Frequently Asked Questions
The Natural Health Perspective Web site:
Contents of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's):
- Does the Natural Health Perspective Web site have a secret agenda?
- What is Natural Health?
- What is a Natural Therapy?
- Is there any proof that a change of lifestyle works?
- How much time is required to achieve significant health results?
- What are the benefits of a healthy lifestyle?
- When does Natural Health NOT work?
- How is complementary and alternative medicine defined, and how does it differ from the practice of medicine?
- How may I research online the citations provided by the Natural Health Perspective Web site?
- Is a Site Map available for the Natural Health Perspective Web site?
- How can you search for information on the Natural Health Perspective Web site?
- Is there a list of physicians who have at least some understanding and respect for natural and alternative healing methods?
- Does the Natural Health Perspective Web site have a secret
agenda?
- No, the explicitly expressed mission of the Natural Health Perspective is available in the left margin on
most pages of the Natural Health Perspective Web site by clicking
on the Agenda hyperlink.
- The Natural Health Perspective Web site is a noncommercial, not-for-profit operation.
- The Natural Health Perspective Web site is selling no product or
service directly.
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- No, the explicitly expressed mission of the Natural Health Perspective is available in the left margin on
most pages of the Natural Health Perspective Web site by clicking
on the Agenda hyperlink.
- What
is Natural Health?
- Natural health is an eclectic self-care system of natural therapies
that builds and restores health by working with the natural recuperative
powers of the human body.
- Also, see our tutorial on: What
is Natural Health?
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- Also, see our tutorial on: What
is Natural Health?
- Natural health is an eclectic self-care system of natural therapies
that builds and restores health by working with the natural recuperative
powers of the human body.
- What is a Natural
Therapy?
- Natural therapy is the treatment method used by advocates of natural
health.
- Also, see our tutorial : What
is a Natural Therapy?
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- Also, see our tutorial : What
is a Natural Therapy?
- Natural therapy is the treatment method used by advocates of natural
health.
- Is there any proof that a change
of lifestyle works?
- Yes
- A study in the July 9, 2001 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, published by the American Medical Association, provided the scientific proof. The objective of this study was "to test the hypothesis that choices regarding diet, exercise, and smoking influence life expectancy." The results showed that "commonly observed combinations of diet, exercise, ... can account for differences of up to ten years of life expectancy among Adventists." Vegetarian Adventists who ate meat no more than once a month were found to have differences in life expectancy of 9.5 years in men and 6.1 years in women. This study shows that populations that follow what is described as healthy behaviors do live profoundly longer -- up to five and even ten years longer than those who do not. Most of those years are disability-free. [1]
- Our article on Epigenetics - Lifestyle Trumps Family History, shows that their life can reprogram your own unique DNA Family History in as little as 3 months, as well as have a profound impact upon the health of their children and in turn the family history of your family for generations to come.
- Further, something as simple as supplementing with vitamin D has been shown to reduced your risk of coming down with 17 different kinds of deadly cancers and other lifestyle diseases.[9]
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- Yes
- How much time is required
to achieve significant health results?
- Between two and five years is normally required to achieve significant
health results, with diet modification alone. [2],[3]
However, a study in the November/December 2004 issue of the Journal of
Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, recently reported that it takes only
nine months to reach maximum improvement for male patients with coronary
heart disease undergoing a cardiac rehabilitation program of medical
evaluation, prescribed exercise, cardiac risk factor modification, education,
and counseling. This study is referring to one supervised exercise session
a week for 38 consecutive weeks, along with an unspecified number of
unsupervised weekly exercise sessions[8] and strongly
suggests that regular exercise programs, such as ours, that use supervise
exercise sessions can achieve maximum wellness results
in as little as 9 months. Of course, attempting to achieve these results
in only 9 months would require the services of health care professionals,
such as registered dietitians, personal trainers, physical therapists,
and/or physicians.
