The information contained on this page is intended to give you an idea of what I do and what you may have to do. Getting healthier will require some effort from both of us, but you get to do most of the work. Your relationship with good health is like any other relationship. It takes a concerted effort, and a great deal of compromise, in order to make it work well. If you are in search of “optimal” health, the effort and compromises are even greater. For me, the benefits of good or optimal health are well worth the effort. If you feel the same way, let me help you find the path. A short list of “optimal health” benefits includes:
- Rarely, if ever, missing work or play because of a cold, the flu, or other similar illness;
- Having lots of energy without the need for caffeine or other harmful drugs or stimulants;
- Having no trouble falling asleep or waking up in the morning;
- Having a positive attitude and outlook (yes, your health can greatly affect your emotions);
- Knowing that if you get hurt, you will heal very quickly; and
- Looking forward to a long healthy life without the major road blocks of degenerative diseases getting in your way.
A more complete list of benefits could easily fill this entire page.
The vast majority of Americans eat a “Standard American Diet” (SAD), and experience “average” health. They get a few colds every year and maybe the flu every two or three years. They need coffee in the morning (and sometimes, at other times of the day as well) in order to “get going.” They often feel more tired after a meal and frequently experience bloating, indigestion, or heartburn. They regularly get headaches or migraines and may have been getting them for so many years that they think a few headaches a week or a month is normal. Headaches are a symptom and are not normal. Many people have as much trouble falling asleep as they do waking up in the morning. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. There is even a good chance that you are a part of the picture. THIS IS NOT GOOD HEALTH! This is average health at best, and to me, average health is simply not acceptable. The fact is that most Americans are not in good health.
My role is to educate. Only you can make the changes necessary in order to improve your health. I cannot eat for you, nor can I give you a willpower pill to help you change your diet. The exercises that I do will not help your body. I can, however, make available to you a great deal of information. I can examine your diet and your lifestyle and then explain to you what is good, what is bad, and what is missing. We can go over nutritional, herbal, and homeopathic supplements so that you can understand exactly what they do and how they may be able to help aid your body and its amazing abilities to help you get healthier.
Let us use a headache as an example. A physician, which I am not, may prescribe a pain killer for a headache. The fact that there are many possible underlying causes for the headache is not usually addressed. The physician feels that his or her purpose is generally to eliminate your pain, not necessarily to find and eliminate its cause. In Naturopathic, Homeopathic, Nutritional, and Holistic Therapies, we do things differently. We look at a headache, for example, as a symptom or messenger of an underlying problem. To simply give a pain killer results in suppressing the symptom and, therefore, is similar to shooting the messenger just because he is bringing painful news. We prefer to listen to the messenger and try to heal the body so that it will stop sending that painful message. Remember, symptoms NEVER appear for no reason. Just as cancer is not caused by a deficiency of radiation or chemo-therapy, no headache, pain, or other illness has ever been caused by a deficiency of pain killers or other drugs. It is necessary to eliminate causes so that the body may regain its “homeostasis,” and begin to heal itself. If the cause of a symptom is removed, then the symptom goes away naturally, as the body heals without the need to be medicated or suppressed. One of my homeopathy teachers once said, “If symptoms return when a medication is discontinued, then the medication probably was not moving the body in the direction of healing. It was probably simply suppressing the symptoms.” Obviously, this is a very simplified description.
As another example, let us look at a house that is thoroughly infested with termites. After many years, the termites have successfully destroyed the structural integrity of the wood throughout our sample house. The floor joists are weakened, the roof beams are getting ready to break, and some of the walls would collapse in even a minor earthquake. A very overweight friend comes to visit, and as he walks up the three steps leading to your front door, a termite-weakened step gives way. You had no idea about the termite problem until this weakest link showed itself. Repairing the single broken step is like treating or medicating a symptom. You have done nothing to eliminate the problem, and the house is still being attacked and broken down from within. If the problem itself is not addressed, then it will simply show up as a different symptom at a new location. This situation is quite similar to what happens as symptoms develop in our bodies.
