More than 25 million Americans suffer from some sort of thyroid disorder, yet only a fraction of them know that the thyroid is to blame for their symptoms. Make sure you are familiar with the following 4 signs of a thyroid disorder so you can seek the treatment you need to restore your health.

What is the Thyroid and its Disease?

The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland that sits at the base on your neck. It’s designed to produce essential hormones that control how fast your body burns calories, how fast your heart beats, and more. Due to the central role of the thyroid in supporting optimized body function, any disorder or disease of the thyroid will create noticeable symptoms.

Hypothyroidism is the most common thyroid disease. It develops as a result of underactive thyroid hormone production. Without enough thyroid hormone, the body’s metabolism and other important functions begin to slow, leading to the following 4 main symptoms.

Weight Gain

If your thyroid isn’t producing enough of its hormone, you will likely struggle regularly with weight gain and the inability to lose weight. Perhaps you blame yourself for not exercising right, or you assume your food choices need to change, but the truth is that a deficiency of thyroid hormone has slowed your metabolism to a crawl. Continue reading 4 Signs You May Have a Thyroid Disorder

The pharmaceutical industry has created the common – and dangerous! – misconception that health problems should be solved with pills and prescriptions. For many men and women, the prescriptions they take have actually caused more problems than they solved. Does this sound familiar to you?

If so, you should turn your attention to holistic treatments like acupuncture. The ancient Chinese developed acupuncture as a way to support the body’s natural healing abilities, and you can use it for the same purposes.

What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a holistic treatment that has been used for thousands of years to relieve different health problems. The practice involves inserting tiny needles into specific locations of the body called acupuncture points. These points are selected based on how energy flows through the body below the surface of the skin.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, energy often becomes blocked or rerouted as it flows through the body. Acupuncture makes it possible to restore the natural flow of energy through the body to relieve painful and unwanted symptoms. In the Western world, acupuncture is explained as a way to stimulate nerves, muscles, and connective tissue to boost the body’s natural painkillers and increase blood flow. Continue reading Acupuncture: Should You Give It a Try?

Chronic illness sounds like a life sentence, but it doesn’t have to be! Thanks to programs like FirstLine Therapy, you can address the root causes of your chronic illness and strategically embrace a healthier lifestyle.

FirstLine Therapy is a unique program designed to incorporate a sensible eating plan, customized nutritional supplementation, exercise, and stress management techniques to help you dramatically improve your quality of life.

Using FirstLine Therapy to Improve Your Health
FirstLine Therapy provides a clinically designed approach to manage your chronic illness. Since most chronic diseases are a result of lifestyle and diet choices that can be reversed, you do have control over your chronic condition and the ability to restore your health.

FirstLine Therapy begins with an exam and testing to identify the current condition of your health. This will help your doctor determine your existing strengths and challenges, as well as the appropriate solutions for staying active, eating well, and sticking with the best lifestyle choices. Continue reading Chronic Illness: Using FirstLine Therapy to Live the Fullest Life Possible

Dermal fillers provide the ultimate way to restore and revive your skin because they are quick, virtually painless, and can provide results immediately. However, with so many dermal fillers currently on the market, it can feel overwhelming to find the best filler for your aesthetic goals.

The following list will help you identify which fillers are formulated to meet your exact cosmetic needs.

If You Want to Contour Your Cheeks

Volume loss in the cheeks is a very common yet unfortunate effect of aging. If you want restore a youthful plumpness to your cheeks, Juvederm Voluma is your best option. This FDA-approved dermal filler is proven to add volume under your skin to correct age-related volume loss in the cheeks.

It works by injecting smooth hyaluronic gel into the apex, apple, and hollow of your cheeks. The injections work immediately to boost your skin with the volume it was previously lacking. Results appear immediately and last up to two years!   Continue reading Dermal Fillers: Which Is Right For Me?

Yoga is therapeutic by nature, but not all yoga sessions offer the strategic and purposeful benefits of therapeutic yoga. By working with a qualified therapeutic yoga instructor, you can overcome chronic health problems and improve your quality of life.

