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What is Naturopathy
Naturopathic medicine treats health conditions by utilizing the body's
inherent ability to heal.
"Let food be our medicine and medicine be our food."
- Hippocrates said in 400BC
Registered Naturopaths in New Zealand are qualified Practitioners, with
at least three years of full time training.
Naturopathic medicine encompasses a myriad of healing
practices, including diet and clinical nutrition; homeopathy; acupuncture;
herbal medicine; hydrotherapy; therapeutic exercise; spinal and soft-tissue
manipulation; physical therapies involving electric currents, ultrasound,
and light therapy; therapeutic counseling; and pharmacology.
The age-old philosophy of
naturopathic medicine is built around six important principles:
1. The healing power of nature and
of the body to maintain and restore health is well-respected.
2. A naturopathic practitioner must
identify and treat the cause rather than the effect.
3. First, a practitioner must do no
harm to the patient. It is the belief of naturopathic medicine that methods
designed to suppress symptoms without removing their underlying causes are
considered harmful; therefore, they are to be avoided or minimized. The
onset of symptoms is considered a natural fixture of the healing process.
4. Treat the whole person while
keeping in mind the interaction of his or her physical, mental, and
emotional factors in causing disease. Naturopathic medicine recognizes the
integrity of the whole person instead of just single organ systems or
particular symptoms.
5. The physician is a teacher. The
doctor-patient relationship has a therapeutic value.
6. Prevention is the best "cure."
Naturopathic physicians are preventive medicine specialists.
Naturopathic medicine emphasizes the treatment of disease
through the stimulation, enhancement, and support of the inherent healing
capacity of the person. It is an art, science, philosophy, and practice of
diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease. Disease is seen as a
manifestation of the natural causes by which the body heals itself. Fever
and inflammation are regarded as the offshoot of the body's immune system
reacting to and dealing with either an invader or some sort of dysfunction
or imbalance.
Food for thought
- Eat living, high water-content, high-fibre, whole, organic foods, a high percentage consumed raw. If you want hot, briefly steam your veggies. Remember that heating over 45°C kills food enzymes
- The ideal balance is 80% alkaline to 20% acid foods. Meaning that 80% of your food comes out of the garden (fruits, vegetables, legumes, pulses etc.). Juice your greens, carrots and beetroot for trace minerals, vitamins and enzymes
- Eat little or no meat in the diet. Meat should not comprise more than 10% of the diet. Meat consumed should be hormone-free and pesticide-free. Avoid pork
- Fish couple times a week is great, avoid shark and tuna for possible mercury toxicity
- Hydrate the body with clean filtered water, 1 to 2 litre a day
- Consume fruit till noon to help with the elimination cycle. Prefer fruits with a low sugar-conversion, such as apples and pears
- Eat small meals and don't eat after 8 pm
- Take a basic supplement program; colloidal trace minerals, enzymes, multi vitamin and essential fats
- Exercise to get everything moving, 30-60 minutes a day in open, fresh air
- Rest, rest, rest
- Reduce environmental toxins, also at work
- Use safe personal care and household products, visit your health food shop
Avoid
- Refined sugar/flour/rice. Drastically reduce consumption of all grains. Use only whole grain rice and whole grain bread
- Hydrogenated fats (margarine)
- Junk foods, fizzy sodas, additives and other highly processed foods
- Pork products, high in nitrates
- Shellfish, has concentrated toxins in their tissues
- Aspartame or sweetener 951, saccharin, artificial sweeteners. Toxic to the nervous system and associated with depression, mood swings, headaches, nausea, etc. etc. Also see Mission Possible at www.dorway.com
- MSG or monosodium L-glutamate or flavour enhancer 621. Toxic to the nervous system
- Fat-free foods. Usually contains a lot of sugar and the body needs essential fats
- Olestra, canola, soy, etc.
- Chlorinated or fluoridated water
- Caffeine and alcohol products
- Refined salt, use Celtic sea salt instead
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