Treatment Approach of Naturopathic Medicine
It’s useful to integrate naturopathy into the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. The domain here is phytomedicine, but the methods of mind-body medicine, probiotics, and, of course, diet are certainly important components of the therapy. Apart from specific inflammatory bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, it’s in cases of irritable bowel disease and moderate cases of gastritis and esophagitis where a naturopathic treatment is suitable.
My Top Ten for Gastrointestinal Diseases
Irritable Bowel Syndrome:
Phytotherapy: To treat pain and spasms, peppermint oil in the form of capsules, melissa tea, or artichoke extract are helpful. Drops with fennel, caraway (also used as a wrap or ointment), as well as anise relieve flatulence. Myrrh is effective in treating diarrhea; for indigestion it’s best to use psyllium seed husks and mineral waters containing sulfate. Turmeric helps in all these afflictions.
Probiotics: Various preparations have shown effectiveness in treating irritable bowel syndrome in initial studies.41 I recommend the already tested “classics”: lactobacilli, bifidobacterial, Escherichia coli Nissle, Enterococcus faecalis, or bread drink.
Mind-body medicine: In studies, relaxation techniques including meditation, yoga, hypnosis, breathing exercises, and autogenic training have proven to be effective in treating irritable bowel syndrome.42, 43
Diet: In our Ayurvedic outpatient clinic, we are constantly astonished by the positive reactions that occur when patients transform their diets according to Ayurvedic principles. Whole-food nutrition can be effective, but you should test whether you can tolerate raw foods. Beyond that, the FODMAP diet has shown successes. Here, various food groups are avoided, particularly cabbage, legumes, fruit containing large quantities of fructose, artificial sweeteners, and a few food additives, along with alcohol, wheat, and many dairy products. As an alternative I advise patients with irritable bowel syndrome to start by reducing fructose, then temporarily avoid wheat or gluten. If you feel a significant improvement after two weeks without gluten, and you suffer from less flatulence and pain, it’s likely that you are intolerant to gluten or wheat, respectively, and should continue to avoid them. After a few weeks, gluten can be put to the test once more, because some people experience a temporary sensitivity caused by stress, the aftermath of an infection, alcohol, or antibiotics. Where fructose is concerned, the hypersensitivity depends mainly on the quantity. If it’s more than 50 grams a day, most people experience digestive problems. And it doesn’t take long to reach that amount with a diet containing a lot of ready-made products and “naturally” sweetened foods. For diarrhea, I recommend medicinal clay, drinkable peloid, coffee charcoal, blueberries and blueberry juice, and tea with berry leaves.
Acupuncture: It can have a good symptom-relieving effect in all forms of irritable bowel syndrome.
Heat: It’s not quite clear how hyperthermia works, but the heat seems to calm the autonomic nerves in the gastrointestinal tract. We successfully treat patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome with it.
Heartburn and Reflux Disease
Bitter compounds (bitters): Extracts of bitter candytuft or chamomile boost “propulsion,” i.e., the transportation of food from the stomach. Furthermore, they facilitate digestion by stimulating the bile. In addition, medicinal herbs that protect the mucosa are added to some multi-compound preparations.
Flaxseed gruel: It calms the irritated mucosa.
Medicinal clay: It buffers acid in the stomach.
Avoid peppermint tea, coffee, and alcohol: They stimulate the reflux. Eat dinner early and lie down with your upper body propped up when you go to bed.
CHAPTER TEN
Strategies for a Healthy Life
How to Find Your Own Way
If you have come this far in this book, you might find yourself wanting to change something in your life now. But you’re probably asking yourself: How? Where to begin? I can’t provide you with a fixed formula, because it all depends on what kind of a person you are, which symptoms you might have, what your life looks like, and what you want to achieve. But I think that you’ll find plenty of information and suggestions in this book from which you can choose. Try to look at this potential of possible actions in a positive way in order to improve your quality of life and become healthier, and not as something stressful.
The basics are clear: a plant-based diet with as few animal proteins (milk, meat, fish, eggs) as possible, sufficient physical activity, ideally outside and in nature, as well as active relaxation, ideally through meditation. “Active” in the sense that most people think they are relaxing when they are simply being passive—when watching television, for example—but the lab results tell a different story. Even a sleeping person doesn’t relax as much as a meditating person. It’s about being alert and intentional. This part of a healthy life is the most difficult for most people—and it’s often left behind in the attempt at living healthier. But please, stick with it. This is where consistency is particularly important. You have to practice meditating every day for at least six weeks until the process has become second nature to you and you can enjoy its effect. If it helps, begin by practicing in a group or guided by a recording.
I myself find it difficult, every once in a while, to find time for regular meditation. It’s important not to see it as an additional task, but as time for yourself, for what’s actually important in life. By doing so, the essential spirituality that is connected to meditation becomes vivid. The experience of illness and the limitations of your own corporeality especially are a reminder to dedicate yourself to the exciting question of “Why?” in life.
