Natural Health Care

One of the main goals that I have for this web site is to encourage our readers to learn how to be their own best doctors.

Please don't misunderstand me; I think that there are some wonderfully caring and competent doctors in our world.

But there are also many doctors who don't have each of their patients' best interests at or even near the top of their list of priorities.

According to researchers at the Childrens Hospital Boston, surgery used to remove breast cancers can sometimes promote the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) that can contribute to metastatic cancer development later on. This hypothesis is congruent with the tendency for younger women who develop breast cancer to experience early recurrences of their cancers.

Researchers looked at data from 1,200 women who had surgery to remove breast cancers. They found that the two most common periods for recurrence was at 18 months and five years post-surgery. They also found that 20 percent of premenopausal women with breast cancer whose cancer had spread to their lymph nodes experienced recurrence within 10 months of surgery to remove their primary breast cancer tumours.

A joint analysis performed by researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, the University of California at Davis, the University of California at San Francisco, and the University of Pittsburgh indicates that most women at high risk for developing breast cancer do not experience an increase in life expectancy by taking the drug, tamoxifen.

A study published in the July 5th, 2006 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that taking the maximum recommended dose of Tylenol (acetaminophen) for fourteen consecutive days can cause acute liver damage.

I was onced asked to do an interview with a focus on what overworked and overstressed corporate executives could do to stay healthy. After giving it some thought, I decided that it would be best not to go forth with the interview, because I felt that it would send the wrong message; namely, that a person can experience his or her best health by following a few pointers on diet and lifestyle despite abusing their bodies with a hectic schedule.

Families are often so busy that they can’t seem to find the time to eat dinner together. If you are a parent to young children or adolescents the current research suggests you may want to make the time to sit down and share meals.

A study published in this month's Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that psychotherapy sessions can be more effective for treating insomnia than a sleeping drug called zopiclone, sold under the commercial name, Imovane.

For sedentary individuals who want to start exercising, but don’t know where to start, the very idea of the strenuous physical exertion involved in the currently popular fitness programs is probably enough to send them straight back to the couch. If the thought of huffing, puffing, pumping, extreme-stretching, and grimacing your way through a workout makes you want to retreat to the safety of your reclining armchair with a relaxing cup of tea and a jelly doughnut, then tai chi may be the exercise answer for you.

From Our Mailbag:

Dear Dr. Kim,

I have been receiving your weekly newsletter for several months now and would like to ask you for some advice on choosing a career in the natural health field. I can't decide between chiropractic, naturopathy, traditional medicine, and oriental medicine.

I know you are busy, but if possible, could you share your thoughts on what you would choose if you were to do it all over again?

Exposure to household toxins is linked to just about every disease that we know of, most notably cancer. Numerous animal studies have linked many of the more than 24,000 toxins that exist in our environment to negative health effects on the following systems: