Australian Healthy Living

The principles of naturopathy are fresh air and sunlight, good nutrition, adequate rest and relaxation, hygiene, exercise and hydrotherapy (water therapy) plus a positive mental attitude.

      It's the simple life and commonsense that are the tenets of natural health as well as taking responsibility for your own wellbeing.

      In the olden days, this was easier to do when we had pure tap water, little lifestyle stress, unsprayed food and our own backyard gardens with free range everything. We could run along the road without being poisoned from car fumes, and we weren't bombarded with media violence.

      Naturopathic philosophy is that the body has the ability to heal itself given the right environment. In today's world that also means stress management, clean air and water, and exercise that helps, not hinders, the road to wellbeing.

      It is up to the naturopath to decide if the patient needs anabolic (building up) or catabolic (cleaning out) therapy.   The first patient type is weak and requires nutritional support and the second type needs to cleanse their body of waste products. With arthritics, you often need to do both together...a delicate balance.

Hydrotherapy

Using ice to soothe a sprain, heat to relax a cramped muscle or bathing with tepid water to reduce a temperature are all examples of hydrotherapy at work. Sitz baths, oatmeal baths (for sensitive skin), epsom salt baths (for arthritic joints) and mud baths for rheumatics and toxic waste, are all well known.

      Naturopaths use water therapy as a means of healing: a pure water fast when there is a digestive disturbance; the use of hot and cold showers to stimulate skin function and aid elimination, and colonic irrigation when there is toxic accumulation. This is a therapy where impurities are washed out gently with warm water from the walls of the lower bowel by use of a special machine...yes, the nozzle is disposable.

      Hydrotherapy is an important aid to healing. For example, if you have a sore throat, the natural way of handling it is to gargle with pure lemon juice (don't dilute it with water) after a meal to disinfect the area. It is important not to eat or drink for an hour after the gargle. Repeat this after each meal till the soreness has eased. Three times in the day seems to do the trick. Another technique for dealing with a sore throat is to attract a good blood supply to the area by wrapping a cold damp towel around the neck, then another dry one around that. Pin them in place, and leave for an hour. As a singer, I have successfully used this technique and I recommend it all the time in my work.

There was a patient who came in suffering from quite severe headaches. Assessing his history and eliminating other factors, his problem was diagnosed to be toxicity. His tongue colour was very dirty, and his iridology reading showed a chronic bowel problem. His diet was changed to include much more fruit and vegetables than he had been eating. It was recommended that he have colonic irrigation. He was pleased with the results as his headaches quickly subsided. Four weeks later, his tongue colour was normal pink and he was a happy man. As prevention is better than cure, he was asked to re-evaluate his diet, so that the condition would not recur. When asked why he did not usually eat these necessary foods his reply was interesting. He said that when he was growing up, his father, because of financial considerations, always bought the cheapest fruit and vegetables. The memory of the very look of such inferior produce had turned him off eating them as an adult!

Fasting

This healing method is of great value. However, many people are so toxic that their first fasting day can bring on strong reactions as the body dumps so much waste quickly when the digestive system is resting. So it is safer to prepare the body for a fast with gentler methods.

My recommendation, providing the patient is not suffering contra indications (like low blood pressure), is to have a twenty-four-hour period of fruit, salad and vegetables. If you are very ill, some boiled rice is also permissible. If this is done once a week, it won't take long to feel much better, with a rested digestive system. However, as a precaution, it is advisable to start the twenty-four hour period at 4pm one day and finish at 4pm the next. This way you do not suffer the 10am `low'.

When this can be undertaken without reactions such as headache, diarrhoea, stomach cramp and generally feeling ill, then a proper fast of pure water for a day can be allowed, again starting in the afternoon. Once a week, this is a safe way to fast at home. Otherwise it is recommended that you go to a health farm where there are experts in these techniques.

Reactions to a cleansing diet day can range over headaches, sleepiness, increased urination, diarrhoea or vomiting. Mucus and excess fluids will drain away and soon you will feel much brighter. The reactions depend on where your accumulated waste originates. Headaches are common if you are a coffee drinker.

These reactions to the cleansing can be dramatically relieved if you give yourself an enema of pure warm water. One day a week on fruit and/or vegetables is a good way to keep your body functioning efficiently. One day a week is fifty days a year. Try a modified diet for three days a month till your health improves. Check with your health practitioner first. An assessment of your personal health profile will tell you what to aim for, what effects are to be observed and your responses monitored.

Massage

This can be done with or without aromatic oils. It is a natural way to help the muscles drain their wastes and to stimulate lymphatic flow. Massage also aids in nourishing the body by reducing any interruption to blood supply through muscle spasm.  

Tissue Cell Salts

There are twelve tissue salts that naturopaths recommend. They were introduced by Dr Wilhelm Schuessler of Germany in the late nineteenth century and act as the controlling mechanisms which govern how much of a substance is taken into the body, excreted from and distributed through it. I have used them for forty years in practice to great effect. They are:

Correct Dosage for these products will be on the label.