Welcome to the journey to optimal health! I am LP, sharing the good, the bad & the ugly, from the decision to take control of my health to the vibrancy I know I will achieve after working together with Calmglow.
A little about me: a 56-year-old gal, who has been trying to lose weight and get in shape since I was 13 years old! The years have raced by and aches and pains have moved in for the duration. The wisps of health concern need to be vanquished so as to not limit or shorten my life.
I plan to be one long-living, feisty old lady who leaves all of the kids in her dust. One of my burning desires is a terribly vain one: I want to look good in clothes. Most importantly, I want to see my children grow into incredible adults and enjoy my time with any future grandchildren with whom I am blessed.
Those are my whys for turning to Dianne Hinton and her team at Calmglow. What are your whys? How do you want to feel and look by next year? Do you desire to be an energetic senior citizen with me?
I volunteered to share this journey with you. I know that I am not alone in wanting to take control of my health while there is still time to do so. I promised Dianne that I would not hold back. I will share the whining and complaining from my inner 5-year-old (who LOVES her comfort food), reveal any resistance and reluctance to the changes recommended, the whisperings of that devil on my shoulder, and the giggles at the mistakes I make.
Talking about mistakes……..
The first step is to fill out the new patient paperwork. Easy, right? I look over the packet: history, symptoms questionnaire, consent for therapy, HIPPA, consent for hormone therapy. Oh, I am past menopause, no need to fill out the consent for hormone therapy.
Wrong!
Jessica Santos explained that I am not the first person to focus solely on gender-specific hormones. But there are other hormones in our bodies that could be a concern. Say stress hormones (who isn’t stressed these days?!!).
Paperwork correctly filled out (which you now know means complete all of the documents sent and to make sure to fill it fully — they can’t help us if they don’t know everything! Remember, the good, the bad & the ugly is being addressed here!). I am waiting for the test to arrive in the mail – which is the next step.
There is one other matter in connection to getting started: cost. Calmglow does not bill health insurance. To be honest, the cost was a concern. I explored my options.
I discovered that while Calmglow does not bill insurance, they do provide an invoice with the correct billing codes that I can submit to my health insurance company. Also, if I want to use my HSA (health savings account) to make sure to call the office to order my supplements, not to order them via the website, so that an invoice can be provided. Additionally, Jessica or Dianne can write a prescription for the supplements needed with the diagnosis.
Dianne also shared there is CARE credit, which has a low interest for 2 years plan.
Ultimately, I decided that it was time to invest in my health. How many decades have I spent in less than optimal health? How many decades do I have left on this earth? What has been the cost of being less than optimally healthy? What is it worth to not slide into one of the chronic diseases lurking in my future?
While I wait for the arrival of the tests, I took my measurements (sigh). I do not have a scale, so I won’t track my weight change. Instead, I will take my weekly measurements. I will keep you up to date on my progress!
I also started to track the food I eat normally. I am becoming a scientist! I am weighing and measuring everything and then recording the macronutrients: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, in addition to the calorie count.
Hey, did you know that the protein in the different types of yogurt varies widely?
Me neither!
I am looking forward to the small, painless diet improvement recommendations from Alex the Nutritionist. (Remember my inner 5-year-old who loves food? She is very suspicious of these coming diet improvements.)
I am guessing that I’ll probably have to start to think about some kind of exercise. I wonder what other aspects or habits I’ll need to work on so that I look great in clothing and feel awesome too.
Email at [email protected] or post on the Calmglow Facebook page if you are also starting the journey to optimal health with me. Let me know what have been your challenges. If you are further along the journey, email or post to share your tips and knowledge gained!
Here I am at the start of my journey – at the inception of the transformation.
Thank you for joining me!
LP
Transformation Zone
