Video: John Williams is the Man!

Here's another great video. The plot for Star Wars (at least the three movies that were released first), sung to music by John Williams. Only here's the catch: none of the music is from Star Wars. It's all from other films!

Although this video is not the original, and he actually lip-syncs the whole thing, I find his the most fun. So enjoy!

"Are naturopathic doctors worth it?"

Here was an excellent question recently posed by someone from around Detroit, Michigan, and who stumbled onto my blog as a result. So...are naturopathic doctors worth it? Absolutely.

A popular view of naturopathic doctors is that the cost of seeing us is very high. Indeed, I have had a number of people call, ask me about what I do, then get excited about how I might be able to help them. Then they ask about my rates, and their enthusiasm often wanes. Then they say they're gonna shop around, and I usually don't hear from them again.

Let's look at what allopathic (or conventional) medical doctors charge, in comparison. A few years ago, I went to see my primary care physician (an MD) to get a prescription refill. I forgot my insurance card, so I was billed for my quick, 5 minute visit. How much? A whopping $89! Compare this with an initial visit with a naturopathic doctor, where the cost may be anywhere from $120-$250 for an initial visit, but you see the doctor for up to two hours. You may also be paying for research done outside the visit, so that you can get a thorough treatment plan. Taken in this perspective, naturopathic care is an excellent deal. (If we go by the scale of $89 for a 5-minute visit, a 2-hour visit would cost over $2000!)

Many people ask whether I take insurance. This is a legitimate question. But in a state like Colorado, where naturopathic doctors are not regulated, the question really should be "does insurance take you?" At this time, unfortunately, the answer is almost exclusively "no." Insurance offers reimbursement for services provided by a licensed practitioner, and as long as the practice of naturopathic medicine is not regulated in Colorado, insurance will not cover services provided by a naturopathic doctor. (Incidentally, I often tell patients that I do take insurance, but strictly for chiropractic services only.)

Here are some reasons why seeing a naturopathic doctor really is worth it.

First, naturopathic doctors aim to address the fundamental causes of disease. When you see a naturopathic doctor, most likely, you will not just be given a supplement or a drug that simply acts as a band-aid, covering up symptoms that warn us of potential major health issues. Rather, you will see a doctor who actively probes, researches, and questions exactly why you ended up with the health condition or malaise that you currently have - often outside of your visit as well as during your visit. Let's say you have insomnia. It could be caused by any number of things - a neurotransmitter imbalance, too much light in the room at night, drinking too much caffeine late in the day, or even an emotional trauma. Simply giving sleeping pills does not address the cause of your disease.

Second, naturopathic doctors often offer a wealth of information on preventive care. Notice that I did not say "a wealth of supplements for preventive care." There are some naturopathic doctors that do use a lot of supplements, and some get great results. And often, if you are dealing with a severe health condition, you may expect a fair number of supplements to jump-start you on the road to health again. But the best naturopathic doctors will also provide information for patients that will empower them to take charge of their own health. For example, I often provide handouts on simple hydrotherapy treatments that patients can do at home to help boost the immune system. I also provide information on ways to make eating organic food easier; this might include pamphlets on local farms that provide an abundance of organic produce in exchange for a relatively inexpensive share on the farm.

Third, naturopathic doctors take the edict to "first do no harm" very seriously. This entails two things. First, the best naturopathic doctors support the body's health and its innate tendency to heal itself when given the right conditions. With this strategy, it is difficult to do much harm; frequently, this results in no harm done at all. Second, naturopathic doctors will use the least invasive therapies first. Eliminating obstacles to cure, establishing a healthy daily regimen, and providing gentle treatments like homeopathy, hydrotherapy, and simple botanical medicines to support health can and regularly do work wonders. Often, this is all that needs to be done to help a person heal.

Fourth, visits with naturopathic doctors tend to be longer than with conventional physicians. You get more individualized care, with all attention devoted to you for the entire visit. Naturopathic doctors are interested not just in your disease. They want to get to know you as a person, how you got to the state of health you are at during your visit, and what makes you tick. What excites you? What irks you? What foods do you like? How's your sleep? You get the idea.

If this all sounds enticing, then by all means, naturopathic doctors are worth it.

However, you may not be a good candidate for naturopathic care. Here's some possible reasons:

• If you are looking only for quick fixes that provide symptomatic relief, naturopathic care might not be what you should look for. (Keep in mind that naturopathic doctors often do provide symptomatic relief, but that's not where they stop.)
• If you are only looking for a source for supplements without consulting a health care professional, naturopathic care may not be for you. (I once had a woman call me just to ask if I carried strontium to address her osteoporosis; she did not want to come in for a consult. To be blunt, this is what health food stores are for.)
• If you only want your disease treated, you may be better off seeing a disease specialist. Naturopathic doctors usually specialize in health, not disease. (There is a big difference between just getting your disease treated and actively becoming healthier.)
• If you are simply looking for an herbal or nutritional supplement that takes the place of a drug, you may want to reconsider your options. For example, naturopathic doctors may give St. John's wort or 5-HTP to address depression, but this is not merely to replace Prozac or Paxil. You can expect more out of naturopathic doctors.

To the reader in Detroit who originally posed this question...I hope you came back, and I hope you found this enlightening! To everyone reading this: best wishes for health and happiness!

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Do you have health issues that aren't being adequately addressed by conventional medicine? Naturopathic care may be the answer you're looking for. Visit my website for more information about naturopathic medicine, and begin your journey toward optimal health!

"How much water should I drink?"

Good question. Let's ask Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj. (And while we're at it, let's just call him Dr. Batman. A lot easier, right?) But why ask this guy?

Dr. Batman is the author of Your Body's Many Cries for Water, a highly-regarded book in naturopathic circles. He claims to have treated over 3,000 prisoners in Iran in the late 1970s suffering from stress-induced peptic ulcer disease with water alone. His research on the subject was published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology in 1983. Since then, he has been a strong advocate for the use of water to treat the many symptoms of what he calls "chronic unintentional dehydration." The symptoms, he says, can include simple body pain, which he views as perhaps the first sign of dehydration (a dry mouth is about the last symptom). But he includes even debilitating chronic diseases like asthma, arthritis, hypertension, angina, type 2 diabetes, lupus and multiple sclerosis.

His motto? "You are not sick, you are thirsty. Don’t treat thirst with medication."

Of course, I love the concept of drinking water instead of relying on pharmaceutical drugs. It supports all the tissues of our body, all of which are composed of significant amounts of water. Here are a few examples:

Bones: 25%
Muscles: 75%
Brain: 76%
Blood: 82%
Lungs 90%
The human body in general: 60%

If water composes so much of our body, it only makes sense to ensure that we support it with water! But again, how much water should we drink?

According to Dr. Batman, we should aim to drink one ounce of water for every two pounds of body weight. So let's assume that you weight 150 pounds. According to this rule, you should drink 75 ounces of water. This ends up being about 9 cups of water a day.

Maybe you're not terribly keen on drinking so much water, or have a hard time doing it at first. Or you're used to drinking flavored beverages like soda pop or coffee. If this is the case, why not make water flavored, too? Use fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs! Here are some great ideas.

• Oranges
• Grapefruit
• Lemons
• Limes
• Apples
• Melons of all sorts
• Strawberries
• Pineapple
• Kiwi
• Cucumbers
• Mint
• Lavender
• Lemon balm

Slice any combination of what you like in the morning, and throw it in a water bottle or two before you leave for the day. The fruits, veggies, and herbs will make a delicious infusion and you'll want to drink more water.

Raise a glass! Here's to your health! *clink*

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Do you have health issues that aren't being adequately addressed by conventional medicine? Naturopathic care may be the answer you're looking for. Visit my website for more information about naturopathic medicine, and begin your journey toward optimal health!

The Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen

Any naturopathic doctor worth their salt will tell you that eating organic food is in your best interest. You ingest far fewer cancer-causing pesticides (none, actually, if the food you eat truly is organic) and many more nutrients. Moreover, from an environmental standpoint, you're reducing the levels of pesticides that not just you, but all manner of plants and animals are exposed to.

Still, for many people, eating solely organic is a bit too much to ask for from the monthly budget. You want to be as healthy as possible, but the dollar can only stretch so far, right? Turns out that you don't have to sacrifice one at the expense of the other.

The Environmental Working Group has determined the 12 fruits and vegetables that have the most pesticide residue on them - the "dirty dozen." It's estimated that if you only eat the organic versions of these fruits and vegetables, you will reduce your pesticide exposure by up to 80%! So for your health's sake, purchase and eat these ONLY ORGANIC whenever possible:

1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Kale
10. Cherries
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes (imported)

On the other hand, there are the "clean fifteen" - the fifteen fruits and vegetables that you could buy conventionally (i.e., nonorganic) and eat without significantly increasing your exposure to pesticides. Here they are:

1. Onions
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mangoes
6. Sweet Peas
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potatoes
15. Honeydew

It's good to have this list available when you need it (like when you go shopping), so here's a link to a list you can print out and carry in your wallet.

