How do you decide which wellness method or medical treatment is for you? Most Westerns simply go to their doctor and do what he or she says, trusting that they have “all the answers.” Do you believe everything your doctor says? If not, do others tell you that you should?
We here in the US are conditioned to believe that Western medicine is “the best,” but says who? With so many “alternative” choices out there in the health,/medical/wellness world, it might be worthwhile to pause the Viagra and Lipitor commercials for a minute and compare the beliefs, diet principles, and health views of Eastern/holistic and Western approaches, so when a decision needs to be made, you can at least feel good that you’ve done your homework first. The key to comparing this information is knowing that you are jumping into a totally different paradigm when looking at non-western choices. If you keep trying to stick the round, western peg into the square, alternative hole, you’re wasting your time. So, crawl out of the box before you read on – it might save your life.

Comparing Belief Systems
There is quite a big gap between Eastern and Western thought with regard to healthcare, disease, and medicine. The Western belief system is based upon accumulating, qualifying, and analyzing data to find trends, norms, ranges, and averages. It is quite a good system if you are interested in isolated details, and that works for you.
It is also believed that a disease will usually grow worse unless medical treatment is applied. This assumption is actually more widely held by the patient than by the doctor. When a disease does heal naturally without intervention, it is thought of as exceptional, and labeled as “spontaneous remission.”
The Eastern philosophy is based on the perception that with everything in life including your health, there is one continuing stream of action rather than a series of generally unconnected events. Everything is in relationship with everything else, and an understanding of the cycles and processes of this “whole” is key to understanding and developing “treatments.”
We here in the West seem a bit selective when we look at this point of view. We buy it when we discuss “flu seasons,” or if we witness “a Chernobyl” with its massive radiation leak and the health crisis fallout it created, but we refuse to peek at any evidence that might link the radiation exposure of our precious cell phones to illness .
The Eastern thought about illness is that it can stem from physical, psychological, or spiritual events. Cures are affected by finding the underlying cause and correcting it – then the immune system takes over from there. The physical and non-physical are equally real and useful in creating health as much as they can cause an imbalance.

Comparing Diet Principles
One look at any food label and you get that the Western take on food is all about the presence of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. You’ll definitely know about the amount of cholesterol, calories, sugar, salt and artificial ingredients you are taking in (once again parts and data oriented.) Food input matters mostly in terms of quantity, i.e. too little or too much, but has largely an indirect consequence when compared to pathogenic or disease-causing elements or organisms.
In the East, however, who we are determines what is most beneficial for us to eat. Foods are selected on the basis of their correspondence with individual patterns, modified by the climate, season, and any acute illness you may have (back to big picture and wholeness again.) Food is a considered as a direct cause of proper or improper functioning of our bodies. Food quality, quantity, stored energy, taste, color, aroma, and texture also has psychological effects on overall health.

Comparing Views of Health
The basic premise or definition of health in the west is “lack of symptoms or discomfort.” It is generally believed that there is no imbalance if obvious and test-worthy symptoms are not present. (And if there are more complaints from the patient after testing, it may be considered psychosomatic behavior.) If an illness occurs (the test confirmed it,) a pathogen is looked for and a drug is prescribed. It is technical and scientific in its process.
The eastern approach places emphasis on prevention and the person’s personal energies. It is integrating, intuitive, and logical based upon the rational concepts of “yin and yang” which is the philosophy that forms the basis of all Oriental medicine and culture. Yin and yang describe how things function in relation to each other. They are terms that describe the process of change in the relative world and the rhythm of alternation between opposite tendencies. It is said that yin and yang are antagonistic, but nevertheless complementary, and establish balance between individual things that are themselves incomplete without the other half. Without dark, there is no discussion of light. Without the concept of hot, how can you describe cold?

