Dr. Linell Kings’ personal mission is to improve the lives of others, eliminate suffering, and help others to reclaim their optimal vitality and health independence. He is committed to educating and empowering those around him through his role as a physician, teacher, author, and mentor. 

Traditionally trained as an internist, Dr. King earned his doctoral degree at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in 1997. He completed his internal medicine residency with Johns Hopkins/Sinai Hospital of Baltimore in 2000. His early career was spent working as a hospitalist, later moving on to create multiple hospitalist groups in Naples, Key West, Venice, and Tampa, FL. He worked as a Medical Director/Internal Medicine Hospitalist in various locations, eventually establishing Ultimate Vitality Partners as a concierge outpatient physician in 2012. 

Dissatisfied with the current state of healthcare in America, devastated by the effects of common, yet fatal disease within his own family, Dr. King knew that he had to learn and do more. He searched for ways to bring people the knowledge and tools that could help them create and maintain greater overall health and less dependence on an outdated healthcare model. He wanted to help others uncover the real causes of their health challenges, rather than endlessly treating and managing symptoms. He pursued further education in Functional and Integrative Medicine to learn more about how nutrition, lifestyle factors, and treating the whole person could radically improve their immediate and long-term health and quality of life.

Dr. King is author of “Mastering Vitality” and has spoken locally and internationally about utilizing combined methods of traditional and holistic modalities to safely create optimal health and wellbeing. He founded Naples Vitality to improve healthcare in the community and the world at large. 

1. Functional and Integrative Medicine- Is there a difference?

   1. Functional Medicine: Study of how the body functions optimally

      1. Trained to get to the root cause of health issues versus just treating the symptoms

   2. Integrative Medicine: Integrating traditional training of internal medicine with functional medicine/holistic medicine

      1. Allows bridging the gap between holistic and traditional medicine

2. Why isn’t functional medicine more well-known? Why don’t more doctors know?

   1. Who are the biggest funders of medical schools, the AMA?- pharmaceuticals

   2. Who are the biggest lobbyists to the health sectors in the government?- pharmaceuticals (and food industry)

      1. When you have that much money behind what the physicians are learning, it’s going to curve the curriculum

         1. Medical school focuses more on pharmaceuticals, less on the importance and use of nutrition for healing

            1. Once physicians graduate, they tend to reach for pharmaceuticals because that’s how they’ve been taught

      2. Medications are a necessary bandaid

3. How easy is it for people to seek out this type of care? Can everybody seek it out? How do you pay for it?

   1. The myth: it’s only for the elite

   2. However, it’s really all about where you prioritize

      1. We’re taught to spend our money on material things, but not our health

         1. If our insurance doesn’t cover it, it’s not important

         2. Allow the government to take care of our health

      2. However, when asked what your greatest asset is: your health

         1. Yet, we do not invest our time or our money in our health

   3. Need for a mind-shift to invest in your health to save money (and time) down the road

4. Are there mindset changes happening?

   1. Yes! Especially post-covid

   2. Immune system is “mainstream”

      1. The importance of building your immune system is now common and well-known

   3. “I am in control of my health, no one else is.”

5. Be in control of your body and you should be well no matter what age you are!

   1. Research and educate yourself

   2. Know your body

6. What are your methods? Where do you start?

   1. Start with EDUCATION

      1. Need to understand that this is not a “fix me” situation (typical medical model)

      2. Goal: help create an environment for your body to heal itself

         1. “I can’t heal them”

         2. Puts every person in control of their own body

      3. Seminar: live and webinar, followed with an opportunity for a virtual consultation

         1. Followed by more intensive evaluation

         2. Analyze what is happening, establish goals, and put a plan in place together

      4. Where does a person have to be to move forward with this method?

         1. First, want to make sure they know what their goals are

            1. Many times, people don’t have clarity of where they want to go

         2. Next, make sure patient is motivated to be an active person in their own rescue

7. Dad was healthy, but mom was not (smoker, fried food, etc)

   1. Always fussed with mom about her health 

      1. To her, being healthy was painful

      2. Didn’t want to live in short-term pain

   2. Dad: overall healthy, but “check engine” lights 

      1. High blood pressure, high cholesterol

      2. Addressed the symptoms, not the root cause

      3. Was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer: 4-month life expectancy from diagnosis

   3. Visited Optimum Health Institute in San Diego with his father

      1. Learned about nutrition, digestion, how the body is supposed to function

      2. Dad: “I wish I had learned about this sooner”

         1. At this moment, Dr. King talks about how he understood he could no longer let people suffer and die without the knowledge of optimal function

   4. Mom: multitude of health issues

      1. Reversed and thrived with treatment through functional medicine

      2. It’s never too late!

8. What are the “5 pillars of health”?

   1. Called- “Essential”

      1. First, we want to create a clean foundation

         1. Over time, toxins build up (environment, medication, nutrition, etc.)

         2. Must help the body to detoxify

            1. The liver= the number one detoxification organ in the body

            2. The gut= where a lot of inflammation starts, where the immune system lives

         3. Once you establish a clean foundation, that jumpstarts weight loss, decreases inflammation, and balances hormones

      2. Second, nutrition

         1. Nutrition is MANDATORY

         2. Not about a diet (assumes one size fits all)

         3. Figure out what eating strategy works best for us

            1. Dialed in when cravings go away!

      3. Third, exercise

         1. 30 minutes 3x/week with the goal of adding muscle

            1. Muscle: burns fat

      4. Fourth, hormones

         1. There are over 600 hormones in the body

         2. Need to get balanced

      5. Fifth, mentorship

         1. Key to help with a lot of moving parts!

         2. Find mentor that is trained and certified in functional medicine

            1. Allows you to put all the pieces together simply

   2. Provider gives you the tools, but you have to practice each day and be accountable for your health

      1. Jill talks about importance of activity and purpose

   3. Add FUN! Does not have to be painful to get healthy!

9. Working on your mindset—talk a little about this

   1. The question that will change your life:

      1. Importance of having the right QUESTIONS, not always the right ANSWERS

      2. Ask yourself the question: How can I enjoy____ and be healthy while doing it?

   2. Mentorship: not giving any answers, but asking the same question to get you to where you want to be

   3. When you are deprived of things, it really effects your happiness

      1. This effects your body and creates a stress response

   4. Mindset: about the questions you ask yourself!!

10. How important are levels of sleep?

    1. Oura ring: gives data to allow us to improve quality and quantity of sleep, heart rate variability, etc.

    2. Sleep is extremely important; data points give us ability to see how our body responds to certain things

       1. When you experiment, you learn your body

    3. Sleep= the time when your body heals and resents

       1. The best way to slow down the aging process is by getting adequate sleep

11. If you could recommend one thing to our listeners that they can implement quickly, what would it be?

    1. The one thing I would do: ask that question to yourself!

    2. “What is the one thing that I could do to push my health in the right direction?”

       1. Answer is different for everyone!

       2. The most important person you’re going to listen to is your own mind

12. How to reach Dr. Linell King?

    1. Naples Vitality

3411 Tamiami Trail N Suite 200, Naples, FL 34103

239-307-0036

www.naplesvitality.com 

 

1. Author of: Mastering Vitality: 7 Simple & Sustainable Steps