Naturopathic Medicine: Heal Your Body, Not Your Symptoms

Naturopathic medicine, like other forms of holistic medicine, looks not just at the body, but also at your mental, emotional and spiritual states of being to determine the underlying cause of disease or ailment. The purpose of naturopathy is to restoring wellness to the body, not disease management. Often used in conjunction with conventional medicine, naturopathy draws on a wide variety of healing techniques including nutrition, herbal remedies, Chinese medicine and relaxation.

Principles of Naturopathy
The primary goal of naturopathy is to promote wellness for patients and teach patients how to work with their body's natural self-healing abilities. Although Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) are trained to treat acute and chronic ailments, their ultimate goal is to help patients maintain a level of wellness that prevents disease.

The six key principles of naturopathy are:

• First do no harm. Naturopathy uses natural healing methods and treatments that limit harmful side effects and that are as non-invasive as possible. In other words, naturopathy doesn't advocate suppressing one symptom at the expense of another area of the body, like antibiotics that disrupt digestion.
• Nature heals. Naturopathy honors the body's self-healing abilities and seeks to remove challenges that stand in the way of recovery.
• Treat the whole person. Naturopathy takes the whole patient into account, including physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, environmental and socioeconomic influences.
• Treat the cause. Naturopathy seeks to treat the cause of the ailment, rather than alleviate or suppress symptoms.
• Prevent disease. Naturopathy focuses on preventing disease, not just treating it.
• Doctor as teacher. Doctors of naturopathy work in cooperation with their patients to maximize self-healing abilities and provide them with the knowledge and tools they need to promote and enhance wellness.

Naturopathic Therapies
Naturopathy is based on a philosophy called vitalism which may be defined as recognizing that the body is more than a just a complex mass of chemical and physical reactions and contains a life force energy that, if nurtured, promotes self-healing.

The therapies used in naturopathy uphold the six key principles of naturopathy and most often include:

• Nutritional evaluation and recommendations to change your diet, including increasing your intake of natural spring water
• Herbal, vitamin and mineral supplements
• Homeopathic remedies
• Acupuncture and acupressure
• Mineral baths
• Fasting and enemas to flush toxins from the body
• Encouraging personal spiritual development
• Guided meditation, hypnosis or traditional psychological counseling

How It Differs from Conventional Medicine
The fundamental difference between naturopathy and conventional medicine is how symptoms are viewed. Conventional medicine tends to identify and measure the symptom, then prescribe a treatment to alleviate or eliminate it. Naturopathy identifies the symptom too, and then questions why the symptom is present in your body.

Think of it this way: conventional medicine wants to treat the symptom-a tumor, for example-while naturopathy sees the tumor as the sign of bigger problem: Why did this body develop cancer to begin with and how can we restore balance to the body so it doesn't happen again?

Naturopathy also differs from conventional medicine when it comes to the treatments prescribed, favoring the least invasive course of treatment and choosing healing methods that work in harmony with the body's ability to self-heal.

However, the combination of different treatments and therapies naturopathy uses, including some conventional medical therapies, makes naturopathy an extremely versatile form of healing that can benefit almost any illness or injury. Chronic conditions are particularly well suited to naturopathy, given its holistic approach and goal to enhance the body's ability to enhance and maintain long-term wellness.

Why Visit a Naturopath?
Naturopathy treats both chronic illness and acute illness, but its emphasis is really on prevention and empowering patients to make lifestyle changes that support good health, whether that's getting more sleep, changing your diet or taking up meditation.

You might consider seeing a naturopath if you suffer from asthma, arthritis, allergies and other chronic conditions or conditions that worsen with stress, like insomnia, or can may be linked with nutrition, like digestive disorders. You don't need to be sick or suffering from an ailment to see a naturopath-an ND can work with you to improve your current level of health to help prevent illness from developing.

While naturopathy can help you feel better, the primary goal is to prevent the body from developing disease to begin with. In other words, naturopathy isn't a quick fix for what ails you.

What to Expect from a Naturopathic Doctor
Seeing a naturopathic doctor isn't that different from seeing your regular primary care physician, but you may find that you do a lot more talking.

Be prepared to answer questions not just about the reason you're there to see the ND, but about your eating, exercise and sleep habits; your work, relationships, stress levels, and personal health and family health histories. Naturopathic physicians treat the whole person, which means they consider a wide variety of factors, such as your mental, emotional, and spiritual state, your diet, your family history, your environment, and your lifestyle, before they diagnose and treat illness.

NDs may perform conventional diagnostic tests like urinalysis or blood work combined with diagnostic techniques that have deep historical roots, like iridology, which is based on the theory that each organ of the body corresponds to a point on the iris of your eye.

To locate a qualified ND in your area and learn about licensing and regulatory practices, visit the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians.