The Health Plus Letter
August 11, 2004, Vol. 2, No. 26
By Larry Trivieri, Jr. – founder & publisher
http://www.1healthyworld.com

If you prefer to read this issue online, you can read it, along with all other back issues, at http://www.1healthyworld.com/ezine.


Table Of Contents
What’s New
Quote of the Day
Fast Fact
Medical Freedom Alert
The Principles of Holistic Medicine
 

Unabashed Plug

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How to increase your IQ by 20 points or more in less than a week’s time.

How to permanently eliminate long-standing fears, phobias, and traumas using energy psychology.

How to create a bioscalar energy wave within your body for rapid healing.

Take the next step in your healing, and order Health on the Edge today.

 
What’s New

I’m running a bit behind this week due to having just finished writing my latest book, so I’ve decided to answer a question of some of my readers. Namely, what do I mean when I use the phrase “holistic medicine?” My answer, The Principles of Holistic Medicine, which runs below, is excerpted from my book, The American Holistic Medical Association Guide to Holistic Health. I’ll be back next week with a full issue.
 
In the meantime, you can still (because I’ve been too busy to change the prices back just yet) obtain any and all titles in our Burton Goldberg eBook Library of Health for only $9.95 each (a savings of nearly 70%). The wealth of health-related information in this series is unrivaled and has already helped thousands of people to live healthier, more productive lives.  This offer is only available for a limited time and will not be repeated. For more information, please visit http://www.1healthyworld.com/ebooks Your orders help support this newsletter and 1HealthyWorld.com and are greatly appreciated.

As always, please continue to send me your comments and suggestions. And please spread the word about The Health Plus Letter by passing it along to your friends and inviting them to subscribe.


Quote Of The Day

”You can’t get what you want by opposing what you don’t want.”


Fast Fact

"[A]side from [a few treatments], many of the medicinces and treatments dispensed by  physicians after Hippocrates tended to heighten the death rate rather than lower it."

- Issac Assimov, Guide to Science, 1972


Unabashed Plug

Dr. Garry Gordon’s entire line of nutritional products are available for purchase directly from 1HealthyWorld.com. Dr. Gordon is a member of 1HealthyWorld’s Medical Advisory Board, and an internationally acclaimed expert in the areas of cardiovascular health, anti-aging medicine, and the use of nutritional medicine to prevent and reverse inflammation, toxicity, and chronic disease. He is also one of the most accomplished and knowledgeable physicians it’s ever been my privilege to meet, and the nutritional products he’s developed reflect his expertise. You can order them by visiting http://www.1healthyworld.com/healthproducts/garrygordon


Medical Freedom Alert

Our health freedom remains under siege. Please support the following organizations, which are at the forefront of those working to protect our rights:

Citizens for Health - http://www.citizens.org (Sing their online petition to safeguard health supplements.)

Institute for Health Freedom – http://www.ForHealthFreedom.org

International Advocates for Health Freedom (IAHF) – http://www.iahf.com

Health Lobby (Monica Miller) – http://www.healthlobby.com

Also, please do your part to ensure that the misleadingly named “Dietary Safety Supplement” Act (S. 722) is defeated. To become informed about S. 722 and to take action to help defeat its  passage, please visit:http://capwiz.com/nnfa/S722.html

To stay informed of other developments related to medical freedom, please visit http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org the website of Dr. Mattias Rath, a leading crusader for medical freedom.

To see to what depraved lengths people will go to persecute practitioners of alternative medicine in the U.S., please read the following report by noted medical freedom advocate Tim Bolen at http://www.quackpotwatch.org/opinionpieces/Suster2.htm

And to learn how corrupt and extensive Big Pharma’s monopoly is, visit http://www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr/online/research/index.html the website for the Campaign Against Fraudulent Medical Research. In particular, read their in-depth report The Pharmaceutical Drug Racket that you will find there.