In Europe, treating the body naturally, bolstering the immune system, addressing diet and lifestyle, and using homeopathic, herbal, and nutritional remedies rather than toxic drugs is often referred to as Biological Medicine. Many experts in the field of Biological Medicine believe that degenerative diseases, such as cancer, can be the result of a lifetime filled with the suppression of symptoms. They feel that the problems which remain uncorrected, get pushed deeper and deeper into our bodies without ever being helped, until they finally surface as a major degenerative illness.
Just as it took years for termites to destroy the inner structure of our sample house, it may take years, or even decades, to cause major degenerative diseases. Things like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, environmental illness, and many others did not occur overnight. You must not expect your body to be able to eliminate these diseases and heal itself in just a few weeks or months, no matter how good your health care professional may be. Many people who turn to “holistic” treatments have been able to help their bodies heal from diseases that doctors have given up on. Quite a number of books have been written by terminal Cancer patients (some of whom are physicians) who succeeded in healing themselves after the medical profession had given up and sent them home to die. This healing process takes diligence, hard work, a great deal of will power, and a real commitment. Many times, it is too difficult, too expensive, or too time consuming for someone to make all the changes that may be necessary. Other times, there simply is not enough time left for the body to begin the long road back to health.
At this point, I would like to say something about traditional verses non-traditional healing practices. First, I am not against doctors. If I were to break a bone, for instance, I would rush in immediately to let a surgeon do his or her best to save that area of my body. I do, however, have a problem with doctors who will prescribe antibiotics for viral diseases such as a cold or the flu. Doctors are taught that antibiotics have no ability to fight viral infections. Studies have shown that the over-prescribing of antibiotics has caused increased resistance to these drugs and greatly reduced their effectiveness. Many doctors perform certain surgical procedures or prescribe certain medications, which their own studies have shown to be unnecessary, ineffective, or detrimental. I, on the other hand, cannot prescribe that you take a certain totally non-harmful vitamin, herb, or homeopathic remedy in order to get well. Prescribing is actually a legal term and is reserved for state-licensed physicians. My job is to educate you, and I do so with information based on the latest scientific knowledge and research. When you understand an illness, and what its many causes may be, you will be better able to help your body eliminate the problem and thereby begin to heal itself. A physician may tell you that vitamin and mineral supplements are a waste of money even though numerous excellent studies have shown otherwise. In the next sentence, he/she may prescribe a cholesterol lowering drug or maybe an anti-depressant, both of which have long lists of side effects.
Many health practitioners feel that it is not possible to mix alternative and traditional health modalities. This is absolutely untrue. This question clearly needs to be addressed. Too many practitioners in all fields of health and medicine think that their modality is the best one. Each one feels that anyone who tries an approach different from theirs is looking in the wrong direction. It is patently obvious that they are not correct. If four different health care practitioners were to tell you that their procedure or treatment is the best for your problem, what does that really tell you? Either one of them is correct, or all of them are wrong. There are no other alternatives. Possibly, a combination of some of their therapies might be best for you. My own crystal ball has never worked properly, so I do not understand how so many professionals can be so absolutely certain that their knowledge and treatment protocols are the right ones for everyone. There are few absolutes in this world. If nothing else, my extensive study of the healing arts and sciences has shown me that a closed-minded or all-knowing practitioner can be his or her clients’ or patients’ worst enemy. The statement, “those vitamins, herbs, diets, or homeopathic remedies are a waste of time and money,” is a dangerous attitude. An open-minded statement by someone who has not thoroughly researched a particular healing modality might be, “I have not studied the non-traditional therapies which you are asking me about, so I cannot really tell you much about them,” or “I don’t really know a lot about non-traditional therapies, but most of them seem to be harmless, so you probably have nothing to lose by trying some of them.” A specific example is in the case of cancer. If a person chooses to go the traditional route of radiation, chemo-therapy, and surgery, it does not mean that we cannot also add in supportive therapies. The diet, as well as supplemental nutrients, can be very important to help the body fight the cancer. Certain homeopathic and gemmotherapeutic (special glycerine- based plant and flower extracts) products will not interfere with, but can greatly enhance the ability of the healthy cells to fight off the damaging effects of, radiation and chemo-therapy. They can also be very helpful to the body as it fights various other ailments. I feel, however, that it is extremely important for you to ask your doctor for the statistics regarding the treatment being prescribed and read them for yourself. I have seen many cases where a particular treatment of chemotherapy or radiation has been shown not to increase life or health but is used anyway. In those cases where this is true, the patients experienced nausea, hair loss, etc. simply because their doctor did not know what else to do. “There is nothing else we can do” is not a satisfactory reason for using a very harmful therapy that studies show does not work and causes detrimental side effects. When the doctor looks up a few studies for you, he is liable to learn that the treatments prescribed have never been shown to extend life. Shrinking a tumor, without extending life, is useless. Investigate your alternatives. Have an open mind. Never believe that anyone has all of the answers no matter how forceful or influential they may sound. Just because a professional relates something to you as though it is a fact does not mean that it is one. If you would like the titles of some exceptional books which will open your eyes to the fascinating world of health, disease, money, and politics, please let me know.