I meditate while sitting, because lying down I fall asleep too quickly—almost everyone does, and while sleeping is not a bad thing, it isn’t meditation. When I meditate depends on my family and work life. In summer, when I wake up earlier, I tend to meditate early in the morning. In winter it’s usually in the evening.
I try to integrate exercise into my daily routine: During the week, I ride my bike to work if the weather allows; on weekends I run or walk. At home I practice yoga for a few minutes every day in order to adjust myself internally and externally. I use the step counter on my smartphone, and I recently got a standing desk for my office. Always take the time for these things wherever you can: when watching television, for example, or when “hanging out” in front of the computer. Spend as little time as possible in the car—you can meditate while commuting on the train or the subway.
Mind-body medicine can accomplish much more than just fight stress, even though that is an essential function. It helps us achieve internal freedom. This is hard to describe—you have to experience it, and many of my patients are able to describe their experiences with mind-body medicine rather vividly where dealing with their illnesses and their symptoms is concerned. But it also plays a role in an aging society in general. It’s hard for us to face ourselves as aging people, because we always feel younger than we actually are. It’s not so much about wrinkles—it’s that we yearn for the past, for the feeling of a time when all opportunities were open to us, the energy, the vitality. By using mindfulness or meditation, we can achieve something that is usually lost in the debate about anti-aging: We create a space for mental freedom and timelessness.
A healthy life includes not going to the doctor all that often—as paradoxical as that may sound. This, of course, doesn’t mean dealing with serious or indeterminable symptoms by yourself. You do need a doctor to do that. But if you live healthily and utilize naturopathic self-help strategies such as yoga, medicinal herbs, sauna, or cold Scotch hose treatments or moist compresses regularly, you pay more attention to your body and don’t rely solely on medications. And that way, you also avoid the negative spiral of symptoms and medications and side effects and further medication and so on. Good me
dicine supports self-healing processes instead of suppressing them through medication—every dedicated GP knows this. Only those issues that pose actual danger or that cause actual suffering should be treated. In current specialized literature, “choosing wisely” are the keywords here—choosing what actually needs medical treatment by using your common sense. This also means that you are mindful in realizing at what point medical help is necessary instead of trying out different things by experimenting on yourself for too long.
Speaking of “choosing wisely”: One thing you can do every day that has a massive influence on your health is the decision about what you eat. Nowadays, even cafeterias usually offer vegetarian menus or salad bars, and you can at least decide what it is you definitely don’t want to eat: Reduce your intake of animal protein wherever you can. Eat as little fast food as possible. Reduce your consumption of alcohol and nicotine (quitting smoking gives you years of additional lifetime!). Avoid products that are polluted with chemicals—be it in their production (pesticides, insecticides, antibiotics) or further processing (additives in convenience products). Turn your back on in-between temptations (snacks)—you’ll see how good you feel when you rediscover the natural rhythm of your meals.
But your life shouldn’t consist of prohibitions. It’s possible to fashion a healthy life in a positive manner—with exceedingly delicious superfoods. These are foodstuffs that contain such large quantities of beneficial substances that they are actually medications, just without the impairing side effects. Unfortunately, the trend is to advertise mainly superfoods that are exotic and have traveled long distances. But most of them can be obtained from local or regional farming, and that way they are controlled and affordable. If you eat only two superfoods from this selection every day, you’ll already be doing a lot for your health.
BERRIES
All types of berries are high in antioxidants. Cranberries prevent inflammations of the bladder. They lower blood pressure in women after menopause and ensure elastic vessel walls. Blueberry juice (not from concentrate) helps with diarrhea and, consumed regularly, protects you from cardiovascular diseases, maybe even from cancer, just like other berries. In instances of macular degeneration, it is speculated that goji berries from China have a special use, because the pigment zeaxanthin that they contain accumulates in the retina and seems to develop a protective effect (incidentally, the same goes for saffron). Berries hardly lose any of their effectiveness after being frozen, but they do when preserved as jam. Even though they contain a lot of fructose, they are generally easily digested.
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
These should be organic, seasonal, and ripe. Red and yellow kinds, for example, pumpkin, bell peppers, and tomatoes, contain particularly large amounts of micronutrients. The lycopene they contain, which is only released when they are heated, is healthy for the heart and has many other positive effects. The nutritious yam is probably the reason the inhabitants of the Japanese region of Okinawa reach such an old age. Today it is also cultivated in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Eat fruits and vegetables as often as you can and ideally whole (for example, a whole orange) instead of in the form of an extract (orange juice). A rich aroma is a better indicator for richness than a shiny outward appearance.
LEAFY GREENS
Whether it’s lettuce, arugula, chard, or spinach—leafy greens are particularly healthy. They contain valuable plant-based nitrate, omega-3 fatty acids, and mineral substances. If you eat leafy greens every day, according to studies, the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and cancer drops by 20 percent.1 Well then, bye-bye, spinach-phobia! Think of Popeye and put some greens on the table!
CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES
This is another extremely healthy subgroup. It includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cress, and arugula—as well as horseradish, mustard, or radishes. They all produce mustard oils to protect themselves from insects and pests. More than one hundred of these oils have already been identified; they are recognizable by their pungent or tangy taste. They kill bacteria and viruses (a concentrated preparation combines cress extract with horseradish extracts, which is very effective in treating sore throats or bladder infections). It’s presumed that they can prevent cancer. The mustard oils are stored in the plant as inactive precursors (glucosinolates) because otherwise they would harm the plant itself. When the plant cells are damaged, for example, by the bite of an insect, a compound is created with the enzyme myrosinase, also stored separately in the plant, and thus, the active and highly effective mustard oil is created. Sulforaphane has been researched extensively. It is activated mainly when the vegetable is cut and left to air for about thirty minutes. If you cook it straight away, much of it is lost. That’s why frozen cruciferous vegetables are a little less healthy, because they were blanched before being frozen.
FLAXSEED
The inconspicuous seeds are the superfood among superfoods: They lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure. In the form of gruel, they help treat gastritis and stomach problems. They contain valuable plant-based omega-3 fatty acids in highest concentration, which have an anti-inflammatory effect useful in the treatment of rheumatism or arthrosis (administered by external wraps), for example. Eat shredded flaxseed every day and use flaxseed oil (which must be stored in the refrigerator). For external inflammations, you can even make compresses or prepare baths with flaxseed.
NUTS
Nuts are very healthy: They are the only form of snacks that don’t carry disadvantages. The queen among them is the walnut. It improves blood fat levels, lowers the blood pressure, and counteracts arterial stiffness. Hazelnuts are also healthy, as are almonds (which are actually not a nut, but the drupes of rosaceae, the rose family). Brazil nuts provide a lot of selenium, which is important for the immune system, and they lower cholesterol levels. One or two of them a day are enough, since they also contain methionine, an unhealthy sulfurous amino acid. Unsalted pistachios and peanuts are also very healthy, as they lower heightened blood pressure (though peanuts are actually a legume). The Predimed study has shown that eating 30 grams of mixed nuts every day would be enough to significantly reduce the rate of heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes.
OLIVE OIL
In our own study we were able to demonstrate that it is particularly the unfiltered, cloudy olive oil that contains many healing substances. Use it to season your pasta, vegetables, or salads—without heating it. For frying and cooking there are cheaper, heat-resistant options available.
BEANS, PEAS, LENTILS
Legumes contain a lot of healthy plant-based protein. The fact that Latinos have good health outcomes despite eating a lot of fat and sugar (the “Hispanic paradox”) is attributed to the fact that they traditionally eat a lot of beans and lentils.2 Numerous large-scale epidemiologic studies conducted at Harvard University confirm that health increases with the percentage of plant-based proteins we consume.3 Eat a portion of legumes every day, warm, as a salad or a spread. If the long cooking times bothers you, you can also eat precooked legumes from cans or glasses, but they shouldn’t be salted too much. Flatulence can be reduced with the aid of spices (turmeric, pepper, ginger, cinnamon, garlic, and cloves). The more regularly you eat legumes, the less discomfort you experience.
SPICES
Savory and hot spices in particular contain especially large amounts of phytochemicals in highly concentrated form; they contribute to the color and the intense taste. According to current scientific knowledge, turmeric takes top position.4 It helps in the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases and rheumatism, improves blood fat levels, and helps against diabetes. Sprinkle turmeric (or curry) over your meals as often as possible. It does color things pretty strongly—clothing, for example. If you don’t like its taste, you can make an exception and resort to extracts from the pharmacy. Ginger and caraway also have positive effects. People who season meals with chiles live longer, a reputable study has shown.5 According to initial clinical data, saffron (which unfortunately is quite exp
ensive) helps against Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and macular degeneration.6 It’s best to mix these spices together—turmeric, for example, is much better absorbed when it’s combined with black pepper. And so, an Indian curry is an ideal dish and ensures the absorption of the micronutrients. By the way, onions and garlic are also very healthy; garlic is good for the cardiovascular system, onion for the immune system, possibly even for the prevention of cancer. So, season to your heart’s content.
NATURAL SWEETNESS
Even though we should avoid industrial sugar, we don’t have to give up sweet things. Chocolate lowers the blood pressure, widens the vessels, and is anti-inflammatory. It should have a cocoa content of more than 50 percent, but it doesn’t have to be the, admittedly, quite tart variety with 80 or 90 percent. Chocolate that contains nuts and almonds is also healthy. Untreated cocoa beans, which are available in many organic supermarkets, have quite an intense taste—try them. Dates and dried figs contain a lot of healthy nutrients and enhance every dessert. Honey contains a lot of mineral substances—and it’s anti-inflammatory and antibiotic. That’s why, applied externally, it is a very good method to facilitate wound repair. But make sure that it’s organically produced.
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