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This may seem super obvious to some of you out there, and I freely admit that I may appear “out there” to a collection of a few of you, too. But I’m just going to go for it, state what makes sense from a purely personal perspective, a point of view that has four years of undergraduate biological sciences, another five for medical school, plus an additional fifteen or so years of living consciously food-wise. Take it or leave it, I have nothing to gain from convincing you in either direction. Instead I get a cathartic release from all the times I experience frustration when I read about some fascinating dietary fad in the world of pop culture media. Be forewarned: this is a dietary diatribe. Digest the following information at your own risk.

A healthy and balanced diet has the potential to make a lot of things happen for those wishing to achieve all sorts of personal health goals. I will personally guarantee it for anyone out there who chooses to mindfully pursue health through the medium of food. When I say diet, I’m implying that the consummation of whole foods, unadulterated by processing or chemicals, is the optimum goal for ingesting. And I don’t need some fandangoed research study to understand the effects of a healthy, well-balanced diet, nor do I need to rely heavily upon my seasoned years of experience with health. In fact, my diet as a kid consisted of fast food specials, and I openly admit that I kept and discretely dined upon Halloween candy throughout the year (some of which was so well hidden that, much to the dismay of my mom, ants had a heyday before I recalled the sweet spots). I am what some would call a born again slow-foodie and proud of it. This is not meant to sound puritanical, far from it. I simply feel that the food facts are glaringly self-evident, and it doesn’t take rocket science to figure it out. If you wish to achieve health, you need to start with you and your diet.

I am absolutely flabbergasted that research is still debating the fresh food factor, despite all the thousands of years successfully living, growing, reproducing off of such unfounded habitual choices. Something needs to be said for all those hedonistic ideas that we adhered to, without question, without research, without some big-hitting renowned organization saying that they figured it out. Why can’t there be a world-wide proclamation that the foundation of health starts with you and the foods you choose to expose yourself to? In order for this to be a true reality as a society, we need to put our money where our mouths are. Let’s start by funding choices that:

Make wholesome foods both more affordable and widely available.

Emphasize foods produced at the local level in order to provide the freshest ingredients possible; this directly supports the community on multiple levels.

Support programs that educate consumers, from kids to adults, about how to prepare meals with whole foods.

Don’t get me wrong, I work for the Helfgott Research Institute, and I’m not against the pursuit of science, the pursuit of figuring out mechanistic actions of how all these various forms of foodstuff and herbal components interact and react with our body chemistry. Discovering the unknown pretty cool. I’m into it. The unknowns are where the foci need to be directed in order to meet the growing concerns with health care, not on the super blatant time-tested years of eating a well-balanced, nutritionally packed meal. Can’t we all just reach a point of understanding and admit that eating healthy can solve a lot of the health misfortunes that we suffer from today? AND support organizations that promote healthy eating habits in our communities? We’re wasting valuable time and energy on these silly debates that never amount to anything higher than a pile of beans on any side of these fad diet equations. Come on guys, let’s really start to impact health and delve deeply into the meat and potatoes of making this dream a reality.

Interested in knowing what you can do? Check out our blogroll, it’s loaded with good info! A great resource to check out first is: Health Taken Seriously

The following is a response to a commentary written by Randy Cohen of the New York Times about nurses using therapeutic touch. You can view the original annotation here.

Dear Ethicist—

In the December 2 New York Times, you suggest that nurses should not use therapeutic or healing touch on patients. You write “These nurses should not perform unproven therapies… To do so is to tell a kind of lie to patients.” What you perhaps don’t realize is that much of medicine lacks an evidence base. In fact, current estimates suggest that 40% of medicine has little or no evidence to support it. Yet these procedures are performed all of the time—and modern medicine would suffer without them. Would you like to tell the 25.6 million Americans with heart disease that they cannot have open heart surgery because no clinical trials have shown that it is effective when compared to placebo?

Secondly, you suggest that supplying facts is more important than the placebo effect. The reality is that while scientific studies try to minimize placebo effect, medicine aims to maximize it. When a patient wants to get well, does it truly matter if the therapy that helps them is a result of an externally applied biochemical reaction or an internal one? Furthermore, there is a substantial body of evidence that supports the placebo effect. So by your own standards, the placebo effect should be used in medicine.

