So it started like this, a friend of a friend had recommended Emmy at Smart Vitality to me a few months back however as usual- life got in the way and I’d completely forgotten to look into it. I’d been told that Emmy was bursting with knowledge about our bodies, and how even small deficiencies or imbalances can lead to big issues with our health & general feelings of wellness. Symptoms can include headaches, bloating, lethargy… sound familiar?
Anyway, fast forward a few months and my colleague Sarah Smith from Wharfedale Mumbler told me that Emmy had been in touch to invite me to her Knaresborough clinic to give me a vitality screening so that I could review it & tell you Mumblers all about it. They also have a testing centre at 16 Bondgate in Otley.
I have to admit I was both intrigued & sceptical! Smart Vitality describe their screening as
“By making changes to diet, lifestyle and supplements we can help you to increase your VITALITY and ENERGY LEVELS naturally, improve overall PHYSICAL and MENTAL HEALTH and PRE-EMT CERTAIN HEALTH CONDITIONS before they become an issue.
During our in depth screening process we record 50 VITAL MEASURES to understand what’s happening inside your body, get to the root cause of any issues and provide strategies to correct any imbalances, empowering you to live with new found vitality”
I want to point out that I’m not a supplement taker- I never have been, nor do I have any experience with alternative therapies or any sort of health & wellbeing practice at all. I guess you could say I’m a bit of a neanderthal when it comes to this sort of thing!
Having said that. I am curious about holistic therapies and as I get older I’m becoming increasingly aware that I can’t take my own health for granted. I am also aware that in many cases, when things go wrong with our bodies, we use the NHS to fix us, but not necessarily to get to the root cause of the problem. In my view, it is up to us to do our best to look after our own health as much as we can and to take positive changes & minor tweaks to our lifestyles where possible.
Although she has a background in heath foods & well being, Emmy is part of a larger organisation, Vitality Screening created by John Ogden, Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture
“Dr John Ogden wants to educate people that a symptom is not the problem, just the warning light on the dashboard showing there’s a problem in the engine. Using oriental medicine and acupuncture Meridian pathways as his discipline to understand this phenomenon.”
The screening that I booked would include blood tests, urine tests as well as circulation, lung capacity body composition & more. Best of all, I would get a full report there & then and Emmy would go through the results in detail.
Emmy practices from a room above the health food shop in Knaresborough Market Place (owned by her parents) and I think it’s fair to say that between Emmy & her Mum, they know an awful lot about living a healthy life!
I had been advised to fast for 4 hours ahead of the appointment so I booked for first thing in the morning (it’s far easier for a foodie like me to fast when I’m asleep!) Parking on the marketplace was plentiful and it is just £1.20 for 2 hours which was a perfect duration for the appointment.
Once inside, Emmy asked me for a urine sample- she had mentioned this to me in the pre-booking email but of course I’d forgotten & gone to the loo just before I left the house oops! Not to worry though- it turns out that I didn’t need a huge volume for the test (phew!)
From the start, Emmy was incredibly welcoming, knowledgeable & chatty. There were a plethora of medical devices laid out ready for me, but she took time to explain it all to me (in basic terms!) so that I knew what would happen and why.
During the following 1.5 hours, Emmy tested my blood on various devices (it was just a single fingerpick test- not requiring gallons of blood!) she used testing strips to test the PH of my saliva & urine, she used various monitors to test blood oxygenation and flow, blood pressure monitor and then an extremely high tech scale to measure weight, muscle mass & fat. You can read more about the various tools used here.
Once all the tests were done, Emmy input all the results into her Smart Vitality database and thanks to the extensive knowledge of Dr John Ogden, generated a number of reports- over 40 individual markers, and each one accompanied by a sliding scale (assisted by green/amber/red) to show whether I was within, above or below the ideal levels for me personally.
The report included some “standard” markers such as cholesterol, blood pressure, lung function, BMI etc but then also some more unusual ones- such as physical & mental stress, Autonomic Nerve Balance. Apparently we all have a tendency to either a sympathetic nervous system or a parasympathetic nervous system. According to the Smart Vitality testing, I’m extremely parasympathetic dominant- I don’t think I’ll be able to explain this particularly well now (and certainly not as well as Emmy explained it to me!) but I have since found this neat definition on the net
“Some people get angry faster, perform activities continuously without rest, are aggressive, and have high-stress levels. These may be associated as sympathetic dominant people. And the person who dislikes exercise, lacks the motivation to complete any work, feels lethargic all the time, and doesn’t want to do any activities that may be associated with a dominant parasympathetic personality.” Chegg.com
FYI I would absolutely agree with this! I’m a very “laid-back” person! None the less, as with many of these results, I would benefit from achieving a little more balance with this and can do so with some simple changes to diet & lifestyle.
Emmy spent plenty of time going through each result with me, explaining what (if any) issue there were and then suggestions how I may tweak & improve it.
Many of the suggestions were easy for me to do at home- the major one for me was dehydration and how much plain water I should be drinking (and when), as well as things like a morning lemon-water flush. Emmy advised me to take an iron supplement as my bloods showed a deficiency. She reassured me that that my cholesterol level is good, indicated (but didn’t dwell on the fact) that that my BMI isn’t that great (not new news!) She also recommended a number of practical solutions to improve my gut health to aid digestion- including taking Apple Cider Vinegar (with ‘the mother’) daily- see here for a hilarious video of me & Kayti taking it for the first time!
All in all, I came away feeling that Emmys knowledge & advice is not about being skinny or making you feel bad about yourself- quite the opposite, it’s about getting to the root cause of any issues & making you feel great about yourself.
You can purchase any of the recommended remedies while you’re there, but I certainly didn’t feel any hard-sell whatsoever. I ended up buying a bottle of apple cider vinegar, some bicarbonate of soda and the iron supplement. I decided against any further supplements for now, as I know that I’m a “baby-steps” kind of girl!
By the time I’d got home Emmy had emailed my full report, along with an extensive list of advice and a general healthy living guide. I’ve now had the chance to read it thoroughly and thanks to Emmy’s approachable nature, would feel very comfortable getting back in touch with her with any follow-up questions.
The screening that I had is available for £95 which I think is excellent value for money, given the depth of knowledge & information given.
Emmy is also offering an introductory screening for just £45 by appointment on 26th & 31st January (limited appointments available)
You can find out more & book by visiting smartvitality.co.uk
Disclaimer: We were gifted the screening & this is a paid advert however the opinion is honest & I was genuinely impressed by the service & the depth of results.
