Nutrition & Weight
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Physician-led nutrition and weight care in Surfside Beach — built on a measured metabolic rate, state-of-the-art nutritional testing, and a customized program that treats diet as a way of life, not a temporary fix.
MEET YOUR PHYSICIAN
Allen Smolenski, M.D.
Dr. Smolenski founded Coastal Medical Clinic in 2009 after his own health transformation — losing nearly 60 pounds, then placing third in a national natural bodybuilding contest at age 44. His patients travel from as far as Virginia for help with hormone balance, nutritional deficiencies and age-related illness.
Emergency Medicine physician · Fellowship training in Anti-Aging & Regenerative Medicine (A4M) · Founder, Coastal Medical Clinic
Meet Dr. Smolenski →Nutritional balance: the foundation of hormone health
Nutrition is essential for optimal hormone production and for the prevention and treatment of disease. Antioxidants are needed to neutralize the free radicals caused by aging and imbalances in your hormones, and vitamins and minerals are needed to regulate insulin and blood sugar, the thyroid and adrenal glands, and every other endocrine organ in your body. That's why Dr. Smolenski offers state-of-the-art nutritional lab testing and pharmaceutical-grade supplements as part of your individualized program to balance hormones.
Using an integrative medicine approach, Dr. Smolenski understands that hormone imbalance and nutritional deficiencies are associated with many chronic diseases and health problems — including autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis, breast, prostate and other types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia and Alzheimer's, hypertension, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), osteoporosis and many others.
Your customized nutrition program is essential to the success of your treatment plan. Your body needs essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fatty acids and amino acids to produce hormones and for efficient growth and repair. Deficiencies in these vital nutrients, along with unbalanced hormones and neurotransmitters, can elevate the stress hormone cortisol — altering your metabolism, causing fat gain and creating a catabolic state throughout your body.
Metabolism and weight loss: how you burn calories
“Diet” is derived from the Greek word “diaita,” meaning “way of living.” If you want weight loss, you must first realize that diet is a way of life. It's long been understood that to lose weight you must burn more calories than you consume — and while that is fundamentally true, it isn't quite that simple. Not all food has the same effect on your hormones, neurotransmitters and metabolism. Dr. Smolenski accomplishes weight loss for most patients by balancing hormones, optimizing nutrition, incorporating effective exercise programs and adjusting caloric intake to meet your individual metabolic needs.
Metabolism is the process by which your body turns what you eat and drink into energy: food calories are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to stay alive. Even at rest, your body needs energy for breathing, pumping blood, making hormones, and growth and repair. The number of calories your body uses at rest is your basal metabolic rate (BMR), and it accounts for up to 75 percent of the calories you burn every day.
Several factors determine your BMR: body size and composition (muscle burns more calories, even at rest), gender (men normally have more muscle and less fat than women, burning more calories), and age (the amount of muscle tends to decrease and fat increases as you get older, slowing down your metabolism). Dr. Smolenski uses a state-of-the-art indirect calorimeter to measure your resting metabolic rate — an accurate measurement that provides a definitive answer when creating a personal program for your weight loss goals. Two other factors complete the picture: thermogenesis, the calories required to digest and process food — complex, wholesome foods require more energy to digest than simple sugars and processed foods — and physical activity, which accounts for the rest of the calories you burn each day.
Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and prediabetes
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of common abnormalities including hyperglycemia (high glucose), abdominal obesity, reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, and elevated triglycerides and blood pressure. Originally described in 1988 as “syndrome X” or “insulin resistance syndrome,” its components are associated with endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis, and increase the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus, heart disease and stroke. It is estimated that about one fourth of the world's adult population has metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome and prediabetes are linked to a condition called insulin resistance. Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas that helps control the amount of sugar in your bloodstream: normally, glucose enters your cells with the help of insulin and is used as fuel. In people with insulin resistance, cells don't respond normally to insulin, so the body churns out more and more of it. The result — higher levels of insulin, triglycerides and other blood fats, and interference with how the kidneys work that leads to higher blood pressure — puts you at risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other conditions. The A1C test shows where you stand: unlike a single blood sugar reading, it reflects your average blood sugar level for the past two to three months. An A1C level of 6.5 percent or higher on two separate tests indicates diabetes, while a result between 6 and 6.5 percent means prediabetes — a high risk of developing diabetes.
Tackling any one of the risk factors of metabolic syndrome is tough; taking on all of them might seem overwhelming. But aggressive lifestyle changes, weight loss, exercise, hormone balance and the use of certain supplements will improve all of your metabolic syndrome components. Our program addresses each of the components with a treatment plan specific to your individual needs.
The HCG program
The use of HCG for the medical management of obesity is based on research completed by physician Dr. Simeons and has been used since 1954. Dr. Simeons found that, in addition to a specific diet, HCG can help safely speed up weight loss. HCG is theorized to preferentially break down your body fat, causing you to lose weight rapidly, while at the same time it may protect your body's muscle from being depleted. With HCG, most patients are able to go on a low-calorie food plan and lose weight without the typical problems of muscle wasting and loose skin.
HCG is FDA approved for treatments other than weight management, and is therefore used off-label. While research is ongoing around the world, many patients have reported 20 to 30 pounds of fat loss per month while on the diet.
Fitness: the other half of the program
Nutritional balance, diet, fitness and exercise are essential for hormone health. To transform your body requires consistency with your daily fitness and nutrition program — your diet must become a way of life: we should “eat to live,” not “live to eat.” Daily exercise not only increases your metabolism and helps to balance hormones; it also elevates your mood and increases self-esteem.
Research consistently shows that daily exercise is essential for maintenance of long-term weight loss, and is preventative for chronic illnesses including heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer and dementia. You may not have control over how much you sleep or how much you can work out, but you can always control what you put in your mouth — and in addition to balancing hormones and proper nutrition, enough daily physical activity is what lets you lose weight and maintain an ideal body weight.
What your care includes
Weight care at Coastal Medical Clinic starts with your own measurements and your own biochemistry — not a generic calorie chart:
A measured metabolic rate
A state-of-the-art indirect calorimeter measures your resting metabolic rate, providing a definitive answer when creating a personal program for your weight loss goals.
Nutritional lab testing
State-of-the-art nutritional lab testing, with pharmaceutical-grade supplements as part of your individualized program to balance hormones.
A customized nutrition program
The essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fatty acids and amino acids your body needs to produce hormones and for efficient growth and repair.
Hormone balance
Weight loss is accomplished by balancing hormones alongside optimized nutrition and caloric intake adjusted to your individual metabolic needs — because deficiencies and elevated cortisol drive fat gain.
Metabolic syndrome and prediabetes care
A program that addresses each component of metabolic syndrome — blood sugar, blood pressure, triglycerides, HDL and abdominal obesity — with monitoring such as the A1C test.
An effective exercise program
Exercise programs incorporated into your plan, because daily physical activity is essential to losing weight and maintaining an ideal body weight.
RELATED ARTICLES
Keep reading
Fitness & Bodybuilding Nutritional Plan
A sample nutritional plan from Dr. Smolenski, showing what a structured day of eating looks like.
Read article →Exercise
Why daily exercise matters for your metabolism, your hormones and keeping weight off long term.
Read article →Metabolic Syndrome and PreDiabetes
The cluster of risk factors behind insulin resistance — and how each one is addressed.
Read article →Ready to discuss what's next?
Request a consultation with Dr. Smolenski to discuss your concerns, your evaluation, and the appropriate next steps for your care.