Unabashed Plug

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THE PRINCIPLES OF HOLISTIC MEDICINE

Holistic medicine's comprehensive definition of health is at odds with our predominant health care system, which is based almost entirely upon the diagnosis and treatment of disease symptoms.  While conventional medicine is unsurpassed in treating acute life-threatening illness and injuries, its reliance on pharmaceutical drugs and surgery has left it largely a failure in terms of handling chronic conditions. As a result, over 100 million Americans n/o/w suffer with some type of chronic illness, driving the cost of health care in the U.S. above $1 trillion per year. Further compounding the problem is the unfortunate fact that most physicians trained conventionally are taught little, if anything, about maintaining and enhancing health, or even preventing disease. Even within the fields of alternative and complementary medicine the primary focus is still on relieving symptoms and treating disease.  By contrast, although holistic physicians also immediately address their patients' physical discomfort using both alternative and conventional therapies, most of their time is spent determining the multiple underlying causes of their patients' ailments and helping them to correct the imbalances in their lives that are resonsible for them. Throughout this process the chief objective remains the creation of optimal health.

Informing holistic physicians' approach to health care are twelve principles of holistic medicine that have been established by the Board of Trustees of the American Holistic Medical Association. Each of these principles is outlined below.

1. Holistic physicians embrace a variety of safe, effective diagnostic and treatment options, including: a) education for lifestyle changes and self-care; b) complementary diagnostic and treatment approaches; and c) conventional drugs and surgery.

This first principle reflects the fact that optimal outcomes in diagnosing and treating disease are often the result of combining the best of both conventional and complementary medicine and teaching patients how to live a holistic lifestyle. The need for the synthesis of these options is seen in the recent draft document for establishing curriculum guidelines for teaching complementary and integrative medical principles and applications to physicians in specialty training in family practice residencies. The committee of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, which developed these guidelines, believes this step to be essential for the 470family practice training programs in the United States. A 1996 editorial in American Family Physician, the professional journal of the 60,000-member American Academy of Family Physicians, stated: "If alternative medicine manages to help re-focus the physician's role as a healer rather than a dispenser of medical technology ... it will help to accomplish the goals that we in family medicine have strived for all along." An accompanying article in the same edition of the journal reviewed ways in which family physicians could begin to integrate aspects of alternative medicine into their practice.

2. Searching for the underlying causes of disease is preferable to treating symptoms alone.

This second principle of holistic medicine is bolstered by a 1987 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), in which researchers found that 40 percent of a large group of hypertensive patients maintained a normal blood pressure without drugs after losing an average of five pounds in body wei/ght, reducing their sodium intake, and limiting alcohol consumption to one drink per day. According to Robert Anderson, M.D., a founding member of the AHMA, and president of its sister organization, the American Board of Holistic Medicine, the first organization to certify physicians in its practice, pursuing the answer to why patients have high blood pressure results in 75 to 80 percent of patients being able to go off their medications, while the remaining 20 percent are able to reduce their dosage levels. "By losing wei/ght, reducing sodium and alcohol intake, adopting a modest exercise program, paying attention to their attitude, and engaging in a regular program of deep relaxation or meditation, most patients can maintain a normal blood pressure without drugs," Dr. Anderson states. "Similar results can often also be achieved for most patients suffering with other forms of chronic illness. Moreover, many patients would prefer making such lifestyle changes rather than taking medications. The cost savings alone would make many consider this worthwhile, and surely it is the responsibility of the medical profession to look at these simplest solutions first."

3. Holistic physicians expend as much effort in establishing what kind of patient has a disease as they do in establishing what kind of disease a patient has.

This 100-year old dictum from one of the revered fathers of American medicine, William Osler, M.D., emphasizes the multiple factors underlying the incidence and development of many diseases.  In a group of women diagnosed with breast cancer, for instance, a recent study showed that the risk of recurrence of their cancer is nine times greaterin women who are under high levels of stress compared to those whose stress levels are low.  Failure to recognize the importance of stress and deal adequately with it greatly reduces the chances of a favorable outcome.

