Captain Save a Holistic H*e
I did not want to approach this piece with the deep emotions that I have for it, but yes, it really does anger me when people discredit or discourage Eastern Medicine which is commonly known as “holistic healing.” I understand that people tend to have a negative viewpoint on things they do not understand. I also understand how to present new information to some people without scolding them. You catch more flies with honey, right? At the end of this piece I will list off some of the science based benefits of honey. Now why would I do that? If you skip all the way to the bottom and read the facts about honey, at least you came away with some helpful, possibly new knowledge that’ll show you that not all things natural are useless. If you don’t skip ahead you’ll be introduced to a whole lot of science backed evidence that’ll at the very least aid you in some way even if your thoughts on “natural medicine” do not change. The truth is the truth regardless of how many people believe in it or not. Your life, your body, your choice. All I ask of you is to give me and others the same freedom.
I think it is important to start off by saying I don’t hate Western Medicine. I will never disrespect the technological advances humans have made to make life healthier and longer. It’s a wonderful thing that I can take a pill and drink some water to get rid of a migraine. In the case of Sexual Transmitted Diseases/infections I think Western Medicine has the upper hand and is your safest bet in curing/treating yourself in that regard. You should know that not everything taught in medical school is solving problems with a pill. Why do you think eating right and proper physical movement/exercise is often recommended by doctors before prescribing a pill? Despite how you personally feel about vitamin rich food and working out, it is universally accepted that a diet that includes “good foods” and appropriate physical movement is the best method to improve health of both humans and animals. This fact holds weight because for centuries science continues to prove this to be true, not because of a development in the Western Hemisphere. A 2012 MERA-Analysis examined how acupuncture fared when treating people with chronic physical pain https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1357513.
Mental Health & Holistic Measures
Does therapy ring a bell for anyone? How about journaling? Therapy is another widely accepted “natural” method society collectively accepts as a viable method in treating many mental health problems because of science and personal experiences many have with therapy. For all of the insomniacs out there I hope this pleases you to read that therapy, insomnia therapy to be exact can not only cure your insomnia but it can lower your chances of sicknesses like the common cold or flu. Lack of sleep exacerbates these illnesses and more, but you probably already knew that from experience. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2363024. C.B.T-I is a mental treatment for insomnia (no pills involved). Several clinical trials showed that C.B.T-I provided better relief for insomnia than prescription drugs.
Why You Mad?
What makes me mad about the denial of “alternative medicine” is the overall willful ignorance and the underlining racism that comes with it. You want a Western approach to your health problems, cool. Like I said before your life, your body, your choice. Can you honestly say your mentality is the same? People who believe in or practice “natural medicine” are belittled and berated for choosing a more holistic approach or shamed for showing even the slightest interest in learning about it. A confident person doesn’t become belligerent when met with opposing views. The louder you are does not mean the more correct you are and that is why I did not want this piece to be aggressive in tone. Now whether you still think my demeanor or this piece is “aggressive,” that is on you, but I assure you there’s no hostility on this end. As funny as “fuck you, you pill popping zombie! Good luck trying to cure your gout without damaging your kidneys!” sounds to a dark comic fan such as myself, I doubt you’d be as open to hearing me out if I started off that way. I’m not sure I will get people to change positions or re-think their negative views of holistic healing I’m putting the information out there and not hurting hearts within the process.
Then there’s the racist element that upsets me more than people simply trashing holistic medicine out of ignorance. Whether you want to believe it or admit it, you’ve said out loud or thought something was “witch craft” or “black magic” and often times when you or someone else made that claim it was a derogatory term aimed at someone from an ethnic group practicing their culture’s medical measure. “Trust the science” was one o the terms highly publicized in 2020 and it is a phrase that I agree with. My issue with those who constantly say “believe in the science” are really saying “believe in the man. If white scientist say it’s good, then it is good.” They take on the same mindset whenever a European scientist says something is bad. White men in white lab coats do not have a monopoly on science. Neither do white men not dressed in white lab coats. No one has monopoly on science. May I remind you that it was white scientist who said marijuana was a gateway to scientifically proven harder drugs. Weed was once “scientifically proven” to be the worst thing on God’s not so green earth. Weed was once more harmful than cigarettes and that’s not because of the quality of it, it was because racist scientist and politicians wanted to come up with more ways to abuse the Black Community and other ethnic minority groups that were growing during the 1960s and 70s. Do you still think we should mindlessly listen to the science? How about the scientist who experimented on Jewish people and Black Americans? “Science” once said black women don’t feel physical pain and black people in general were only 33% human. This “science” was used to treat people inhumanely and people who thought “trust the science” didn’t question these tactics because “science” is always truth. Your experiences as a black woman proves you should not be harmed because you do experience pain, your experience as a Jewish person is enough to prove that you deserve to live and your experience as a weed smoker is enough evidence to prove that it is not a gateway drug to harder drugs. Experience is the best teacher. I bring up experience because your personal experience was enough for you to make a judgement and decision. No white man in a lab coat taught you what you learned through experience, unless that experience is actually science based, and even then, you can learn about science from a scientist who isn’t white or a male. Experience is everything. Take the likes of Lou Dong and Tao Chi Kai. Different in their own respected ways, both gentlemen are famous for their ability to heal physical and mental pain through their work with giving massages and they are both big proponents for natural healing although they are not against Western medicine. Lou Dong claims to have this special ability to heal and treat people through what he calls “online treatment,” others call it “computer magic” or “a hoax.” Lou Dong has treated over 20,000 people, hundreds of them to my knowledge were people he treated over a computer screen. I’ve seen plenty of his videos. I’ve only seen two videos of individuals in a Skype call with Lou and vocalizing that his “computer magic” is legit and is working.
Video evidence #1 https://youtu.be/9XtM5Mn0Ezo.
Video evidence #2 https://youtu.be/4lTkVe3qgPo.
One of the common themes people receiving these online treatments from Lou say is they feel a sudden warm feeling throughout their body, especially the area that is being massaged. I haven’t gotten a massage from either of these men, so my experience as a viewer does not matter, but the experiences of over 20,000 people do. 20,000 people saying something is true should at the very least be seriously looked into. Take this number and mindset and apply it to other forms of natural medicine and people who were treated or healed by it. Experiences matter. Just because Europeans haven’t found a way to monetize some holistic measures doesn’t mean all of it is a hoax. Listen to the science. Believe in the science, no doubt but just like everything else, science can be politicized. Science has been used to fool people into viewing certain groups as inferior, science has been used to make a profit at the cost of human lives.
Alternatives
- Butterbur is plant extract that’s been found in medical studies to be as effect as any antihistamine when treating allergic rhinitis and it doesn’t have the side effects a lot of medical drugs have (no liver damage to treat your bad allergies).
- Peppermint Oil can be used to relieve symptoms of IBS (Irritable Bowl Syndrome.
- Ashwagandha reduces cortisol levels, boost testosterone and increase fertility in men. It also improves brain function.
