owever, when wellness experts tell us it’s more about living the best life possible, it’s hard to disagree. Getting to your best life means eating right, getting regular exercise, and nixing bad habits, like not getting enough sleep. But, when overall wellness is a goal, knowing what to do is not enough. Achieving wellness is about knowing how to create new habits, including how to tackle the inevitable roadblocks that prevent healthier habits from sticking. This is where having a collaborative approach with health care professionals comes in. Canadians don’t have to navigate the road to being healthy alone. 

Medcan, a Toronto-based health and wellness company, helps clients make healthy lifestyle changes. To get your health where you want it to be, it’s important to first find out where you’re starting from.

The  Medcan approach starts with delving deep to get a complete picture of an individual’s health status. Information is gathered through a head-to-toe physical assessment, as well as specialized tests such as genetic testing to uncover susceptibility to certain diseases.

Personalized health insights translate into goals

Health care professionals at Medcan partner with clients to turn this knowledge into an action plan for managing their specific health risk factors and creating positive lifestyle changes. While nothing can be done to change one’s genetics, we have the ability to modify our behaviour and address the risks we’re either born with or have created through unhealthy habits.

“It is about empowerment,” says Shaun Francis, CEO, Medcan. “People like to be in control of their health and we can help them achieve better outcomes.”

Health experts provide inspiration and guidance

This collaborative approach is crucial for success in adopting new behaviours, because creating change is difficult. Medcan offers a range of experts, from physicians and dietitians to fitness trainers, to help clients tackle obstacles they face and achieve their goals. Ongoing support is another key. Regular check-ins mean sustained accountability and opportunities for coaches to make any adjustments needed for a plan to work with the realities of life.

For example, the Medcan weight management program goes well beyond just what to eat. A physician with expertise in behavioral therapy works with clients on achieving the mindset needed to commit to a healthy lifestyle, which not only includes eating the right amount, but also adopting positive behaviours such as better  stress management and sleeping well. The physician alongside a dietitian, who brings nutrition science knowledge to the table, works with individuals to customize an approach that works best for them, staying with them a full year to ensure new life skills are learned and better outcomes are reached.