Treat the Cause

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!