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Do you have health issues that aren't being adequately addressed by conventional medicine? Naturopathic care may be the answer you're looking for. Visit my website for more information about naturopathic medicine, and begin your journey toward optimal health!

The Muppets - Bohemian Rhapsody

It's been a long time since I've contributed to this blog. This is a trend I hope to end. So why not do it with some fun?

Here's a hilarious video I recently saw of the Muppets performing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." In my opinion, Gonzo's part at the beginning is the least interesting. And any video where Gonzo's part is the least interesting has to be great, right?

Enjoy!

"Do you treat...?"

"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

-- World Health Organization, 1948

Quite often, I get e-mails from potential patients asking me if I treat X condition. They are happy to have received a diagnosis, be it hypothyroidism, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, diabetes, or whatever they have been labeled as having. At least these people know that what they are suffering has an official name, and thus a potential exact treatment, usually a drug of some sort. (Unfortunately, in many cases, these drugs are not effective, or have undesirable side effects.)

I also often get e-mails from patients who have a mysterious array of symptoms that are not easily pigeonholed into a diagnosis. They have run through a barrage of lab tests that indicate - at least on paper - that all their blood/urine levels are normal, or that there was nothing abnormal found on the imaging they received. These are the people who often come to me like Princess Leia, saying, "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."

In either case, when working with patients, I generally adhere to a philosophy known as the naturopathic therapeutic order. It goes like this:

1. Remove obstacles to cure.
2. Instill a healthy regimen.
3. Support the body's natural healing process.
4. Support individual weakened or diseased organs or organ systems.
5. Address structural abnormalities.
6. Address the condition or pathology.
7. Suppress the condition or pathology.

Notice that in this therapeutic order, there is no emphasis on whatever condition a person has been labeled with until all other health-supporting priorities have been addressed. Often, an effective treatment protocol may include just the first three or four parts of this order, and the patient gets better. (Incidentally, treatment almost always includes patient education, so that not only does the patient get better, but he or she has tools they can use for the rest of their lives to help keep themselves healthy.)

This emphasis on creating health is often the rationale behind naturopathic doctors who say, "We don't treat conditions. We treat people (who happen to have these conditions)." This is not to say that naturopathic doctors do not understand these conditions; four years of excellent in-residence education with many classes in pathology, public health, and pharmacology (among others), ensures that they do. But patients are more than the labels of diseases they have been given. Addressing only these labels without addressing the fundamental causes of their diseases - the obstacles to cure, the less-than-optimal health regimens, the weakened organ systems - does a patient disservice. To address each patient wholly and to pursue the real cause of disease is the ultimate goal of a naturopathic doctor. Only by doing this can we achieve the true definition of health: complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

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Do you have health issues that aren't being adequately addressed by conventional medicine? Naturopathic care may be the answer you're looking for. Visit my website for more information about naturopathic medicine, and begin your journey toward optimal health!

Recipe: Simple Breakfast Smoothie

This is a simple recipe for a breakfast smoothie I adapted from a elimination diet program that I recently did. It's wonderful that smoothies are as quick and easy to prepare as they are. (Cleanup is a snap, too.) And there are many, many recipes out there for smoothies. However, I like this one because it is so simple, because it uses whole foods, and because it is a balanced source of macronutrients (fats, carbohydrates, and proteins). And depending on what ingredients you use, this smoothie can become a powerhouse of antioxidants, bioflavonoids, vitamins, and minerals. (Hint: if you use more colorful fruit, such as berries, peaches, or mangoes, the nutritional value skyrockets.) Here's the recipe:

• 1/2 cup cashews
• 1 cup rice, soy, almond, or oat milk
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen fruit of your choice
• 8 ice cubes

Blend the first two ingredients together for approximately 1-2 minutes, until thoroughly blended. Add remaining ingredients, blend thoroughly, and enjoy.
There are many variations on this recipe. Here are some of my favorites:

• Add a splash or two of coconut milk for a creamier texture and for healthy medium-chain fatty acids.
• Substitute almonds or walnuts (soaked overnight) for the cashews.
• Blend a date with the nuts and milk for a sweeter flavor.
• Add 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or ginger.
• If using a banana as fruit, add 1 tsp coffee substitute.
• Add 1 tsp ground flax seeds.
• Add a splash of vanilla extract.

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Do you have health issues that aren't being adequately addressed by conventional medicine? Naturopathic care may be the answer you're looking for. Visit my website for more information about naturopathic medicine, and begin your journey toward optimal health!