Traditional Naturopath

At the end of every Traditional Naturopath Podcast I say, “Remember that YOU are the person most responsible for YOUR health!” This article illustrates a good reason to take on that responsibility! If someone (ANYONE) tries to get you to take a drug, YOU need to demand to know what it is, what it does, and what the side effects and interactions may be! As a Naturopath I try (personally) very diligently to stay completely away from drugs in any form, preferring a more natural approach… however, in the cases where I have HAD to use a drug, I always ask all the “hard questions” until I understand the implications of using it!

Forbes Article: Medication Errors Injure 1.5 Million Americans a Year

“Medication errors injure at least 1.5 million Americans annually, costing the nation more than $3.5 billion a year, according to a new government report released Thursday. In hospitals alone, the sobering statistics translate into an average of one medication error per patient per day, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies report found. And those costly totals don’t even begin to include lost wages and productivity. ‘Errors in medication happen all too frequently, but they are not unavoidable,’ Dr. Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine, said at a news conference Thursday. ‘There’s much that can be done and, indeed, should be done to reduce the frequency and mitigate the harm that may come from medication errors.'”

It goes on to say, “The report suggests that patients could do much to protect themselves. ‘We tell the public to take an active role in their own health care, and ask about the risks and benefits of each medication,’ said Dr. Wilson Pace, another member of the report committee and a professor of family medicine at the University of Colorado, in Aurora. The report provides a list of questions to ask health-care providers.”

Hopefully, you aren’t getting tired of me trumpeting the benefits of MODERATE amounts of sunlight on your health! No, I am not saying to fry yourself to a crisp, but staying inside all the time and never getting any sunlight is problematic as well! The bottom line is that around 20 minutes of daily sunshine will help your body create Vitamin D… and more!

How The Sunshine Vitamin Zaps Disease

“Getting your vitamin D naturally from safe sunshine exposure is one of the best things you can do for your health as it works like a drug to treat all sorts of conditions, from strengthening bones to slowing down cancer. But just how powerful is vitamin D? Among other things, vitamin D increases your body’s production of naturally occurring antibiotics, called antimicrobial peptides, that are produced throughout the body the cell walls of viruses and bacteria, including tuberculosis. Based on Dr. Niels Finsen’s Nobel Prize winning work on sunshine as a cure for tuberculosis of the skin more than a century ago, a good part of Dr. John Cannell’s latest Vitamin D Newsletter describes experiments in the United States that demonstrated how irradiating blood created pharmacological amounts of vitamin D that work like a safe, natural antibiotic more than a half-century ago.”

I have mentioned before the problems of environmental exposure to metals and chemicals and your health. Constant, continual exposure to any chemical can be problematic. It seems that research is bearing this out with regard to chlorine exposure and indoor pools. Note that this is continued repetitive exposure.

Swimming pool use link to asthma

“The Belgian study found rates of childhood asthma and wheeze rose by around 2-3% for every indoor swimming pool per 100,000 people. The researchers believe the key could be exposure to chlorine, which is used to keep pools clean. The study, by the Catholic University of Louvain, appears in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The researchers say the long-term effects of chlorine by-products on children’s respiratory health should be thoroughly evaluated, and that pools should be properly ventilated and levels of chlorine by-products regulated. A study published three years ago by the same team produced evidence that chlorine in pools can react with sweat or urine to create harmful fumes which can damage lungs. They found found that children who regularly attend indoor pools accumulate proteins known, in high quantities, to cause damage to cells in the lungs.”

We have known for some time that over-consumption of processed sugars and corn syrup in foods has led to increased chance of “Syndrome-X” (insulin sensitivity and resistance,) which may lead to diabetes. We also know that insulin is the hormone that signals your body to store fat. Now, this is new evidence that sugar consumption can aid cancer cell growth!

