Healing Naturally (opinion)

Friday, June 29, 2012 by: Hesh Goldstein
Tags: healing, naturopathy, therapies

(NaturalNews) We go through life, or better yet, are conditioned in life to accept conventional medicine as the key to staying healthy. But what about natural therapies that have been used since time immemorial to treat disease?

The Old and New Testaments talk about the use of herbs. Way before the Roman or Christian times, uses of water - hydrotherapy - to effect healing was prominent and going back several centuries, the American Indians were complete naturopaths. Somehow, the science of natural healing, or naturopathy, emerged.

When we look at what Hippocrates espoused - the treating of disease with diet, fasting, herbs, hydrotherapy, exercise and spinal manipulation - it makes one wonder if modern medicine somehow got on the wrong bus.

The most basic tenet of healing, "only nature heals, emphasizes the body's ability to heal itself. And if given the chance, it will do just that.

Unfortunately, the bus that modern medicine boarded was driven by the pharmaceutical industry that did nothing more than advocated the widespread use of drugs and surgery.

So, as the forerunners of naturopathy emerged, they all tried to convince a skeptical public that nature, not drugs and surgery, was the true path to good health.

Because of the financial strength and political power of Big Pharma, orthodox medicine grew in leaps and bounds and most of the alternative medical schools were forced to close. Not only were naturopaths declared illegal, but midwives, chiropractors, herbalists, acupuncturists and the like took really big hits.

(Back as early as 1990 a chiropractor used to be a primary care physician for automobile and work comp injuries and could refer patients for massage. But the paranoid, money-hungry, powers to be used their financial power to make it that only an MD could be the primary and only the MD could refer for chiropractic and massage.)

With the 60s a new generation of awareness manifested and all aspects of modern society were looked at very carefully. Many drug-related tragedies made the people question not only how effective, but how safe a drug was especially with so many drug related horror stories being made public.

As always, the medical community raves on and on about schooling and training. Yet they ignore the fact that naturopathic training involves both traditional and modern techniques of diagnosis and therapy, that they are trained in 4-year state accredited naturopathic medical schools, and that their curriculum encompasses all the basic science, diagnostic and medical courses that an MD gets. In addition, the naturopath training involves natural therapies to help the body repair itself.

So the aim is to treat the person and not the disease, to remove the cause and not just the symptom, and to cure the disease, not just put it off for a while.

There's a law in life that says that the cells in the body are endowed with an inherent trait of self-preservation.

This "law" however, needs to be viewed from varying perspectives: if the body can heal itself, why bother to treat disease at all? If the body can heal itself doesn't this "law" guarantee cure? Why can't I simply watch TV while my body reverses my arthritis, cancer, heart disease or type-2 diabetes? Because common sense tells us differently, that's why.

Disease equates to an unbalance of harmony in the body brought about by various influences that cause the disruption in the body's equilibrium. Despite this, the body is can protect itself from these external disruptions through discipline, austerity and perseverance.

But, nearly every aspect of our lives causes some sort of disharmony in our physical, mental, moral and spiritual plane. Despite this our bodies are designed to protect itself from any serious threat.

Where we once exerted tremendous efforts for demanding physical exercise, our bodies now perform many effortless tasks. Where our diet used to centered around whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, pure water and simple proteins, we now consume refined, devitalized grains, pesticide laden fruits and vegetables, fluoridated water, caffeine rich teas, coffee and sodas and heavily poisoned proteins. To add insult to injury, we take drugs, both "recreational" and prescribed, smoke all forms of health depleting tobacco, and are exposed to toxic chemicals and radiation in the air, the rivers, streams and oceans. Where things used to be relatively mellow we are now subjected to increased mental and emotional stress through failed relationships, workplace trauma and pressures placed upon us through peer pressure.

Normally we can adapt and use our innate mechanisms to clear this garbage. But what happens when our safety channels get clogged or over burdened or suppressed? What happens when our bodies can no longer maintain its harmony? Disease happens.

Are there certain paths that the disease process takes place? Hell yeah!

We accumulate toxins due to crappy diets, poor circulation and elimination, and using our TV remotes more that our arms, legs and lungs. This first manifests within the cells and then encompasses the whole body.

Our meat-based, junk-food diets reduce our vitality, lead to nutritional deficiencies, clogged arteries and eventually degeneration of our tissues.

