The well-known inventor Thomas Edison once said “The doctor of the future will provide no medicine, however will interest his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.”
A number of people view natural alternative health remedies as a provisional fascination that will fade into the sunset over time while others distinguish alternative health treatments as the method of the future. But the idea that they might lead the way seems the more plausible of the two theories, with pre-emptive medicine replacing that of ordinary medicine.
One of the great myths about alternative natural remedies has been there is no firm scientific evidence confirming the effectiveness of natural treatments. To dispel this all one has to do is pick up any credible natural health reference manual or naturopathic medicine manual. And despite the attempts of many major pharmaceutical companies continuing to marginalize the use of optional natural remedies they continue to develop medicines based on the very natural treatment that they wish to harm the reputation of.
Lets assume that John is an abstract individual. John is already on a number of medications and goes for his annual physical only to find that he got high cholesterol. His doctor tells him he really should quit smoking and then gives a prescription for a statin medication and tells John to come back in four weeks for a follow up. In the subsequent tests it is shown that the statin has crashed Johns cholesterol too low resulting muscle aches and pain. The doctor makes the wanted adjustment in dosage and suggests mild pain relievers if pain persists.
Now let’s do the naturopathic approach. John hasn’t smoked in years due to the advice of his natural health specialist. He uses exercise as a moderate tool to help him relieve stress and boost immune system function. Upon testing high for cholesterol levels his doctor suggests eating fish a few of times a week and reducing his intake of saturated fat to under 10 percent of total calories and suggests a fish oil supplement. He tells John that diet modification should force his high cholesterol numbers down but tells him there are few of natural remedies available if required.
If you consume a high cholesterol high fat diet, don’t work out, smoke, are overweight, and are continually bombarded with stress chances are you will likely be very unhealthy. This will in the end lead to numerous conditions and medicines being prescribed, as is the case with John. And quite honestly the use of alternative natural health remedies likely wouldn’t do much good anyhow, since they are most effective as a part of an overall approach consisting of diet, exercise, and supplementation. In other words alternative natural health remedies should be exercised in addition to a healthy lifestyle rather than a tool to continue to make unhealthy lifestyle choices.
The 2 examples above are the push and pull included. The question is does the use of prescription medication caused bad behavior or is a necessary tool in the struggle against disease? The answer likely falls somewhere in the middle, leading us back to the debate about the usefulness of alternative homeopathic remedies.
