Naturopathy

Naturopathy is the philosophy that the more we live in harmony with Nature and our own true Nature, then the happier and healthier we will be. Disease occurs because of the dis-ease in our lives.

Naturopathy aims to teach you to have ..

1. A healthy diet – we are what we eat!
2. A healthy way of life.
3. Awareness of stress, emotional issues and the link between body and mind.
4. The importance of honouring oneself. I.e. Living a life that is harmonious with your personality. For instance right work, right work-life balance, right relationships etc..
5. Avoidance of toxins – pollutants, radiation, food additives etc

The way I incorporate this into my work is to treat every person individually and look at;

• Lifestyle i.e. your occupation, your family life, your exercise, your hobbies, your favourite forms of entertainment, your relationships  etc.
• Your diet. There is great confusion in our culture about food. To my way of thinking we should;
  • A. Eat food as close to Nature as possible – i.e. fresh fruit and vegetables, well reared meat and fish, nuts, seeds, oils, honey, whole grains- brown rice, wholewheat or spelt, millet, bulgar, quinoa etc , lentils, pulses, chick peas, beans etc.
    Personally I believe dairy products are really meant for calves! Better to use goat ‘s, sheep ‘s ,almond, oat, rice or coconut milk and products. I am not a fan of soya milk because the soya industry is  mainly genetically modified and we are really not sure whether this means it is in keeping with the human system.
  • B. Avoidance of toxic foods – i.e. foods that are processed, sugars, foods grown with high levels of chemicals. To be honest when you look too much into the state of the food industry you realise it is very difficult to purchase food that is not interfered with in some way. It can become very stressful in itself if we become too focused on the purity of our food. My advice is to follow A. as much as possible, and to keep your body healthy enough to cope with a degree of toxicity.
  • C. Listen to your body. The more you do so the more your own instinct tells you what foods are good for you.
  • D. Rather than take supplements try to eat foods rich in anything you may be deficient in.
  • E. Drink enough water
  • F. Avoid too much animal fat. However, on the whole, fish oils are very good for us, as are many of the nut/seed/ coconut/ olive oils
  • G. Alcohol and caffeine in moderation.
  • H. Eat in response to appetite. Listen again to what YOUR body needs rather than the latest article.
• Educate – illness is our friend trying to help us hear our distress!
  Have faith in your body’s ability to heal itself. Often when we get a cough, a cold, a flu, a headache it is our body’s way of telling us something. It may be we are just overdoing it, not eating well, not drinking enough, spending too many hours a day staring at a screen etc. Rather than suppress the symptoms with a  painkiller, best to adjust something in your lifestyle. See symptoms as warning lights on a car – time to slow down , check the oil etc.. Also when you listen to your body and respond in a kind way you will see that your body heals itself without any outside intervention.
  This applies even with more serious illness which often occurs to encourage you to make some serious life changes so that you can  live  in a way that is much more in keeping with the person you are.