Treat the Cause

Over the last two weeks, I have been preceptoring with Dr. Joe Kellerstein. The number of patients coming in and out of the office was amazing to see as a future doctor. I was able to see such a wide variety of patients and pathology.  The experience was also invaluable to my homeopathic knowledge development. I saw new patient intakes and patients on follow up visits, which allowed for further development of my case-taking skills and materia medica knowledge. As a student, I can’t even express how valuable it is to watch experienced doctors take cases in an efficient and effective manner.

A question that Joe asked me multiple times over the two weeks was what is holism? What a daunting question for such a young student! Although I was taken off guard the first time, I managed to describe the importance of treating the whole person and not just looking at individual patterns of disease. Many times I answered and Joe replied giving me a bit more of a clue to what his idea of holism really was. Finally, after being asked many times, I responded that whole is greater than the individual parts and the whole communicates with us through physiologic responses in order to provide the physician with an understanding of the disconnects within the being. We are trying to look at how the whole experiences the disease process, and not just the specific disease. Holism means to look at what the person’s physiology is screaming at us to fix first, and see what is most important in their healing path.

A great book Joe recommended I read when I was in my undergrad was “Molecules of Emotion” by Candace Pert. It was a great book that really took my understanding of neuroscience to a new level. Although most people know that molecules make up our world and our bodies, sometimes we forget that molecules are the factors that influence our mood and our health. Those molecules make up hormones that act on different receptors in our body to make us feel the way we do. Everything in life has a physiological basis and if we, as physicians, can learn to listen to the physiology of the body, we can truly treat the cause and help establish well-being in our patients.

After spending time with Joe, more than ever I feel that homeopathy is the only way to truly help a person’s body re-establish health. I have seen that every person’s body has the ability to heal, and it’s our job to recognize the symptoms and provide a remedy that in a healthy person causes that same pattern of symptoms. I have seen the importance of what Hahnemann refers to as hygiene, and what I refer to as nutrition. Finally, I have seen the importance of looking at the totality of symptoms as they express the outer image of the internal essence of disease, and the importance of focusing on this as the only means by which we choose a remedy. 

As many people know, garlic is a delicious flavoring that can be added to many meals. The flavor of the garlic is stronger when it's added to the dish near the end of cooking.  This is generally a good idea since allicin, the antibiotic compound found in garlic, loses it's antibiotic properties while cooking. Garlic is anti-microbial, immune system enhancing, an anti-oxidant and alkaline. It seems to be that the best way to keep the medicinal properties of garlic is to eat it when it's raw. Here's an excellent way to incorporate raw garlic into your diet: 

I know that sometimes the biggest obstacle to eating healthy is coming up with the recipe ideas to do so. Here's a fast and healthy snack that will help you get your greens in, decrease your carbohydrate intake and fill you up!

Ingredients:

1 leaf	Swiss Chard
2 large slices	White rotisserie, deli cut Turkey
1 tsp	Yellow Mustard

Directions:

1.     Wash the Swiss chard leaf and dry well.

2.     Spread mustard over the leaf.

3.     Place turkey on the leaf and roll it up. Fasten with a toothpick.

You can make a few of these and pack them to take with you to work.

Swiss chard is full of vitamin K which is important in patients with liver diseases because vitamin K helps the liver make necessary coagulation factors that are important for normal blood clotting. Thus, increasing your intake of leafy greens is important to talk to your doctor about if you are on an anti-coagulant medication, like Warfarin. Vitamin K also reduces the risk of developing liver cancer, and is important in maintaining bone strength. Vitamin K is made in the gut by our beneficial bacteria. When you take an anti-biotic, all of the bacteria in your gut dies, so you temporarily have low levels of vitamin K. This is just another reason taking probiotics are beneficial.

Other interesting fact: Historically, mustard was used as a digestive aid that leads to extra vitality because of its active constituent glucosinolate.

Wow! Thanks for all your comments on my presentation! If I get the opportunity to speak with a great group of young adults again, I will definitely take your recommendations into consideration. I would like to say thank you for paying such close attention and taking what I said so seriously! Here's my reply to some of the comments I saw in the papers you wrote: My references to humans as savages, was just to provide a basic relation to our ancestral diet. We use to have a more hunter-gather style diet. This included a ton of veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds and meats from animals, including fish. A large part of our diet prehistorically was protein (24%) and now is much less (15%). When we ate animals, it was much different than now because we ate as much of the animal as we could. We even ate the organs. Did you know the adrenal glands, which are just above the kidneys, were a huge source of our vitamin C in the winter (which helps prevent scurvy)? When we ate this Paleolithic diet, we had less dental cavities (see the book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" by William Price). People also suffered from less visual problems, including near-sightedness and cataracts, less acne and psoriasis, less digestive issues including gall stones and inflammatory bowel, less cardiovascular disease, the list goes on... And since the human genome has hardly changed since the Paleolithic age, it follows that we remain genetically and metabolically adapted to hunter-gather diets. Some items that were absent from the hunter-gather diets include things like grain-fed animals, processed meats, dairy products, refined sugars, vegetable oils, alcohol and grains. In fact, the average US citizen gets 72% of his/her total energy from these foods that were never eaten by hunter-gathers. So, we would expect to find that deviations from the paleolithic diet and lifestyle would promote disease. An interesting video you could watch, if you find all this interesting, is called The Journey of Man: As for replenishing electrolytes, if I thought it was necessary, I would recommend a beverage called “Recharge” which I don’t think they carry here in Canada, however it would be easy to make. In fact, I can share a recipe with you:

