The Greatest Gift You Can Give Your Family for 2014

I can’t stand New Year’s resolutions. They usually involve temporary, unhealthy gimmicks designed to fill corporate coffers while leading to disappointment, failure and depression.

We need to stop looking for shortcuts and commit to living a wellness lifestyle – long-term proposition with health benefits that far outweigh the challenges. Let’s start now and put a plan for living a wellness lifestyle in writing.

You can’t build a house without a written architectural plan, and you can’t have insurance coverage without a written policy. Wellness is no different.

My end-of-year wish is that every family starts writing things down so we can develop a true wellness plan for 2014. Start by looking at the physical, nutritional and psychological components of the Triad of Health.

What is your level of stress? You can take a stress survey here at Natural Healthcare Center.

What is your base functional level? Start by performing basic mirror tests to assess your level of flexibility, strength, balance and stability.

What are your eating habits? Are you shopping and cooking for yourself and your family, using fresh foods and ingredients, or are you eating a lot of processed, man-made substances?

What supplements are you taking? Have they been analyzed for quality and possible contradictions? Some supplements shouldn’t be taken together or with certain medications.

Instead of joining Weight Watchers and quitting by March or joining a gym and getting hurt by February, let’s take an honest approach to a wellness lifestyle in 2014. Start with a family plan and then develop a plan for each individual.

Decide what unhealthy foods and beverages, like fast food and soda, you’ll commit to eliminating from your home. What people will you avoid to reduce your stress level? What people who make you happy would you like to have a larger role in your life? Where will you volunteer your time?

These are all questions that need to be answered in order to develop a wellness lifestyle plan and take back your health. It’s the greatest gift you can give your family and yourself. Start answering these questions and writing things down, and bring your findings to Natural Healthcare Center.

We can help you develop family and personal wellness lifestyle plans that reduce your risk of chronic illness and help you feel better, function better and live as many quality years as possible. Doesn’t that sound better than anything you could find at the mall?

This isn’t just about 2014. This is about the rest of your life. Let’s make the commitment to change our lives for the better!

Dr. James Prood­ian is an accomplished chiropractic physician and health educator who founded Proodian Healthcare Family of Companies to help people feel better, function better, and live longer. His expertise for the past two decades has been in physical rehabilitation, and he has successfully established himself as a spinal specialist. In his practice, he advocates the science of functional medicine, which takes an integrative approach to treating patients by addressing their physical, nutritional, and psychological needs. Alarmed by the escalation of complex, chronic illness in our country, Dr. Proodian has been speaking to companies and organizations through his “Wellness at Work” program since 1994, motivating thousands of people to make positive lifestyle choices and lead healthier, more productive lives. He can be heard weekly on his radio program, “Proodian Healthcare By Design,” on Tandem Radio.