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Looking for a healthy way to lose weight
and have more energy?

Feeling sluggish? Have poor mental clarity?
Dealing with type II diabetes, metabolic syndrome, high cholesterol, fatigue disorders, acid reflux or conditions related to overweight and obesity?
Having trouble losing weight?

Want a holistic approach to a slimmer, healthier you? You should know about FirstLine Therapy®.

What is FirstLine Therapy?

FirstLine Therapy is a program from Metagenics that helps you take control of your health through diet, exercise, stress management, medical foods and nutritional supplementation.

“This is a unique, specialized therapeutic lifestyle change program,” says Certified FirstLine Therapy Practitioner Deborah Hartman, RN, MSN, CNM, of SUBTLchanges. “The program is designed to target the underlying causes of chronic illnesses associated with aging. FirstLine Therapy helps you not only lose weight, but feel much healthier.”

How does FirstLine Therapy work?

Deborah Hartman begins by taking an exhaustive history, performing a physical exam and obtaining lab studies to assess your current health status. Most patients also request optional testing for intracellular vitamin analysis and cardiovascular risk assessment available through SpectraCell Laboratories

“It's like being a sleuth and finding the problems and the risk factors, and then dealing with them in a way that has virtually no adverse side-effects,“ she explains.

Your progress is followed not a bathroom scale, but by Bio-Impedence Monitoring, a non-invasive analysis that measures body composition electronically. Through this medical device, it is possible to measure the lean muscle mass to fat mass ratio, intracellular to extracellular water distribution, and phase angle, which is an indicator of cellular health and integrity.

With the information she has gathered, Deborah, a certified functional medicine practitioner, develops a customized program to address your individual health needs.

Using a functional medicine approach to better health

“Metagenics is deeply based in functional medicine, the assessment and treatment of disorders of human function at the cellular and sub-cellular levels. These disorders precede disease and are part of their cause, or trigger the progression of disease.

“As we Baby Boomers are getting to our second childhood, our hormones are no longer helping to protect us from chronic illnesses,” says Deborah. “Our lifestyle has set us up for heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, osteoarthritis, type II diabetes, high cholesterol, metabolic syndrome and osteoporosis. The really disturbing thing is to realize is that most chronic illness is the result of people's lifestyle.”

Why is the program called FirstLine Therapy?

“The program is called FirstLine Therapy because it can be used as a first-line treatment option for many chronic disease states that have traditionally been treated only with prescription medications. FirstLine Therapy is for people who want to actively prevent worsening disease states and, in some cases, eliminate them, without the need for medication.”

Medical foods address health conditions

“The things we're doing with this program are virtually no-risk,” says Deborah. “When I do diet intervention, we usually supplement the eating program with medical foods prescribed especially for you, depending on your chronic illness or particular roadblock to weight loss. The appropriate use of medical foods and nutritional supplementation enhances the program's effectiveness and shortens the time it takes for you to achieve your goals.

“One of the hallmarks of aging is a higher ratio of fat mass to lean muscle mass,” Deborah explains. “These medical foods also address that issue. The medical foods are in the form of a shake, but not the kind you'd buy in the grocery store. These Metagenics foods are demonstrated to be effective in human clinical studies.

“You don't have to be on the medical foods forever,” Deborah adds. “They help to make the changes in your body, and then you can be off of them. They're amazing.”

‘FirstLine Therapy is life-changing’

Deborah works closely with her patients throughout the FirstLine therapy program. “It's a 12-week program,” she explains, “but I'll work with you as long as you like. This program can change your life.

“Our commitment is to aging gracefully, and for you to feel as good as you look,” says Deborah. “I have patients as young as 15 and as old as 78, so it's not just for women in menopause. Now my women patients want their husbands to come in, and recently I have started treating teenagers as well.”

Want to know more about FirstLine Therapy
from Metagenics?

Discover the FirstLine Therapy difference.

Reconstructive Surgery

For Men Only

Varicose/Spider Vein Treatment

ALCAT Allergy Testing

Zerona Laser Therapy:
Lose at least 3-1/2" in 2 weeks—guaranteed

FirstLine Therapy Success Story

‘I've gone from a size 18 to a size 10!’

“A year ago, I weighed 215 pounds and was a size 18,” says Daria, age 55. “I told Deborah Hartman, ‘I need to lose weight, but I've got to have some help.’ That's when she started me on FirstLine Therapy.”

“Daria came to me with Barrett's esophagitis, a pre-cancerous condition that develops in some people with chronic acid reflux,” Deborah explains. “She also had a lot of aches and pains in her joints—symptoms of fibromyalgia.”

‘No more acid reflux!’

“A week after I started on FirstLine Therapy, I called Deborah and said, ‘I don't believe this—I have no more acid reflux!’” says Daria.

“What about your pain?” Deborah asked.

“What pain?” she replied. “And I've got so much energy that I've been cleaning out closets I haven't touched in years!” she told Deborah.

Before FirstLine Therapy, Daria had irritable bowel syndrome, a hiatal hernia and sleep apnea. “Now, nothing bothers me,” she says.

‘Once I got started, it was easy’

Daria made some basic changes in her eating habits. “I started cooking with extra-virgin olive oil,” she says. “I got off of fried foods and started eating more vegetables.” Once she did this, she found her taste started to change.

“After I lost some weight, I got a taste for some fried chicken, so I had some,” she recalls. “And I thought, ‘This tastes so greasy!’”

Exercise is also an important part of FirstLine Therapy. At Deborah Hartman's recommendation, Daria began walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week. “I walk with my girlfriends, my sister-in-law and my mother at 5:00 every day,” she says.

‘Even people who don't like me
are telling me how great I look!’

“My friends and family are amazed at the change in me,” says Daria. “When I got down to a size 12, my dad asked me if I was going to lose any more weight. I told him, ‘I'd like to, but I can't afford to buy more new clothes.’

“My dad said, ‘If you lose any more weight and need smaller clothes, I'll buy you some,’” Daria recalls. “That's when I went down to a size 10—and became a redhead!”

“Daria is a new person,” says Deborah Hartman. “The difference in her is incredible! And it happened right away when she got on the FirstLine Therapy program. It wasn't just the weight loss—it was a change in her health.”

Daria is enjoying her new-found slenderness. “This is so much fun!” she says. “When I was in the store the other day, I could swear a guy was staring at me—I think I got flirted with!”

Considering FirstLine Therapy?

Request a consultation with Deborah Hartman

This information is simply an introduction to FirstLine Therapy. To find out whether this program is right for you, we invite you to schedule a consultation with Deborah Hartman of SUBTLchanges