Welcome back to Active Life Health Clinic's June newsletter.
What is the future of healthcare in Canada?
Are we moving forward with integrating the best of conventional medical
practices with those of complementary and alternative healthcare?
After learning and experiencing so much by lecturing and attending the
Body Heals conference put on by the Association of Complementary and Integrative Physicians of BC (ACIPBC) at the end of last month, I’m hopeful. Read on and tell me what you think.
On the other hand, do you know what Health Canada is currently doing
that may end up limiting your natural health product choices?
Read on to learn more about it and write to your MP if you want to keep
your health freedom.
I love this quote:
"New ideas are first ridiculed, then violently opposed, then accepted as obvious truth."
I
just listened to the CD "The Biology of Belief" by Bruce Lipton.
You'll want to listen to it again and again, or buy the book instead
and highlight your favourite sections: My bookstore.
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The Body Heals Conference at the end of May was, for me, an inspiration that I hope to share with all of you. |
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Is
your model of healthcare being protected by the Canadian government?
If you agree with me that it is not, then now is the time to take
action. |
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Helping you help yourself!
My goal:
To work in partnership with you to bring you to
your optimal health.
My focus:
Ongoing health, not just temporary relief.
This is active health.
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Standing on the Shoulders of Greatness
Rather
than take credit for the things that these brilliant people spoke of, I
thought I would summarize what I learned from each of the major
speakers at the Body Heals Conference. Dr. Warren Bell, as
president of the ACIPBC, introduced the conference. Dr. David
Suzuki was inspirational in his reminder that we are connected to our
environment, both locally and globally. Dr. Candace Pert
enlightened with her wish for love-based rather than fear-based
medicine. And Dr. Norman Shealy showed us that we can change the
way that we approach health.
Dr. Warren Bell—Time to Level the Field
Feeling that his role as healer is restricted by the current medical
model, Dr. Bell spoke of the need to use all the tools that we have to
improve our health. He described an interesting 15 year-long
study of the wellness of schizophrenic patients. Of those who
reported "prolonged periods of wellness", 40% were not using
pharmaceuticals compared to only 5% of those using drugs. He and
his group are striving toward a levelling of the health care field that
allows for complementary and alternative health care options that would
be accessible to a larger group of people.
Surprisingly, Dr. Bell talked about how "bad patients" (i.e. those
patients who don't just do what their physicians say, but are involved
in controlling their own health) live longer than "good" (i.e.
compliant and non-questioning) patients. He recognized a need to
have patients involved in their own health care.
And, by saying that we need to return to the 4 pillars of
health—physical activity, proper nutrition, critical thinking,
and a healthy ecosystem—he stressed that prevention should have
equal weight as therapy treatments.
Dr. David Suzuki—Bringing Eco Back Home
A captivating speaker, I will definitely have more to write about his talks, but for now I will summarize him very briefly.
Too often we are told that economy is what drives the world. The
word economy comes from the Greek words "oikos", meaning "home", and
"nomos", meaning "custom and law". Ecology is the study of "home"
or environment. Don't you think it's time to put the
"eco"—home—back into economics? Remember, we are our
environment. Everything we do makes difference, whether for good
or for bad. For ideas of what you can do, check out Dr. Suzuki's
website at www.davidsuzuki.org/NatureChallenge.
Dr. Candace Pert—Molecules of Emotion and Health
Dr. Pert comes across as one of those brilliant people with so much to
say in too little time. She covered many topics, including
research on how inflammatory chemicals in the body actually increase
with the emotion of rage; how as humans our large frontal cortex allows
us to decide what we pay attention to; and how anytime that we put
something into our bodies that is not one of the components that our
bodies are naturally composed of (i.e. water, carbohydrates, fats,
proteins, and minerals), our bodies stash those substances (e.g.
aspartame, MSG, etc.) in fat and also try to get rid of them because
they are foreign substances.
What I found most standout in her talks was a very simple concept and
truth. Every single drug, both pharmaceutical and recreational,
has an effect on us only because we have receptors on our cells to
accept those chemicals. That means that whatever response that a
drug can elicit, your body has natural self-produced substances that
have the same effects.
She also spoke of her desire to have "love-based" rather than "fear-based" medicine.
Dr. Norman Shealy—A New Old Medical Model
Dr. Shealy is an energetic story-teller who told the audience about his
journey from being a traditionally trained neurosurgeon who never
thought he'd be a proponent of any form of mind medicine to an adamant
supporter for the integration of mind-body-spirit medicine.
Take Control of Your Health Care Rights
I have recently been told of some disturbing changes attempted by
Health Canada in fees and regulations on natural health products in
Canada. In 2004, Health Canada began the regulatory process of
natural health products under the heading of Natural Health Products
Directorate. Health Canada states that the purpose is to
“ensure that all Canadians have ready access to natural health
products that are safe, effective and of high quality, while respecting
freedom of choice and philosophical and cultural
diversity.” The manufacturing industry must submit, with
appropriate fee, each product that they intend to sell with information
on its proposed use, a list of ingredients, potency, source, proof that
it does indeed contain what it is said to contain and does not contain
any items that are toxic or dangerous, and research on the use of each
ingredient in the product. That sounds fair enough, so
what’s the problem?
The problem is that bit by bit, like “death by a thousand cuts”,
Health Canada is making this process a real challenge for natural
health product manufacturers. With a recent proposal to implement
an additional "Cost Recovery" fee of $3610 for each product with multi-ingredients, $1810 for
single ingredients, and $920 for each product every year after, many
small- and medium-sized manufacturers would not be able to afford to
continue making the products upon which many of us rely. It is
because of this that manufacturers, retailers, practitioners, media,
and consumers and now assembling to form a new group to protect our
rights to the natural health products that keep us healthy.
Do you want to make sure that you don’t see unaffordable increases in price for your natural health products? Do you want to ensure that those products are not taken away from Canadians (remember
that many natural health products are made in the U.S. or other
countries who may decide that the Canadian market is not worth the cost
and effort)? Then write to your MP
to say what it is that you want from the Canadian government to protect
your health rights. For more information, read these
articles on Common Ground: http://commonground.ca/iss/0705190/cg190_health.shtml
And to take action…here is a
sample letter that you can modify and mail to your MP.
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