Holistic, alternative medicines get a good wrap

By: Gordon Jackson/Special to the NNPA

Posted: 10/7/07

DALLAS (NNPA) - Thea Walker tried everything. But nothing helped to relieve her from the continuous pain and discomfort she was suffering due to her extreme allergies. She was constantly on inhalers, even taking steroid shots, constantly pouring money into those and other medicines for her additional health issues.

That was seven years ago. "I'm suffering about 80 percent less," she said. "I'm taking no more allergy shots." What Walker did was make a change in her lifestyle. She started eating more fresh food and drinking more juices and water. She deleted dairy products, fast food and salt from her diet.

Walker started practicing a concept based on alternative health and holistic living. That also meant taking vitamins and herbs. It's nothing new; in fact it's older than today's modern pharmaceutical-based medicine. Alternative and holistic medicine has become a bright awakening for many people who were previously suffering chronically from constant sickness and chronic pains.

"They have been out there for a long time, if you're looking for it," Walker said. "It's been a true benefit that has spurred my interest. My health is so much better."

Among the herbs and vitamins Walker started taking on a regular basis were:

1. Astragalus, which boosts the immune system. It's been used to upgrade poor conditions of the heart, liver disease, and kidney and added resistance from burns, abscess infections, chronic colds and flues, fatigue, even AIDS;

2. Cayenne pepper, a spice made from the pods of chili peppers that's high in Vitamins A, C, B complex, calcium and potassium. It's known as an effective healing aid for the digestive system and the heart and circulatory system. It can rebuild tissue linings in the stomach and intestines.

3. Echinacea made from the purple cornflower, like astragalus, protects and boosts the immune system, helping fight colds, flus and infections. It also helps regenerate skin and battle herpes and candida (yeast infections).

4. Elderberry, extracted from elder flowers, can help make foods like pancake batter when grounded up. The flower can be used to make tea or a mild wine. Rich in nutrients, they strengthen the stomach.

"The nice thing about them is they're natural," said Walker, whose change for the better has inspired her to talk to other people about alternative health.

Through the City Temple Seventh Day Adventist Church, she is conducting alternative health sessions during spiritual seminars held at the Janie Turner Recreation Center in Pleasant Grove. She teaches her students about the eight building blocks to positive preventive health: nutrition, exercise, water intake, sunlight, temperance, air, restoration and Trust in Divine Power.

"Eighty-five percent of all diseases are due to lifestyles," she said. "I've met so many people suffering who think they're stuck with it. No, you don't have to be stuck."

Not everybody is a fan of holistic health methods, however. For years there has been a strained relationship between this field and the standard medical industry, with both sides throwing barbs at each other.

Holistic practitioners say traditional doctors charge exuberant fees to only treat the symptoms and that the medicine industry is highly commercialized through high-priced pharmaceutical products.

Traditionalists from the medical community say that most herbs and vitamins have not been tested and proven effective by the Food and Drug Administration and some products do not produce the nutritional benefits they claim. True enough, under the 1994 Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act, nutritional supplements do not have to be tested for safety or effectiveness before going on the market.

Richard Gerber, author of Vibrational Medicine, says in SpaceandMotion.com, ''I think there is an unspoken bias that exists not only in the medical community, but also in the research community. I know people who have approached various research societies and foundations asking for grant money to study the use of a very effective energy medicine modality. The goal of medicine should be to heal illness, not to promote one system over another, especially if the one system is reaching its limitation."