Natural Healing
There are so many chronically ill people now, that many are starting to lose faith in doctors and the health sytem. But the good news is that there is a lot we can do to manage your own health.
The guide to wellness page is a good overview of how we can optimise health.
But once we get sick, we need some extra help. This section covers:
- Links to doctors with a more holistic view (see below)
- Some natural, non-invasive therapies that may help with your problem
- Possible approaches to some common or chronic problems such as:
- obesity
- high cholesterol (coming soon)
- diabetes (coming soon)
- cancer
- brain tumours
- mental illness
Because of the way they have been trained, most doctors have limited knowledge of nutrition and know even less about natural therapies. However, there are some exceptions. If you want to read about natural therapies from the perspective of trained physicians, who like to balance allopathic and alternative therapies, here are some to start with :
Dr Joseph Mercola: Author of “The No Grain Diet” and responsible for one of the most widely visited health sites on the web. His site is very comprehensive and includes diet, preventative health, alternative therapies and news on what’s happening in medical circles. He also tracks down and makes available some hard-to-get nutritional products. make this the first site you visit. A review of his book will be coming to this site soon.
Dr Walt Stoll : Author of “Saving Yourself from the Disease-Care Crisis”. Outspoken critic of anyone who tries to suppress the knowledge we are all entitled to about natural health care methods. This book has to ordered from the States (see the link above for details), but makes very interesting reading. It explains why so many people are getting chronic illnesses and outlines ways to regain your health. He has a website with a bulletin board, and personally answers every question posted to it. There is often useful feedback from other board participants as well. This is where we learnt to start taking responsibility for our own health.
Dr Andrew Weil : Author of several books including “Spontaneous Healing”, “Natural Health, Natural Medicine” and “Eight weeks to Optimum Health”. While I don’t agree with everything he says, on the whole he has a reasonably balanced viewpoint. However, it must be remembered that he is essentially a medical doctor with an interest in other therapies. In my opinion, some of the things he rubbishes actually have quite sound credentials. He has a very comprehensive website, which includes a search facility to access information from his books and from his daily question and answers. His recommendations on diet would be suitable for Agriculturists, but not Hunter-Gatherers (see Metabolic diets). Beware of his recommendation to eat lots of soy.
Dr H.C.A. Vogel : Yes, the original Vogel Bread man. I was lent his book “The Nature Doctor” and I didn’t want to give it back. He was 93 when the latest edition of his book was published and still in good health. Some of his advice seems a little old-fashioned, but sometimes the old wisdom is the best. An invaluable resource for anyone interested in natural healing.