I was recently at a local Starbucks “doing work”. (If you’ve ever been to a Starbucks with me, you know that actually means people-watching and eavesdropping on conversations. Have you ever noticed people have the most interesting conversations at Starbucks? And a lot of the time, those conversations revolve around health and medicine – my FAVOURITE topics!)
Anyway, I was “doing work” at Starbucks, and just happened to overhear a conversation two women were having about one of the women’s recent health concerns. A health concern that her doctor was doing NOTHING to help with. Sound familiar? This woman’s friend recommended she go see a nutritionist or a Naturopathic Doctor. The response?
“I don’t believe in that kind of medicine”
Now here’s the thing. I am not the type of person to ever try to convince someone they need to see a Naturopathic Doctor. I don’t see the point in convincing someone to do something they don’t want to do – these people typically turn out to be the least compliant patients and will do everything they can to not give credit to naturopathic medicine for helping with their symptoms. If they don’t want to see a naturopathic doctor for one reason or another, that’s fine.
But medicine is not something you “believe in”. Naturopathic Medicine is not a “belief” system. (This goes both ways – it also irks me when someone says they don’t “believe” in conventional medicine either)
med·i·cineˈmedəsən/noun1. the science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease
Naturopathic Medicine has a HUGE focus on diet and lifestyle, with the addition of targeted nutraceuticals, botanicals, bio-identical hormones, and physical medicine.
The way I practice is largely evidence-based. There is nothing to believe in. It just is.
