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While net searching for some basic information on Deepak Chopra the other day, I came across an amazing and inspiring web link to a documentary that will be released in Spring ’08. The Shift trailer is only 6 minutes long, but truly inspiring. It addresses issues of global suffering and destruction, followed by a burst of hope for the massive global change that is to come. The Shift speaks of an evolutionary leap that is happening, from arrogance and negligence, to activism and action: a collective movement towards peace and equality. Now, I call myself an activist in my own little way. I have even been known to call community service my religion. This concept brought me to such an extreme level of global thinking, in 6 minutes, and has changed my direction. I feel empowered, and motivated to understand how we, as CAM practitioners, can play a role in this shift.

So what needs to happen? There is so much. We have issues of racism, genocide, war, global warming and hunger to address, but where do we start? All of these things impact the health and wellness (and I mean wellness in every mental,/emotional, spiritual and physical sense of the word) of people everywhere, so lets think for a moment about health, and how we as CAM practitioners can position ourselves to best serve our communities. How can we gain the tools that the WORLD has to offer, to make ourselves the best possible physicians and healers?

 

 

 

 

Part 1: Think Globally; 15 Questions

So what if…?

What if we as CAM practitioners ALL made a conscious effort to incorporate service into our mission? What if we collectively made community service our religion? What if we made it a point to really learn to serve as many different types of communities as possible? What is we chose to collectively value faith, race, ethnicity nationality and culture not just by acknowledging them, but by learning as much as we could about them, and even respecting them?

Okay, so I’m speaking like an idealist. But more specifically, let’s think large and small, globally and locally. If our first goal is to learn as much as we can, how can we do that as students of The World? What if schools of all six of our accredited naturopathic schools had departments of international medicine? What if these departments set up international preceptorships and offered scholarships and travels grants? I mean, are we the only country doing natural medicine? Wouldn’t it benefit students in training to see how Cuba has integrated medicina verde into their health care system? …and how medical doctors can be seen harvesting their own herbs from hospital gardens? Or how patients make their own ear seeds in the waiting rooms? Wouldn’t it be cool to see the herbs that many Kenyan’s are using to fight the secondary infections of AIDS, in the face of overpriced drug therapy? I mean, not just cool, but essential?

We do not have a completely integrated health care system in this country, but many countries do.

So why not survey those systems in order to understand the impact that many traditional medicines have had and continue to have on societies? Doesn’t that seem like a natural first step?

…Stay tuned for part 2.

–Concerned World Citizen

It was a rather dull day within the confines of my inspiratory (the name I prefer to call my cubical), and I was itching for some action. My beloved boss, Heather Zwickey, who always has had the ability to recognize my state of affairs, observed my fidgeting mind and instructed me to take in a matinee.

This presented an opportunity to leave work early and to go and see Sicko so that I could understand more clearly the commentary about health care from the outsider’s point of view. This was not exactly my idea of taking the afternoon off. In order to avoid the sickness and nausea that comes with this sort of experience for me (I know the subject matter all too well), I knowingly disobeyed a direct order from my favorite boss of all time. Instead, I went to see the latest Harry Potter picture film. What I discovered was a two-minute preview piece by Geena Davis that I found equally as sick as the infamous Sicko flick.

I caught the number 19 bus downtown, feeling lucky that I did not have to wait too long out along the busy traffic’s edge. Now don’t get me wrong: I love the bus. If you ever go to Portland, ride the bus. It is an inexpensive experience that allows you to act as a passenger in life, absorbing the scenes flitting past windows edge, as well as opportunity to interact with the population in intimate encounters. For today’s venture, a clinically obese individual sat next to me, the weight of his presence occluding most of my point of view. I began to systematically create a diagnosis of his condition, acting as detective, recording visual and non-visual clues, attempting to sum a life’s experiences into a densely neat paragraph. This is a common exercise that I use to keep my medical and writer’s skills up to par. The richness that I lap up during this short span of time, moments between bus stops, satiates my appetite, my innate curiosity of soul. For this stout individual: I noticed cellutitis, a thickened purply patchwork of dead skin tissue, creeping up his leg, as he laboriously inhaled and exhaled recovering from his exercise of climbing onto the bus. Quietly I debated my position as a medical practitioner or as a fellow bus passenger and whether or not I should dispense any health related advice. I have learned that being a Good Samaritan is not always appreciated; sometimes this approach goes well, other times it does not. Knowing that my bus stop was approaching, I continued to keep my thoughts quiet, but the internal struggle would remain with me long after our encounter. We did not exchange words, but in our brief unsaid conversations of body language and sensory exchanges, the event was pleasant enough that we traded smiles as I exited for my stop.

