidants. We also carry Nutrient 950, a basic but gentle multivitamin that incorporates calcium and vitamin D as well as high levels of B vitamins for energy. Please ask our front desk staff to get more information about these vitamins or to set up a personalized wellness consultation with Dr. Glass. And, we wish you all the best this year!

Starfish orphan ministry featured in paducah Parenting Magazine

"Praying for Extraordinary Impact,
Using Ordinary People"

Medical Spa Seven supports the ministry of Starfish Orphan Ministry. Starfish Orphan Ministry wants to encourage adoption and foster care and to provide an avenue for those who are not called to adopt, to do something to help orphans.

For more information, visit www.starfishorphanministry.com.

(Cover and information provided by Paducah Parenting & Family Magazine.)