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- Between two and five years is normally required to achieve significant
health results, with diet modification alone. [2],[3]
However, a study in the November/December 2004 issue of the Journal of
Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, recently reported that it takes only
nine months to reach maximum improvement for male patients with coronary
heart disease undergoing a cardiac rehabilitation program of medical
evaluation, prescribed exercise, cardiac risk factor modification, education,
and counseling. This study is referring to one supervised exercise session
a week for 38 consecutive weeks, along with an unspecified number of
unsupervised weekly exercise sessions[8] and strongly
suggests that regular exercise programs, such as ours, that use supervise
exercise sessions can achieve maximum wellness results
in as little as 9 months. Of course, attempting to achieve these results
in only 9 months would require the services of health care professionals,
such as registered dietitians, personal trainers, physical therapists,
and/or physicians.
- What are the benefits of
a healthy lifestyle?
- Maintaining the highest quality of life for as long as possible.
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- Maintaining the highest quality of life for as long as possible.
- When does Natural
Health NOT work?
- See our tutorial on: When
does Natural Health NOT Work?
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- See our tutorial on: When
does Natural Health NOT Work?
- How is complementary and alternative
medicine defined, and how does it differ from the practice of medicine?
- The provider of information on the Natural Health Perspective agrees with the WordSmith dictionary
definition of medicine. WordSmith defines medicine as "the science of diagnosing and treating illness, disease,
and injury."
- Notice, how the concept of prevention is not included in the WordSmith Dictionary definition of medicine.
- "Mann and Putnam (1989) noted that 'most physicians appear to take a reactive rather than a proactive approach with their patients, discussing CVD risk reduction only when elevated risk factors appear or are likely to do so' (p. 53-54). They found that there were several barriers to practising CVD prevention depending on the risk factor (Mann & Putnam, 1990), including lack of counselling skills, lack of belief in personal effectiveness, lack of time, lack of patient commitment and motivation, etc. In the current study, low patient interest and motivation was indicated by 58% of physicians as a reason that often prevents them from helping patients change behaviour. This was followed by lack of time (41%) and lack of effectiveness in achieving behaviour change (34%). Lack of professional training sometimes (58%) and often (11%) was indicated as a factor that prevented physicians from helping patients achieve behaviour change."[4]
- The Natural Health Perspective is a common sense Web site. According to Duke University researchers in order to keep up with government health recommendations, the average patient in a family practice needs 25 preventive services in a visit. But typically, "you only have about 45 minutes total, per year, to spend with the patient," states Dr. Kimberly S. H. Yarnall, a family physician and lead author of the Duke study. "It's simply not possible for physicians to deliver all those services to their patients." Thus, common sense should tell you that you should not expect to receive preventative services from your physician.[7]
- Since the times of the Greeks, conventional medicine has traditionally
used the biomedical model. The biomedical model is unequivocally reductionist in its
approach. (Reductionism - The idea is that you can understand all
of nature, by examining smaller and smaller pieces of it. When assembled,
the small pieces will explain the whole.) The biomedical model
treats disease as a pathology that occurs within the person. The
doctor's function is to control the pathology, repair the body and
restore health. The limitation of this model is that it excludes
any psychological, social, or ecological factors.[6] The problem with conventional medicine is that true
prevention clearly does not fit in with its biomedical model of reductionism.
This explains why most physicians clearly do not like to treat anything
that is not clearly pathological in nature.
- When physicians claim that they are interested in prevention they are referring to high-technology used to detect diseases (Secondary Prevention) and the management of diseases like diabetes (Tertiary Prevention) because they offer no hope of cure. Just about the only Primary Prevention service provided by physicians are vaccinations as these services are too time consuming.
- Prevention according to medicine means detecting and managing diseases, while in natural health contexts preventions means avoiding getting sick entirely (i.e., Primary Prevention). In short, medicine does not prevent anything, other than more serious progression of existing disease states and a handful of communicable diseases that are allegedly prevented by vaccination.
- The provider of information on the Natural Health Perspective agrees with the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language definition of alternative medicine. This dictionary defines alternative medicine as "a variety of therapeutic or preventive health care practices ... that do NOT follow generally accepted medical methods and may not have a scientific explanation for their effectiveness."
- The provider of information on the Natural Health Perspective agrees with the Online Medical Dictionary definition of complementary medicine. Complementary medicine is generally defined as "a non-mainstream health care provided in addition ... of standard medical practice."
