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After seeing what "lifestyle medicine" can do, brothers and Newmarket residents Daniel and George Cho were intrigued.
Now, Daniel is the clinic manager at Paradise Health Clinic, a new clinic in Newmarket at 17310 Yonge St., and Dr. George Cho is the clinic lead.
“We saw our mothers experience healing through plant-based nutrition,” said Daniel. “So we saw first-hand the power of healthy lifestyles to heal. We believe lifestyle medicine works because it addresses root causes of our most common chronic diseases.”
The brothers say that lifestyle medicine empowers patients to take control of their own health.
“Instead of being dependent on drugs, expensive products and doctors, healthy lifestyles don't have negative side effects,” they said. “We believe it works.”
A non-profit clinic, the goal is to help residents in the community improve their lives through holistic health care and wellness experiences.
“We want this to be a charitable enterprise devoted to the public good and not financial gain,” said Daniel. “This is why we decided to do it as a non-profit. The organization is governed by a board of directors dedicated to its health mission and not by shareholders who would be ultimately concerned about profits. Paradise Health exists solely for the purpose of helping people heal from chronic disease through lifestyle medicine.”
Founded by Paradise Fields, a regenerative organic farm in Hamilton that promotes wellness by producing nutrient-dense food and hosting health programs, Paradise Health Clinic aims to advance this mission by bringing services into York Region.
“It made sense to create a separate entity focused on using food and lifestyle as medicine and they now want to start clinics across the major cities,” said Daniel. “We hope to hit Toronto, Hamilton, and other cities to create a network of lifestyle clinics.”
Opening the first clinic in Newmarket worked well, said Daniel, since many of the health-care workers at the clinic already live in the Newmarket area.
“Many are discovering lifestyle medicine and we hope to bring this experience to the people of Newmarket,” added George. “We hope that through our services and programs, many will learn the optimal lifestyle for preventing diseases and those with chronic diseases will be able to reduce medication dependence and even potentially see their disease put into remission.”
The clinic’s services include naturopathic medicine, lifestyle medicine, massage therapy, psychotherapy, fitness assessments, and nutrition, which includes a teaching kitchen.
“We want to help people with chronic diseases through lifestyle medicines,” said Daniel. “A big part of lifestyle medicine is plant-based nutrition. We want to promote a plant-based diet because science shows that it can help with things like diabetes and high cholesterol. We’ll be doing plant-based cooking classes.”
Daniel said a big factor with lifestyle medicine is educating the community so they have a better grasp of what changes they need to make. That’s why the clinic has a conference room to host seminars to inform residents on different topics.
“If you change your negative lifestyle, then you should be able to help with chronic diseases,” he said. “We’ll be doing health seminars and other classes, so people can try and take charge of their health. Lifestyle change is hard, but with the right support you can work to heal.”
As clinic lead, George specializes in treating chronic health conditions using lifestyle medicine, fitness assessments, and athletic performance. He has experience with fitness testing at the NHL combine, with Toronto FC, and firefighters and police officers.
“Our fitness lab involves InBody, an advanced body composition analysis machine, that measures body fat, muscle mass, and other things,” he said. “We use it because it gives us more information than just your weight.”
The fitness lab also utilizes fitness vital signs to get a better grasp of where clients are with their cardiovascular health.
“The idea is that your fitness level is a vital sign, just like your blood pressure or your heart rate,” said George. “It’s a test on the treadmill with a mask to analyze your cardiovascular fitness. It’s offered complimentary to all our patients because exercise is so important to us. We believe your fitness level is a vital sign and want to encourage all our patients to do this.”
Another key component to Paradise Health Clinic is hydrotherapy, which uses water to help treat the body. The clinic uses hot and cold water tubs and a sauna to promote everything from body detoxification to improving blood circulation and skin.
“Going back and forth between hot and cold tubs can help with blood flow and immune system,” said George. “There’s also peat baths for those with skin conditions or arthritis, fever baths for helping with cancer, and cold plunges for muscle aches and soreness.”
The clinic specifically uses fever hydrotherapy as an adjunct treatment for cancer.
“If someone is doing chemo or radiation, you do fever therapy at the same time to help increase the immune system,” said George. “It’s not a replacement for chemo, it’s something you do alongside it because chemo can weaken the immune system so we want to do something to balance it out.”
A specialty of the clinic is its group programs that bring the community together to promote healthy choices, which includes making social connections. This includes weight loss programs, longevity programs, addiction programs, and a week-long retreat into Muskoka to focus on lifestyle changes.
“There’s six different key areas in lifestyle medicine to take control of your health,” said Daniel. “Whole food plant-based nutrition, physical activity, stress management, addiction, sleep, and social connections. Changing these aspects of lifestyle can help with disease and be preventive of disease. We try to hit all six here.”
The clinic focuses on treating chronic diseases using science-based lifestyle medicine and will be holding an open house Sunday, July 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The open house will provide an opportunity for community members to tour the clinic, get a massage, try a cold plunge, learn more about Paradise Health’s methods and clinic services. Learn more about Paradise Health Clinic here.
