DEFINITION OF NATUROPATHY

Naturopathy is a system of preventative and therapeutic medicine based on holistic principles. It comprises dietetics, fasting, hydrotherapy, soft tissue physical therapy, exercise, counseling, relaxation and rest in order to promote and maintain the body's inherent healing mechanisms.

It considers the physical, biochemical and psychological functions of the person as an individual within his or her environment. It seeks to promote the health of the individual and the community, and extends to the health of succeeding generations.

NATURE CURE VS MODERN SYSTEM

The modern medical system treats the symptoms and suppresses the disease but does little to ascertain the real cause. Toxic drugs which may suppress or relieve some ailments usually have harmful side-effects. Drugs usually hinder the self-healing efforts of the body and make recovery more difficult. According to the late Sir William Osler, an eminent physician and surgeon, when drugs are used, the patient has to recover twice - once from the illness, and once from the drug. Drugs cannot cure diseases; disease continues. It is only its pattern that changes. Drugs also produce dietary deficiencies by destroying nutrients, using them up, and preventing their absorption. Moreover, the toxicity they produce occurs at a time when the body is least capable of coping with it. The power to restore health thus lies not in drugs, but in nature.

The approach of modern system is more on combative lines after the disease has set in, whereas nature cure system lays greater emphasis on preventive method and adopts measures to attain and maintain health and prevent disease. The modern medical system treats each disease as a separate entity, requiring specific drug for its cure, whereas the nature cure system treats the organism as a  whole and seeks to restore harmony to the whole of the patient's being.

NATUROPATHY IN PRACTICE

Naturopathy endorses natural methods and rational diet to promote and sustain health. It upholds fundamental holistic doctrine and works logically together with osteopathy. Central to Holistic teaching is the belief that the body has the ability to heal itself through its own homeostatic mechanisms. This ability to heal and self repair is intimately related to the efficacy of the immunological system which the naturopath seeks to optimize.

Naturopathy addresses itself to wholeness seeing the individual as an entity sustained by the nature of the food it eats, the mental attitudes which govern its behaviour and the ability to adapt to the environment in which it finds itself. In any activity concerned with the individual, there will be individual environments involved - the smaller, personal, more deeply felt domestic, occupational and social environments which can and frequently do affect a person's health.

In the holistic model, imbalances caused by incorrect diet and environmental pollution are among the principal causes of poor health.

Naturopathy seeks to redress these imbalances through dietary and lifestyle advice. It is not an invasive regime, and, as a way of life, is a logical basis for health.