Natural Ways To Treat Common Diseases
24 Mar 2008
Years ago a speaker abruptly stopped his talk. He said, "I know you’re bored with this topic and I’m bored, so let’s quit and we’ll all go out and have beer". This is how I felt writing this column and nearly tossed it in the basket several times. I know it’s boring to tell you to exercise and lose pounds if you’re overweight. Why bother to write about things you already know, so why don’t we all go out and have a beer? Because so many people are taking pills when these two changes in lifestyle can help to prevent and treat several common problems.
Today there’s good reason to be concerned about the depressing economic news. However, at the moment, no one to my knowledge has jumped off buildings. But if you’re worried about investments a report from The Harvard Medical School says a program of strenuous exercise results in a 50 percent decrease in depressive symptoms. This is the same amount of relief that occurs when patients take antidepressant medicine or receive psychotherapy.
Researchers believe that physical activity may boost the growth of brain cells or improve the connections between them. There’s also the camaraderie of exercising with others and having your brain focusing on something else other than your problems. So isn’t it worthwhile giving these measures a try before reaching for potentially dangerous drugs?
Arthritis is another common malady that plagues many people. Losing weight won’t cure the arthritic joint. But studies show that losing just 5.7 percent of body weight can have a beneficial effect on pain and increase mobility. In my book "The Healthy Barmaid" I mention how exercise helps to pump nutrients into painful joints and helps to ease pain.
A padded heel also decreases the force of the foot striking the ground with each step by 50 percent. For a painful knee a brace and exercise to strengthen the quadriceps muscle in the upper leg can also relieve the joint of painful pressure. These measures may not relieve all the pain, but they should help to decrease the amount of medication and possibly circumvent surgery.
The first thought that enters the minds of both patients and doctors when hypertension is diagnosed is often a pill. But for mild increases in blood pressure exercise, losing weight, salt reduction and changes in diet can be effective. Just losing two pounds can result in a decrease in blood pressure.
Try decreasing the amount of saturated fats and sugar. Then add whole grains, low fat dairy products, fish, nuts potassium. Increasing the amount of calcium, potassium and magnesium is a powerful combination to fight hypertension. A banana provides potassium and magnesium pill 500 milligrams twice a day will relax rigid blood vessels.
Above all other things realize that exercise and weight loss is the prime way to fight the epidemic of obesity and diabetes. I’ve stressed this point so much for years that right now you may be reaching for a beer. But as the French philosopher remarked to his students, "All this has been said before, but it must be repeated because no one listened". If people had listened and health authorities taken more action we would not have the present epidemic of diabetes.
Remember well-toned muscles are more receptive to insulin that removes excess sugar from the blood stream. Exercise and weight reduction can not only prevent diabetes, but also reverse the need to take insulin.
I also see an increasing number of patients who are taking drugs to decrease the effects of osteoporosis (weakened bones). But many cases of this disease can be reduced by regular exercise, calcium and vitamin D. There’s no greater proof that exercise works than to see what happens to someone who loses an arm. An X-ray several years later shows that the bones of the other arm have had a major increase in size without any medication.
So there you have it, making a choice between a change in lifestyle or the troublesome side effects of drugs. However, that’s enough said for now so let’s all of us go out and have a beer.
