OFFICE: (Patient Name) on your next visit you will have a re-exam/body comp. scan…
PATIENT: UGH… is there any way we can do that later? I don’t think it’s a good time to do my next re-exam.
Have you ever thought that? It’s time for your annual physical (blood work) and you think to yourself,“ maybe I shouldn’t do that now since I haven’t been following my diet/supplements /adjustments and my labs won’t look good… so If I recommit myself, then do the labs in 90 days they will look better!”
This is one of the WORST thoughts to have when it comes to your exams/body composition scans and re-exams. Yes…. we understand why you might think it’s ok…. But it’s not!
Do you know how many times a patient tells us….“Dr. Ernst, I really don’t want to step on your scale, not because I don’t want to know my weight. Rather, it’s because your scale will tell the truth that I have (or have not) been doing what you asked of me!”
Our scales measures more than just how much you weigh-also tells very important numbers such as your hydration rates, body fat (in both percent and total lbs.) and now, our new one called Evolt, even tells us how old you are internally (your metabolic age) AND your overall health score on a scale of 0-10 (10/10 being outrageous health, 1/10 being a severe emergency!)
Our bloodwork doesn’t just check your sugars, cholesterol and sizes of your red blood cells. It assesses the global toxicity of your liver, the strength of your immune system and the amount of inflammation in your organs and possible chronic infections you have floating around in your body.
Our urine and hair tests have the capacity to show us again the % of your overall health from 0-100 (0 being death and 100% being outrageously fabulously healing). Wouldn’t you want to know these during your health journey?
I get it, you may not want to do the exams or labs when we ask, as you may think we are using them to point out what you have not been doing. That can’t be further from the truth. We use the exams/re-exams to determine what you need to do to better your health.
We are a forwarding thinking office, not a backward thinking office. We focus on what can be vs what was. Even if you completely fell “off track/off the wagon” it doesn’t matter… as Nat King Cole famously sang… “pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again!”
Have you ever thought about how GPS works? You enter a destination you want to get to. Then you enter the location you are currently at. The system calculates the possible routes and gives you options (this one is the quickest, this one has a toll, etc.)
Imagine if you tried to calculate the route but left the current location section blank. ERROR! I hope you see where I am going with this?
Imagine-you want to lower your sugar, A1C, cholesterol, improve your energy and lose 40 lbs. That’s your desired destination. Where are you now?
You must enter that! This is the importance of knowing your numbers through exams/re-exams and body composition scans! Just like your GPS recalculates the route if you take an exit too early or if you turn right by accident when you were supposed to turn left, re-exams & body scans allow us to recalculate a proper course of action/therapy to ensure you land at your desired destination-health!
“But Dr. Ernst-I haven’t been taking my supplements, I ate a tub of dairy-based ice cream and had fried chicken last night and have missed 5 of my adjustments, if I do the re-exam now it will look terrible. Isn’t it better for me to fix this myself and then test?” NO!!!!
You took a right turn when you were supposed to turn left. No judgment-but let’s recalculate and that’s exactly what re-exams are for, to find your new current location. Did you know that you can’t feel your blood sugar/pressure, GGT, CRP, Homocysteine, BMI, % Body Water, % Body Fat and Metabolic age?
The only way to know these numbers is to have your blood and/or urine tested and for you to hop onto a metabolic scale that can print results way beyond how much you weigh. At Cornerstone Health Center we value you and your health goals.
We strategically place re-exams & body scans at key points in your therapeutic health journey (and even your wellness journey). Just as your MD recommends an annual physical (often which includes numbers-height, weight, blood pressure and labs) we recommend you take a look at where you are in your health frequently (more during therapeutic correction, less during wellness /maintenance)
One of the worst things that can happen to a “healthy” person is a major life event which they (and their health professionals) didn’t see coming. Let’s take a life lesson from Bob Harper-the celebrity fitness trainer behind the show “The Biggest Loser”.
He is responsible for helping the show guests loose hundreds of lbs. and change their lifestyle so they become healthy. As such, he is an example of health himself (at least he thought he was). He works out regularly, he eats well (according to him), he participates in healthy lifestyle activities (yoga, meditation etc.) and gets his medical physicals regularly.
Yet, despite being thin and physically fit, in 2017 he had a massive heart attack that shocked his fans and the medical community because his cholesterol was normal, his BP was low and he had no medical reasons for a heart attack… so they thought.
1 year later they discovered he had very high levels of lipoprotein(a)-a different type of cholesterol protein than LDL. Remember, his LDL was normal. But his Lipoprotein A was very high and he never had it tested, until after his heart attack. It was also discovered that he had very high platelet counts but his doctors dismissed that finding originally as platelets are good-they help you clot your blood and prevent stroke.
My point with this…. Know your numbers! You can’t feel your health. You can’t look healthy. You can pass all the MD tests and still end up with a major life event. Remember, you can’t reach your destination unless you know where you are currently.
This is why re-exams & body scans are so important. X-rays of your spine every 7 week therapeutically and annually for wellness shows us where you spinal health is.
Body composition scale exams show us where your metabolism is.
Blood work shows us where your immunity/inflammation is and urine/hair tests show us where your toxicity is.
This all very important to know and track regularly to ensure you reach your final destination – HEALTH!