Further supporting this third principle is the fact that the internal healing capacity of the patient is the key to the presence or absence of disease. This basic medical truth was recognized in the late 19th century by Dr. Claude Bernard, the father of modern physiology, who pointed out that exposure to most bacteria, viruses, and toxins resulted in illness in only a portion of the population. Patient resistance to illness was, in his opinion, the consideration of first importance.A modern example of Bernard's tenet can be found in cases of tuberculosis. Recent research has emphasized this fact to reveal how lifestyle impacts intrinsic resistance and immunity, and how it changes outcomes. Among the major lifestyle factors are attention to nutritional consumption, physical exercise, smo/king, substance abuse, deeply held beliefs and attitudes, and protecting against accidents and trauma

4.Prevention is preferable to treatment and is usually more cost-effective. The most cost-effective approach evokes the patient's own innate healing capacities.

The most common first option chosen by conventional physicians in response to most types of chronic illness is the prescribing of drugs. In cases of elevated blood pressure, these drugs include diuretics, beta-blockers, or angiotensin-converting-enzyme-inhibitors.  While such drugs can often result in symptom relief, they do not alter the underlying causes related to hypertension. But when unmanaged stress is recognized as a major contributing factor, a brief course in biofeedback/relaxation training greatly enhances a patient’s ability to handle stress, reducing or normalizing blood pressure in the process.  Many aspects of life improve for patients who develop this skill, such as improved immunity, faster reaction time, better hearing and pain tolerance, and a decrease in headaches, migraines, insomnia, ulcers, adrenaline, cortisone, cholesterol, and muscle tension. Similar results occur when attention is given to diet and nutrition, since it takes five to seven times the normal amount of nutrition to build and repair than it does to maintain proper physiological function.

A physician who exemplifies the fourth principle of holistic medicine is Dean Ornish, M.D., who demonstrated that coronary artery disease can be reversed with a combination of lifestyle changes. Two years after his pioneering research was published in Lancet in 1990, the Mutual of Omaha Insu/rance Company decided to cover the cost of his reeducation and training for heart patients. Although expensive, it was a fraction of the cost of coronary artery surgery for just one patient out of an entire class of patients who followed Dr. Ornish's program.

5. Illness is viewed as a manifestation of a dysfunction of the whole person, not as an isolated event.

Nonconventional healing systems in various parts of the world have recognized the importance of the “whole person” to a much greater extent than Western allopathic medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine, for instance, has for 5000 years recognized the importance of a balance of movement (a variety of martial arts), diet, her/bal remedies, and the unimpeded flow of qi or life force energy as being essential for optimal health. The concept of the whole person has also been a core belief in Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India and south Asia, for several thousand years.

The superiority of treating the whole person instead of an isolated disease is illustrated by comparing conventional and holistic approaches to treating cataracts, a common experience for elderly people in the United States.  "Lens implant surgery is the largest single-issue medical expenditure for Medicare, and is the common approach undertaken by conventional physicians," Dr. Anderson explains. "Yet a cataract is much more than a disease of the eye. It is a manifestation of elevated free-radical activity which has been developing in the body of the patient for many years due, at least in part, to decreased antioxidant levels."  By incorporating better nutrition, exercise, smo/king cessation, avoidance of extreme bright sunlight, and antioxidant supplementation into the treatment protocols of their patients, holistic physicians are able to reduce the risk of cataracts by as much as 70 percent.

6.  A major determining factor in the healing process is the quality of the relationship established between physician and patient, in which the patient is encouraged to take responsibility for his or her health.

The quality of the relationship developed between patient and physician is among the most powerful influences on the eventual outcome of a medical disease or psychological condition.  A high quality relationship inspires willingness, confidence and enthusiasm, and a sense of trust and satisfaction, all of which enhance healing.  In the trusted relationship, a patient knows that the physician deeply cares and will focus his or her best thinking and expertise in addressing the cause and best methods of treating the patient's condition.

