Lake Forest, IL Health and Fitness

Dr. Julia Melamed, M.D., who holds specialized certification in medically assisted weight loss, oversees the many noninvasive body-contouring and skin-lifting services performed at Doctor for Diet and ensures that clients leave feeling their best. Her career working with weight-loss clients began in 1998, after she earned double board certification in internal medicine and medical bariatrics. Julia's medical ambitions then bore the fruits of a certification course in anti-aging and a talent for spotting errors on emergency-room TV dramas. Along with her team, which includes a physician assistant, a nutritionist, a therapist, a lipidologist, and an endermologie technician, Dr. Julia treats a range of dietary cases with emerging therapies, emotional support, diet changes, and bioidentical hormone supplementation.

Co-owner Craig Kastning and his crew of devoted personal trainers push clients toward the finish lines of personal fitness goals through fat-burning and muscle-toning exercises. Fueled by motivational words from exercise gurus and promises of a MAS*H-reunion episode, customers reduce corporeal circumferences by relying on a nutrition cheat sheet and custom workout routines. In addition to burning calories and building up formerly dilapidated muscle groups, the trainers at Chi Town Boot Camps boost trainee endurance through jogging and other exercises that set heart rates racing.

Inside their 11,000-square-foot facility, the personal trainers at One-on-One Personal Training Center use a variety of fitness tools such as cardio machines, free weights, and mats during each one-on-one session. The trainers take their students' needs into account when they personalize a program for bulking up muscles or slimming down bodies.

In 1976, educator, musician, and kinesiologist Robin Wes longed for a children's gym that prioritized personal growth over competition. Unveiled at a time when physical-education classes pushed students to focus almost exclusively on winning, Robin's program was swiftly adopted and is now used in more than 300 Little Gyms worldwide. Robin still pens original music to accompany lessons, which engage whippersnappers aged 4 months to 12 years with gymnastics, dance, karate, and parent and child activities.

Each of The Little Gym's classes introduces simple movements that sharpen motor skills and set brains whirring, allowing kids to progress at their own pace until they can finally build a computer out of macaroni and glitter. Staff members strive to build a base for lifelong social skills and self-assurance with each exercise, including activities rooted purely in fun, such as summer camps or birthday parties, which helped The Little Gym to earn title of #1 Birthday Chain in Parents Magazine.

Led by chiropractors Salman Khan and Naveed H. Elahi, the staff at Health First Chiropractic Wellness Center helps patients recover from conditions ranging from pinched nerves to ADHD. Using their years of muscle-mending experience, they correct the alignment of spines with alignments or reduce stress and muscular tension with massages that combine gentle strokes, firm kneads, and rhythmic high-fives. Rather than merely treating symptoms after they arise, Health First Chiropractic Wellness Center implements a whole-body approach to wellness designed to bolster overall health and prevent future pain and illness.

Your Wellness Center session begins with Dr. Matt Kulafofski's highly trained staff immersing your feet in a warm blend of detoxifying liquid that sucks out poisons, pollutants, and all that Blue #5 you absorbed stomping blue raspberries at the candy factory. Next, you'll receive a comprehensive chiropractic exam, during which Dr. Matt will evaluate your body's overall biomechanical well-being and pinpoint any concerns or persistent pain. He'll address these issues with Muscle Activation Technique, which uses electric pulses to awaken and stabilize underused muscle groups, helping to calibrate the body, relieve tightness, and untie the stubborn knots in your back and shoes. A 20-minute therapeutic massage caps the session by flushing tension and fatigue from your muscles and improving the vascular flow throughout your entire body.