Furthermore, we constantly ingest artificial chemicals and colors, enormous pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, which change the natural balance of the soil, causing our bodies to work even harder to detoxify these horrors. And this equates to virtually all forms of disease.

Then we don't stand tall, we slouch, sprawl in chairs and couches, have poor muscle tone due to our lack of exercise and as our normal curves change, we develop spinal problems and weak abdominal muscles. And what this equates to is poor blood and lymph supply to internal organs, which lends itself to poor drainage and tissue vitality, resulting in congestion and accumulations of toxins in the body.

Then there are the head-trips: fear, anxiety, hate, envy, low self-esteem, resentment, etc., which upsets digestion, blood flow, hormonal imbalance and major stress.

Then the MDs supply us with toxic drugs and vaccines giving us allergies, asthma, ADHD, autism and many long-term health problems, especially as we hit old age.

People take for granted that alcohol, coffee and tobacco use is not really a big deal. But they are as repeated use manifests in damage to the liver, lungs, pancreas, thyroid, and adrenals.

Bear in mind that if harmful bacteria, like GMOs, are allowed to multiply, typical symptoms of disease result.

So, what can we do to keep the body in a healthy condition to fight bacteria? One way is to keep the flora in the intestinal tract strong and healthy. Keeping the body's pH alkaline rather than acidic is another way.

Basically, the body starts out well protected. When we do all those things to weaken it, disease has a stronghold. But then the body is also equipped with venues to free it from these encumbrances.

Fever not only removes toxins from the body but also increases the body's metabolic rate as well as blood and lymph circulation. Fever also creates a not so friendly environment for bacteria or viruses, which normally have a low-heat tolerance. So when fever increases these organisms die faster.

When you have a fever, you normally sweat. The sweat carries toxins out of the system and it raises the body's temperature to a range that will not cause a problem.

To localize a problem in the body, inflammation, swelling and edema are actions by which the body can do this. These symptoms indicate what area needs attention.

Despite not seeing them as friendly, diarrhea and vomiting are the body's way of getting rid of toxins.

Sneezing and coughing are the body's strong attempts to get rid of toxins and irritants as well. Coughing gets rid of mucous and reduces the spread of infection, especially after a cold or the flu and sneezing concentrates on the irritants in the upper respiratory system.

And finally, pain. Pain says, "I have a problem here" and should not be ignored. Pain is also telling you to back off and rest.

So, all of these acute symptoms of disease are basically the result of the body trying to reestablish equilibrium and positive health.

They will correct and eliminate and should not be suppressed or ignored and if not allowed to run their course or be allowed to do what they are supposed to do, chronic disease will manifest.

More about that forthcoming.

Stay tuned!

About the author:
I have been doing a weekly radio show in Honolulu since 1981 called "Health Talk". In 2007 I was "forced" to get a Masters degree in Nutrition because of all the doctors that would call in asking for my credentials. They do not call in anymore. Going to www.healthtalkhawaii.com enables you, among other things, to listen to the shows. I am an activist. In addition to espousing an organic vegan diet for optimum health, I am strongly opposed to GMOs, vaccines, processed foods, MSG, aspartame, fluoridation and everything else that the pimps (Big Pharma, Monsanto and the large food companies) and the hookers (the doctors, the government agencies, the public health officials, and the mainstream media) thrust upon us, the tricks.
After being vaccinated with the DTP vaccine as a child I developed asthma. After taking the organic sulfur crystals (they are harvested from the pine trees in Louisiana) in November of 2008 for 10 days my asthma reversed and has not come back over 4 years later, 18 cases, so far, of autism have been reversed, as has cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, joint pain, astigmatism, gum disease, increased sexual activity, heavy metal and radiation elimination, parasite elimination, free radicals elimination, faster athletic recovery time, increased blood circulation, reduced inflammation, resistance to getting the flu, reduction of wrinkles, allergy reduction, reduced PMS and monthly period pain, nausea, migraines and so much more. And it's only possible because of the oxygen it releases that floods the cells of the body. The sulfur, as proven by the University of Southampton in England, enables the body to produce vitamin B12 and the essential amino acids. You can find out more about this incredible nutrient also on my website - www.healthtalkhawaii.com -.
My book, "a Sane Diet For An Insane World", has been published. It can be viewed at
www.asanediet.com.