1. Underlying hormonal imbalances - particularly thyroid and adrenal underactivity can cause symptoms of depression and fatigue culminating in ME and Fibromyalgia if the other predisposing symptoms (usually trauma) are present. These are unlikely to show up on standard tests as they are not specific enough to pick up anything other than severe deficiency but they still cause terrible problems. You may be put on antidepressants and what you needed was adrenal boosting and having your Vitamin D levels optimised .

2. Epigenetics : Genes are not destiny. The awful practice of prophylactic double mastectomy for breast cancer (removal of both breasts as a preventative if you have a family history of breast cancer) is a total misunderstanding of the process. Epigenetics shows us it is what you do with the blueprint that counts. Genes can be turned on and off and otherwise modified by the environment. Changing your lifestyle is the ultimate preventative. For instance, cancer is not one disease but many and very few are strictly genetic - hence the magic bullet ‘cure’ is never likely to be found. Instead, prevention is key – understanding what causes the body to turn on itself and how to switch it to go the other way through diet, lifestyle, etc – all of which are termed ‘epigenetic modifiers’.

3. Toxicity: We are bombarded by toxic chemicals every day in the food we eat, the water we drink and the products we use. Knowing how to detoxify ourselves (cleansing, epsom salt baths, infra-red saunas, skin brushing etc) are natural ways we can enhance our detoxification ability (in the liver). These old practices are needed now more than ever given the pharmaceutical bias of modern medicine.

Some of these drugs actually cause more toxicity!

4. Gut dysbiosis (an imbalanced gut flora) is one of the prime causes of illness. Our gut is our first line immune defence (it is modified skin after all) and the standard Western diet over time weakens and destabilises it so that we start to get a whole host of symptoms; indigestion, skin rashes, fatigue, dizziness, fungal infections, etc. The most common pathogen is candida. Most doctors still do not recognise this as a problem but there is a simple test you can do to check and herbs that will rebalance your flora.

5. Inflammation caused by an excess of inflammatory chemicals in the bloodstream (from our processed diet) is at the heart of most long term chronic disease (heart disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer, auto-immune disease, etc). The way to reduce your risk (and sometimes reverse the worst effects of the disease if you already have it) is to change your diet away from processed fats and carbohydrates and switch to natural whole foods. Supplementation with a more balanced range of nutrients may also be necessary.

6. Mindbody; we are both mind and body. The split defined by Descartes was a convenient idea at the time but has recently been debunked by both neuroscientists and doctorsi. We know now that treating one without the other is pretty pointless. Many so-called physical diseases can be healed by looking at the subconscious drivers. We are a miracle of interconnectivity.

7. Emotional Health; Subconscious emotional trauma lies at the heart of much disease which may result in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or perhaps more commonly panic attacks, anxiety and depression.Any treatment

that just suppresses the symptom (low serotonin) without looking at the underlying causes is not going to solve the problem. Luckily, there are many new psycho-somatic techniques such as EFT (Emotional Freedom technique, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Hypnotherapy which can make a significant difference to health and wellbeing. These issues are best looked at as disordered subconsicious beliefs which are read by the body. By engaging the ‘thinking brain’ (with sensory stimulation) and then activating the emotion the link can be altered – permanently! You are then free to live life without being encumbered with old, destructive beliefs. It can be life-changing.

8. We are all highly deficient in basic nutrients; particularly omega-3 fats (from fish – no longer in farmed fish in high amounts), Magnesium, iodine, Vitamin C and Vitamin D (from sunlight – not available during October – April in the UK). These are not enough to give us the obvious deficiency diseases e.g. scurvy from Vitamin C). Weeds often contain some of the highest amounts of these so by adding dandelion, nettles, good king henry, chickweed, etc to our salads or infusions (all organic of course as they grow locally) we can save food miles and our health at the same time. Vitamin D status should be checked as often as blood sugar but unfortunately is not common as there is no profit to be generated from Vitamin D.

9. Osteoporosis is a very common disease but drinking more milk is not the answer. If you look at countries with a high dairy intake you will find that rates of osteoporosis are higher! The best solution is to reduce your salt intake (it competes with calcium uptake), and reduce your

consumption of acidic foods (of which milk is one). Eating more alkalising foods such as leafy greens (try juicing them to increase your intake) and lemon juice or cider vinegar in water (oddly even though they are acids they are treated in the body as alkalising). Oh and less coffee (if you can’t cut it out completely then make sure you balance it with plenty of water which helps neutralises it). And whatever you do try to avoid certain drugs like the bisphosphonates – these stop your body breaking down old bone and increase the likelihood of cancer.

10. You need to look at what is going on in your life when you get health issues – to show the link between outside events and illness. A naturopathic approach* uses natural medicine which considers the ‘ecology’ of the person as being essential in creating the right (or wrong) conditions for health and wellness. If you are eating poor quality food, thinking toxic thoughts (I’m useless, I never get anything right, etc) and working in an environment that is not supporting you, then illness is much more likely. Health requires working on all these levels simultaneously, is a pro-active and continual process (not something forgotten and assumed when you are not ‘ill’).

i BMJ 2002;325:1433

Naturopathy is the science, art, philosophy and practice of analysis, treatment and prevention of illness without pharmaceutical drugs or surgery. Naturopathy emphasises the body’s innate ability to heal and maintain itself.

10 Things you should know about health and your doctor never told you By Patricia Worby, MSc. ACMT, PGDip

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