A Discussion On Wellness

Contributed by Dave Carpenter, N.D., C. Ac., CCI

I truly believe that no one wants to be sick. We were meant to be healthy and to live our lives full of energy and with positive attitudes that lead to the enjoyment of each moment. I love what Dr. Ellen Jensen says in her book, “Health is Our Birthright.” “The body is a magnificent creation of God. It comes equipped with an innate intelligence and powerful energy to heal itself when given the opportunity.” Unfortunately, many of us are sick and tired because we don’t know what to do to be healthy and vital and what we are being told to do doesn’t seem to be working for most of us.I want you to look around you and consider the people that you know. How many are vital and truly healthy? How many suffer with headaches, arthritis, digestive disorders, muscle or joint pains, low energy, mental or emotional stress, major mood swings, problems concentrating, cardiovascular stress, high cholesterol, or any other illness that is keeping them from being well? As you ponder these friends and loved ones closely I think you’ll be a bit surprised by the health picture that you see.

With all of the wonder drugs and high-tech diagnostic tools at their disposal to fight germs one would think Americans would be the healthiest people on the planet. The reality is that more Americans today have cardiovascular disease, arthritis, cancer and many other illnesses than at any time in history. Americans spend an average of 1/7th of their income each year (average $3,500 per person per year while China spends $38 per person as a comparison) on healthcare, far more than any other nation on earth ($1.7 trillion per year), yet 70% of Americans are overweight and a staggering 25% are considered obese. Even worse, both of these groups increased by 10% in the five-year period from 1994 to 1999.

Cancer, heart disease, arthritis and diabetes are reaching epidemic proportions in America. The real tragedy is that those people with these conditions are not able to participate in and enjoy many of life’s activities as a result of their disease. Even worse, many Americans considered healthy by their doctor are being told to accept headaches, stomach distress, body pain, fatigue, arthritis and thousands of other common ailments as inevitable symptoms that afflict an aging population. Talk about taking the enjoyment out of living!

There appear to be several reasons for us being so unhealthy. In his book, “The Wellness Revolution,” economist Paul Zane Pilzer gives us one of them when he states, “Most of the one-seventh of the US adult population that works in the healthcare industry today is focused on treating symptoms of disease rather than preventing disease. This is because it is more profitable for medical companies to research and develop products that create customers for life. It is also because the third parties paying for most medical treatments- insurance companies and ultimately employers-no longer have a long-term financial stake in the health of their employees.” (pg.4) Author Paul Mencel shares additional wisdom in his book “Medical Costs, Moral Choices” when he states “As long as providers make their income and fame largely by delivering ‘rescue’ medicine, they will have less economic interest in prevention.”

Another part of the problem is that we expect our doctors to know what is best for us, and assume that if natural approaches and remedies worked, our doctors would tell us so. The unfortunate truth is that most doctors have been trained in a system that has been closed historically to natural and alternative approaches so they are biased against them because they fall in the unknown category, and we all tend to fear the unknown, right.

A third reason is the big business of pharmaceuticals. Perhaps you are one of the few who are not aware that pharmaceutical prices in America are much higher than what the same product costs in other nations, often by 500% to 1,000% higher. And now they’ve been given permission by the government to advertise their products on television where Americans are being taught to solicit these drugs from their doctors. It is certainly not in the best interest of these companies for Americans to be and stay healthy.

Todays medical care costs are ballooning at an alarming rate and more Americans are unable to afford health care insurance for themselves and their families than ever before. U.S. personal bankruptcy filings have doubled in the last ten years with much of the increase resulting from family medical catastrophes. We spend 85% of our national healthcare bill of $1.7 trillion a year in treating chronic illness after it happens rather than in teaching people how to take preventative steps so that they don’t get the illness in the first place. This seems about like waiting for a leaky roof on your house to destroy most of the infrastructure of the house and then fixing the damage without fixing the leak. This is naturally expensive and ineffective.

Enter The Germ Theory

Several hundred years ago experts believed the Earth was flat and that you could fall off the edge of it. Even after Galileo proved this theory wrong it was difficult for this paradigm to change for most of the people of that day. Galileo was imprisoned by political and religious leaders for upsetting their paradigm. It seems to me that we have a similar situation in healthcare today. Let’s take a look.

The discovery of disease-causing microbes in the mid-nineteenth century caused a major shift in the health paradigm. It was theorized that infecting microbes called germs (viruses, bacteria, fungi) were the cause of disease or illness. With the discovery of penicillin, sulfa drugs and later antibiotics modern medicine now had heavy weapons with which they could do battle with these invaders in their “War on Disease.”

Is this focus on the Germ Theory working for us? Do germs really make us sick? Perhaps part of the answer can be found from Deepak Chopra, M.D., who says, “Every day we come in contact with millions of viruses, bacteria, allergens, and fungi, and only the tiniest fraction ever lead to disease. It is not uncommon for doctors to see patients whose respiratory tracts contain clusters of virulent meningococcus bacteria living there harmlessly. Only on rare occasions do they break out and cause meningitis, a serious and at times fatal infection of the central nervous system. What provokes such an attack? No one knows precisely, but it seems to involve a mysterious factor called “control by the host,” meaning that we, the host of the germs, somehow open or close the gate to them.” (Perfect Health, pg.3-4.) We really don’t understand what “triggers” these microorganisms into attacking us. I’ll discuss this further in the New Biology Paradigm.

