Naturopathic medicine is all about prevention and optimizing health as opposed to palliating / suppressing your immune function or health to achieve the desired outcome of a symptom.

What this means is if you had a cold (generally you shouldn’t if you were seeing a naturopathic doctor), but if you did, your naturopath would focus on strengthening your immune function as opposed to giving you various that would suppress the general reaction of the body.

They would also give natural remedies, such as homeopathic remedies or natural botanicals that would help alleviate your symptoms relatively quickly. Talking from personal experience, the recovery time is much shorter when you treat your body with natural remedies when it comes to colds and coughs, especially if you have been keeping your body healthy.

How does one stay positive naturally?

Quite often due to natural or external factors, we go through times when we feel very low, sad or depressed. If you are one of those people and find it hard to stay positive or focused, talk to your naturopath, who will ideally investigate what is causing this sadness or depression. They can test you for chemical / neurotransmitter imbalance, nutrient deficiencies and hormonal imbalances that could be responsible for your mood imbalance and then treat you with natural remedies, which do not cause the undesired side effects that antidepressants and mood enhancers would.

And the chances of reoccurrence are greatly reduced because you have treated the root of the problem, as opposed to just ignoring the root and putting a band-aid on the problem. Naturopathic medicine can also give you tools to manage your stress and stay positive.

By: Sushma Shah, Naturopathic Doctor, at the Nature’s Intentions Naturopathic Clinic.