Arriving at the theater with time to spare, I decided to observe some more, being a spectator of spectators yet again. In today’s day and age, you no longer have the opportunity to sit and stare blankly ahead, organizing thoughts and enjoying the stillness of silence. Now, instead of muted monolith to look upon, advertisements, insidiously capture its captive audience proclaiming youth and happiness with dancing candy bars and teddy bears. As we all sat before the previews, before the movie, Geena Davis flashed in giant stature, standing stiffly along the right-hand side of screen, appearing plastic in form and facial expressions. Her unnatural movement mechanically and methodically took our eyes from right to left, explaining to her audience her support of a leukemia charity. We, as an audience, also could join in her mission to eradicate cancer. To do this, we simply need to purchase a package of large popcorn and large coca-cola beverage. A snack of unhealthy combinations, greasy kernels and corn-syruped, ice-cubed concoctions; essentially the most unnatural dietary snack one could imagine.

My mind screeched to a halt, snagging on the idea that this was how a health-related charity decided to generate money for cancer research?

My thoughts slipped back to my fleeting friendship on the bus. My internal Jiminy Cricket Conscience, went into over-drive and I began to question the morals of those that chose to make this decision, and sought to comprehend how Geena Davis, a card-holding MENSA member, missed this rather obvious detail. I could feel my body recoiling from this poorly planned marketing approach, one that seemed to take advantage of the ill-savvy nutritional eater in an opportune moment in order to plea for a worthy cause through irrational methodology….

Then the blame-game on my end ceased.

Perhaps this was one of the most lucrative ways to make money for the charity. Perhaps Geena Davis has a family member affected by this devastating aliment, and she is doing her part to save a loved one. My skin relaxed as my mental venom uncoiled. Reality settled in: this extends far beyond this monetary movie madness, reaching fingers into relationships beyond a bag of popcorn, and into the interconnected lives and routines of billions of people. Searching for any sort of health related cure must be thoughtful, on all fronts, not simply focused on how to gain funds.

Perhaps this was a lesson for me as well, as I begin to create conduits of change for personal health and well-being for the individual, maybe this is a great way to add insight into how to revolutionize the way health care is managed. Finding funds is only part of the answer, as the overlooked details like greasy popcorn leads to gallbladder overloading and soft drinks lead to insulin surging… and on down the line, promoting unhealthy diets, regardless of the initial health “cause” does not ultimately support what was intended: a healthy community of people. Leukemia is only part of a wider cry of health concerns.

Shouldn’t those involved in health care, in all areas, try to see the big picture and choose ways to support both the individual and our worthy cause? Shouldn’t our goal be to create a healthy and robust society, thereby using common sense like balanced eating and lifestyle thus eliminating chronic aliments such as cancer and diabetes? Am I the only one that sees the enormous impact this will have?

Here’s a rather novel idea, as a society, let’s begin taking the whole picture into account when making personal business decisions.

This form of approach that will not only be sustainable in the long run, but will also prove worthy no matter the kind of business: start seeing the infrastructure of how funds are generated. What systems are involved, how do these systems relate to the health of an individual involved and moreover, the health of the community at large, and then eventually how and where those funds are allocated. And the ultimate test as to whether a decision was made appropriately or not: Would this choice create consequences that would harm your mother?

~ Kimberly Ann

Research Coordinator for the Helfgott Research Institute

Naturopathic physicians and other health care practitioners routinely recommend therapeutic diets as part of their medical practice.

A common example is the “anti-inflammatory” or “elimination” diet which is recommended to treat a diverse set of conditions. This diet prohibits foods that are though to promote inflammation, either directly or by stimulating an allergic response. Among the excluded foods are dairy products, eggs, wheat (or gluten), citrus fruits, nightshade vegetables, red meat, peanuts and others. While variations of this diet is taught in all naturopathic medical schools and widely used by a variety of practitioners, it has never been evaluated directly for its ability to alter inflammatory markers or modulate the immune system.

The Helfgott Research Institute, in collaboration with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), is currently conducting a pilot study to establish the feasibility of methodology for studying the anti-inflammatory diet in a clinical trial setting. The goal of the study is to assess the effects of the anti-inflammatory diet on inflammatory and metabolic parameters in participants with diabetes and pre-diabetes, as well as to determine the palatability and acceptability of these diets for study participants.

