Our team is dedicated to supporting your health.
At Pure Life Health & Wellness Clinic, we are committed to empowering you on your path to optimal health. We look forward to partnering with you and providing the compassionate care you deserve.
A PREMIER WELLNESS clinic
We embrace an integrative approach that addresses the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of well-being. Our goal is to ensure that every patient feels comfortable and valued during their visit.
We focus our attention on spending quality time and effort on caring for our patients—directly, without oversight from non-medical administrators, using evidence-based guidelines individualized for the circumstances of each patient. We know your time is valuable, and that is why we strive to offer little to no wait time at your appointment, as well as same or next day appointments when available and telehealth for busy families.
Your Health and well-being is our priority!
We operate outside of insurance or third-party payer systems, meaning that we do not accept insurance. However, we provide traditional primary care, and your insurance will cover most routine prescriptions, lab work, diagnostic studies, referrals, etc. We will also provide a detailed invoice of your visit (upon request) that you can submit to your insurance for possible reimbursement. We accept all major credit cards, debit cards, Care Credit, HSA, and FSA cards.
Meet our team
.
Meet our team .
dixie allen, aprn-c
Practice Owner
Family Nurse Practitioner
jenn buswell
Practice Coordinator, Paramedic
cristi yardley, lpn
Clinic Nurse
Dixie’s Personal War with obesity
The Long Road to LOVING and ACCEPTING Myself
We are all unique and have our own life stories to tell. A huge part of my life’s journey has been fighting obesity, and I would like to share my story with you.
As many have experienced, we know that adolescence is a critical period for body image development because of the various social, cultural, physical, and psychological changes occurring between the ages of 12-18 years old. During my adolescent years, being "skinny" was important to me. Or so I thought. My adolescent years were heavily influenced by super models: Cindy Crawford, Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington. The list goes on. If you didn't look like that or strive to look like that, then you were subject to social comparison, "fat jokes", and weight-related teasing and bullying. I felt like I was larger than many girls my age and that I was overweight. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. I was athletic, I was a tap / jazz / ballet dancer, cheerleader, ran track. I was probably in the best shape of my life.
Fast forward a little – 18 years old. I’ve made it through high school and moved on to Air Force basic military training. Helloooooooooo! I’m on fire – sit ups, push-ups, chin ups, obstacle courses, shooting machine guns, 6 mile runs in formation with 40 other girls daily for 6 weeks. Best shape of my life and still feeling self-conscious. It’s not like I had anyone to impress, but I still struggled with my body image.
I completed boot camp and was assigned to my tech school in Wichita Falls, TX. Guess what? Wow, I was back in the real world with small freedoms. Like ordering pizza. I didn’t have to eat every single meal from the chow hall now. I ordered pizza about 3 nights per week, ate it and gained 20 lbs. Uuugh. I was almost past the weight limit to be discharged back home to my home base. From here, my battle became a years long war.
I’ve always had a food addiction. Hunger, food cravings, unable to say no or turn food away if it looked, smelled, or tasted good. My mom is the best southern cook of all time. I grew up eating delicious home cooked meals. Meat, potatoes, veggies - fried, buttered, salted, sugared. And every dinner came with a roll and dessert!
I spent most of my life eating my emotions: Happiness, let’s eat! Sadness, let’s eat! Anxious, let’s eat! Worried, let’s eat! Bored, you know the drill – grab the chips and Pancho’s dip.
If that’s not enough, let’s throw in my nursing career: potlucks to celebrate everything in everybody’s life, food brought in by medical reps, food brought in by patient families. Food everywhere. Tired, hungry, emotional – food fixed it.
The rest of my weight battle in summary over the past 25 years:
1) Age 15-19: 140-160 lbs.
2) Age 20-27: creeping up in weight constantly: 170-190lbs.
3) Age 28: became pregnant. Highest weight before giving birth to our son 240lbs.
4) Age 29: post-partum. Lost down to 185lbs.
