What is Optimal Health?
Optimal Health is a catchy phrase that encompasses many dimensions of healthy living. Imagine a diamond with many facets, each adjacent to the other, connected and critical to the other's existence and ability of the diamond to shine. If one facet is missing, light will not pass correctly through the gem. Optimal Health also has many sides and if one is out of balance, a person cannot achieve optimal health.
In our view, optimal health is creating a profound understanding and strong foundation for future personal growth in nutrition and physical health, spiritual health, mental health and financial health. If you reflect for a moment on our society today, I think you will agree that optimal health is difficult to achieve and largely elusive for the majority of ourselves and our fellow citizens. At McQuaid MD, we believe this is simply an educational and awareness issue. Our goal is to change that by delivering good information in usable ways via this website, our "21st Century Guide" series and our weight loss and wellness programs.
Yesterday
In the past, we used to visit with our patients and make recommendations for them to eat better and sleep and exercise more. The patient would regularly agree that those were all great recommendations, promise to do better and then leave the office visit, largely failing to practice what they agreed were great ideas for their longevity and wellbeing.
Optimal Health Today
This process is different today. Yes, we still recommend that our patients eat better and sleep and exercise more. But today we have a large toolbox of diagnostic screenings to educate and demonstrate why we are making these recommendations. These diagnostic screenings are largely covered by insurance, a huge development in the future overall wellness of our patients and community. Many of these screenings could run $500, $1,000 or more, before insurance started to cover them recently.
To give you an idea, using an advanced diagnostic blood screening which is covered by insurance, we can now tell you the number of LDL particles in your blood. This biomarker is not included in traditional lipid testing you have doubtless seen in your previous blood testing, but has been shown to increase risk for cardiovascular events, even in the presence of optimal LDL cholesterol values.
There are several other biomarkers, including measuring critical vitamin and mineral levels in the blood, that help us target and eliminate deficiencies in the blood and begin eliminating disease states at the source.
Get Well Now
We can't help you with every facet of your wellness. But the keystone or most important facet is your nutritional and physical health. By informing you and delivering good, usable, actionable information, we hope to help you build your foundation for total wellness.
To your health!
McQuaid MD
