Controlling Disease vs. Building Health

Not a judgy post

I subscribe to many different feeds ;some are anti-natural medicine and some are anti-conventional medicine. Rarely do I find someone who has the ability to encapsulate health care as one.

It seems like we are always forced to pick a side.

Before I continue, thank you to all the new subscribers that have joined to the feed in the last few months. I have a lot of avenues that I share on this feed from my podcast, webinars, classes, newsletters, and posts and substack gives me a place to bring it all together and share with people who are interested. By following me and liking and commenting on my posts I get feedback to continue on, change paths , or brush up on topics. I love an interactive audience.

Now let’s get back to the topic at hand.

Picking a side on this continuum.

For me it’s pointless to pick a side because I have enough life experience and have been kicked in the tuchus enough times to know that both are valuable.

Also I know there are health supportive medicines in Western Medicine and Disease Controlling medicines in natural medicine. Instead of picking a camp; I ask what is the the mechanism of the treatment.

I think the reason people feel the need to pick a side is because they have at some point in their life felt then didn’t have a choice.

Yep.

They didn’t get consent for their medical care.

They were told what to do and they did it.

A new era is among us and it is all about consent.

Consent means you used your own intelligence, knowledge, and values to choose your health directive when presented with a diagnosis.

When consenting for care you are usually presented risks, benefits, side effects, and outcome expected.

However I think a treatment should be identified as a suppressive/control treatment or as a health building treatment.

If I choose a therapy that is building health but not might control a life threatening disease; then I may get very unfavorable outcome.

Yet if I am defaulting to treatments that only control disease then I may perpetually control the disease without every feeling healthier.

So for example; a cancer diagnosis is usually accompanied with a program and prescription to control the disease and potentially cure the disease (ie. chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, stem cell transplant, etc) . However little is usually offered too build health. Whereas integrative therapies like nutrition, exercise, yoga, enzymatic therapies, intravenous nutrition, metabolic medicine, and herbal medicine may be aimed at building health within the body that is dealing with cancer.

Why does there have to be an either or?

If I have acid reflux with no signs of Barrett’s esophagus and I am taking PPI’s to control my disease yet doing nothing to work on my digestion, nervous system, or nutrition then I am signed up for controlling disease rather than building health.

Why not both?

Eventually when disease is better controlled and you feel healthier and you can move on from the PPI’s.

Let’s zoom out a bit and see how this applies to our daily life.

What are some health builders that we can all incorporate in our daily life?

• Getting quality and restful sleep.

• Staying well hydrated

• Staying well moisturized

• Meditation

• Breath work

• Stretching or Mobility Work

• Resistance Training

• Cardiovascular Exercise

• Incorporating nutritional staples like fruits and vegetables

• Choosing health oils like olive oil and avocado oil

• Getting adequate protein

• Getting adequate fiber

• Avoiding ultra processed foods

• Getting out in Nature frequently

These are all “medicinal diet and lifestyle practices” designed to build your health

Now if you are diagnosed with an illness such as Type 2 diabetes, IBS, IBD, POTS, PMS, PCOS, Endometriosis, Psoriasis, MCAS, Chronic Fatigue, Autoimmune Disease, Fibromyalgia, or Cancer; would this be enough?

This is where we need to put all judgement aside and ask the obvious ; what do I need in place to control the disease while I build health?

A remarkable subset of patients that have seen me do both.

When you have good control of a disease you have more ability to build health.

As you craft your own health journey maybe this thought process will help.

I would love to hear your thoughts and your personal examples of health building practices.

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