10 ADVANTAGES OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE AND NATURAL REMEDIES
1. Alternative Medicine Tends To Support The Innate Healing Processes Of The Body More Than Mainstream Medicine
Everyone, even young children, know that the human body has an innate ability or tendency to heal itself. For years, mainstream medicine has tended to ignore or to work against this reality. Many of their treatments actually suppress the innate processes the body uses to cleanse itself of sickness, disease or condition. In some cases it may be necessary to intervene in what the body may be doing in response to disease, illness, conditions or injuries. However, in general, the body knows precisely what to do and is programmed to instinctively heal itself.
One of the common philosophies in alternative medicine is to use treatments that aid, facilitate and strengthen the body’s innate healing processes in their efforts to restore health and balance. To work with, rather than against, the self-evident innate healing process, whenever possible, makes sense and has demonstrated countless successes.
2. Alternative Medicine Tends To Treat Causes Rather Than Symptoms
Mainstream medicine tends to treat symptoms rather than address the underlying causes of diseases or conditions. Mainstream doctors generally have their dominant treatments, medicines and practices that relatively limit experimentation with individual patients. Alternative medicine tends to have more liberty to experiment and apply different treatments, and often experiment until they get results. In general, their treatments are typically very safe and often natural. (Alternative medicine practitioners often do and should earn income from their practices and products; but could it be that there is much more money in symptom management in the mainstream camps?)
3. Alternative Medicine Tends To Embrace And Work With The Subjective Realities Of The Mind, Belief, Expectation, Emotions, Attitude, etc. Of The Whole Person
Mainstream medicine has for decades tended to dismiss the powerful realities and roles that belief, expectancy and emotions play in health and healing. Double-blind tests and objectivity are often highly necessary and important. However, belief, expectation and other factors are also important and powerful when it comes to health and healing. The internal, subjective experience of a subject is crucial and cannot be denied. Many people today are aware that the human mind and imagination hold unrealized potential in many areas, including health and healing. Consider the amazing experiments, results and fun that have been attained from hypnosis — by the belief of the mind. In education, whether a student can or can’t do a given task, is often determined by his or her level of belief and expectation. This is known as “self-fulfilling prophecy.”
In the medical field, it has been effectively demonstrated that a single thought (with emotion) can dramatically affect a subject’s white blood cell count which is crucial to the immune systems and healing. In subjects who were asked to think of an experience that caused them some sort of negative feeling, their white blood count almost immediately went down from the baseline count. In the same subjects, when asked to think of something positive, their white blood cell counts almost immediately sky rocketed far above the baseline.
It has also been demonstrated that laughter can enhance the white blood cell count, healing endorphins and functions of immune system. Even the Good Book reveals that being happy is good like a medicine (Proverbs 17:22). Mainstream medicine, for years, has tended to ignore or discount such subjective experiments. Objectivity is often important, but to deny and investigate without acknowledging the subjective experience — is to deny or ignore reality.
4. Alternative Medicine Is Not Dependent Upon Patented Drugs
Mainstream medicine tends to support and is highly dependent upon the pharmaceutical industry, which often uses unnatural substances. Apparently, substances that are naturally-occurring cannot be patented. From what I understand, this is generally why the pharmaceutical companies tend to create their own substances, so they can obtain patents and so gain higher profits. Again, some medications are necessary and beneficial. But, again, consider the many once “approved” drugs that have been recalled due to harm and even deaths. Consider the many potential side-effects they list in the ads of drugs currently on the market. (Uh, no thanks . . . I’d rather keep my disease!)
Alternative medicine is not generally into patenting their substances, or at least is not as dependent upon patents. And their treatments are typically safe when used correctly, or are natural. Yes, even “natural” substances can be unsafe, but they must be used appropriately. Alternative treatments aren’t always successful. But often treatments can easily be modified or changed until something does work.
5. Alternative Medicine Tends To Have A Broader Perspective Of Health and Healing, Allowing More Flexibility and Adaptability When Treating Patients
Mainstream medicine tends to be limited in its approaches and treatments, generally staying solely with medical school practices. How many times have you heard of a doctor giving up on a patient and sending them home to die? Yet, alternative medicine has many types of treatments, and is credited with actually healing a good percentage of patients in the late stages of diseases (after their mainstream doctors had given up on them). Jim’s doctor had given him only 6 months to live; but after he started the alternative, natural treatment for his emphysema, his lungs became 70% clear in only six weeks. And this was revealed and stated by his doctor who had given up on him.
Again, alternative medicine treatments aren’t always effective. But they have demonstrated much more effectiveness than some of mainstream medicine’s treatments. After his doctor told him he had only six months to live, Jim had no hope; and hopelessness has been linked to early deaths. Without hope, it has been observed, the mind and body tend to weaken and slowly shut down, thus bringing on death sooner. Once Jim first heard about the treatment that later saved his life, he began to have hope. Hope wasn’t really necessary with the treatment that he used (as it has been used successfully on people who had little or no expectation of it). However, hope was enough to get him to try it and take action.
Alternative medicine has a broader perspective, approach and adaptability than does mainstream medicine. Thankfully, mainstream medicine in recent years is more accommodating of alternative medicine; they sometimes now refer to it as “complimentary medicine.” Many alternative therapies will not conflict with mainstream medicine treatments so they can often be used along with mainstream treatments.
