Alternative Health Remedies – A Useful Tool?
The famous inventor Thomas Edison once said “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, however will interest his patient in the concern for the human frame, in diet, and in the reason and prevention of disease.”
A number of people view natural alternative health remedies as a temporary fascination that will fade into the sunset over time while others distinguish alternative health treatments as the way of the future. But the idea that they might lead the way seems the more plausible of the two theories, with preventative medicine replacing that of reactionary medicine.
One of the great myths about alternative natural remedies has been there is no strict scientific evidence confirming the efficiency of natural treatments. To dispel this all one has to do is pick up any believable natural health reference guide or naturopathic medicine manual. And despite the attempts of many major pharmaceutical companies continuing to marginalize the use of alternative natural remedies they continue to develop medicines based on the extremely natural treatment that they wish to harm the reputation of.
Lets assume that John is an abstract individual. John is already on a several of medications and goes for his annual physical only to find that he has high cholesterol. His doctor tells him he actually should quit smoking and then writes a prescription for a statin medication and asks John to come back in three weeks for a follow up. In the follow up tests it is shown that the statin has crashed Johns cholesterol too low resulting muscle aches and pain. The doctor makes the needed adjustment in dosage and suggests mild pain relievers if pain continues.
Now let’s look at the naturopathic approach. John hasn’t smoked in years due to the advice of his natural health expert. He uses exercise as a moderate tool to help him relieve stress and boost immune system functionality. Upon testing high for cholesterol levels his doctor suggests eating fish several of times a week and reducing his intake of saturated fat to below 10 percent of total calories and suggests a fish oil supplement. He tells John that diet modification should bring his high cholesterol numbers down but tells him there are few of natural remedies available if required.
If you eat a high cholesterol high fat diet, don’t exercise, smoke, are overweight, and are constantly 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 truthfully 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 actions.
The two examples above are the push and pull involved. The question is does the use of prescription medication enable 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 discussion about the usefulness of alternative homeopathic remedies.