• 1 cup grape juice (not from concentrate)
• 2/3 cup water
• celtic sea salt (this type of salt has more minerals than plain table salt, I use it for all of the things I salt)

I am happy to have been the first naturopathic student some of you have met! I would like to introduce you to our principles so you can have a better idea of the perspective we come from. If I could choose a favorite principle it would of course be “treat the cause”. I really think that once we find the cause, and then remove any obstacles to cure we can have so much success. But you must know, that it all begins with another one of our principles, which is “physicians as a teacher”. This is why I came to speak to your class. I can only hope that I inspired some of you to make positive changes in your life allowing you to lead the healthiest future possible. I am so happy to hear your responses to our talk and best wishes to you all and for all you endeavors! Remember: Be Safe, Be Wise, Be Educated!

CTV reports that many Canadian provinces are considering suspending their flu vaccination because of the concerns. Also, they report that the U.S. is starting an unprecedented system to track possible side effects as mass swine flu vaccinations begin next month. Doesn't this sound like massive science experiment on the public? I also heard that on CTV news they reported that Telus was looking at taking preventative measures and has decided to pay for all of their employees to see a naturopath. Pretty crazy eh!? Apparently their decision was related to a study that found that people who were vaccinated for the flu were actually more susceptible to it. Hopefully now that some major corporations are coming around, so will the public!

... is really the body saying no no no... No caffeine Of course it may be other things, but apparently this is one of the first things to check! Dr. Morstein's class is my favorite! Every week I learn soooooo much in her class. If only all my classes were like hers...

Just studying for nutrition and thought that this may be helpful to others! This flu season remember: Starve a cold and Starve a fever. Let your energy be directed at getting rid of the microorganism, not at digesting food! Kids and animals do this innately, adults override this tendency. Drink fluids (water, herbal teas, broths) hourly to help thin out mucus and urinate out toxins and to keep from becoming dehydrated. When your appetite returns, eat lightly. Brown rice, vegetable soup, steamed veggies, pieces of white chicken. If you have to, take a day or two off work because you will heal faster and you will be more productive in the long run. Spend those days lying in bed. Science has shown that our immune systems are more active at rest. Get some hydrotherapy done. It will help stimulate the body and reduce sinus and chest congestion as well as a sore throat. Do not eat dairy because it creates mucous and with diarrhea the lactase enzyme disappears, but returns when the gut heals. Do not eat sugar because it decreases the bodies immune response. Do not eat junk food or fast food. It's toxic. Thanks Dr. Morstein

The following juice mix helps clear skin problems. When taken several times a week, it also acts as a blood purifier. Beet Juice Tomato Juice Celery Juice Mix 2 oz. of each juice together and drink 2-3 times a day, for a total of 12-18 ounces per day. - From Natural Detoxification by Krohn and Taylor

When that when you were born, you were born with a rain barrel that contains any and all toxins that your little body had been exposed to. Your mother's body is full of toxins and without knowing, she passes some of these on to you throughout your growth as a fetus. After you were born, your mother probably breast feed you and passed on some more toxins from her fat stores. When you are old enough you get your first vaccines, which are loaded with toxins like formaldehyde, aluminum phosphate and sometimes even thimersol, your barrel fills up with a bit more toxins. Once you are a bit older you start eating fruits and veggie puree, which have been sprayed with pesticides and herbicides, again, the level of toxins in your rain barrel increases. Let's not forget to mention the clothes you are wearing, that has been washed with fabric softener, and the toothpaste you are using that contains fluoride, both which continue to fill that rain barrel. As you get older and start bathing yourself, you use all kinds of shampoos, soaps and lotions full of chemicals. All these things can eventually cause your toxic rain barrel to overflow. As you can tell, our world is full of toxins. As our rain barrels fill up, our bodies ability to function at optimal capacity slowly decreases. Our detoxification systems are over-worked and can no longer function optimally, and we develop symptoms because our toxin levels are too high. These symptoms represent disease. Now, if we acknowledge our rain barrel and periodically empty it through detoxification procedures, we can withstand these modern day chemical stressors. When our rain barrel is only partially full, we may still experience symptoms but they may be less concerning than when our rain barrel is overflowing. Thus, our individual body burden is affected by how full our rain barrel is and how effectively our body can remove any additional toxins. However, many people don't know what symptoms of a toxic body burden are, so they take drugs to treat the symptoms and never truly treat the cause!

"In 1998 Dr. S. Braune of the University of Neurology Clinic in Freiluug, Germany, published a study in Lancet on the effects of radio frequency emitted by mobile phones. He found a significant elevation in blood pressure among mobile phone users, which he and his colleagues concluded was a result of constriction the arteries caused by the rf electromagnetic fields. This increase could severely affect people with high blood pressure." - From Natural Detoxification by Krohn and Taylor.