If you have any of the modern day health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis or anything else, you’re bombarded with advertising from drug companies in every ad spot.
What’s interesting about theses ads is that they always play on a person’s emotional triggers. They rarely ever put any proof forward how the drugs actually work or why we should consider them safe. It seems like it’s enough to say what the drug is supposed to do and then show picture of a person enjoying his or her life, happy, with grandchildren or a spouse.
Oftentimes the claims in the advertising are about things for which the drug was never intended, or even approved by FDA and other drug administrations world wide. Statins have, for example, never been approved for anything other than preventing repeated strokes or heart attacks.
When it comes to natural cures, the table turns. It seems the burden of proof is much stronger on the person teaching the natural approaches. Even if the advice is free, contains a common sense approach and is widely available, people are more skeptical.
Frequently I hear people speak of the drugs they’ve been put on by their doctors for various conditions. These are often conditions I know are relatively easy to cure naturally. So I ask people why they don’t go the natural way and avoid the side effects.
The answer most often includes pure skepticism in natural methods (and in that idealization of Western medicine) or people tell me they’ve tried a lot and nothing worked. When I dug deeper, I often find there are key elements missing, and when the person gets those, they can cure themselves.
That’s why today I am discussing exactly how natural approaches work (and it’s probably completely different from what you think) and how you can find the solution for whatever health problem you have… often for free!
When we think of natural health, one of the first things that may pop into your head is the myriad of herbal medications or supplements. This is, however, only one small part of the puzzle rather than the whole picture.
To put it simply, natural health most often uses your own body’s strengths to fight any diseases without taking drugs or other chemicals.
Any good natural approach does one, two, or all three of the following:
– Improves your own immune system
– Reduces attacks from outside
– Reduces any kind of stress
Lets look at each factor more closely:
Improve Your Immune System:
Your immune system is an extremely powerful and accurate tool. Every day, our body attacks millions and millions of foreign entities. Those can be bacteria, viruses, cancer cells and more.
Healthy physical activity, eating healthy, drinking enough water, breathing effectively and avoiding too much stress all help our bodies to maintain a strong immune system and continue supporting our white blood cells in fighting off our attackers.
This is what most people consider living a healthy life.
But there is another aspect of the immune system that has become a growing problem for the last few decades.
You see, our immune system is a very complicated tool. Every hour it has to make numerous decisions on which things should be attacked and which should not. Many bacteria that are part of our intestinal flora are still good for us and need to be allowed to live in peace in our body. Other cells, like those that turn into cancer that were originally part of our healthy system, need to be killed at all cost.
Most of the big, modern day diseases are at least partly caused by chronic inflammation, which is our immune system going out of control and attacking healthy cells in our own body.
This is the case with both arthritis and diabetes. You can learn more specifically how to deal with arthritis here and how to deal with type 2 diabetes here.
Chronic inflammation also plays a big part in plaque build-up in the arteries. You can learn more about lowering cholesterol naturally here…
But what triggers chronic inflammation has a lot to do with the second aspect of natural health:
Reduce Attacks from Outside
Traditional medicine only deals with a health problem once the damage is done. Natural approaches focus more on preventing the problem from the get-go.
Which one is better: treat a bullet wound, or never get shot in the first place? Most of us would rather choose not to get shot. And we do that by either avoiding the battle field or protecting ourselves as well as we can.
Well, every day we’re under an attack from millions of different germs and viruses. And if our immune system is strong, we can handle it. You probably know people who never get sick even if everyone around them has the flu. This is because their immune systems are strong.
But there are other, more sneaky things that attack us in the modern day. We’re constantly being exposed to different types of pollutants and chemicals. These chemicals are in the food we eat (especially highly processed food) and the air we breathe.
It’s common knowledge, for example, that smoking causes cancer. So do thousands of chemicals used for industrial and food processing. Even if the food industry knows about their deadly effects, they don’t tell us about it.
Many of the less harmful chemicals have oxidization effects on the oxygen molecules in our system. This oxidization is part of what triggers the chronic inflammation process mentioned before that causes so many diseases such as arthritis, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
The natural health approach aims to reduce the exposure to many of those deadly chemicals we consume. Not smoking, avoiding traffic and polluted factory environments as well as many beauty products (did someone say hair salon) is a good start. Eating mostly organic food and avoiding highly processed food will take it a step further.
Since we’ll never be able to avoid all oxidization (and we can’t because it’s also part of the natural environment), it’s also important to consume a lot of antioxidant food. This includes almost all vegetables, fruits and berries.
Avoiding chemicals and then fighting what can’t be avoided with a good diet will take care of the pollution part. But there is another invader that is just as devastating as chemicals. But it’s not necessarily physical.
Which brings us to the third part of natural health…
Reduce Any Kind of Stress
Stress has become one of the worst enemies of modern man. It weakens our immune system and therefore opens us up for all kinds of other health problems. When we’re stressed we also don’t breathe effectively.
Only now scientists are learning what natural researchers have known for a long time- how oxygen deprivation, caused by shallow breathing, causes all kinds of health problems down the road. This includes diseases like fibromyalgia, migraine and dementia.
