Mike Morrell

Thus far in my daily range-of-motion routine I’ve seen a consistent loss in fat and consistent gain in muscle. Consistency is good, but it’s been s-l-o-o-o-w. Slow is undoubtedly good for me.

But! I’ve also been curious as to whether there might be more going on with me, in me – could there be anything blocking a more heightened weight loss? And what about my blood pressure? It’s reduced considerably since I’ve been using the ROM, but it’s still high for someone my age. And finally, there’s this pesky (more than pesky; downright frustrating) generalized anxiety that’s reared its head in recent years (I owe you at least a full blog post on that – remind me sometime) – what’s up with that?

I have questions. My Aunt Sharon has answers.

If not answers, at least responses. Good ones. My Aunt Sharon, whom I called Auntie Ra-Ra as a child, is Dr. Hatch to you. Dr. Hatch operates a wellness center in the West Metro Atlanta area that addresses questions and symptoms such as mine, without the use of pharmecuticals or surgery. She has a three-fold approach to health that includes chiropractic care, NAET allergy testing (& removal!), and nutritional testing; while we were in Atlanta last week I scheduled a couple of appointments with her. I already see a good chiropractor in Raleigh and NAET takes several months to do right, so on this brief of a visit we focused on the latter – nutritional testing.  I think her website (which, true confession, I helped her set up) asks a great question with regards to nutrition in general and vitamin and mineral supplements in particular:

Are you tired of wasting hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of dollars on expensive and seemingly useless nutritional supplements? Wouldn’t it be great to know exactly which nutrients your body needs? At the Wellness Center, we provide precise nutritional testing and counseling that specifically targets what you and your family need. Because nutritional needs change over time, we re-test regularly to ensure that you aren’t taking supplments pointlessly – overdosing on vitamins and minerals your body already produces in abundance can actually be detrimental to your health.

That’s been my experience at least – walking into a supplement store (or browsing a ‘health’ website), eyes glazed over – I mean, the way the labels are written you want to take ‘em all - I mean, who doesn’t want increased stamina, better eyesight, and silky hair? But the thing is, if (and I realize this is a big “if” these days) you have a basically healthy diet eating real food, you don’t need most of those supplements. In fact, too much of a good thing can be harmful.

So back to Dr. Hatch. She uses a kinesological approach to test your body’s response to different nutrients – if you’re sufficient in an area, or have an allergy to a certain nutrient, she can tell. And if you’re lacking in something she’s testing you for, she can tell that, too. We discovered that my adrenal system is fine (something that can lead to increased anxiety if its out of whack), but my thyroid is off and my blood pressure, while not astronomical, is too high for someone my age. My body also needs a lot of Vitamin B right now. There were other results, too, but what I really cared about was the bottom line – she recommended to me several supplements that I’ll be taking at fairly high doses over the next 45 days, in conjunction with my normal ROM-ming and chiropractic routine. Then I’ll go in for testing again, to see how my body is responding to this nutrient infusion in areas I’m deficient in. She deals directly with a medical-strength supplement company that ensures high-quality ingredients – another relief, since I never know what I’m getting online, really. I was surprised at how affordable they are.

My aunt thinks that my body should respond positively to these supplements fairly quickly – that I should see positive results within 30 days, including a stronger metabolism and lower blood pressure. Perhaps a weight loss acceleration is coming? I can only hope! Stay tuned…

For my continuing whole-health journey, go here!