– Heather Zwickey
Director of Research
Helfgott Research Institute

The weather here in Portland is crazy, flipping quickly from bitter cold to blueberry-blue sunshine all in the span of a few days. These climate fluctuations are not the best for our bodies, and can add little support to our immune systems, especially when we aren’t prepared. It is even more of a problem when you’ve already experienced a wintertime bug, and you cannot seem to shake it. To fortify your immune system, you can perform a few simple at-home measures.

For those of you that follow the Helfgottblog, you’re sure to recall that generalized advice will only provide part of a solution for your aliments. Specific personalized care is always your best option because you are unique and what your body requires to get better is equally as unique. You are encouraged to seek out professional medical help for serious and chronic conditions, these basic tools can help support your immune system and teach you to rely more upon preventative measures. Prevention is key, as is replenishing your resources so that you can effectively push out any invasive agent that causes your body harm.

Here’s another way to think about your health: picture yourself inside of an automobile. If you want to remain protected from the elements outside, you roll up your windows, right? And if the elements happen to be more of an intrusive agent, you might wish to lock your doors. Knowing when to roll up your windows and lock your doors is advantageous to you, so it makes sense to equip yourself with the simple knowledge of how to do so. Otherwise, you’ll end sopping wet in a rainstorm or without control over your car because someone else is at the driver’s wheel. Preventative medicine works much the same way. The automobile is analogous to your immune system: you gotta mind the small details like windows and locks, so that pathogens or disease cannot get into your body in the first place. Not taking the time to learn these protective details can keep your body vulnerable and susceptible to disease. And, not taking the initiative to protect your most valuable resource, your body, is nobody’s fault but your own. You are part of the process of maintaining your health.

Now, to take this car analogy a bit further, say you want to drive to some other destination… could be anywhere. The simple fact that you need gasoline to perform this action means that you gotta be prepared. Gasoline is the fuel that makes all the mechanical bits of your car operate. However, having an empty tank of gas is not useful to you, nor will it rescue you when you really need to get out of a situation that’s potentially harmful. Preventative medicine for your body works the same way. If you are too busy and neglect the details of balanced eating and adequate sleep, your resources are depleted, leaving you unprepared and vulnerable. Invasive and opportunistic diseases will take hold of your body and cause you to unnecessarily suffer. This certainly sounds like something you’d want to prevent, right?

Now, you pretty much already know how avoid the pitfalls of certain car troubles: you roll up your windows, lock your doors, and keep gasoline in the gas tank. You effectively learned this because you were rewarded when you planned ahead, evaded complications, and got to where you wanted to go without undue hassle. You also learned this because of those times when you forgot and ended up dealing with complications arising from neglect. It’s as simple as that: the basic laws of rewards and punishments. Why not take the initiative and be rewarded with being healthy and avoid being sick? It’s up to you, and the rewards will keep you heading in the right direction towards your optimum health.

Learn how to effectively protect and support your body! Performing any of these items will help to alleviate your symptoms of discomfort or prevent a bug from ever affecting your health. Remember to work along side a qualified health practitioner to individualize your treatments and make your path healthy and direct:

1. Rest. Decrease your work load and stress. This will allow your body to focus on fighting off infection. Even Web MD suggests these simple tasks.
2. Here are a few articles about the active components of echinacae and elderberry for the prevention of colds and flu. Echinacea or elderberry tea is a great daily tonic, providing valuable antioxidants and re-hydrating your body with warm soothing ingredients. You can find the tea that works best for you, this source will start you on the right track: Traditional Medicinal Teas. On their website you can also get more specific with your symptoms or the seasonal support you are looking for in combination with the teas that are offered. If you take a look at the ingredients, you can even begin to take the process a bit further and incorporate these foods into your diet.
3. Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford is a fabulous resource when you want to know more about your health and the foods you consume. It’s well-written and full of helpful suggestions. Before you know it, health concerns will be part of the past. Why? Knowing how to use foods as health tools, provides you with unlimited resources for your immune system.
4. Got a stuffy nose or a sinus infection? Try using a Neti pot. This low-cost device delivers a warm salty solution into your nasal cavities, effectively flushing out sticky phlegm. Cleared sinus cavities means less facial pressure and headaches, as well as a clean up solution after an infection.
5. Avoid foods that generally increase mucus or phlegm in the body: sugars, dairy products, refined flours, other known allergens for your body. And increase your intake of soups and broths filled with vegetables like onions, carrots, celery, and squash. Here’s a great article explaining the healing properties of soup.
6. Feeling the first signs of body aches or sore throat? Try the traditional “warming socks” treatment. It’s fast, easy, and inexpensive. Sounds kooky, but it really works…! Get the How-to here.
7. Homeopathic remedies are also helpful, especially if you take it before going on a long airplane flight. You can find most of these in the health food section of your supermarket, and if you don’t see it, ask for it! Need some convincing arguments for homeopathy? Try this comprehensive website talking about Oscillococcinum, the most commonly used flu remedy.
8. Continue to seek balance in your health and work consistently through small steps to achieve optimum health. Looking for a few pointers? Check out this guide.

Keep making those small incorporations of healthy concepts into your life. It’s like the automobile analogy, after a while you begin the learn from your mistakes, make modifications that support your health, not hinder it, and keep at it. That’s how you learn, that’s how you become an expert in your own health!

**** This response was inspired by a chance meeting with a wonderful individual, John Cruz, over at my local Washington Mutual. Here’s a special shout-out to John for his preserverance and personal persuits towards health for him and his family. Keep at it, and keep those questions coming, you are part of the revolution. Thanks again!

Another prominent face in Portland’s healthcare scene is Dr. Travis Elliot, ND. He’s got a good head on his shoulders, in fact, he was my TA for Clinical Physical Diagnosis lab class when I attended NCNM. So I know his expertise first-hand. Combining practicality with functionality, he is able to make health happen. And happen in a positive way.

Travis promotes his medicine through words, words spoken eloquently and with heart: a compassionate healer at its finest. He’s doing some great things out there, check out his website to learn more about his motto that begins:

“specializing in individualized and holistic treatment of chronic disease”

Yeah, I know, sounds like a perfect summation of the type of healthcare I desire for myself. Travis also has a blog, where he records his introspective views on the current state of affairs. Here are two that I would view if I were you:

“The Single Most Frustrating Thing About Alternative Medicine”, and

“In the World of Blogs, Artifical Websites are Cancer”

His outlooks are refreshing and integrative for our healthcare industry, like birds of a feather, let’s get it together folks, it’s worth it. It IS a win-win situation.

You know you want to click on it, go ahead, and feel proud that you’re curious about your health; it’s only natural: www.drtraviselliott.com

… then look no further. Right here in Portland, Oregon, we’re growing the greenest grassroots health care program this country has ever seen. As its namesake implies, Working Class Acupuncture offers treatments on a sliding scale, providing those on a tight budget with a means for keeping healthy, stating simply that “acupuncture shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg!” And to make the situation even greener, it’s getting national recognition, in magazines like Yes! and the popular Integrator Blog.

Yep. It’s about flippin’ time….

The individuals who formed this collective of acupuncturists have created a comfortable and effective way to help low-income individuals manage chronic and acute health concerns. In essence, Working Class Acupuncture has masterminded a successful marriage of business and health care: adequately treating the patient’s needs, paying its acupuncturists a decent wage, and reducing the burden of overall health care costs. And they make it seem easy, real easy.

Our crippling health care system could use a few pointers from Working Class Acupuncture; especially at a time when the health of our nation should be a top priority, not vaguely discussed from the bully pulpits of big businesses, touting that a universalized approach as its best solution. Glossed over solutions created in board rooms are not adequate assessments of our current situation, as each strategy from these locals are not local, but far removed from the sources of discomfort, pain, and suffering of our populace. The current state of disease and ever-increasing health care costs are more than enough a reason for a fresh perspective.

It’s so simple, so effective, so easy to have right in the comfort of your own community. Organize and make the changes you wish to see, it’s that easy!

“Start small, act with intention and impact, and create big waves in local communities! More power to the working class,” I say. More power to those individuals that choose to work outside the box digging up new designs for health care management. Kudos!