5) Age 30-35: slowly creeping back up. Highest weight 245lbs.
I was in imminent danger of having high blood pressure (essential hypertension), Type 2 diabetes and had developed very high cholesterol.
My struggles with food addiction
My tried and failed methods for weight loss
✔ Work out videos / Weight Watchers / South Beach Diet
✔ Gym memberships / Nutrisystem / Atkin’s Diet
✔ Phentermine / Hypnosis / Keto Diet
✔ L.A. Weight Loss / Intermittent “starving” / Mediterranean Diet
✔ Personal Trainer / Bariatric Surgery
I got to the point in my life that I no longer wanted to engage in social settings, I HATED shopping for clothes or swimsuits, I did not want to be in any photos, I felt ugly and fat. I felt less than. Nobody made me feel that way but me. Oh, except the jerk that I used to be in the military with that pulled me aside once and said, “Dixie. You’re too pretty to be this heavy!” I was too nice back then to give him my honest response. Oh, and the “you have such a beautiful face” comments. I hear that loud and clear - “Yep. You’re a biggun.” Or the one and only, “But you don’t look like you weigh that much. You carry it well.” Sigh.
finding success with weight loss surgery and GLP-1 THerapy
After 15 years of abusing my body with the wrong foods, I re-learned my value and self-worth and decided to improve and protect myself and my health. I researched and decided to proceed with weight loss surgery in August 2014. I specifically had Sleeve Gastrectomy (“gastric sleeve”). It removes a large portion of your stomach, leaving behind a narrow “sleeve.” Reducing your stomach helps restrict calories and reduce hunger signals.
It was a SUCCESS!! I was seeing weight loss that I had been unable to achieve in years. I was eating much smaller portions, change my eating habits to healthy ones. My clothing sizes were getting smaller. My body was transforming in ways that made me happy. I have never had the perfect body, never intended to, but I started feeling damn good about ME! I came back out of the shell that I’d been living in since I was 20. By 9 months after my surgery, I had lost 100 lbs.
7 years after my surgery (2021), I noticed some changes that I wasn’t happy about. Now I’m in my forties, having some hormonal changes and seeing weight slowly creep back up over a 2-year period. 30 lbs.to be exact. Also fallen somewhat off my healthy nutritional track. Wait, whaaaa?? I had my body surgically altered to lose weight and keep it off. How? Why? Still maintained 70 lbs. of loss but really?
I opened my own medical practice in May 2023 and decided that I was going to offer medical weight loss to my patients. I’ve been prescribing GLP-1 therapy for many years and saw the absolute health benefit that it had for my Type 2 diabetic patients: amazingly controlled blood sugar, normal and very close to normal A1Cs, normal blood pressures, improved kidney function, and wait for it…wait for it…WEIGHT LOSS! So now, we are using GLP-1 medications to help aid in fighting obesity. I have the opportunity and platform to help my patients reclaim their health and confidence. And what better way for me to get back on track than to go all in and do this with my patients! On GLP-1 therapy since June 2023 myself, I have lost the excess 30 lbs., adopted my healthy eating habits back and reclaimed my ticket to being my healthiest self.
Is it easy? No > Is it worth it? YES!!!
I finally learned to love myself for the first time in my early forties. My saggy belly, my lack of ASSets, my stretch marks, my wrinkles, my smaller muffin top, and all my imperfections. I have embraced all the flaws. I worked hard to get here. This is me. And I love me!
I am here to help you regain your health and self-love! I’ve been through the good, the bad and the U-G-L-Y!!!!!! I will support and help you be successful on your journey!
SELF LOVE AND CONFIDENCE
ready to focus on your health?
Book an appointment.
Take the next step toward better health with Pure Life Health & Wellness! Whether you’re a new patient looking for compassionate, personalized care or a returning patient continuing your wellness journey, we’re here to support you. Schedule your appointment today for expert care with minimal wait times, same or next-day availability, and a team that truly listens. Call us or book online now—we can’t wait to see you!