Learn how to overcome fibromyalgia naturally here. And discover a simple approach to eliminate migraine here. Both health problems are caused by oxygen deprivation.
What we’ve only recently learned is how vulnerable we really are to stress. People who have lived all their lives in big cities still have a stress reaction to traffic noise even though they’re “used to it.” Watching action movies on TV causes a stress reaction. Getting common flu causes stress reaction. Even having to make any kind of decision causes a stress reaction.
The bottom line is that most of us are always under some type of stress, and it’s loading our body with stress hormones 24/7.
And an overload of stress hormones causes weakened immune systems. It also triggers obesity and, of course, high blood pressure.
The World Health Organization has determined high blood pressure is the number ONE cause of death in the Western world. Not only does it cause stroke and heart attack, it’s an underlying cause for several other diseases.
The best method I know of to tackle high blood pressure is a collection of simple exercises created by one of our senior writers and researchers, Christian Goodman.
I’ve personally witnessed it numerous times: people measure their blood pressure, which can be far above risk level, and then they do Christian’s exercises only once for a few minutes. Immediately, their blood pressure had dropped below 120/80. Of course, if you don’t continue to do the exercises daily, your blood pressure will rise again.
You can learn more about Christian Goodman’s high blood pressure exercises here…
You can also learn about other Blue Heron Health News natural approaches on the right hand side of this page.
Improving your own immune system, reducing attacks from outside and reducing any kind of stress are, in my opinion, the three most important pillars of natural health. However, I’m sure I’ve left something out. So please, before doing anything else, leave your comment below.
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its simple and easy to understand.
Keep up your good work, i reed all your stuff daily, and i practise it as well. i have got my blood pessure right down to a good level, my doctor and his staff are amazed. its been a thing that i have been dooing for the last six years,,reading and learning about obeasity and high blood pressure, and you peaple have learnt me so much,,,the nurse at the doctors surgery couldnt believe it when i proved it all to her , and she said that i should write it all down,and that i might be able to help others,,so i have ..many thanks you lot,, you have helpt me learn a lot……. Les marshall
This is really nice. Many thanks from Rotimi, Lagos, Nigeria
Brilliant article. I have used your Blood Pressure as well as Diabetes Programs and they worked nicely for me. I now use the Blood Pressure program on a daily basis and my pressure is back to normal. I have saved the first two on my phone and listen when going and coming from office. I am not on any medication. I also followed the diet as per Diabetes Program and I am not on any medication. Keep up your good work and all the very best, S. Chege, United Kingdom.
Become a natural YOU first. Taking alrernative medicines is all in your head, if you do not know what they are and what everything in that pill is for.Some medicines cannot be taken if you are already on blood thinners. Do your homework and find out what the ingredients are and start from scrarch with guidance from a naturalpath doctor. This will then only scrarch the surface. Have a natural day people.
I wholeheartedly agree with the article you have posted but my only regret is the fact that very few people can totally follow the three natural approaches you mentioned not because they don't believe in them but the prevailing environment simply will deny them to do so. As you have stated food is one essential factor that spell the difference between being fit and healthy or otherwise, but how can you keep yourself away from unhealthy foods when practically everything we buy and eat are what they are, unless you go purely organic which seems to be a tall order to achieve. I believe just like I always stated nobody in the field of medicines, drug and food manufacturing will be happy to see us healthy because it will be a big blow to their business. For them, the more sick people there are, the merrier and better for them. People should go back to the basic way of treatment which is natural like herbal food supplements and the likes not to mention other methods like you have discussed because we are pursuing the era of killing pills. It is really disturbing to note the rising cases of medical malpractices perpetuated by incompetent and greedy doctors who will never advocate the use of alternative medicines obviously because they are the puppets of the giant Pharmaceutical Companies. Ironic, even our Government seems to have joined the conspiracy which only proves how influential and powerful these people in the drug manufacturing industry. They will never say no to them if the price is right.
I agree that medications may not be necessary in all illnesses, but the truth is the natural practices and supplements industry is every bit as guilty as mainstream medicine in terms of lying, pandering, overcharging and overhyping cures. Because someone promotes a supposedly natural therapy, he or she is not necessarily truthful or knowledgeable. Many bogus, and sometimes dangerous, treatments get promoted and sold in the natural therapies movement.
SEEKING HELP AND GUIDELINES IN CONTROLLING HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE.
Excellant article. Keep up the great Job.!!!
RE: hypertension.. I can control my blood pressure by increasing my intake of potassium. When I first developed hypertension, my doctor prescribed Altace, 5mg. I researched the mechanism of the Altace and found that it caused the kidneys to NOT extract as much potassium from the blood. So, I started to eat one banana and drink 8oz of low sodium V8 juice each morning and I was able to bring my systolic BP down from an average of 158 to an average of 126. The banana and V8 juice would add about 1200mg of potassium to my daily intake. Of course, exercise is also very important and when I get adequate exercise along with the increased potassium intake I can maintain an average systolic pressure of about 120.