What is Yoga?
Yoga is the practice of strengthening and balancing the whole body that originated in ancient India. As it improves the body’s strength and balance, yoga also helps people achieve tranquility and spiritual insight as stress melts away and calm takes its place. Unlike running, swimming, or lifting weights, which all require intense, fast-paced movements that raise the heartbeat, yoga is a more stationary form of exercise that focuses on the body’s flexibility and stamina. Continue reading Therapeutic Yoga: 3 Physical Improvements You Can Expect

It’s easy enough to undergo basic lab work that highlights key information like your cholesterol and blood sugar levels, but those labs fail to offer a comprehensive picture of your health. You might be struggling with symptoms that don’t seem to make sense with your lifestyle or have no obvious trigger. If so, you need more than basic lab testing. You need functional medicine testing.

What Is Functional Medicine Testing?
Functional medicine testing is distinctly different than traditional lab testing. In most doctors’ offices and hospitals, physicians run standard blood work to see if they find an established disease process. Action is taken only when the lab results are out of the “normal” range.

This standard blood work process fails to help or recognize the many patients who have chronic symptoms but will not show anything remarkable or out-of-the-ordinary in blood work. Functional medicine lab testing is used to assess subtle patterns of imbalance that would otherwise be ignored.

More than anything, the goal of functional medicine testing is to prevent disease before it happens by identifying potential or developing problems and guiding patient care accordingly. Continue reading Functional Medicine Testing and What It Means to Your Overall Health

Most people use the terms sunscreen and sunblock interchangeably to refer generally to a lotion that protects the skin from the sun, but the two words actually carry very different meanings. This difference was recently highlighted by Hawaii’s decision to ban certain sunscreen sales due to their danger to coral reefs. Before you head out into the harsh Florida sun this summer, it’s important to understand which type of sun protection you are using and if it’s the best for your health and skin.

Sunblock Creates a Physical Barrier on the Skin

Sunblocks sit on top of the skin to absorb, reflect, and scatter the sun’s rays away from your skin. They are also known as mineral sunscreens because they contain natural mineral ingredients like zinc and titanium oxide. They sit on top of the skin to block the sun’s rays instead of entering the skin or bloodstream. Sunblocks can be thicker and a bit more difficult to apply to the skin, but they are considered the safer choice because they do not contain harmful chemicals. Sunblock products are definitely the best choice for young children, pregnant and nursing women, and those with sensitive skin. Continue reading The Best Ways to Protect Your Skin from the Sun’s Harsh Rays

Living in Florida has many benefits but also makes your skin significantly more vulnerable to sun damage. The good news is that you can choose between many different gentle and efficient treatments to counteract signs of sun damage and keep your skin looking healthy and youthful. Try the three below to look like the best version of yourself.

Stock Up on Vitamins A and C

Vitamin A and vitamin C are both essential skin rejuvenation nutrients. The derivative of vitamin A known as retinol encourages cell turnover and increases collagen production to regenerate damaged skin and encourage new, healthy skin cells to replace the old. Retinol is a powerful product that can also improve the color, tone, and texture of your skin while encouraging brown spots to fade away. Be sure to add retinol into your routine gradually since it is so potent. Begin by applying every other or every third day and work toward once per day. Continue reading 3 Quick Treatments that Will Erase Signs of Sun Damage

You don’t need to reminded about the essential role that oxygen plays in your survival. But did you know that oxygen can be harnessed in the form of ozone to dramatically improve and enhance your overall wellness? It’s true; ozone therapy has been used as a medical treatment in Europe since the 1950s, and it has now become a leading alternative medicine treatment in America.

How Does Ozone Help the Body?

Ozone, or O3, has the potential to improve your health in many different ways. Since it suppresses infections by killing viruses, bacteria, and yeast, ozone effectively eliminates pathogens found in chronic conditions like Lyme disease. Ozone also improves circulation, boosts the immune system, enhances antioxidant protection, and so much more. Continue reading Should I Receive IV or Rectal Ozone Therapy?

Ozone Therapy, also called Ozonotherapy, is the use of medical grade ozone to stimulate healing within the body. Though research has been available on the power of ozone therapy for decades, it is only now coming into the spotlight as a safe and effective treatment for a wide range of health problems and conditions. If you experience any of the following health issues, ozone therapy could be the surprising and unexpected solution.

Ozone Therapy Is Based in Chemistry

As a single atom, oxygen is deficient in electrons and must be paired with another oxygen atom to exist in nature. This stable molecule, O2, is the air we breathe. When three oxygen atoms manage to pair up, the resulting combination is called ozone, or O3. All three oxygen atoms in ozone share the same electrons. This makes ozone unstable, yet powerful as a biological stimulant. Continue reading 3 Reasons to Use Ozone Therapy to Improve Your Health