Participation in decision-making, working cooperatively with one's physician and members of the health care team, and being highly informed about what is happening, contributes to a heightened sense of autonomy on the part of the patient.  Long-term prospective studies in Europe have demonstrated much lower incidences of heart disease and cancer, for instance, in autonomous persons compared to those whose world-view makes them more dependent and allows their beliefs and attitudes to be determined by external factors.  The much healthier autonomous group espoused the belief that health "is an inside job,” and were therefore more willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure their well-being.

In recognition of this dynamic, a curriculum for continuing medical education for physicians was suggested in JAMA in 1997. The four topics proposed for medical training were designed to enhance awareness about: 1) physician beliefs and attitudes; 2) physicians' emotional responses and feelings during patient care; 3) challenging clinical situations; and 4) physician self-care. The authors of the proposed curriculum suggested that physicians, through the enhancement of their personal awareness, can improve their clinical care abilities, their own personal work relationships, and their level of personal satisfaction as health care providers. Such a curriculum speaks to what physicians are, whereas conventional medical education is limited to addressing what physicians know and what they do.

7. The ideal physician-patient relationship considers the needs, desires, awareness and insight of the patient, as well as those of the physician.

"The beliefs, experience, and education of the patient will influence his or her desires and degrees of awareness regarding medical choices, and also influence his or her physician," says Dr. Anderson. "If the physician and patient both believe in a given approach, it will be much more effective. This is an important point to consider, given that in many clinical situations a wide variety of choices are frequently present."

8. Physicians significantly influence patients by their example.

A cartoon hanging on the wall of Dr. Anderson’s waiting room shows a 300-pound, cigar-smoking physician tilted back in his chair, asking a shivering, half-clad skinny patient across the desk, “Are you eating properly and getting plenty of exercise?”  The totally ridiculous comparison has tickled thousands of his patients over the years.  "In all walks of life, what we do speaks more loudly than what we say," Dr. Anderson points out. "Therefore, physicians need to be aware of the influence their actions can have on their patients, both positively and negatively, bearing in mind Hippocrates injunction, 'Physician, heal thyself.' At the same time, patients would do well to ask themselves if their health care providers are living the healthy lifestyle they espouse. If they're not, it may be time for the patient to consider seeking someone else to guide them in their health care needs."

9.  Illness, pain, and the dying process can be learning opportunities for both patients and physicians.

Dr. Anderson recalls the great shock of disbelief he experienced the first time a cancer patient in declining health said to him, "I'm glad I got my cancer.”  She was a woman who was slowly losing her battle with breast cancer, yet as a result of her ordeal she had discovered some valuable life lessons.  She had learned to appreciate every moment of her days: the incredible beauty of nature as she slowed her pace to pay attention; the wonder of moments of intimacy with her husband; her finite but previously unrecognized inner resources in dealing with the pain and fatigue of the cancer; the joy of plumbing the mysteries and meaning of life itself; and the ability to use her experience in helping others in similar circumstances. "She taught me that the quality of life in our brief span of life is perhaps our most important consideration," Dr. Anderson says. "After my experience with her, at least half a dozen other cancer patients have shared with me the same sentiments. All have learned things about themselves that overshadowed even their desire to prolong their lives." When both patients and physicians are able to recognize the healing potential inherent in pain, disease, and dying, miraculous resolutions in their lives can occur. And if death proves inevitable, usually it comes more peacefully and with greater acceptance on the part of everyone involved. On the other hand, sometimes the recognition of the gifts and lessons involved during the disease process can mobilize our innate healing abilities, even to the point of spontaneous remission.

10. Holistic physicians encourage their patients to evoke the healing power of  love, hope, humor, and enthusiasm, and to release the toxic consequences of hostility, shame, greed, depression, and prolonged fear, anger, and grief.