Thank you Shelling for this informative food. Your team is wonderful. I ‘ve been reading Chrisrian Goodman’s works since 2010. I purchased blood pressure programe in march 2012 and i am very consistent in doing the exercise. I am a naturalist and hate drugs pruduced from chemical laboratories. I was placed on medication for HB in 2010 when i was travelling to London on a Fellowship programme. At that time my blood pressure readind was 140/90. When i returned back to Nigeria i stoed the medications and ordered the exercise program. I have a long family history of Hypertension three generation on both side parternal and maternal parenthood. I am determined to brek that family jinx. I monitor my blood pressure daily since i stoped the medication. For several weeks my blood pressure was consistently high 140-150/90-91 range. Christian Goodman has a good paper on persistence in doing the exercise. I think that is paper that should be published from time to time. i read over an it gives me courage. It is more difficult to bring down high blood pressure of people with primary hypertension than those with secondary hypertension. From my experience i want to believe that the combination of exercise, life style changes and dietw can significantly help people with secondary hypertension. In Nigeria there are execellent natural products herbs and roots. So people with primary hypertension requires more exercise over a longer period than those with secondary hypertension. Hence Patients with primary hypertension should be persistence when using tge natural methods to lower blood pressure.Keep your good work. Abdul Benin City Nigeriatrrr
My medical "mistakes"go back 60yrs, but I have managed to keep fairly healthy in spite of COPD.Itake daily helpings of natural raw honey, and ginger root, and find they fill the bill for me.My thyroid was removed when Iwas 21yrs old, and the supplement has taken it's toll on my health, like osteoporosis, and hbp, among other things, but stick with my honey(even for healing wounds, and bites etc).Ginger takes care of the digestion.The medical profession has tagged me as an uncooperative patient, because I refuse to take the chemicals they keep prescribing.Thanks for the opportunity to let off a little steam.
Thank you for the excellent summary of the three key factors in maintaining good quality, natural health.
With respect to the first two of these, I believe it is very important to ensure (through dietary means) that the body is kept as far as possible in a neutral to alkaline state rather than an acidic one. So many of the commonly consumed foods/drinks in the Western diet are by nature acidic. An acidic bodily state will almost certainly ensure that health problems will develop.
There are guides around that will provide information on where a huge range of individual foods sit on a six-point scale – High/Medium/Low Alkaline to Low/Medium/High Acid – some predictable and quite a few surprises!
An understanding of the ph status of each of the foods we consume foods is a critical factor in helping the body grow, defend itself and repair.
Best wishes to all on the natural path.
Thank you for the excellent summary of the three key factors in maintaining good quality, natural health.
With respect to the first two of these, I believe it is very important to ensure (through dietary means) that the body is kept as far as possible in a neutral to alkaline state rather than an acidic one. So many of the commonly consumed foods/drinks in the Western diet are by nature acidic. An acidic bodily state will almost certainly ensure that health problems will develop.
There are guides around that will provide information on where a huge range of individual foods sit on a six-point scale – High/Medium/Low Alkaline to Low/Medium/High Acid – some predictable and quite a few surprises!
An understanding of the ph status of each of the foods we consume foods is a critical factor in helping the body grow, defend itself and repair.
Best wishes to all on the natural path.
Hi and thank you so much for this wonderful valuable information. I so believe every aspect of this article and not only will I partake of what has been said here I will do my best to help educate others of these truths.
Thanks again, Tonja McNair.
I am a single father of 7 wonderfull children. 3 of them live 1300 miles away. I drive 2 1/2 hours each way to work everyday. i had an injury 3 years ago that leaves me in pain on a daily basis and the doctors cant figure it out. i definetly have some stress and hb issues. the doctors want me on several pills but i continue to refuse. I would much rather do it the natural way and Ive done a ton of research. but I cant get things down to where I want them. I am definetly interested in the blood pressure and cholesterol research but i just can afford to spend the extra money. I also cant seem to find a natural doctor here in Califonia. Any suggestions on what I can do would be a GREAT HELP!
It is a pity that a majority of people today are dependent upon the medical profession to cure their ills and it all boils down to complacency and the search for the magic bullet. If more folks took the responsibility for their own lives, health and well being by considering looking after themselves properly, exercising, eating correctly and reducing stress factors there would be less dependency on both the medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry. However all the big pharma’s and Western Medicine will continue to do what they do because of the failings of people in today’s society, who do not or can not help themselves for various reasons. A case in point just recently a friend who was suffering the effects of “The Flu” decided to see his medico who also gave him a prescription for Anti Biotic’s. I suggested to my friend that he take a three times daily dose of “Olive Leaf Extract in Water” and forget taking the prescribed drugs, he was absolutely horrified by my suggestion and gave me several reasons why he trusted his doctor’s expertise above my Quack Alternative, mainly because he had run this suggested alternative bye his doctor, who had in turn given it a zero chance of working. This is a scenario that is played out constantly with the medical profession reluctant to give credence to anything that doesn’t come from a big pharma company. I know this alternative works because I had the same condition and used that alternative to rid myself of both the symptoms and the condition within a few days, rather than having it hang around for more than three weeks as it has done with my friend. Of course I’m an old believer in “Alternative” so I guess it’s all in my mind……………?