Aligned with Alkaline
A few years ago at a family function I overheard my father talking about a few of his co-workers giving him a hard time because he choses to buy alkaline water to have with his meal during their lunch breaks instead of ‘regular water.” My initial thoughts were 1) Find the guys who made fun of my dad and 2) These “he-men” were morons. Whether you’re someone who believes in holistic healing or not you should be drinking water, period. The type of water doesn’t matter. Not to turn this section into a “regular water VS. alkaline water” debate but there’s pros and cons to alkaline water I feel are important to mention. here’s an article you can read yourself and see the wonders of alkaline water. Continue reading my personal take to see the cons. https://veryhealthy.life/10-alkaline-water-benefits-didnt-know/?utm_source=%2Balkaline%20%2Bwater%20%2Bbenefits&utm_medium=10AlkalineWaterBenefitsYouDidnotKnow&utm_campaign=adw_us. Personally speaking here, alkaline water is great, but it is also greatly overhyped. Alkaline is very pricey. My local Shaws Super Market sells Alkaline water $6.00 a gallon. That same store sells a gallon of Natural Spring water for $1.00 each. The corner store in my neighborhood sells spring water for $1.25 a gallon. The article above states that alkaline water is better at detoxing the body and balancing pH levels, but drink enough “regular water” and you’ll get the same detoxifying result for significantly less than half the cost of a gallon of alkaline water. You might get recommend alkaline water if your pH levels aren’t where they should be, but you can load up on leafy greens (green vegetables in general) and pair that with efficient regular water consumption and get the same result. My short answer is to just drink water. What I personally do is boil my tap water and drink about 36 fluid ounces a day, sometimes more. Again, didn’t want to make this a “water fight.” I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the investments you might make in the future and to combat any accusations of me having a “regular water” biased, I think alkaline water taste better, is smoother and is easier to digest. “Water doesn’t have a taste or isn’t supposed to have a taste” you might say, but as stated before, experiences matter. Your experience with water might be tasteless, but mine haven’t always been. As a child, that was my take on it, but as I got older, like lot of adults now, we grew an appreciation for water and with that appreciation came a developed palate for it. I’m boiling my tap water now and drinking it (not when it is boiling hot) because that is the feasible/financially sound decision I’ve made for myself. When I had money, I bought water all the time. 80% of my water purchases were regular spring water purchases because it was cheaper, but I am a fan of alkaline water because of the taste and consistency. I’ll take a buy one get one free deal at my local grocery store of alkaline water any day before buying 6 gallons of spring water because I love drinking alkaline water that much. The health benefits are of course a plus, but I can achieve those same goals drinking spring water and even boiled/filtered tap water. JUST DRINK WATER!
Cover Me in Honey
I hope this piece convinced you to do your own research on “alternative remedies.” If you skipped all the way here you still have time to read the entire piece but the choice is yours. As promised here are scientifically proven benefits of honey.
- Antibacterial and antiseptic. Has properties that an fight off bacteria and germs.
- You can literally lick your wounds by covering them with honey. Don’t actually do it because that’s nasty, but covering burns with honey aids in the healing process and helps repair the skin with its antibacterial ability, honey can keep wounds from getting infected.
- For those who preach “trust science,” the World Health Organization highly recommends people use honey as one of the best remedies to treat a cough. Other medication may come with a side effect, honey, like other natural remedies does not come with any side effects.
- Replacing sugar with a natural sweetener like honey is a good way to lower triglycerides and avoid heart disease. This works especially for those who are at high-risk for diabetes and even those who are diabetic.
- Honey improves the immune system. Honey is full of antioxidants. Antioxidants fight off radicals and when radicals are free they can cause health issues, especially cancer. Introducing honey to your body could protect you and your body from cancer. #FuckCaner.
- Lowers blood pressure. Self explanatory to me but to put it simply your chance of heart disease and other illnesses increase when your blood pressure is high. Intaking honey along with other heathy measures lowers your blood pressure this lowering your chances of getting sick in other ways.
- Reduces the chance of having a stroke. High blood pressure creates clots in your blood. Clots restrict the blood flow through your body which cause strokes to occur.
- Lowers BAD cholesterol while increasing the amount of GOOD cholesterol. Before doing research I thought all cholesterol was bad. I didn’t know there was a difference between the two. The difference isn’t hard to decipher at all. Too much or too little of it is bad cholesterol and the the right amount is good cholesterol.
- Fat loss by replacing sugar with honey.
- Those who like to look beautiful like myself, honey does wonders for your skin even when you’re not using it to tend to a wound. Honey promotes healthy skin as it combats physical and emotion tension the body might being going through.
- Hopefully the insomniacs are up reading this fact right here (not up too late) because this is another one for them. If you want to see the first bit of “free game” I gave them, read the rest of the article prior to this section. Honey mixed with some decaf tea earlier on in the day can help make sleeping at night easier for you. My research said you can add honey to a warm glass of milk and get the same result, but I don’t think you are a baby. If so, switch the glass for a bottle. Nighty Night.
