Every day we make choices that affect our health and wellness. When we wake up we choose what thoughts we want to empower that color our mood for the day. We decide what we are going to eat for breakfast, whether it’s going to be a fast food breakfast, sandwich and sugary coffee on the go, or steel cut oats with ground flax seeds, organic blueberries, and almond milk and organic green tea. Food has an impact on our moods and heath. We decide what clothes we wear, what detergents and cleaning products we use in our homes, what programs we watch, and what time we go to bed.
There are things we do throughout the day that have become habitual to the point that we aren’t even consciously aware of them, such as, driving to work. Do you have to think about what route you take to go to work or do you find yourself there after a period of time of random thoughts and musing and maybe some road rage and a phone call or two? Being conscious of our choices means being aware that we are choosing and being aware of what we are choosing. Once you realize this you have the power to choose food, behavior, and a lifestyle that can positively or negatively affect your health and wellness.
What is the difference between health and wellness?
Health is having a good report card from your conventional medical doctor, your cholesterol is good, no disease, don’t smoke and eat too much, see you next year. Wellness includes prevention of disease, addresses your physical body symptoms, your mental health, the cause of disease, your sense of connection to others, your purpose, and spiritual self. What do you need to be well? Being well can mean having enough energy, drive, and resources to be the best person you can be. Wellness is personal, holistic, and includes managing your stress, which is responsible for 80% of illnesses.
You get to choose whether you go to a conventional doctor for your health checkup or to a holistic physician that will educate you in optimal nutrition, address the cause of disease and involve you in your own healthcare by utilizing natural therapies that affect your health and wellness. You can choose patient-centered care where you are an active part in your health and healing or conventional medical care, which is doctor-centered and allows you to take a pill and keep going until your body breaks down or the side effects require you to take another pill. However, if you want to feel your best, you can choose a healthcare team that addresses wellness in addition to health.
Options for Patient-Centered, Wellness care:
Naturopathic Medicine: Naturopathic physicians from accredited naturopathic medical schools are trained as general practitioners with a holistic approach to medicine. In addition to general medicine, they are the only general practice trained physicians that also learn clinical nutrition, herbal medicine, homeopathy, chiropractic techniques, counseling, and how to recommend individualized nutritional supplements and nutrients to address causal factors of disease and optimal wellness. Naturopathic medicine includes a functional medicine approach to medicine. See www.naturopathic.org for more information.
Homeopathic Medicine:
Homeopathic medicine is often confused with naturopathic medicine because homeopathy was included in the conventional medical school curriculum up until the early 1900’s. Homeopathy is a natural therapy that involves using low dose substances through the principle of like-cures-like in order to heal. Treatments are individualized, inexpensive, and homeopathic treatments do not interact with pharmaceutical medication. Homeopathy is very popular for use in children because of its gentle nature. See http://homeopathycenter.org for more information.
Functional Medicine:
Functional medicine is a holistic approach to medical care conceived by Dr. Jeff Bland that is similar to Naturopathic Medicine. Functional medicine training is available to medical practitioners, including, MDs, DOs, DCs, NDs, PAs, RNs, etc. that are interested in learning about how to have a more holistic approach to medicine. See https://www.functionalmedicine.org for more information.
Chiropractic Medicine:
According to the world chiropractic federation, chiropractic medicine is a health profession concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, and the effects of these disorders on the function of the nervous system and general health. There is an emphasis on manual treatments including spinal adjustment and other joint and soft-tissue manipulation. See www.wfc.org for more information.
Integrative Medicine:
A term that when applied to hospitals and institutions means that holistic modalities, such as, acupuncture, herbal medicine, chiropractic care, mind-body medicine, also called Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) are integrated into a conventional medical model. See https://www.aihm.org for more information.
Other holistic systems of medicine that have been around for thousands of years and can be practiced by physician and non-physician practitioners include, Acupuncture, Ayurvedic medicine, herbal medicine, and energy medicine. There are many additional options to choose from in terms of health and wellness. Begin with the questions: What do I need to be healthy and well? What am I doing that is harming my health and wellness? Why? And consider an old Cherokee story that applies to our body as well as our minds:
An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life…
“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.”
“One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.”
“The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”
“This same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,
“Which wolf will win?”
The old chief simply replied,
“The one you feed.”
Dr. Artemis Morris is a Naturopathic Physician, Licensed Acupuncturist, professor of nutrition, researcher, author, consultant in natural medicine, and the academic director of the Integrative Health and Healing Program at The Graduate Institute (www.learn.edu).
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