- The Natural Health Perspective can be considred to be a complementary
and alternative medicine Web site because it:
- provides non-mainstream / preventive health care related information about the normal vicissitudes of life, preventing degenerative diseases, and
- advocates mind-body healing therapies.
- Any information provided about treatment is ONLY about health conditions,
but NEVER about an illness, disease, or injury.
- The provider of information on the Natural Health Perspective defines a health condition as a
normal vicissitude of life experienced by a large segment of
the population. Because so many people have experienced these
minor problems over the ages, Natural Health methods of treatment
have been clearly established that can effectively treat many
non-critical health problems.
- "No general agreement exists on how to define a disease."
- The challenge is to get the balance right between Medicine's tendency to medicalize life's problems and the natural human capacity to cope with the normal vicissitudes of life, with self care and autonomy.
- Everyone must decide for themselves, if what they are experiencing
is an ordinary ailment or a medical problem. And, whether or
not you want your doctor to treat a risk factor as a disease.
- "[The Internet and patients' empowerment] is shifting
power from doctors back to people. People may increasingly
take charge, more consciously weighing the costs and benefits
of the medicalisation of their lives. Armed with better
information about the natural course of common conditions,
they may more judiciously assess the real value of medicine's
never ending regimen of tests and treatments."[5]
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- "[The Internet and patients' empowerment] is shifting
power from doctors back to people. People may increasingly
take charge, more consciously weighing the costs and benefits
of the medicalisation of their lives. Armed with better
information about the natural course of common conditions,
they may more judiciously assess the real value of medicine's
never ending regimen of tests and treatments."[5]
- The provider of information on the Natural Health Perspective defines a health condition as a
normal vicissitude of life experienced by a large segment of
the population. Because so many people have experienced these
minor problems over the ages, Natural Health methods of treatment
have been clearly established that can effectively treat many
non-critical health problems.
- The provider of information on the Natural Health Perspective agrees with the WordSmith dictionary
definition of medicine. WordSmith defines medicine as "the science of diagnosing and treating illness, disease,
and injury."
- How may I research
online the citations provided by the Natural Health Perspective
- First, click on the Search text hyperlink that is available in lower left margin of each page of the Natural Health Perspective.
- Next, click on the PubMed graphic hyperlink that is in the middle of the Search Webpage.
- Then enter the PMID number in the search box.
- Then click on go.
- Or, click on Limits. And, change 'All Fields' to 'Title Word'.
- Next, enter part of the citation title into in the search box.
- Then click on go.
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- Is a Site Map available
for the Natural Health Perspective?
- No. We have dropped using a sitemap that was always out of date, and now disclose approximately the last 20 articles published on this site in a Latest Article Additions listing that is available from every page of this site, near the bottom of the sidebar menu. Our Help article explains how users can easily locate the information that they are looking for, on our site.
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- No. We have dropped using a sitemap that was always out of date, and now disclose approximately the last 20 articles published on this site in a Latest Article Additions listing that is available from every page of this site, near the bottom of the sidebar menu. Our Help article explains how users can easily locate the information that they are looking for, on our site.
- How can you
search for information on the Natural Health Perspective?
- Visitors can search for information by using one of our two custom searches. The search that is available in each of our page headers is optimized for searching just our Web site for information. The search available in the body of our Web Search page has been optimized to find good information on the Internet, or Web. Google powers both of our search boxes.
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- Visitors can search for information by using one of our two custom searches. The search that is available in each of our page headers is optimized for searching just our Web site for information. The search available in the body of our Web Search page has been optimized to find good information on the Internet, or Web. Google powers both of our search boxes.
- Is there a list
of physicians who have at least some understanding and respect for natural
and alternative healing methods? It is beyond the scope of this Web site
to makes endorsements of any practitioners. However, logically there are
a number of good places to start searching for one. For Google searches you should add your city and state to the front of the search followed by an "AND" and a space.
- Your First Choice should be Functional Medicine.
