How to Achieve Balanced Health and Wellness
By Ginger Jenkins and Dr. Mary M. Alavi
as seen in Style and Living magazine October 2005
Two of the most precious gifts a person has are their body and their time. That is the belief of Mary M. Alavi, M.D. At Balanced Health and Wellness and at the heart of her approach to medicine, lifestyle, and well-being.
Chronic stress, poor diet, mental and/ or physical exhaustion deteriorates the mind and body, causing premature aging. According to Dr. Alavi, it’s never too late to benefit from lifestyle changes and the sooner one learns to take care of themselves the sooner one can achieve desired results and improved energy, mental alertness, and physical appearance never mind reversing, eliminating, or preventing many chronic illnesses.
The mission at Balanced Health and Wellness is to provide an educational, supportive and nurturing environment for those who choose to attain and maintain his or her own optimal health. “What happens in life is that we get comfortable doing what we are doing. Somewhere out there we realize we’re not going where we wanted to go,” stated Alavi. “Although change is not comfortable for most of us, we must make a decision to turn around and remain committed to choices that support the decision to get back on track. We encourage and provide help for those who seem to have their foot stuck on first while trying to get to second.”
A total person approach is at the center of every evaluation and recommendation at Balanced Health and Wellness. According to Dr. Alavi, balanced optimal health MUST include all eight integral facets of one’s life. The eight facets are: Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual, Social, Nutritional, Hormonal, and Genetic. Balanced Health and Wellness uniquely provides a full gamut of services addressing and supporting all eight facets under one roof.
Dr. Alavi customizes and coordinates health care based totally on individual needs and addressing the WHOLE PERSON. The doctor-patient partnership will begin with listening to why you came in and to begin to access where you are physiologically and metabolically with attention to all facets of your health. Most patients, men and women, have hormonal evaluations done along with the appropriate blood and urine testing. EKG, stress testing, and full fitness evaluation including body composition, strength, flexibility, and cardio vascular assessments including VO2 Max, can be performed. Using this data, a customized plan is developed for each patient.
Dr. Alavi is an avid advocate of Diana Schwarzbein, M.D., and endorses her 5-step program to metabolically physiologically become healthy. These steps include appropriate nutritional programs including supplements as determined by your personal assessment. Secondly, stress reduction, including eight ours of uninterrupted sleep. Balanced Health and Wellness provides life coach sessions and personalized recommendations for stress reduction and sleep. Massage therapy is also provided as part of supporting not only stress reduction, but also an important part of your personalized fitness program. Guidance for reducing or elimintating toxins is provided, again different for all of us. Appropriate and customized fitness programs are designed with personal trainers available for direction and supervision for a safe, effective, and successful outcome. Lastly, if hormones do need to be replaced, only bio-identical hormones (exactly like your body has had since before your birth) are used in moderation and balance. Too much is no better than too little. The key is balance. Often, the first four steps will normalize “out of balance” hormones.
“God already put within your body the miracle to heal itself, if we only give it what you need,” insists Alavi.
Dr. Alavi enjoys an educated patient and encourages patient participation in education. “Never does a day go by where I don’t learn from my patients. I listen to them! They’re living in that body, not me! They know how they feel and when that feeling is not right.”
After 20 years in practice as a board certified family physician, Alavi adopted her own approach to optimal health. With a crazy schedule, four children, a successful practice, and 60 lbs. Lighter Dr. Alavi glows with serenity. One can only observe that she is absolute living proof that her philosophies work!
“The focus must be on the entire person, becoming metabolically physiologically healthy which results in normalized weight and body composition. We must become healthy to normalize weight, not lose (or gain) weight to become healthy,” says Alavi.
Balanced Health and Wellness recognizes the emotional importance of feeling good about the way you look and offers many aesthetic treatments and products to accentuate your natural beauty. They are THE FIRST IN HOUSTON and among the first in the nation and MOST EXPERIENCED to offer the Titan™, a light-based solution for deep skin tightening and new collagen formation. The procedure is non-surgical, non-invasive, with no general anesthesia and now down time. With the Titan™, the patient may enjoy a lift in many areas of the body experiencing sagging skin, including face, neck, arms, abdomen, buttocks, and the areas above the knees. The most popular treatment areas are the face and neck The Titan™ provides a brow lift, reduced forehead lines, minimizes crow’s feet, frown lines, smoker’s lines, sagging cheeks, and more clearly defines the jaw line and cheek bones.
Debbie Barry, and enthusiastic Titan™ believer, says “The Titan™ took years of my face and neck. I noticed the results immediately. My face was firmer and tighter and I continue to see progress day by day.” Although many people choose to do only one treatment, those who choose to do a series of treatments experience immediate and progressive tightening with each treatment lasting for years!
Balanced Health and Wellness also provides skin evaluations with focus on healthy skin, a reflection of your health. Only quality products are used including Cosmedix, La Roche-Posay, Jane Iredale Mineral makeup (which can be used safely immediately post laser and other skin treatments). Other treatments include dermaplaning, medi-facials, cellulite reductions and body contouring, laser hair removal for ALL skin types, laser vein removal, intense pulsed light removal of red and brown pigment changes (sun spots), Genesis™ for fine lines, wrinkles and rosacea.
Educational material, healthy cookbooks, and meal planning, quality pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements with no yeast, no preservatives, and all vegetable capsules including Thorne, Pharminex, Phytopharmica, Transformation and Designs for Health are also available.
Educational seminars are also regularly planned to include information on bio-identical hormones, the concepts for balanced health and wellness, healthy cooking and shopping, fitness fundamentals, stress reduction, and lifestyle enhancement.
Tomorrow is never today…make a choice the sooner you make the choice, the shorter the road to travel back and theoretically the less time it’s going to take. It’s a journey where we support one another along the way, the focus always on the TOTAL YOU.
Your reward is reclaiming your health and quality of life!