From now on, I’d invite you to consider viewing Eastern and Western medicine from this perspective. From this vantage point, these two takes on health are no more “arch rivals” than night and day, hot and cold, or large and small. They are just at the opposite ends of one big “health conversation.”
I personally have had great results using both. For me, there’s nothing like western medicine when faced with a life-threatening trauma, (severe allergic reaction to a peanut!,) and there’s nothing like using traditional Chinese medicine or other alternative approaches for other ailments (like building up my immune system so I don’t have any more severe allergic reactions to peanuts!) Thanks to being open to “the flip side of western medicine,” I can now actually get away with eating a peanut without all the hospital and adrenaline shot hoopla. If I only considered or believed in the western part of the health conversation (“all you can do is avoid peanuts for life,” was all my doctor had to offer beyond the steroids and adrenaline) I wouldn’t be around to write this.

First of all, I want to remind people of something that I think many have forgotten: The body is an awesome self-healing mechanism! It’s mind-blowing! It upchucks poisons, sweats out toxins, works out splinters, and creates new skin to seal up punctures and cuts just to name a few.

And this fall, as kids go back to school, and workers crawl into their tightly-sealed office buildings to work through the winter, word has it that the swine flu virus is supposed to sweep over the land.

Now first of all, if you want to jump on that belief band wagon, be my guest, but I wouldn’t recommend it. If you’ve read anything by cellular biologist Bruce Lipton, you’d know that your physical cellular biology (ie; stress hormones, immune response, etc.) is significantly compromised by such stressful thoughts and beliefs. He believes that stress (mostly from gunky thinking) is the world’s number one killer, as it contributes to all diseases! I imagine his recommendation for de-stressing about the swine flue would start with a healthy dose of “Turn off the news coverage about it and other negative and stressful events!” but that’s strictly my opinion.

But stressful thoughts aside, I’m here to give you some great ways to help your body prepare for anything this winter has to fling at you, swine flu included. Because in case you are unaware of it, your body is CONSTANTLY defending itself against harmful agents all the stinkin’ time. It just does such a great job of it, you are usually unaware of it. You think you’ve managed to keep yourself germ-free until those unlucky moments when you think it betrayed you when you “get sick.” I’m here to defend it and say, it probably kept millions of other possible illness attacks at bay.

So, when you think of how good your body treats you, can you say you treat it as well back? It’s OK. I’ll wait while you put down that big gulp and convenient store chili dog to think…..

Alright, if you think there’s room for improvement, here’s my starting list:

1. Get enough sleep. And if you say you don’t have the time, I’d ask yourself, “Do you have time to go to the doctor or be sick?” Drop and give me seven and a half hours this winter (kids – go for more!)…then continue this plan anyway. It gets darker longer for a reason…get in touch with nature’s patterns and she won’t let you down.

2. Cut the crap. I’ll keep it simple. Whole foods keep you whole. Chemicals and preservatives in prepared and packaged “foods” and “drinks” will have you reaching for the chemical-filled medicine cabinet. Not good. Mother nature doesn’t approve.

3. Go Pro. Add probiotics (the good bacteria!) to your eating regimen to support your gut integrity. The better off your intestines are, the more it can fight off all the junky stuff you put through the system. Start now so you’re well prepared and running full steam ahead when you need it most. My suggestions is to NOT get them from yogurt or other dairy products as they create mucus and dampness in the body, which creates a great place for the bd bugs to live. (Check out a health food store if you don’t know where to get non-dairy probiotics.)

4. Choose vitamin A over anti-bacterial soap. Taking vitamin A daily strengthens the skin’s protective abilities and increases white blood cells that fight disease. Anti-bacterial soap is a type of pesticide…(which brings us back to #2′s chemical conversation.)

5. Start educating yourself on herbs like echinacea, codonopsis, crysanthemum, elderberries, astragalus, and homeopathic remedies that help get your body back in balance without chemicals. That way, if your body get a little behind on it’s duties, you know how to help it along.

6. Turn to the sun. Hey, we’re all in our little huts breathing artificially-heated air – we could use a little sunshine on our faces (vitamin D!) and fresh air in our lungs. No need to hang out all day, try for 15 minutes a day!

7. Keep exercising. Your body could use the movement to help it push out all those germs and toxins through a good sweat.

8. And if you do all this you still get sick, at least your body will have something to work with to get you back to health.

Remember, the band-aid doesn’t heal the wound, the body does. Your best bet is to treat your body well so it can return the favor. Now go turn off the news and go to bed.