Wellness is a personal journey, shaped by individual lifestyles and perceptions. While food is often reduced to mere calories, it's actually a complex source of information-rich molecules that influence gene expression and regulate bodily responses like inflammation. Considering food as more than just macronutrients allows us to understand how it acts as a messenger, impacting our overall health.
Understanding the Foundations of Weight Management
Obesity is a growing concern, with over 60% of adults in the United States classified as obese or overweight. This condition significantly elevates the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension, and other health issues. Several factors contribute to this, including increased consumption of energy-dense foods, reduced physical activity, and genetic predispositions.
Common weight management strategies include:
- Dietary Modifications: Emphasizing nutritious, high-fiber foods while reducing the intake of processed foods high in fats and sugars.
- Physical Activity: Aiming for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity per week.
- Surgery: Bariatric surgery, which alters the digestive system, is an option for individuals with severe obesity or related health problems.
- Weight Management Programs: Customized plans developed by specialists, incorporating diet, exercise, and habit management.
- Weight Loss Medication: Prescribed medications, including compounded options, can support lifestyle changes.
The Strive Approach: Personalized Weight Loss Through the Science of Food
Diets often fail because they offer a superficial view of food, assuming all calories and bodies are the same. They disregard bio-individuality and the profound impact of food on our well-being. Strive nutrition addresses this by using the science of food as medicine to create personalized plans that balance the body and support individual goals.
The Power of Food as Medicine
Food carries messages that can either benefit or harm our bodies. Anti-inflammatory foods like vegetables and cold-water fish deliver beneficial messages, while sugary and processed foods can trigger inflammation and lead to weight gain. Vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients found in plant foods support metabolic pathways and overall health. What we eat directly fuels our cells, metabolism, detoxification processes, and immune system.
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Strive recognizes that sustainable weight loss goes beyond calorie counting and macronutrient ratios. It delves into the root causes of imbalances, considering the quality and type of food consumed, as well as the individual consuming it.
Strive Compounding Pharmacy: Tailored Medication for Individual Needs
Recognizing the unique challenges individuals face in their weight management journey, Strive Compounding Pharmacy offers customized weight management medications. Hormonal imbalances and underlying medical conditions can hinder weight loss despite diligent lifestyle and dietary changes. Strive Pharmacy collaborates with individuals and their doctors to create personalized plans, offering several key benefits:
- Customized Medication: Medications are tailored to individual preferences and tastes.
- Personalized Dosages: Formulations are based on unique requirements.
- Reduced Side Effects: Medicines are designed to minimize side effects compared to mass-produced options.
- Convenient Services: Online prescription refills and delivery services are available.
Common weight loss medications administered by Strive include oral appetite suppressants, vitamin injections, and peptides, which help regulate appetite, assist metabolism, and release fat deposits.
Strive Program Structure: Knowledge and Mastery
The Strive program is structured in two phases:
Phase 1: Knowledge (8 weeks) This phase lays the foundation for long-term success by providing an understanding of calories, macros, and food types. Participants learn how to track their food intake without obsession, build daily food structures and routines, and implement effective food rules. The outcome is structure, clarity, and control, leading to initial results such as fat loss and increased mental clarity.
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Phase 2: Language (8 weeks) This phase focuses on turning knowledge into real-life mastery by challenging unhelpful food beliefs and diet culture myths. Participants learn to reduce food guilt and manage their inner critic, develop emotional regulation skills to prevent night snacking and binging, and handle social eating situations with confidence. The outcome is peace, power, and permission, allowing for continued fat loss while enjoying flexibility.
Strive with Sheri: A Personal Journey
Sheri, the creator of Strive, shares her personal experience of overcoming IBS, bloating, and abdominal distension by discovering how to balance her plate. The Strive program emphasizes feeling sexy and confident, whatever that looks like to each individual. It promotes a balanced approach that avoids restrictions and encourages enjoying favorite foods in moderation.
Key Principles of the Strive Program
- No Restrictions: The program avoids restrictive diets and promotes balance.
- Personalization: Participants learn how to personalize their calories and macros to meet their goals.
- Nutrient-Dense Foods: Emphasis is placed on eating nutrient-dense foods in abundance.
- Community Support: Participants have access to a supportive community where they can ask questions, share experiences, and receive real-time guidance.
- Habit and Behavior Change: The program focuses on sustainable habit and behavior change rather than gimmicks or quick fixes.
- Mindset Shift: Strive aims to shift participants' mindsets around food, nutrition, and exercise.
Success Stories
Many individuals have experienced significant transformations through the Strive program. Participants have reported weight loss, improved mental and physical health, increased energy levels, and a newfound ability to enjoy food without guilt or restriction. They have also gained a deeper understanding of their bodies and how to fuel them effectively.
Medical Weight Loss at Wellness Revived Medical Spa and Aesthetics
Wellness Revived Medical Spa and Aesthetics offers medically supervised weight loss programs that provide safe and effective solutions for individuals who haven't been successful with traditional weight loss methods. Dr. Musgrove conducts thorough evaluations to determine the most suitable plan for each individual, considering their BMI, medical history, and weight loss goals. Treatment options may include dietary supplements and medications that reduce appetite, enhance fat burning, and promote calorie reduction.
The STRIVE Community-of-Care Initiative
The STRIVE community-of-care initiative is an online learning tool designed to provide evidence-based resources and meet the educational needs of medical practitioners and patients. It offers up-to-date information on diagnosis, treatment guidelines, management techniques, and emerging treatments in obesity management. The goal is to empower healthcare providers with guidance on a multidisciplinary approach to personalized treatment.
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Addressing Metabolic Conditions Through Diet and Lifestyle
Many metabolic conditions can be reversed and healed through diet and lifestyle changes. Medications may manage symptoms temporarily, but they don't address the underlying issues. National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coaches can assist individuals in incorporating these changes, optimizing their health and potentially reversing symptoms.