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Cause & Effect is NOT Holistic

Almost everyone has learned to "heal" (fix the symptoms) their and their pet's body using the Western medical paradigm. The main allopathic medicine principle is Cause & Effect: introduce a substance into the body to cause an effect. For example, if a blood value is too high, one takes the blue pill to decrease it. If the same blood value is too low, one takes the red pill to cause it to increase. In treating just the symptoms, we have learned to use Product D for digestive disorders, Product E to enhance the eyes, Product I to boost the immune system, etc. This is clearly the product doing the work ("healing"). But does this Western medicine principle of Cause & Effect work for truly holistic products? Here is an example showing the fallacy in using this allopathic medicine principle to evaluate truly "wholistic" products.

Suppose one introduces new Product A to the body and an infection breaks out shortly thereafter. One stops taking Product A and instead takes a drug to make the infection go away. After the infection clears up one restarts taking Product A and the infection comes back. Nothing else has changed: food, water, isolated supplements, snacks (or treats if for a pet). Using the Western allopathic medical principle of Cause & Effect, one might logically conclude Product A is causing the infection. Fortunately, we have never seen any of our whole food products "cause" an infection, any more than oranges or salmon can cause an infection (unless the product had unknown contamination). Here are some possible scenarios to explain why the infection came back:

1. The drug that was taken to eradicate the infection did not fully work and a longer course or stronger potency is needed.

2. The drug was not correctly matched to the bacterial (fungal or parasitic) infection, so a different  one must be prescribed.

3. Even though the body had no apparent symptoms, it was nutritionally depleted and the glands and organs, especially in the immune system, were not functioning at 100%. Many people assume if the body exhibits no symptoms, it is perfectly healthy.

4. Taking Product A balanced all the glands and organs, thus normalizing the immune system where the body was now strong enough to fight the hidden infection, when it was not before.

One of the most common misperceptions is to judge a truly "wholistic" product (not a drug or isolated supplement) by the body's first reaction. This is clearly assuming the product is doing the work or making the changes. But this same allopathic medicine principle does not work when evaluating our truly "wholistic" products. Here is another example.

Suppose you got a cold/flu and your naturopathic doctor told you to take either a high potency Vitamin C supplement (5-10,000 mg daily) or eat many oranges (or do both). Since oranges are cheaper and a whole food product, you decide to eat 20 oranges the first day and got diarrhea. What happened?

1. Did your doctor give you bad advice?

2. Did you overdose on Vitamin C from the oranges?

3. Were the oranges contaminated with bacteria causing the diarrhea or are you allergic to oranges?

Here is our holistic perspective:

1. The naturopathic doctor gave very good advice. The high dose of Vitamin C should immediately help the body fight the infection by increasing the supply of this very necessary nutrient for the immune system. The whole food oranges will supply a minimal amount of Vitamin C (60-70 mg per orange) but more importantly will supply the complementary nutrients of zinc, selenium, Vitamin E, rutin, bioflavonoids, etc. Nature dictated is necessary for the Vitamin C to work optimally in our bodies. Both can be taken simultaneously because they complement each other.

2. One cannot overdose on Vitamin C from 20 oranges since an average orange contains only 60-70 mg of Vitamin C each: this only supplies 1,400 mg of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). This is far less than the average bowel tolerance of 10-20,000 mg per day for a healthy person. A sick body can tolerate double that amount.

3. While it is possible a bacterial infection came from eating raw oranges, it is unlikely if one took the normal food handling precautions of washing the oranges first and using clean utensils in preparing and eating them. It is also highly unlikely that one suddenly developed an allergy to oranges.

A more likely cause of the diarrhea is the body is not accustomed to eating so much fresh fruit, with a high water and fiber content daily. So, it is this rapid delivery that caused the diarrhea not the product, as in allopathic thinking. If one were to gradually build up to eating 20 oranges daily, the body would probably not have diarrhea. The cause of the diarrhea is, therefore, not related to the effects of the oranges (whole food product) but to the accelerated introduction to this new whole food to the diet.

So, what is the answer to the above scenario of recurring infections after Product A is taken? We suggest the following "wholistic" actions:

1. Take more of whole food Product A to nourish and balance ALL the glands and organs. A normalize endocrine and immune system maybe all the body needs to alleviate the recurring infection.

2. Evaluate the diet to make sure fresh, wholesome, whole food products are being eaten rather than a diet with white flour, sugar-laden, chemically preserved, processed foods. Avoid all gluten and dairy products until the infection clears up. For a pet, this would mean serving a species-appropriate diet. This includes eliminating nutritionally deficient dry kibble food. Did you know dry kibble is a holistically suspected cause of Chronic Renal Failure (CRF), diabetes and stones and UTI's in pets?

3. Look for other hidden sources of the infection and ways to balance the immune system permanently, so drugs are not needed for the symptoms. Maybe better hygiene habits are needed in the winter.