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As
our lives become increasingly focused on computer technology,
our health is crying out for a return to nature, and a return
to the earth's natural energy and food. We spend more time sitting
at a computer and less time exercising, more time watching the
hundreds of channels on television and less time reading enriching
literature, we dedicate more hours to the office than we do to
our families.
We are
convinced that with all the technological advances in conventional
medicine that we will live longer than our grandparents did, but
the truth is that our lives will be shorter if we continue to live
at such a fast pace. Without the proper nutrition and improvements
to our quality of living we will die without having ever truly lived.
When
I get a headache I turn to magnetic energy for relief, when I get
cold symptoms I take natural nutritional supplements and when I
need a diversion from stress I do yoga. A year ago I would have
taken conventional medication for all three, but today I am a student
of natural alternatives. And yet at the same time I spend my days
typing away at a computer, surfing the Internet and doing most of
my correspondence via email. I trust my communication to technology
but not my health.
Walk
down the aisles of any drugstore and it is quite evident that alternative
therapies are a booming industry. Shelves of natural vitamins, minerals
and herbs have taken over where aspirins, cold relief pills and
muscle relaxers once were. Herbal teas can be found at your local
Starbucks. Health food stores are now popular. The North American
lifestyle of cheeseburgers, potato chips and coffee is gradually
being infiltrated by Asian influences, including green tea, tofu
and sea vegetables. Eating a vegetarian diet is considered cool
in some areas of the country and more people are familiar with macrobiotics.
Chiropractors, naturopaths and reflexologists are no longer considered
practitioners of voodoo.
“Let
food be your medicine, and let medicine be your food.”—Hippocrates,
400BC
More
and more we are turning to preventive measures to ensure a healthy
body. We understand the necessity of eating the proper foods. It
is widely documented that the fruits and vegetables in the grocery
store are genetically enhanced to look more appealing. Consequently
these foods have been stripped of their nutrients to less than half
of what they were twenty-five years ago. No matter how well you
eat it is impossible to get the adequate levels of vitamins recognized
by science. We have sacrificed healthy eating for aesthetically
pleasing food. Technology gives and it takes away, as the saying
goes.
Times
are changing. In Canada the number of deaths resulting from properly
prescribed medication rank as the fourth highest, next to heart
attacks, strokes and cancer. By no means am I implying that we stop
visiting our family doctor. I am suggesting that we put too much
blind trust in conventional medicine. What if there is an alternative
to radiation and chemotherapy cancer treatment, would you want to
know about it? What if it was a natural product that exists in nature
not designed in a lab, has little side effects and is proven to
be effective, would you be interested? Patients are frustrated with
the results of conventional treatment. Turning to the nature around
us for solutions and cures to fight diseases is now an accepted
alternative.
Our
lives appear like two polarities, one clings to nature and its beneficial
life giving breaths of fresh air and the other needs technology
for functioning in everyday society. Perhaps we are trying to cling
to our existence, our humanness. Our daily lives, traveling in cyberspace,
are in need of a wholesome, real anchor to hold onto. This emerging
use of natural, alternative foods and therapies is the bridge connecting
our health to our lives.
Will
this re-establishment of the Earth's natural products conflict with
our lives in cyberspace? Absolutely not. In fact technology and
natural alternatives compliment each other. We need technology to
produce our vitamin pills, and create natural water-filtering systems
to improve our quality of water. Research is needed to inform us
as to what vitamin is beneficial for specific areas of the body.
Within
ten years it is predicted that, in North America alone, $800 billion
will be spent on preventive, alternative, natural health care. That
is an increase of thirty percent more than we presently spend. We
have a long way to go, and an enormous amount to learn to be a healthy
society.
You
can begin by drinking the 36 glasses of water required to flush
your body of the next Coca-Cola you drink.
Copyright
© 2000 Juli Strader. All Rights Reserved.
Juli Strader is a student of healthy living. She takes nutritional
supplements, sleeps on a magnetic mattress and practices yoga.
If you are curious about an alternative cancer treatment please
contact her: jstrader@magma.ca
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