Perhaps we can learn from the Greek physician, Hippocrates, who taught that the elements we need to produce and maintain health were natural, and included hygiene, a calm balanced mental state, proper diet, a sound work and home environment, and physical conditioning. In addition, he recognized the life forces that pervade all of nature, and which have multiple expressions-some known, some theorized, and many unknown. He taught that health depended upon living in harmony with these forces. Lenedra J. Carroll quotes Hippocrates in her wonderful book, “The Architecture of all Abundance” where he once said, “A wise man ought to realize that health is his most valuable possession and learn how to treat his illness by his own judgment.” (p. 254). Perhaps that is why the Surgeon General said, “You, the individual, can do more for your own health and well-being than any doctor, any hospital, any drug, any exotic medical device.” (Healthy People: The Surgeon General’s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Promotion, 1979. P.6) Hippocrates and the Surgeon General both realized what modern medicine has not, that each of us have the ability to make choices that will help us be well and stay well.

For many people the annual physical is their main attempt at preventive medicine. In the guise of prevention, these checkups have given people a false sense of security about their health. Physicals are not preventive at all-they can only detect disease after it is established. (Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, J. Warren, Vol. 74, p.42) Because medicine itself developed out of the study of infectious diseases physicians are trained to pursue pathology (sickness). Most doctors know nothing about how to prevent a disease before it shows symptoms. For example, most of us believe that an annual physical exam is a great preventative medical tool and we are encouraged to have these exams. Statistics show that we are being misled.

An extensive study conducted by Kaiser Health Plan in California tested ten thousand people between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-four. Five thousand were given frequent medical exams and five thousand were not. Over seven years there was no difference between the groups in the incidence of disease, in the incidence of disability or in death rate. In fact, 326 who died of sudden heart attacks had been examined within 6 months previously and given a clean bill of health. In fact, 86 of these individuals had been examined within a week prior to their heart attack. The Canadian Task Force on the Periodic Health Examination reported in 1979 that annual physical examinations are ineffective and should be discarded. If physical exams and mammograms aren’t effective why are we being encouraged to have them?

To really be empowered in our quest for wellness we need to change our paradigm. Webster defines paradigm as “a model or pattern.” The model we’ve been taught to follow just doesn’t work. Perhaps Hippocrates wasn’t so far off track after all. Let’s take a look at another model that may prove to be more helpful in our quest for wellness.  One of the best examples of the holistic health paradigm I teach to my own patients is the one taught by Steven Horne, A.H.G., Past-President of the American Herbalist Guild and a good friend and colleague. Steven uses a large tree to teach his concepts of wellness. If a leaf on the tree turns brown or develops spots or abnormalities what do we do? Allopathic medicine will attempt to “cure” the problem by treating the leaf. Holistic medicine would say that the abnormalities on the leaf signify a state of sickness or imbalance in the tree itself and look to the roots (where the tree is nourished) for the cause of the problem. To better identify the cause of the abnormality in the leaf we’ve divided the root system into four parts, each of which can impact the leaf from a minimal to a complete degree. These four areas or root systems on the “wellness tree” model are (1) nutrition, (2) mental/emotional states, (3) toxins and (4) traumas. Let’s take a closer look at how each of these impact wellness.

Nutrition is the category that includes all the things the body needs to be healthy. Included in this list are water, air, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, essential fatty acids, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Having too few of any of these or having too many can both cause us to be ill. There are multitudes of examples of people being sick from a lack of a simple vitamin such as vitamin C, the lack of which will cause scurvy, a disease the Royal British Navy kept in check by giving sailors limes to eat (hence the name Limeys). Anemia is a condition caused by low iron or other trace mineral levels. On the other hand, excessive iron levels cause a condition known as Siderosis.

Our mental and emotional state of being is a tremendous impact on our health too. Prevention Magazine’s Health Editor Emrika Padus states, “It is estimated that 90 percent of all physical problems have psychological roots. That may sound like a gross exaggeration. In fact, it’s probably a conservative estimate. A growing body of evidence indicates that virtually every ill that can befall the body-from acne to arthritis, headaches to heart disease, cold sores to cancer-is influenced, for better or for worse, by our emotions.” (Quoted from the Complete Guide To Your Emotions and Your Health, p.563 by Emrika Padus and the editors of Prevention magazine.) Reflect back on the last time you were pulled over by a policeman and how you felt at the time to better understand how this works! Some mental and emotional states cause us to feel that way constantly! As Frederick W. Babbel stated, “Whatever we choose to focus our attention on will automatically multiply in our lives. If our attention is on our troubles or the injustice of the past, they will become our trials of the present also. If instead our minds are focused on the blessings we have received or the love of God, family or fellowman, these will grow stronger.” (Bring Forth Your Light)

Toxins are those elements in our environment that have a negative influence on us in some way. These toxins can be bio-chemical (ie. preservatives, food colors, pesticides, insecticides, cleaning agents, pharmaceuticals, etc.), energetic (ie. sound waves, radar, EMF’s, etc.), or even elements we’re not aware of at this time. These can have a negative influence on our body and how well we are. To understand how this might work imagine spraying Roundup on a tree or rosebush in your yard. Does this product (toxin) make the plant sick? Of course it does. To stay healthy we want to avoid these toxins as much as is possible.