Stay Healthy the Holistic Way
Stay Healthy the Holistic Way
Americans spend over $373 BILLION (yes, that’s BILLION) dollars every year on drugs. On legal drugs. That number is staggering and it increases year after year. We’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, so we’re looking for something…anything…that will make us feel better. And the commercials that we are inundated with claim that pharmaceuticals are the magic bullet. But here’s the catch: those side effects that they rattle off at the end of the commercial. The side effects that keep us stuck on a hamster wheel of pills.
And yet, we’re still sick. The magic bullet is making pharmaceutical companies lots of money, but it doesn’t seem to be helping us at all. So what can we do?
In ancient times, patients would pay their physician every month to keep them HEALTHY and payment would stop if a sickness occurred. Can you imagine what our healthcare system would look like if we adopted this outlook? What would happen if we shifted our attention from taking drugs to mask our symptoms and really started looking at the root of our problems?
Holistic Medicine is designed to be preventative…it helps keep our bodies in balance so we are able to stay healthy and happy. Keeping our immune systems strong is imperative and many times the drugs we are taking to make us “healthy” actually weaken the immune system and make us more susceptible to dis-ease.
Here are some excellent options:
1) Acupuncture: this ancient modality stimulates certain points on the body and helps bring the physical, mental and emotional bodies into balance. Acupuncture is hugely beneficial for pain management, anxiety, stress…all the things that can weaken our immune system and increase our chances of getting sick. This treatment can be highly beneficial as the seasons are changing or your stress is increasing.
2) Lymphatic Drainage: The lymph fluid circulates infection fighting white blood cells, which help you avoid infection and sickness, as well as create antibodies so your body can respond to invaders better in the future. It also collects extra fluid from the body and filters the waste, toxins, and excess hormones from it by sending those things to the lymph nodes to be destroyed. It’s proper circulation and functioning is extremely important to keeping you healthy. And the best way to circulate the lymph? A lymphatic drainage massage, which feels GREAT.
3) Massage Therapy: We all associate massage with relaxation, but did you know that it can also help boost the immune system? Massage increases number of lymphocytes, which are white blood cells that play a large role in defending the body from disease, researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles tell us.
4) Counseling or Life Coaching: Anxiety, depression, stress, anger all play a significant role in weakening our immune system. Having a safe, effective, healthy strategy for coping with our emotions is one of the best defenses against pain and illness.
This list is not comprehensive…there are so many ways to help yourself feel better that do not include hopping on the pharmaceutical hamster wheel. Step outside of the box…try something different. If your doctor hands you a prescription, ask her if there is a holistic alternative. Sometimes it can be that simple.
And guess what the side effects are to all of the modalities listed above? You feel fabulous! Now that’s a plan I can get on board with.
Call us today at 770-309-9239 to get started!