More Evidence that Sugar Feeds Cancer

I find Dr. Mercola’s statements compelling: “Getting back to the study, though, I find it somewhat tragic that this is not really new information. The article mentions Otto Warburg, who was the German physician that was awarded a Nobel Prize over 75 years ago for first uncovering cancer cells’ massive dependence on sugar as a fuel source. Yes, you read that correctly. Physicians have been exposed to this information for 75 years, when most of your great grandparents were alive and kicking. It is reassuring to have Harvard researchers confirm this again, though. But do you think for one moment this will change the clinical protocols for the average oncologist? Don’t hold your breath. It is just shocking to me that they don’t understand this basic fact and integrate it into their treatment program.”

If we do not learn from history, we will be compelled to repeat it! Cut out processed sugars!

“Pre-diabetes,” or what some call “Syndrome-X” appears to have a link to later development of Alzheimer’s Disease. It adds incentive to those that need to avoid processed sugars and increase exercise to lower blood sugar levels.

Prediabetes may raise risk for Alzheimer’s

“A ‘silent’ condition called prediabetes might put otherwise healthy seniors at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a study suggests today. Researchers will present findings from that study, and several others, at the 10th International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders this week in Madrid. The new findings bolster the theory that diabetes or even a precursor condition might somehow set the stage for Alzheimer’s disease, says Ronald Petersen, a spokesman for the Alzheimer’s Association, which sponsored the meeting. If true, that theory has sobering implications for the USA, which is in the midst of a diabetes epidemic. Roughly 61 million American adults have diabetes, or higher-than-normal blood-sugar levels.”

A new study in China indicates that drinking tea is good for you! In fact, it may help fight cancer!

Drinking tea may stave off bile stones and cancer

“In the new study, the researchers examined the effects of tea consumption on the risk of biliary tract cancers and biliary stones. Included in the study were 627 patients with biliary tract cancer, 1,037 with biliary stones, and 959 comparison subjects. The team obtained data on demographics, medical and dietary factors, and tea consumption. Tea drinkers were defined as those who drank at least one cup of tea per day for at least 6 months. Of the 959 control subjects, 394 (41 percent) were ever tea drinkers. In women, drinking at least one cup of tea per day for at least 6 months seemed to cut the risks of bile stones by 27 percent, gallbladder cancer by 44 percent, and bile duct cancer by 35 percent. In men, tea drinking had a similar effect, but not of the magnitude seen in women.”

This should come as no big surprise to most folks. However, there has been a general perception in the past that one should be less active as one grows older. Not if you want to live a long, and healthy life! Physical activity keeps the blood moving, supports bone strength, and has countless other benefits for the aging.

Physical Activity Helps Elderly Live Longer

“Elderly people who are physically active are much more likely to live longer than elderly people who are not physically active, according to a six-year study carried out by researchers at the US National Institute on Aging. You can read about this study in more detail in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 12 July issue.”

Standardized tests at Manchester University in England have done a study that suggests that the standard treatment for coughs – codeine cough syrups – are no more effective at reducing coughs than a placebo!

Lead researcher Dr. Jaclyn Smith said: “Codeine has long been considered the standard anti-cough agent against which others are measured, but until now little has been known about its impact in patients with chronic lung diseases.

“‘From a statistical standpoint there was really no difference between codeine and the placebo – despite the fact that the dose of codeine used far exceeds that in over-the-counter cough remedies.’ She added: ‘The effective treatment of chronic dry cough is an important unmet need in patients with chronic respiratory diseases, post-viral coughing and persistent coughing of unknown cause. Studies of cough in other clinical situations are urgently needed if codeine is to be continued to be used as a remedy.'”

Codeine ‘does not relieve cough’

What would benefit a persistent cough? Reinforce your natural immune system, for instance:

Eliminate processed sugars from your diet.

Get the right amount of sleep.

Eat garlic regularly.

Reduce stress in your life.

Consume a high-quality fish or cod liver oil daily.

Wash your hands regularly, using ordinary soap, not anti-bacterial soap.

Exercise regularly – take a walk in the sunshine!