- The Institute for Functional Medicine Search for Functional Medicine Practitioners
- Google Search for Functional Medicine Practitioners
- Your Second Choice would be an Osteopaths(DO).
- Simply search your local phone book directory for Osteopaths (D.O.'s).
- Google search for an Osteopath.
- Your Third Choice would be Integrative Medicine which combines the best of Conventional and Complementary medicine.
- Graduates of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona
- Integrative Medicine Alliance list of practitioners (Andrew Weil, MD is on the Board of Advisers for the Integrative Medicine Alliance.)
- Google Search for Integrative Medicine Practitioners
- Google Search for Complementary Medicine Practitioners
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Contents of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's):
- Does the Natural Health Perspective Web site have a secret agenda?
- What is Natural Health?
- What is a Natural Therapy?
- Is there any proof that a change of lifestyle works?
- How much time is required to achieve significant health results?
- What are the benefits of a healthy lifestyle?
- When does Natural Health NOT work?
- How is complementary and alternative medicine defined, and how does it differ from the practice of medicine?
- How may I research online the citations provided by the Natural Health Perspective Web site?
- Is a Site Map available for the Natural Health Perspective Web site?
- How can you search for information on the Natural Health Perspective Web site?
- Is there a list of physicians who have at least some understanding and respect for natural and alternative healing methods?
If you have any other questions about the Natural Health Perspective, please ask them through the Contact graphic hyperlink that is available in the upper left margin of each page of the Natural Health Perspective Web site.
Please read Improving Web Site Accessibility, if you are having trouble viewing this Web page.
Comments:
References:
| [1] | Gary E. Fraser, David J. Shavlik. Ten Years of Life: Is It a Matter of Choice? Arch Intern Med. 2001;161:1645-1652.[Abstract] |
| [2] | "Subgrouping by length of mean follow up suggests that virtually
all protection from cardiovascular events occurs in trials of at least
two years' duration. In trials with mean follow up of two years or less
the reduction in events was only 4%, whereas in trials with longer follow
up reductions of up to 24% were seen. This effect was confirmed in a
meta-regression. ... The similar time lag between the effects of dietary
intervention and statins suggests a common mechanism, perhaps through
effects on the scale, type, and stability of atherosclerotic plaques
... Sustained change in dietary behaviour, promoted by long interventions,
is probably necessary to achieve reduction in cardiovascular events ..." Lee Hooper, Carolyn D Summerbell, Julian P T Higgins. Dietary fat intake and prevention of cardiovascular disease. BMJ 2001;322:757-763. [Abstract] |
| [3] | "We have observed in the Ornish Program that survival is even
more pronounced at the five year mark. It takes months to remodel the
coronaries and to stabilize plaque. Progression of coronary heart disease
does not occur over night. The strongest case occurs in societies that
have a lifetime of fat restriction, events and survival are significantly
better in comparison to countries with high fat diets." Richard E. Collins, MD. Nice Review, Wrong Conclusion. 2 Apr 2001 [BMJ online Response] |
| [4] | Report on Physician Practices and Behavioural Approaches to CVD Prevention:
Nova Scotia's Western Health Region
|
| [5] | Moynihan R, Smith R. Too much medicine? BMJ. 2002 Apr 13;324(7342):859-60. PMID: 11950716 [BMJ online] |
| [6] | Tamm ME. Models of health and disease. Br J Med Psychol. 1993 Sep;66 ( Pt 3):213-28. Review. PMID: 8217913 |
| [7] | Yarnall KS, Pollak KI, OStbye T. Primary Care: Is There Enough Time for Prevention? Am J Public Health. 2003 Apr;93(4):635-641. PMID: 12660210 [Abstract] |
| [8] | Hamm LF, Kavanagh T, Campbell RB. Timeline for peak improvements during 52 weeks of outpatient cardiac rehabilitation. J Cardiopulm Rehabil. 2004 Nov-Dec;24(6):374-80; quiz 381-2. PMID: 15632770 [Abstract] |
| [9] | Benefits
and requirements of vitamin D for optimal health: a review. Grant WB, Holick MF. Altern Med Rev. 2005 Jun;10(2):94-111. Review. PMID: 15989379 |