Study participants are randomly assigned to either a diet based on the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommendations or a strict interpretation of the anti-inflammatory diet (AI Diet). The Clinical and Translational Research Center at OHSU provides all food for the participants for six weeks. Baseline measurements are taken prior to beginning the diet, as well as throughout the study. Individuals with diabetes and pre-diabetes have been chosen as the study population due to their well-characterized abnormalities in inflammatory markers, including elevated hs-CRP, interleukins, and TNF-alpha. The study begans recruitment for participants in February 2006 and will continue through fall 2007.

If you would like information on participating in the study, contact Heather Schiffke for additional information.

Evolution is not just for the insects: Humans are also capable of a revolutionary change for species survival!

We as individuals of the human race need to take some responsibility for our own personal health.

For some, this task seems daunting, however, with these handy-dandy illustrations, each reader will have the tools necessary to rectify personal suffering and instate a clean bill of health in today’s distracted world. Give yourself a quick ten minutes to change your life.

Results guaranteed.

Let’s begin: what do butterflies and humans have in common? In this particular case, the relationship between the two is too good to flutter by! The blue moon butterflies (Hypolimnas bolina) from the Samoan island of Savaii captured a few headlines during the month of July for its ability to adapt to the Wolbachia bacteria. Wolbachia threatened the reproductive livelihood of the blue moon butterflies, and these winged insects were facing extinction. However, according to scientific sources, the butterfly community was able to combat the ill-effects of the Wolbachia bacteria through genetic modifications, and, in the short span of five years, prevent its population from dire consequences. What is there to learn from this? Well, whether or not this was a conscious decision on the part of the butterflies is anyone’s guess. However, a wealth of research indicates that humans can think for themselves. Despite this widely publicized fact, health information that seems obvious for some humans may not fall upon the conscious radar for all. This article is an opportunity for humans from all walks of life to reexamine what we each can do within the neat confines of our daily routine. The fuels of best intentions easily power this seemingly formidable task.

The human organism is facing a similar set of circumstances as our blue moon butterfly friends. Our nemesis is not the Wolbachia bacteria, au contraire my friends, our adversary is ourselves. Allow me explain: an entourage of opportunistic pathogenic factors can take advantage of our bodies when our immune defenses are down; the best indicating agents are: Staphylococcus and Streptococcus. Staphylococcus causes skin eruptions, like acne and festering wounds; streptococcus causes the infamous sore throat. What you might find surprising is that these bacteria normally coexist with us and inhabit the surfaces of our skin and mucus membranes, and only act in disparaging ways when our immunity is weakened. Our immunity can be weakened by a number of factors, however the number one reason is personal neglect. Yes, the true culprit for our health misfortunes is directly linked to poor decision-making skills as a human population! We must exercise our brains: common sense lies at the root of this small, but revolutionary movement in health care.

What can you do, you ask?

Make a commitment to reprioritize your day, where your needs and health are what is most important, and the pesky “need-to-do” items come next. It’s simple and it’s effective, and not only that, you will find that you have more than enough time to get the other things done, and save a little cash in the process. Compassion and patience for yourself is the key to success, small steps are best, and most significantly, don’t be hard o yourself as you begin the process of change. Always remember that there is no timeline, rather this is a process, an evolution of who you are and what you wish to become.

Here is the basic run-downon how to achieve optimum health:

If you have a total of 24 hours in a day, you can subdivide it accordingly, where the most important item occurs first, followed by the next important, and so on…. The first priority is sleep, then mealtimes averaging about an hour per meal for preparation and eating. Next comes “self time” and this is defined as anything that makes you feel whole. This could include reading, exercising, artwork, or chatting with friends. In essence, this period of time is what restores you as an individual human being, not a human doing. Lastly, the category “responsibilities” appears, and this includes job oriented items, the “need to-dos” to make ends meet financially and to meet your basic needs.

1. Unsure of how you actually spend your day? Take mental note; even write what you do throughout your day down into a journal, you will be surprised even after just one day! Despite that fact that we seem to be organized around time, we tend to be a very unproductive with allocating time for ourselves in order to truly take care of our bodies.

2. Slow down. Imagine a sloth doing Tai Chi, silly isn’t it. Now picture yourself moving throughout your day, do you find yourself unable to take a few minutes to simply sit and enjoy being human? Do you take the time to fully chew your food? Your breath is a great way to monitor this, where holding your breath denotes stress, and breathing deeply indicates relaxation. A higher awareness means less room for stress, more room for rest. The ability to move slowly means an awareness of self in your environment.