Extensive research documents the detrimental effects of hostility, depression, and anxiety in chronic disease conditions such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, to name just a few. One study, for example, found that among a group of patients undergoing angioplasty for threatening coronary artery disease, the risk for restenosis (the recurrent closing down of the artery) was 250 percent greater in patients found to have high levels of hostility, compared to patients with low hostility levels. Another study of 2,000 male employees of Western Electric, all of whom were initially f/r/e/e of heart disease, found that the rate of coronary heart disease over the next ten years was 32 percent greater among those whose psychological tests showed great hostility. A third study found that when volunteers were asked to recall the last time they became extremely angry, measurements of their hearts' pumping ability decreased 12 percent in only 15 minutes. Such studies clearly reveal that negative emotions and attitudes are poisonous and toxic to the physical, mental, and emotional function of us all.

On the positive side, the therapeutic benefits of humor and laughter have also  been repeatedly shown. One study, for instance, showed that volunteers who viewed humorous videotapes strengthened their immune systems within 30 minutes.  According to Dr. Anderson, children laugh an average of 400 times a day; adults only 15 times a day. "No doubt that is one reason that adults are far more prone to chronic illness than children are," he says.

11. Unconditional love is life’s most powerful medicine. Holistic physicians strive to adopt an attitude of unconditional love for patients, themselves, and other practitioners.

"Unconditional love, released through the act of forgiveness, is the most important tool for self-empowerment, development of positive attitudes, and optimism, all of which contribute to better therapeutic outcomes," Dr. Anderson says.  A growing number of studies demonstrates the healing power of love and intimacy. 

12. Optimal health is much more than the absence of sickness.  It is the conscious pursuit of the highest qualities of the physical, environmental, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social aspects of the human experience.

The principle emphasis of western medicine has been the intervention in disease processes, primarily through the use of drugs or surgery. Holistic medicine adds a two-fold question to this conventional approach: What has caused the patient's condition to develop; and what can be done to help him or her reverse that cause?  In addition, what fundamental changes can the patient undertake to limit further degeneration, reverse the degenerative process, cure the disease, and pursue optimal health with the highest quality physical, environmental, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social experience of life itself?

"In nearly every instance in which an individual commits to a significant change in diet, exercise, or other health practice, there is an incremental improvement in their state of health, even at an advanced age," Dr. Anderson reports. Illustrating his point is the case of one of his patients, a 64 year-old woman who developed widespread ovarian cancer.  Surgery removed most of the tumor, but significant amounts of the cancer remained.  She refused chemotherapy.  Respecting her choices, Dr. Anderson  responded to her request that he help her to get well.  Together they developed a comprehensive strategy to enhance her immunity, evoke her determination and will, improve all aspects of her lifestyle, and enhance her spiritual life, including forgiving a large number of people. One of her life's greatest pleasures was attending opera. As part of her recovery, she saved her mo/ney to fulfill a lifelong dream and was able to hear some of the greatest stars of opera perform for three nights at La Scala, the classical home of opera in Milan, Italy.  Later, surgery showed her cancer to be totally gone.  She eventually died of completely unrelated causes after eight years of enjoyable, satisfying life, having finished doing what she wanted to do in this life/time, while overcoming an aggressive cancer that could have taken her life a year after its discovery.


Unabashed Plug

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http://www.1healthyworld.com/ebooks/Mind-Mastery-Book-Info.cfm.


Health and Blessings!

Larry Trivieri, Jr. (larry@1healthyworld.com)


Disclaimer: The Health Plus Letter is a weekly eZine published by Larry Trivieri, Jr. and Library of Health, LLC (dba www.1healthyworld.com) 1514 Genesee Street, Suite 52, Utica, NY 13502. It is made available without charge for information purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical care. If you are experiencing a health problem, seek prompt medical attention.

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Legal Notice: The information in this eZine may be freely and widely disseminated so long as full attribution is made as follows: The Health Plus Letter, August 11, 2004, Vol. 2, No. 26. Copyright © 2004 by Larry Trivieri, Jr. All rights reserved.

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