Dyvette Warren, PA-C, brings to this practice more than 14 years of experience in family and internal medicine working closely with men, women, and children of all ages. Her experience, knowledge and authentic compassion blend to make her patient care personal, creative and highly effective. Around here, we call her the Mary Poppins of medicine. She is joyful, boundlessly energetic, and deeply passionate. These qualities bear out in the way that she takes time and interest in each patient individually and the way all of her co-workers gravitate toward her. She is an eternal optimist, a great encourager and very confident. Dyvette seeks the cutting edge, has a constant thirst for new knowledge and is always generous in sharing her knowledge with others. She does all of this while gracefully keeping track of a busy family and participating in outreach and missions in her community and abroad.

Maddie Hitt has been a Medical Assistant here since 2013. Known for her beauty inside and out, Maddie makes life and work fun! She has a special way of juggling the fast and busy days and somehow can always squeeze in one more thing to help others. She has a way of laughing at herself and admitting her challenges that keeps people seeking her out for her humility and humanness. Her patients love her and trust her and she cares for them well. Appreciated for her dependability and loyalty, Maddie’s work ethic is strong and demonstrated by her punctuality at work and with patients, willingness to learn, and her depth of knowledge. Everyone who knows her enjoys her infectious and wicked funny laugh and great sense of humor. Maddie is full of life and busy living it! She loves country western music, movies with Kevin Costner, a little casino time, some good food, and watching the Texans.

This month we are featuring as our “supplement of the month” a fat blocker as well as a carb blocker, respectively. Well, let’s face it.  It’s challenging to eat perfectly 100% of the time. We know our patients are all in different places in their journey to improved health and good quality nutrition. It’s good to have a little help when trying to lose some weight, or simply to mitigate the damage after a weak moment, a meal served by a well-meaning host, during vacations or holidays or in business when a less than ideal restaurant or banquet meal can catch you off guard. We, of course, don’t advocate overindulging on whatever you like, whenever you like, and hoping a pill will keep you healthy and skinny. Lifestyle changes and healthy choices are accomplished with good planning and will always be paramount to good health and wellness. But we know that life gets in the way sometimes and that losing weight and keeping it off are a challenge for many. So we’re presenting 2 supplements that might help in some challenging situations:

Nuvexa™ contains FBCx®, a naturally occurring, patented dietary fiber. Through over a decade of research, FBCx® has demonstrated an impressive fat binding capability and each serving (2 tablets) binds up to 18 grams of dietary fat (equivalent to 162 calories). The FBCx® passes through the digestive tract without being absorbed and is eliminated without unpleasant side effects. Helpful to manage weight, up to 486 calories a day (162 calories x 3 meals) of fat from food can be blocked from being absorbed.

TheraSlim™ is a natural, non-stimulant supplement, clinically proven to reduce carbohydrate calories from the starchiest carbohydrates such as grains (corn, rice, barley, rye, oats, wheat) and potatoes. TheraSlim™ contains Phase 2 Starch Neutralizer®, a natural, non-stimulant adjunct from the white kidney bean, Phaseolus vulgaris L., that may reduce the enzymatic digestion of dietary starches. Supported by a substantial and competent body of scientific evidence including 14 clinical investigations, two capsules of TheraSlim ™ at least twice a day when taken with starchy meals or snacks, may assist in weight control when used in conjunction with a sensible diet and exercise program.

By Nancy Mehlert, MS

Contributions by Mila McManus MD and Dyvette Warren, PA-C

I like new stuff. You know, new tennis shoes, the latest cell phone, the smartest and most efficient new anything from cars to kitchen utensils. Some of us like to buy someone else’s old stuff because it is new to us. Everything has a price, and, with few exceptions, loses value over time. Even spending our hard earned dollars on a great vacation can offer only momentary fun and fast fading memories. In most cases, the generally accepted solution to a problem is to simply go buy another one. We like stuff!

What if there was one very essential thing in life that was depreciating every day and could not be replaced? When you first get this thing, it is intended to last a very long time. It’s the most valuable asset you have and, without it, relationships, living, loving, serving and prospering are not possible. We all have one! You guessed it… your body. So why is it so hard for us to invest some of our hard earned money into preserving and maintaining it? The human body, when properly maintained and cared for, provides the vessel through which the best of life occurs. There is no “stuff” that can give longevity, energy, focus, productivity, relationships, joy and a legacy the way the human body can. We have all heard the great truth and many of us have lived it and that is “when you have your health, you have everything”.

Very sadly, there is one more thing that has greatly depreciated and has less and less value as the decades pass and that is our traditional system of medical care. What began decades ago as a health care system offering true value and intentions for wellness has become a highly profitable industry with bed partners in insurance, government, and the pharmaceutical industry. Good intentions to improve and maintain good health in our society have morphed into a system that sustains and manages the disease state and makes shockingly large sums of money doing it. The industry, as a whole, benefits financially when it can medicate, operate, and perpetuate the need for it at the expense of our health and prosperity. For the most part, our highly valued “health” insurance only covers disease management. This model has gotten us addicted to very low cost medical care. This is one reason we are reluctant to pay for healthcare outside of what’s covered by our insurance plans.

What is good health worth to you? If we only have one body for a lifetime and all of living depends on our ability to conduct life in this one vessel, shouldn’t taking care of it be worth a lot? And if the medical model you are using isn’t working to maintain and optimize your vessel, then shouldn’t you seek another model? If your car no longer works, don’t you do whatever it takes to get your car running reliably and smoothly? If your child is not successful in the public school arena, wouldn’t you pursue other possibly more costly or time-intensive avenues to make your child successful? If you invest $1000 in the market and you’re losing money, don’t you seek out a better return for your money? In both our personal and professional lives, we all know that there is no sense in sticking with a strategy if it is not working. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.

A non-traditional, holistic, functional medicine approach is where your investment will yield immediate quality care and value, and will continue to give returns for a lifetime of better health, life, and very likely lower healthcare costs over the long-term. Allow us the honor and privilege of serving you and your family to:

• Combine the science of traditional medicine with the wisdom of natural holistic approaches. Our goal is to restore, repair and optimize your health.
• Seek the underlying causes of symptoms and correct those while avoiding the side effects and discomfort of prescription drugs or surgery.
• Promote healthy lifestyle choices with regard to sleep, nutrition, exercise and mental health.
• Use safe, natural and effective solutions to your health concerns rather than manage the symptoms with prescription drugs.

Medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure so invest in yourself!