6. Alternative Medicine Fundamentally Embraces The Now-Known Reality That Good Nutrition, Balancing And Cleansing The Body Is Fundamental To Health And Healing
For decades, mainstream medicine in general has tended to downplay and even sometimes mock the importance of nutrition, balancing and cleansing the body. Yet, properly nourishing, balancing and cleansing the body has demonstrated many times that this combination can greatly assist the body in healing itself. Now, after years of alternative assertions as to the importance of these, even many mainstream practitioners are now eating healthier, taking nutritional supplements, exercising, and balancing and cleansing their own bodies personally.
Mainstream medical students, at least in the past, receive relatively few hours of training in nutrition as compared with the many hours of their other medical training. This seems to reveal that mainstream medicine has not tended to value the importance of how critical properly nourishing and cleansing the body is to general health and healing. (A crazy thought: If society was much healthier in general from better nutrition and cleansing, maybe we would need less of the not-so-healthy drugs of mainstream medicine.) Of course their other medical training is important. However, in recent years, it is great news that even mainstream medical sources are now realizing the extreme importance of good nutrition as alternative practitioners have asserted for decades.
Now, more and more people are being educated by alternative medical knowledge. We as a society are realizing the common sense knowledge that cells need proper nutrition to be healthy, that the functions of the body need to be balanced, and that, as the processes of food are being converted into energy, toxins (the by-products that accumulate in the cells) are major contributors of disease and adverse conditions. As an automobile needs appropriate fuel, the systems need to be in tune (balanced) (i.e., clean spark plugs), and the exhaust needs to be effectively released — so too our bodies to be maintained. With nutrition, balancing and cleansing as important as they are now generally known to be to health and healing, it would be wise to be open to the professional knowledge of someone who is knowledgeable in these areas.
One woman totally healed herself of breast cancer, and much of her “treatment” was getting excellent nutrition. (Incidentally, this woman was and is a mainstream medical doctor who once worked in a mainstream hospital.) The more you learn about and live proper health principles, which are the natural tendency of life — you may find you need medicine and doctors appointments less and less. Proper nutrition, cleansing and exercise are foundational to alternative medicine.
7. Alternative Medicine Practitioners Are Generally Highly Informed About The Treatments They Prescribe Or Administer As Opposed To Mainstream Doctors Who Are Often “Educated” By Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives About Their Latest Approved Drugs
As many new approved pharmaceutical drugs are released on the market each year, mainstream medical doctors tend to know relatively little about them, especially if the doctors have been out of medical school for years. Doctors are now typically educated about the new drugs by the respective pharmaceutical company’s sales representatives. Alternative medicine doctors or practitioners are typically very educated about the treatments they prescribe, administer or suggest.
8. Alternative Medicine Tends To Avoid Dependency On Treatments
Again, the human body instinctively and naturally tends to try to heal itself and to get itself back to homeostasis, health, wholeness, and ease (as opposed to “dis-eased”), externally and internally. A disease, illness, condition, ailment or injury is a health crisis. It seems that the role of any medicine should be to get the body out of a state of health crisis as soon as possible. Yet, mainstream medicine tends to create a dependency upon a medication. This is basically symptom management. Alternative medicine’s primary purpose is, in general, to get the body out of a health crisis as soon as possible, and eliminate or minimize dependency.
9. Alternative Medicine’s Treatments, Especially Natural Remedies, Often Can Remedy More Than One Disease, Illness, Condition or Symptom At The Same Time
Many alternative treatments, especially natural remedies, can remedy more than one disease, condition or ailment at a time. Diseases, conditions or ailments at the causal levels can often manifest themselves with multiple symptoms. When a disease or condition is treated at the causal level, or the body is effectively supported, oftentimes — multiple symptoms have been known to reduce or disappear. When the immune system or affected organs are strengthened, it is common sense that they would be stronger in general to fight off other forms of disease, illness or conditions.
From the one treatment Jim did for only about six weeks that reversed his emphysema, he also experienced the disappearance of a second major adverse condition he had suffered from for years: arthritis. Doing this treatment was the only thing he changed in his life-style during that time, so it was highly likely the treatment got the credit. (In fact, he never quit smoking.) This is but one example multiple healings from a single alternative treatment or remedy.
10. Alternative Medicine’s Treatments Can Often Be Done Without Medical Oversight And Knowledge Can Empower Individuals and Families To Improve Their Own Health
Many alternative treatments, especially natural remedies, can be done without medical intervention, oversight or prescription. A great thing about alternative medicine is that you can learn much of it on your own just by reading what qualified sources have to say. This can lead to less dependency upon medicine and incurring medical expenses. Many alternative medicine doctors and practitioners actually practice a philosophy of educating their patients to need them less in the future.
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It generally takes initiative and effort to think and learn about alternative medicine and remedies. This requires personal responsibility … which is why the majority of people would prefer to not expend the time and energy to learn for themselves, thus often relying blindly upon their doctors. However, as is consistent with life, the long term effort of personal responsibility and gaining knowledge pays bountiful rewards.
I hope this article has encouraged and excited you to begin or continue your personal discovery of the value, validity and advantages of the many areas and successes of alternative medicine.
About the Author
The simple treatment Jim used can be found in an e-book, entitled, How I Beat Emphysema and COPD in Six Weeks!
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