Are you familiar with herbal supplements?
When you get sick, you go to the doctor. And the doctor will, of course, prescribe medicines. You will go and buy medicines. You take them, and hopefully, you get well.
This is how the health profession goes on nowadays – a cycle of diagnosis and prescription.
If anyone were to give you herbs for medicine, you would probably say that that person was a quack.
But nowadays, studies are being conducted to see if there are really is any merit to what is called natural medicine.
Natural medicine is the use of natural methods, herbal medicines, and traditional practices to heal ailments.
Every culture has a form of natural medicine. In ancient cultures, village medicine men served as the doctors of the community, passing on medical knowledge to the apprentices that followed them.
Many categories of the healing methods fall under natural medicine. Among these are traditional medicine, complementary medicine, and alternative medicine.
Usually, natural medicine refers to medical practices that were in place before the advent of modern medicine.
This includes herbal medicine, or phytotherapy, which is prevalent in Chinese, Ayurvedic(or Indian), and Greek medicine.
Upon the advent of modern medicine, many professionals discarded the use of herbs in favor of man-made medicine. The fact that these treatments are based on the healing properties of some herbs was forgotten.
For example, opium, digitalis, quinine, and aspirin all have their roots in traditional medicine.
Natural medicine can be considered as a lost art. This does not mean that it has lost efficacy over time.
In some cases, natural therapy is actually better than modern medicine. This leads some doctors to seriously consider and study the possible uses of natural medicine
Before we continue, it is important to stress that not all the natural remedies are legitimate. It would help to only try those remedies which have been thoroughly studied and are relatively risk-free.
Take herbal medicine for example. There are much well-documented and studied herbal remedies available.
However, only those that deal with minor ailments such as cough, colds, fever, skin rashes, and its ilk are likely to be recommended by health professionals.
These remedies are sometimes superior to synthetic medicine.
This is because herbal medicines are less likely to cause negative side effects.
Currently, there are numerous organizations that study the effects and advocacy of natural medicine – among which is herbal medicine.
Some governments and health agencies openly advocate the use of natural methods since they are inexpensive and relatively risk-free.
As their studies compile, more herbs and treatments are added to the list of accepted medicines. However, many herbs and treatments have been proven to be bogus medicine.
This represents a challenge for both the user and the agencies because they have to ascertain that the treatments they either use or advocate are legitimate.
There exist today many alternative medical treatments that fall under natural medicine.
However, not all of them have been proven to be effective.
You could mention homeopathy, aromatherapy, acupuncture, and other alternative medical treatments. It would pay to consult the experts as to the legitimacy of these treatments.
Natural medicine should also be thought of as an accompanying medicine. Right now, the current collective medical thought suggests that it be used only to supplement accepted modern medical practices.
In that case of minor ailments your expert we actually advise you to take natural therapies instead.
The practice of modern medicine revolves around diagnosing an illness and prescribing treatments for such.
Natural medicine is helpful because it suggests that treatment is not necessarily given only when sick.
It strives to make each patient practice good health habits. These habits include a good diet, healthy living, and the regular natural treatment.
It is this same line of thought that leads our parents to tell us to eat our vegetables. Yes, a healthy lifestyle and will do no harm to our well-being.
And this is the foundation of natural medicine – may it be massage, herbal medicine, aromatherapy or others.
It is funny but true that science, in its quest for excellence, is studying the knowledge of sages past.
This, surprisingly, leads us back to the remedies nature offers. The possibilities of finding remedies to everyday illnesses in natural medicine are encouraging.
Staying tuned to studying these remedies is worthwhile until we can verify that these therapies are truly helpful to our health and our society.
Natural Supplements – Help Your Body
Vitamins and mineral supplements are a good way to supply your body with nutrients that you might not be getting from your diet.
Go down any vitamin aisle in a drugstore, market, or health food store. The first thing you will see is all the ‘natural’ supplements and vitamin complex tablets that all claim to provide all kinds of benefits.
