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Losing weight can prove to be an incredibly difficult feat. It takes hard work, perseverance, and discipline to stick to a balanced diet, an exercise routine, and an overall healthy lifestyle. And despite these, it can take some time to notice results. Several people want to lose weight. But it’s a long commitment that many are not prepared to make. They want to see results fast. And from this rose all these trending weight loss hacks, diets, and seven-minute exercise routines. Others also resort to medical procedures such as liposuction, an invasive surgical procedure that eliminates excess body fat.  While liposuction sounds like a good option, it does have drawbacks — the biggest one being its invasiveness. Liposuction is done by licensed surgeons who cut through the skin to remove excess fat. As a procedure that requires surgery it can cause certain complications and more so requires a long recovery period and not to mention a large investment.  For those who are not ready to go under the knife and invest in a highly invasive weight loss procedure, the good news is that there are other options. Liposuction has its alternatives that are less invasive, less expensive, and similarly as effective.  Alternatives to Liposuction  There are three less invasive procedures that can yield relatively the same results as liposuction. These include cool sculpting, lipo laser, and strawberry lipo laser.  Cool Sculpting  Cool sculpting is a good alternative to liposuction that does not involve surgery. In fact, it is non-invasive and safe, taking only 35 minutes per session. The procedure is done by a doctor, who uses a patented CoolSculpting applicator to swipe through target areas, such as the tummy, legs, arms, or even jaw.  From its name, it’s pretty obvious that the applicator will be cold. Its purpose is to freeze fat cells and kill them for your body to process out later on. Because your body will need time to eliminate dead fat cells from your system, cool sculpting can take a while before the results show. Generally, you’ll lose weight a few weeks up to two months after the treatment.  However, that’s not to say that it’s not effective. Cool sculpting has been shown to eliminate up to 23% of body fat after every session. With its proven effectiveness, short procedure time, and non-invasiveness, it’s a good option for those who want to lose fat easily. However, it may not be recommended for people with skin conditions or disorders that cause blood clots. Learn more about the differences between cool sculpting vs strawberry lipo laser. Lipo Laser  While lipo laser does involve a certain level of invasiveness, it’s very minimal and requires only a local anesthetic. The recovery time is also short, taking only a couple of days for the incision to heal. But to be safe, strenuous physical activity is discouraged for about 3 to 4 weeks after the procedure.  When you undergo a lipo laser treatment, a doctor will numb the target area where you want to lose fat with anesthesia. They will then make small incisions on the skin and insert a laser, which will liquefy the fat. Then, a cannula will be inserted into the incision to suck the fat out. Because of its minimal invasiveness, there can be minor adverse effects, such as swelling or bruising. Although this sounds a little scary at first, lipo lasers are much safer compared to liposuction, as long as it’s done by a licensed and experienced doctor. Strawberry Lipo Laser  If you’re still concerned about the invasiveness of a regular lipo laser and aren’t keen on trying the cool sculpting procedure, there’s still the strawberry lipo laser treatment option. Unlike its general counterpart, this FDA-approved treatment does not require making incisions on the skin.  Instead, a stronger but safe laser is used above the skin’s surface, targeting the areas where you want to reduce fat. The laser hits fat cells and opens up the skin’s pores, allowing your body to release stored fluids, such as water, glycerol, and fatty acids. Without these fluids, fat cells beneath the skin will shrink, an effect that you will notice almost immediately after the treatment.  It’s recommended, however, that you complete about eight sessions of strawberry lipo laser to get a significant reduction of fat cell size. But because it is non-invasive, does not have side effects, and requires no downtime, the frequency of treatments should not be a cause of concern.  The only limitations are for pregnant women, people with pacemakers, tattoos in the targeted areas, hypertension, kidney or liver disorders, and cancer.  Lose Weight Fast and Safely  There are a lot of weight loss hacks and diets surfacing, however, not all of them are guaranteed safe and effective. The best way to lose excess fat is to turn to professionals. Get medical advice and ask our doctors about liposuction or its alternatives today. 

Living a healthy life that is free from any ailments, disease, or illness is dependent on various genetic factors and lifestyle decisions. Some of the most common include getting the recommended 7 to 8 hours of sleep daily, drinking at least 8 cups of water a day, eating a well-balanced diet, and taking time to engage in physical activity. Everything that we do on a daily basis contributes to our overall health and wellness. And with that, good medical care should be able to target every area of a patient’s life and recommend habit or lifestyle changes to foster improved health. This is what is referred to as functional medicine.  Functional Medicine: An Overview  When asked “what do doctors do?”, the usual answer is that they treat illnesses or disorders and assist in patient recovery. This is the traditional route to healthcare, where doctors identify problems in a patient’s body and implement focused treatment plans to alleviate them.  Traditionally, doctors view body organs as artificially separated. For example, if they diagnose a problem with a patient’s liver, every treatment or procedure will revolve around liver treatment. Often, without considering the other parts of the body and how they contribute to liver health.  But a problem with the liver can point to various other issues, such as the patient’s diet, metabolism, etc. Different parts of the body communicate and work together — and the failure of one can create effects in other body parts that it’s intertwined with.  This calls for a more holistic approach to healthcare, which doctors are beginning to refer to as functional medicine. Instead of treating body parts and organs as separate from each other, functional medicine considers the body as a whole, identifying how different factors affect each other and diagnosing the root of an illness or disease.  Functional medicine takes lifestyle factors into consideration, including the patient’s diet, stress levels, hormones, toxins, and lifestyle changes, in order to create a treatment that targets each area of life. This approach to medicine is prevention-focused instead of treatment-focused, meaning that it doesn’t only treat pre-existing conditions, but overall helps a patient foster better health and wellness to prevent problems in the long run.  In short, functional medicine is about transforming lifestyles, supporting the body’s ability to heal, and supplying its unique requirements through habits and lifestyle changes.  What Functional Medicine Requires From Doctors  Doctors need to shift from traditional healthcare to a more holistic functional medicine approach to help a patient live healthier lives and prevent illnesses or diseases. It requires a change in mindset and thinking outside the bounds of traditional treatments and medicine.  Instead of focusing on the patient’s condition, functional doctors should put all the pieces together, perusing the body’s connected systems and treating the whole person — not just the illness itself. It requires realizing that not every patient is the same, which may call for unique courses of action from person to person.  A practitioner of functional medicine asks the following questions when treating a patient:  Why does the patient have this condition?  Is it because of factors such as their weight, hormones, toxins, stress, or diet?  Is this condition linked to other parts or functionalities in the body?  Aside from direct treatments, what changes can the patient make to prevent the condition from resurfacing?  By adopting a more functional mindset, doctors can better prevent problems from recurring and promote overall health and wellness that lasts.  Experience Functional Medicine at Elevated Concierge Health and Wellness The doctors at Elevated Concierge Health and Wellness are functional medicine practitioners who provide an individualized approach to healthcare and offer a personal experience for each patient. We look not only at the illnesses or disorders themselves but take an initiative to find and address their root cause and optimize your health from the inside out.  Experience a more holistic approach to healthcare with Elevated Concierge. Schedule an appointment today.