3. Eat well. Practice basic nutrition. Balanced eating is key, and doesn’t take rocket science to figure out, however adapting to a basic dietary regime may be difficult if you come from the boxed food generation. Start small and try to incorporate one vegetable and one fruit a day into your mealtimes. Your progress will start small but the ripple effect over time is extraordinary.

4. Sleep restfully. Sleeping is the time when the body repairs itself. Having trouble falling asleep? Try counting sheep. Or, for better results, practice taking 100 deep mindful belly breaths when you lie down for bed. This goes back to slowing down, refer to numero two.

5. Responsibilities? Yes, these details must be attended to, however, you can keep these in perspective. Remember, and there’s no need to be pushy, your health and wellbeing take priority. If this area does not allow room for numbers 2-4 listed above, an assessment of your life may need to take place.

Your quality of life is entirely up to you, and as you begin to reorganize, and maybe even encourage others to do the same, you’ll recognize a difference in your overall health.

Imagine what our world would be like if we all became mindful of these four basic areas in our life, and truly begin the process of reprioritizing. The obvious becomes most apparent: less stress, more patience and compassion for ourselves, and this in turn, means a healthy community at large. By assuming responsibility for our health, we can all help to alleviate personal suffering, reduce the economic hardships of health care costs, and harness a true potential for humans to coexist with even the most pesky of pathogenic agents. However, in order to successfully harness this uprising in health care, we each need to understand how we can easily ride the waves of change: by changing ourselves.

Be honest with yourself: what can you do to change your health?

-Kimberly Ann

In the great irony of the coming political season (i.e. the upcoming presidential campaign) will be involved in perhaps the most meaningful national discussion on health care we have yet witnessed. Already each candidate has a plan, each is attempting to use the language of universal coverage without actually meaning universal coverage. Each is trying to dance the tricky step of appeasing the public’s growing anger over our health care system and the tremendous power of the insurance companies, pharmaceuticals and the AMA. I don’t envy these politicians; the music is discordant, the beat hard to follow, the crowd raucous and unsympathetic.

In the end, health care reform will most likely be more about economics then medicine. On August 8th in the New York Times there was an article discussing this point. The article questions whether preventative medicine will in the end be cheaper then treating people after they have developed a disease. It is a good question, it is always good to question assumptions and it has been assumed that prevention is cheaper then treatment. However, the question leaves out the also important question, what is the cost of suffering?

However, Mr. Leonhardt, the article’s author, falls prey to the main pitfall in the current health care discussion - a failure of imagination. He attempts to answer his good question within the same model, the same mode of thinking that currently exists, and that is itself the source of the problem.Anything that happens within the current model will be expensive and benefit the industries’ that created the model. He uses the example of diabetes and says that for every one person potentially cured five will have to be “treated,” treatment here being some sort of prevention program. Mr. Leonhardt clearly imagines this all happening within the current model of patient visits to a clinic, the doctor as God, disseminating a 15-minute sermon on whatever, filling a script and see ya later. Next.

Research conducted in communities where diabetes is on the rise indicates that people don’t like these models (See researchers: Dr. Lynn Shinto ND, MPH and Dr. Kimberly Tippens ND, LAc ). They do not feel respected by their doctor and are thus less likely to listen to anything they have to say. They do not want drugs; they understand that lifestyle is essential to managing their health and potentially curing their disease. Lifestyle change is complex and requires a completely different approach. It requires doctors to meet people where they are, meet them for example in the grocery store where lifestyle change starts. It goes back to Michael Pollan’s most excellent question; “What should I eat?” For more information, see his NYT article “Unhappy Meals.”

Imagine treating diabetes in the grocery store where people buy food. The patient is looking to change their diet, armed with the American Diabetes recommended diet pamphlet (which may well be a fairly incomplete approach in and of itself) and wondering what to buy and how to make it. Now here is an opportunity for education. In our current system this is beneath the God-like doctor, removed in his or her pulpit of an office, well insulated by the bevy of receptionists, clerks and nurses. Of course, in this model education would be expensive and cumbersome.

The beginnings of this approach can be seen at a health food store chain in Portland, OR – New Seasons Market. There they hire nutritionists or Naturopathic Doctors to be on staff specifically to answer the “now what?” moment that occurs after a doctors visit when someone realizes they must make a change. This model has potential to revolutionize how we conceptualize health care.

Health care will become more cost effective through a tremendous imaginative effort and it is here where Mr. Leonhardt’s answer falls short, but a good question is a good beginning.