There are supplements that claim to help you lose weight without exercise. Does it sound too good to be true? It is. You have to burn more calories than you consume and exercise will help you accomplish that but I digress.
If you are considering adding supplements to your diet have a discussion with your doctor will help to determine whether or not adding supplements would be beneficial for you or not.
Are vitamins necessary for optimum health? Most people, if they eat a healthy diet, do not need them. Most vitamins are fine and are not harmful.
If someone does not eat a healthy diet or because of illness has a limited diet a vitamin supplement could be very helpful.
Fruits and vegetables have important vitamins in them and should not be eliminated from a diet unless a doctor orders it. In this case a supplement would almost be necessary. Your body needs vitamins to keep it functioning.
Most people think that vitamins are a source of energy that is not the case. Vitamins help regulate the body’s metabolism.
Vitamins also help the food we eat to release its energy. It’s the food that when absorbed and broken down into the nutrients the body can use that provides our body with energy.
The body more easily absorbs calcium if you are also taking Vitamin D. Most calcium supplements are already fortified with vitamin D. There are thirteen vitamins that are all important to achieve optimum health. Vitamins E and C contain antioxidants.
Antioxidants help to release free radicals, which are high-energy particles. These high-energy particles damage healthy blood cells. Studies are now coming out that indicate that the consumption of vitamins and supplements may aid in fighting cancer and preventing other chronic diseases.
The research is by no means conclusive in this regard. Studies continue to be conducted in an effort to provide us with the ultimate health.
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. An excess amount of vitamins in your system could cause bleeding, negative interactions with some prescription medications.
Listed below are some vitamins and how overdoses can affect you.
Vitamin A – Too much vitamin A can cause neurological problems
Vitamin D – Too much vitamin D disrupts the balance of calcium in the body that can lead to calcium deposits in the soft tissues of the body.
Vitamin C – Too much vitamin C can lessen the effectiveness of other medications.
Vitamin E – Too much vitamin E can cause blood not to clot and can cause other bleeding issues.
Vitamins are just one tool among many that are available to us to help us get healthy and remain healthy. Vitamins alone will not do this. A healthy diet, exercise, and regular health checkups will do this.
You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to get some exercise in. I also take vitamins and other supplements to help my body work better.
There are a variety of opinions about vitamins, supplements, and healthy eating. Vitamins are generally fine unless they are fortified with iron. The effectiveness of vitamins with iron is often hotly debated.
Too much iron can cause iron overload and it doesn’t get ‘washed’ out of the blood as efficiently if at all. There is a disease called Hemochromatosis, which is fatal, as it attacks liver function.
It can be controlled and there must be liver function tests done among other things. The controversy continues to reign.
You have complete control in this area. Do your research because there are a great number of websites that provides information on supplements and how they work.
You should sit down with your physician and discuss your options. S/he may suggest you meet with a nutrition specialist as well. Get smart and be healthy.
A little knowledge is a very good thing and in the case of vitamins the more you know how they work and how they could be harmful, the safer and healthier you will be.
Trust your instincts, know your body, and get help if you need it. Good eating, good exercise plenty of water and common sense will help you to meet your goal of good health.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Herbal supplements utilize nature’s gift to help sustain your health and well-being.
- With the proper regimen, they may help alleviate the need for them.
- Natural medicine is the use of natural methods, herbal medicines, and traditional practices to heal ailments.
- The natural ingredients in herbal supplements can also work to help prevent disease or promote recovery.
- Every culture has a form of natural medicine.
- Many categories of the healing methods fall under natural medicine.
- It is important to stress that not all the natural remedies are legitimate.
- There exist today many alternative medical treatments that fall under natural medicine.
- Natural medicine should also be thought of as an accompanying medicine.
- Natural medicine is helpful because it suggests that treatment is not necessarily given only when sick.
TAKEAWAY QUESTIONS
– Are you familiar with herbal supplements?
– Have you tried taking some herbal medicines?
– If so, what is your experience on taking them?
– Would you consider trying some herbal medicines?
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