Dr. Gatell On Medical Wellness at The Atlanta Pain Relief Center

Twelve Simple Steps To Help Achieve Medical Wellness and Good Health - State of Healthy-Well-Being (HWB) !

Our eating habits are one of the most important means of maintaining our general health and medical wellness. With good eating habits you can feel better and avoid the complications of obesity and/or poor general health.

Hippocrates (460 - 375 B.C.), Father of Medicine, noted : "Persons who are naturally very fat are apt to die earlier than those who slender." Also, I truly believe in the old adage that "you are what you eat."

Furthermore, good health comes with reducing daily stress, obtaining adequate sleep and maintaining a personal sense of spirituality. Remember, always to think positive because we are also what we think and feel !

Here are some common-sense suggestions that may help you obtain a natural state of well-being - please discuss these suggestions with your own private physician before implementing them:

1. Eat only when you feel hungry - Important habit to start, instead of compulsively eating or worrying that you might feel hungry later; or don't eat just because you feel nervous. Hippocrates 2400 years ago noted: "When more food than is proper has been taken, it occasions disease; this is shown by the treatment."

2. Eat your meals slowly - Also an important point, because your also learn to relax and the brain has time to know when the stomach is full.

3. Stop eating when your stomach feels 75% full - A very good idea, especially if you like to overeat ! Also, keep a diary of your calorie count for a least 1 to 2 weeks - this is a great conscious and subconscious feedback to see how much you are eating, what you are eating and the pattern of your eating.

4. It is has been suggested to eat your main meal at lunch-time; Eat a light breakfast and light supper - However, I personally have a good breakfast and dinner only. I also include healthy vegetable juices (V-8) and fruit juices (Orange) before these meals and usually skip lunch entirely and just juices for lunch. Hippocrates 2400 years ago noted: " It is easier to fill up with drink than with food."

5. Avoid excessive sweets or fatty-foods - These foods usually have twice the calorie, so they are stored at fat. Also, excessive sweets can promote yeast overgrowth in the body leading to chronic fatigue.

6. Eat a diet with high-complex carbohydrates, adequate proteins, and rich in minerals and vitamins (e.g. fruits and vegetables). This will avoid hypoglycemia and yeast overgrowth, which can lead to malabsorption syndromes (e.g. leaky-gut syndrome) - all leading to chronic endrocrine problems and immune deficiency syndromes.

Also, consider supplementing your diet with substances that will improve your energy level including B12, B-Complex, Magnesium, Malic Acid and NADH. Caffeine is just a quick fix and will only hurt your body in large amounts ( greater than 2 to 3 caffeinated drinks a day). This is because caffeine reduces blood flow to tissues and inhibits protection-mechanism in the body to improve cellular oxygenation.

7. Avoid or reduce any use of alcohol, caffeine or nicotine. I usually tell patients to avoid any excesses of anything and moderation is the way to go. For example, no more than 2 to 3 alcoholic drinks a day at most; no more than 2 caffeinated drinks a day; and if you must smoke than use a brand of cigarettes with the least nicotine e.g. Carlton Regulars (tm) with 0.1 mg per cigarette, compared to others ranging from 0.5 to 1.0 mg per cigarette, or 5 to 10 times of nicotine more ! I see many patients with sore and spastic muscles due to excesses of all these toxins. Most of my patients eventually wean themselves off all these toxins all by themselves. More on the benefits of quitting smoking - click here !

An old Spanish rhyme goes that "if after 40, you don't take care of yourself, then legs up !" - which means early death !

8. Maintain a good posture, do daily stretching and exercise as tolerated by your body. Unless you are very young and naturally active already, then you must find someway to increase your blood flow to areas of the body you have stopped using. By stretching and light exercise, you bring youth to those old bones !

9. Obtain adequate sleep and rest. This is especially true if you have a condition called Fibromyalgia-Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunctional Syndrome. This is essentially a "burn-out" syndrome of the body and mind in genetically predisposed patients. The mechanism is a cellular energy metabolic utilization problem or "dysenergism" as stated by Dr. Paul St. Amand. This FM-CFIDS may even begin in early in childhood. This "burn-out" syndrome could be cause by severe prolonged environmental stresses or from internal stress secondary psychological and/or physical problems or/and from acute injuries (accidents, infections, etc).

Many of my patients have suffered from many of these stressors. But, adequate sleep, rest and a proper diet, has resulted in many of my patients many feeling better. Many patients need pharmacological help to control to help reduce the severe pain and mental fatigue that may accompany this condition.

I think is very natural and human to use spirituality with faith in a higher power (e.g. Our God). Faith and prayer helps reduce daily worry. Therefore, our daily rest and sleep can improve our overall health.

10. Work smart and avoid any un-necessary distress. Learn coping skills in order to deal with the un-avoidable stressful situations - There is no question that constant stress causes premature aging and early death (e.g. arteriosclerosis and heart disease). All that extra money is never worth it if you have to pay for it with your health and happiness. The quality of life has a major value. So, if you waste your time worrying so much or working long hours, you have just wasted more of your life away.

11. Learn to Love (and Forgive): For example, "Love Thyself," "Love Thy Family" and "Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself." The more anger and hurt you carry around, the more chronic stress you will have. So, learn to forgive and forget any un-needed negative emotions and thoughts. Instead, learn to have love in your heart no matter what and this positively will move mountains !

12. Avoid any type of un-necessary pollution for your mind and body - This includes not over-exposing your senses to violence, vulgar language and over-sexualization in the media. Remember, that our minds are very suggestible, especially when we are tired, or when we are younger and do not have more life experience. As the early Greek thinkers suggested "everything in moderation." Being ethical and moral is always important in order to be at peace with yourself and others.

These basic steps have also helped many of my patients achieve better health and life-styles.

Unfortunately, the stress of modern society has helped destroy the nuclear family. Worse off, we have not allowed better education in schools to teach the young minds on how to be better people. Instead, we allow children (and immature adults) to be taught by the profit-driven media by suggestions about sex, violence and drugs as a pleasurable escape. Our teachers are our most important assets, yet we tie their hands in helping them to teach and discipline when necessary. Instead, we would rather watch as our society go further into a third world status and build more prisons.

Hopefully, the above simple steps may help maintain health and reduce medical problems in us all.

Good Luck and God Bless !
Sincerely yours,

John A. Gatell, M.D.
Email: doctorgatell@msn.com