Healing yourself through “Natural”, “Holistic” or “Alternative” means is very different from the conventional medical model you may be used to. In conventional medicine, we are taught that if you have a symptom there is a drug that will fix that symptom. I call this “a pill for every ill”. For example:
Symptom: You have a headache
Pill: You take tylenol
Result: Headache goes away
This approach may work well for symptom relief but it does not solve the reason you have a headache. The reasons can be multifactorial (poor sleep, food sensitivities, stress, chronic nutrient deficiency, hormone imbalance,medication side effect and the list goes on and on!). As a result the solution will also be multifactorial. As a society we have gotten so used to this pill model we have become accustomed to quick fixes. Unfortunately this model (also known as the acute care model) “fixes” nothing. It only can alleviate the immediate symptom (which may be useful in the short run), but never addresses the root cause of illness and often times at the expense of causing more problems in the long run.
If you are interested in getting to the root cause of any illness or DIS-Ease, you must take time to evaluate your life and make meaningful, lasting changes and overtime you will begin to see improvements in your overall health not just one symptom. The good news is that once you start making the changes (i.e. eating a nutritious diet, eliminating food triggers, increasing your activity level, eliminating environmental and food toxins, learning to manage stress etc) you will begin to see improvements within days to weeks. Ultimately, you can prevent disease and in many cases REVERSE disease.
The take away here is that there is no quick fix for health, there is no one pill, no one herb, no one anything that can improve your health. It is the combinations of multiple factors that WILL require you to make some changes in the way you live so you can improve the way you live!
The Limits of the “Alternative”
Often times in the media when you hear about “Natural”, “Holistic” or “Alternative” medicine, they package the treatments it in the same way they package a prescription. The emphasis is usually on ONE special green pill or a specific new technology that cured “all that ails” you but instead of being backed by BIG Pharma (or the pharmaceutical companies) this one stop shop pill is backed by “Nature”. Although I look for and use these more “natural” options, I never rely on one quick fix or a super cure all. I URGE YOU, PLEASE DO NOT GET THE FALSE IMPRESSION THAT ANY PATIENT THAT IS HEALED THROUGH NATURAL MEANS MADE ONE SOLITARY CHANGE.
The goal of any holistic approach is to emphasize there are better alternatives to conventional medical treatment that are safer and in many cases more effective. There are a multitude of different strategies that have been shown to work for a variety of different condition. If you have been researching alternatives to the conventional model, you may wonder, “Which one is the best?”. Try not to look at health and healing this way. In true “natural” medicine everyone is different and will respond differently to different approaches. There are multiple strategies that can work but the strategies all require individualization and multiple interventions! So please do not run out and go buy turmeric or frankincense oil and expect that this one thing will be the cure for whatever ails you!
Lastly, REVERSING disease takes a different level of commitment than preventing disease. Most chronic diseases take years to develop and is often the result of a LIFETIME of dysfunction and to undo the damage that led up to the development of the disease you will need to make aggressive changes. If you have a chronic illness, I recommend you seek out a functional medical practitioner to assist you in getting the level of care you need!
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