Principles of naturopathy Flashcards
Allopathy vs Homeopathy
allos - against / pathy - disease
homeo - same / pathy - disease
Allopathy
- symptoms as disease ‘reductionist’
- drugs to treat symptoms
(suppressions drive the disease deeper into the body)
Homeopathy
- treats the whole person
- cures like with like
- substances to facilitate body’s own healing mechanisms
- symptoms as expression of disease, not the disease
Examples of suppression in the body
DEBTS
Drugs eg. fever-suppressing, painkillers mask disease
Emotions
Body secretions eg antiperspirants
Topical application eg corticosteroids (compromise immune system, weaken adrenals)
Surgical removals - eg tonsils
Hering’s Laws of Cure
Constantin Hering (1800s) -
Mind
Inside out
Serious organs to less serious ones
- From inside out
eg boil clears toxins away from vital organs - From more serious organs to less serious ones
eg suppressing eczema = asthma - natural treatment of asthma > eczema, which then eventually resolved - The mind gets better before the body
eg anxiety starts improving before IBS does - Symptoms disappear in the reverse order to when they arrived
- From above to below
Allopathic and naturopathic approach (examples)
Atherosclerosis
Allo - surgical intro of stent to push back arterial walls allowing blood flow
Naturo - correcting diet and lifestyle to decrease or remove the plaque
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Allo - drugs that decrease insulin resistance and/or lower blood sugar levels eg Metformin
Diet and lifestyle changes to naturally lower blood sugar levels and improve insulin resistance
Principles of TCM
CPS
Clinical observation
Patient-centred
Self-healing mechanisms
- based on centuries of clinical observation (allo - experimentation)
- patient-centred and holistic
- stimulates body’s natural self-healing mechanisms
- aim is to maintain health (allo - manage disease)
Definition of naturopathy
System of healthcare which encourages and promotes the body’s own self-healing mechanisms
Naturopathic principles
NEW CuP
Nature - healing power - vital force, Qi, Prana
Education - understanding/empower patients
Whole person - not just symptom/s - genetic, mental, social, environmental etc
Cause - treat the cause, not just the symptom
Prevention - conditions for health rather than react once disease has manifasted
How a naturopathic nutritionist treats
DOCC
Detoxification and cleansing
Organic and whole food
Constitution
Cause
Definition of nutrient
Substance which provides nourishment essential for growth and maintenance of life
Definition of nutrition
The process of providing and obtaining food necessary for health and growth
Definition of nourishment
Food, or other substance, necessary for health and growth
Definition of whole food
Food that hasn’t been refined or processed and is free from additives and other artificial substances
Definition of organic food
Food as nature intended (or as close as possible) - free of fertilisers, pesticides, irraditation, GMOs, growth hormones etc
Definition of junk food
Foods which are not natural and not suitable to maintain health and growth (detrimental - hinder cell communication)
Hippocrates
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”
Food primary source, then herbs, then intervention.
Hippocratic oath
“First, do no harm”
“I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I suggest to this effect. In purity and holiness, I will guard my life and my art.”
Ancient Greek Medicine
Original source/inspiration for holistic medical systems that developed in Europe in 18th and 19th centuries.
Harmonise health of individual with the universal life forces of nature.
Sebastien Kneipp
Born 1821, German
Hydrotherapy
Cured his TB - bathing Danube
Hydrotherapy
Cold water - decreases circulation
Hot water - increases circulation
Alternating cold/hot:
stimulates blood flow > increases oxygen > increases nutritional supply to cells > wastes out
Cold water causes peripheral capillaries to tighten, sending blood to interior layers. Hot water, the opposite happens.
Water treading
Bucket - knee-deep cold water (warm feet)
march on spot until sensation of cold (1-2 mins)
warm up afterwards - socks on, move around
Promotes circulation, parasympathetic activity, lowers blood pressure, strengthens immune system.
Dr Max Bircher-Benner
Born 1867, Switzerland
50/50 raw food diet, emphasis on fruit.
Heat destroys enzymes
Bircher muesli - raw oats, goat’s yoghurt and fruit, soaked overnight.
Dr John Harvey Kellogg
Born 1852, USA
90% diseases due to improper bowel functioning.
Importance of intestinal microflora.
Produced Shredded Wheat and granola biscuits for residential patients.
Henry Lindlahr
Born 1862, USA
Accumulation of morbid matter - primary cause of disease.
‘Incurable diabetes’ at 35. Kneipp restored his health.
Returned to USA to spread the word.
Terms ‘nature cure’ and ‘healing crisis’.
Dr Max Gerson
Born 1881, Germany
Toxicity and deficiency - cause of disease.
Alkalinised the body with fresh organic vegetable juices.
Detoxified with coffee enemas (powerful way of detoxing the liver)
Initially TB patients (446 out of 450 completely recovered), later used for cancer.
Success rate - 25% for terminal cancer.
James Thomson
Born 1887, Scotland
Trained under Lindlahr
Kingston Clinic in Edinburgh (1938)
First college in Britain ‘ The Edinburgh School of Natural Therapeutics’ (1919).
Advocated fibre - unrefined grains, raw veg and fruit.
Dr Bernard Jensen
Born 1908, USA
Bowel cleansing “every tissue is fed by the blood which is supplied by the bowel”
Developed colon hydrotherapy machine.
Sensations in area of colon corresponded with problems in organs such as the lung, heart and spleen - cleansing the bowel resolved these sensations and issue with organ.
Use of chlorophyll in enemas and colonics.
Betonite clay - bind and drag out waste materials.
Claimed 40% success rate in treating leukaemia.
Louis Pasteur
Born 1822, French biologist.
Germ theory of disease - disease occurs outside the body. (basis of Western medicine).
Pasteurisation - rapid heating destroys microbes.
Antoine Bechamp
Born 1816, French Scientist.
The Terrain Theory - disease occurs within.
Acidic, low oxygenated environment.
Allopathic medicine - focus on suppressing symptoms with drugs and ignores importance of terrain.
Suppression of natural medicine
2004 - BBC closed its web page for complementary medicine. Natural health pages in national newspapers remove, such as popular Sunday Times ‘ What’s the alternative’.
Rupert Murdoch - close connections with pharma.
Son James, board member of GlaxoSmithKline.
Anti-alternative columns - The Guardian’s ‘Bad Science’ by Ben Goldacre, which discredited homeopathy.
John Rockefeller Sr
Born 1839, USA
Founded Standard Oil. End of 20th - control over 90% oil refineries in US.
Some questionable, unethical practices. Donated to fend off critics. $96 to medical schools in the US - schools who favoured surgery/drugs. Developed state-of-the-art labs - developed new drugs, such as Ritalin. Pharma grew massively, as did their political influence.
Samuel Hahnemann
Born 1791. Birth of homeopathy.
Effect of cinchona bark (China)
Took China - gave him symptoms of malaria.
Gave patients with malaria - symptoms resolved.
Tiny bit of what the body is already experiencing can trigger an immune response > healing.
Formulated ‘Laws of similars’
Eg. onion for watery eyes and runny nose (Allium cepa).
Allopathic medicine - the manifestation of an illness to disappear without having healed the illness.
