Here’s the scoop: guardians of the medical mainstream have long viewed alternative medicine with scepticism. Today, those days are gone and for good reason. Alternative health therapies and foods have become a multi-billion dollar industry, sweeping across the world (the Middle East included) like chariots of fire. But, does that mean to say alternative treatments actually work? Well, yes and no. With many governments around the world currently funding in-depth studies, conventional science is expanding its knowledge in this sphere, and the results are surprising: many alternative therapies, but not all, do work to a certain extent.
Acupuncture, meditation, biofeedback and nutritional supplements are among the many treatments that presently enjoy scientific backing and have passed the litmus test of scrupulous medical inquiry. So it’s no longer a tall story to use these alternative health methods to revitalise and refresh your appearance and get your ‘chi’, or energy, flowing. What was once thought of as mumbo-jumbo, has now been confirmed by many as capable of helping you enjoy a higher quality of life through surprisingly simple and pain-free techniques. But why this sudden interest in what was once termed, “bad medicine”?
Well, for starters, 21st century ‘evidence-based’ medicine is, of course, infinitely more efficient in curing diseases but is utterly primitive when it comes to preventing them. In this information age, alternative medicine becomes even more attractive when we consider the profiteering of big pharmaceuticals that embark on shadowy strategies to sell us expensive drugs to manage our illnesses rather than making a moral effort to produce drugs that keep us healthy. That’s why alternative health has flourished. But, herein lies another danger: medical quackery.
Unscrupulous charlatans, or modern-day ‘Snake Oil Salesmen’, have jumped on the bandwagon of a lucrative alternative health industry to sell ‘cures’ using the Internet and other up-to-date marketing ploys. In other words, these people threaten the good name of alternative medicine and also threaten people’s health and wallets.
If something smells fishy when it comes to claims made for an alternative health product, then it’s usually the case especially if you find the following buzz words to describe the medial treatments such as “secret”, “secret formula”, “proven”, “miracle”, “breakthrough”, “works overnight”, and “thousands of people cured”. Claims become even more ludicrous when quacks swear they are fighting against a pharmaceutical industry conspiracy that is unwilling to acknowledge their new and revolutionary treatments. Amid all this confusion, conflicting studies and shams, what’s the best solution to maintain a healthy life that does not resort in bowing before a miracle pills or succumbing to either genetic engineering or plastic surgery?
Simply, it comes down to what our parents and trusted health practitioners have been telling us for years, albeit with a few modern insights thrown in for this century: learn how to effectively cope with stress through mediation or relaxation methods; eat a healthy and balanced diet; drink lots of water; take omega-3 fats such as fish oil capsules; absorb just the right amount of sunlight to keep vitamin D levels optimised; get your antioxidants from foods and supplements (as your doctor about Coenzyme Q10 for example); get plenty of exercise; avoid taking unnecessary pharmaceutical drugs. Armed with all this new knowledge, we should al toast to your newfound good health.
