Keep the New Year’s spirit alive by maintaining your resolutions. Here’s how our region’s leading practices can help to refresh your look.
How’s your New Year’s resolution holding up? You know, the one you made to eat better, get in shape and re-work those bothersome parts of your complexion? With spring break and summer vacation looming in the not-so-distant future, now’s a good time to refresh your appearance. Plus, the confidence boost from looking and feeling your best is unequivocally priceless.
Maybe you’re afraid to undergo an expensive, invasive procedure. Maybe you’ve decided to simply live with “the problem.” The truth is, reasonably priced, minimally invasive procedures are at the forefront of today’s health care.
In some cases, a new skin care regime or a new brand of cosmetics may lead to the confidence you’ve always desired.
Although true beauty comes from within, doctors and beautician experts from around our region can help you to achieve a new look that you’ve only imagined. Not only are today’s procedures safer, quicker and more effective than before, but the doctors administering care are genuinely concerned with the overall well-being of their patients.
So what are you waiting for? Self-improvement is just around the corner.
Cheers to a brighter, healthier, happier “new you” in 2018.
Building a N.E.W. You Presence Saint Joseph Hospital-Elgin
Presence Saint Joseph Hospital-Elgin has launched a new, interactive way to lose weight and maintain a healthy diet.
The N.E.W. You Center hosts several innovative wellness programs that emphasize nutrition, education and wellness. The staff works closely with you to build a plan tailored to your weight loss goals, which will help you on your journey to improved health.
“This program is designed for people to lose weight and feel healthier,” says Dr. Anandita Gephart, medical director of the N.E.W. You Center.
The programs include weekly professional coaching, weight loss management meetings with staff members, and a complimentary 12-week Y-FIT program membership at the Taylor Family YMCA in Elgin.
Once you attend a free community workshop, you can select which weight loss program is best for you.
One option is the Ideal Protein method, which is a natural and effective weight loss plan. This program combines partial replacement meals and snacks, such as shakes, along with your protein and vegetables.
With this protocol, you receive personalized support from a certified coach, maintain a daily journal and outline your food intake in a program workbook.
While an average patient may reach their weight loss goal in 12 weeks, they’ll be encouraged to participate in additional coaching for up to a year to maintain a healthy weight.
“This program uses shakes and healthy snacks, and it’s de-signed to help with the protein part of your diet,” Gephart says. “When patients use the Ideal Protein method, we put them on a high-protein, low-carb diet.”
The second program option is CORE 4, a 12-week adult group weight management program that provides guests with knowledge and tools needed to successfully manage their weight.
The program includes three one-on-one dietitian sessions, nine weekly group workshops, metabolic and cholesterol screen-ings, and weekly goal setting and progress updates.
Curtis Perrin, of Elgin, participated in the CORE 4 program.
“What I really needed was guidance,” he says.
Perrin, who has arthritis in his back and left hip, was having a hard time working out. But with this program, he was able to exercise in the swimming pool with a class geared for people who have arthritis. He uses a workbook to track his weight loss and the food he eats.
“There were 12 people in the class, and everyone would set weekly goals and we would talk about our experiences,” Perrin says.
He was 397 pounds when he started the program and lost 25 pounds in just 12 weeks.
“My body fat percentage has gone down and my muscle mass has increased,” Perrin says. “I like the goal setting, the participation from students and working with Jackie [Caul, a CORE 4 dietitian], because she really knows her stuff. It’s been an interesting class, and I enjoy it.”
The N.E.W. You Center has recently introduced a new 14-day Jump Start program.
With this program, participants receive three one-on-one, in-person consults with a member of their expert team, day-by-day meal plans, select meals/snacks to supplement store purchased veggies and proteins, and tailored exercise guidelines.
For more information on any of the N.E.W. You Center’s programs, call (847) 622-2080 or visit presencehealth.org/NEWYou.
Helping Patients Achieve Optimum Health at Nature’s Balance Acupuncture & Wellness Center
A new, non-invasive diagnostic and treatment device is now working side-by-side with traditional acupuncture at Nature’s Balance Acupuncture & Wellness Center, 802 E. Terra Cotta Ave., Ste. 101, Crystal Lake.
Nature’s Balance specializes in acupuncture therapy, a technique based in traditional Chinese medicine that involves stimulating specific points on the body to restore the body’s natural healing ability. Now, it’s employing the ONDAMED device to enhance acupuncture’s effectiveness while speeding up the healing process.
ONDAMED technology creates a painless, pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) based on signals obtained from your body’s autonomic nervous system. This electromagnetic field penetrates deep into the desired area of the body to assist in healing without pain or needles.
“Some people are afraid of needles, and before, I couldn’t help them,” says Janine Jozwiak, owner and clinical director of Nature’s Balance. “Now, I can. ONDAMED is like acupuncture on steroids. It really increases the potency and effectiveness of an acupuncture treatment and can be used as a treatment on its own.”
Nature’s Balance has built its practice on using techniques such as acupuncture, massage, herbs, ONDAMED and other treatments to help patients feel and look their best.
Jozwiak opened the clinic in July 2007 with a goal of helping others achieve optimum health. Over the past decade, the clinic has helped more than 3,000 patients to realize their health goals.
During the ONDAMED treatment process, PEMF applicators, similar to a necklace or belt, are placed on targeted areas of the body. Through the use of magnetic frequencies, ONDAMED balances and supports targeted organs, glands and cells.
The hourlong treatment is not only painless, but it’s relaxing to the point where people often fall asleep during their session.
ONDAMED offers plenty of benefits for enhancing wellness and healing conditions both acute and chronic. It can help to promote circulation, relieve pain and discomfort, support healing from sports injuries and detoxify the body, among other things.
“If someone comes in and they have back pain, we can treat the back pain locally, but we can also treat the whole body systemically with ONDAMED,” Jozwiak says. “People typically require less acupuncture if they decide to do ONDAMED in addition to acupuncture.”
Other services at Jozwiak’s clinic include massage therapy, nutrition and weight-loss therapies, thermography and infrared sauna therapy, which uses heat and light to detoxify the body and relax the nervous system.
Nature’s Balance also performs Mei Zen Cosmetic Acupuncture, which is a natural alternative to plastic surgery, facelifts and other cosmetic treatments. This procedure brings increased energy and blood to the face and can improve or increase the production of collagen and elastin – a protein found in the skin and connective tissues.
“This helps to tighten and tone the face and neck, which reduces fine lines and wrinkles,” Jozwiak says.
Jozwiak may have her education in a medicine that is thousands of years old, but she remains active in seeking new therapies that can help her patients by delivering results.
“We want to help people achieve their goals and sometimes, you need more than just acupuncture,” she says. “That’s why I like to bring in new therapies that have a great deal of research behind them and are proven effective – like ONDAMED.”
Nature’s Balance serves people all around the McHenry County area. For more information or to make an appointment for a comprehensive health evaluation, call (815) 788-8383.