By Alden Smith
Modern man is no longer in tune with nature. We now live in a technological society, surrounded by our computers, cellphones, and video games. Life has moved from the agricultural arena to the city, and rolling fields of grass and verdant forests are now replaced with concrete and steel.We rape and pillage the earth in our insatiable appetite for fossil fuels and consumable products. The rain forests, which have the capacity to produce many cures for modern man through their trees and plants, are being deforested to the tune of one and a half acres per second. What used to cover six percent of the earth now only covers four.
Man has become adept at living longer, and in doing so has created even more problems for himself. No modern pharmaceutical or procedure can stop the aging process - but can only prolong it. We are all given our fourscore and ten, and that is one thing that cannot be changed. All we can do is prolong the agony.
Man, in his search for wellness and longevity, now overlooks the most basic, primal things that are right in front of his face. One has to just turn on the television to be assaulted by the large pharmaceuticals with a cure for everything from constipation to cholesterol. Toxic fillers and non-drug related substances fill our medicines, and yet we ingest them at an alarming rate. Doctors in the United States, with a real fear of litigation, throw more chemicals at us than we ever need. It is time for man to take control of this, and begin to return to nature's more gentle and safer methods.
We are plagued by a lifestyle that is no longer conducive to good health. Many of us no longer perform physical labor that burns calories, like our fathers and grandfathers had to do. Instead people today sit behind a desk in a cubicle lacking sunlight and fresh air. We tend to eat cookies and potato chips to relieve stress at our jobs. Hardly a boardroom meeting goes by with out the customary donuts and cookies. A treat at work is the obligatory pizza.
Exercise is considered blase - people who are into physical fitness are sometimes looked upon as some kind of cult followers, dancing around a treadmill instead of around a fire in a forest glade. We make fun of people who are conscious of their diet. Living to excess is no longer the exception, but the norm. Many times in the course of my work I see extremes in both directions - people either too thin, or people much too obese. There is no middle ground. Society dictates this to us - from the pages of Vogue and Cosmopolitan, to the in-your-face advertising of McDonald's and Burger King.
Naturopathy is defined by Wikipedia as "a school of medical philosophy and practice that seeks to improve health and treat disease chiefly by assisting the body's innate capacity to recover from illness and injury." There is a growing movement across the country to help man rediscover what many older people have known all along - that the best cures are found in nature.
Naturopathy has been given bad press by the FDA, mainly because of regulation and unproven theories. (Remember, the FDA is the ones that brought you Vioxx and the Ortho-Evra patch!) Yet one must remember that alternative medicines have been around for centuries longer than modern medicine and the drugs they push on the unsuspecting public. Chinese herbalists, whose history goes back thousands of years, are beginning to gain real public attention for what they are able to accomplish with their centuries old medications. Naturopathists and homeopathists are beginning to gain in both stature and authority in the medical community. Acupuncture is no longer considered to be Oriental mumbo-jumbo.
Man must once more take control of his life. We must listen to nature, control diet and intake of harmful chemicals and medicines, and take responsibility for our own wellness. We must take the time to exercise and be fit. It may only mean walking the dog, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator, but it must be done if we as a species are to survive. Mother Nature will not put up with us forever.
Alden Smith is an award winning author and regular contributor to DoItYourself.com. He writes on a variety of subjects, and excels in research.
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