In closing, I would like to remind you that good health requires correct information and putting that information to use. Health does not come from simply taking vitamins or herbs while continuing an otherwise unhealthy lifestyle. Those people who come to me simply trying to substitute a nutritional pill for a pharmaceutical pill, I would rather not have as clients. If you are tired of the long journey through “dis-ease” and average “un-health,” you must be prepared for the journey toward good or optimal health. The longer the first journey has been, the longer the second journey may be. The rewards of good health, however, are too numerous to list and might very possibly change your entire life.
Always remember that there is no such thing as “preventive medicine” for that is called health. Prevention can never involve finding an illness sooner, it can only mean preventing it from occurring at all.
Vitamin D, Vitamin A and cod liver oil are all in the news quite often these days and I expect this to continue. In the 20 years I have been in practice, I continually find that what people say, hear and read, often do not agree with the real world results I get with my own patients and students. I keep up with the current research and have communicated with Dr. Cannell and others on the D research council both in person and by phone & email many times. It is extremely clear to me from the beneficial results that I continue to achieve that the following are true:
- Almost everyone needs supplemental vitamin D3 due to insufficient direct exposure to adequate sunlight on adequate skin area as well as a number of other reasons and variables. Some of these include skin color, poor absorption, longitude and latitude of exposure (where you live), greater need by the body due to health conditions which use up a lot of vitamin D, the use of ANY sun screens, as these completely stop the body’s D production, etc.
- t is not possible to estimate or guess how much D3 a person’s body uses each day or needs in the form of supplementation and so this MUST therefore be tested and retested three to five times while D3 supplements are being adjusted so as to determine each persons daily requirements. Personally I bring my patients 25 (OH) vitamin D3 levels to between 60 and 100 ng/ml. Canada uses a different measurement system so these numbers only apply in the United States.
- Almost everyone is also deficient in vitamin A (which IS NOT beta carotene) due to their not consuming adequate liver from animals, poultry or fish on a monthly or weekly basis and so I also make certain that adults (all doses are partly body weight dependant) get a daily dose at least 8,000 -10,000iu of true vitamin A when all food and supplement sources have been added up. Too much A can be harmful, but this amount does not even remotely come close to a quantity which would be too much for an adult. In addition, since our bodies use up plenty of vitamin A each day to help our immune and other systems operate properly, it is usually being used up so fast that it will not accumulate. The same is true for vitamin D
- No matter how many times I experiment with other sources and brands of Omega 3 fats, I continually get the best results in 95% of my patients with Carlson’s® lemon flavored cod liver oil liquid, dosed at approximately 1 measuring teaspoon for each 40 to 60 pounds of body weight per day. SO the average 120-180 pound adult gets 1 measuring tablespoon (which equals 3 teaspoons)
- Measuring spoons MUST be used since there is WAY too much variation in the capacity of standard teaspoons and tablespoons.
- Everyone must always have adequate vitamin E complex in order to be certain that these fats are protected as they travel around the body to all of our cells. I have always recommended one capsule of the brand Unique E® for each 60 to 80 pounds of body weight. I have not found any other vitamin E product which is even close to as good as Unique E®
To your good health and happiness,
David J. Getoff
Naturopath and Board-Certified Clinical Nutritionist
