Page 42 - Winter2008

HEALING CHRONIC ILLNESS

Many factors must be taken into account to determine the best form of diet and treatment for chronically ill patients.
These factors include food sensitivities, gluten allergies, digestive needs, glucose intolerance, ability to digest fats and
digestive impairments due to candida albicans, parasites and other factors. Without addressing these types of imbalances
precisely, it is very difficult to succeed in healing chronic illness. Chinese Herbal Therapy, Nutritional Balancing, metal
detoxification, diet, nutrition and acupuncture, particularly for pain, combined with lifestyle counseling are all important
factors in healing chronic illness. Each program is specifically tailored to the patient and not all of these elements are
required for healing chronic illness in everyone.

DIET
In general I recommend a low-carb, Atkins-type diet rich in animal foods and animal fats. But in many cases, this diet
must be introduced slowly. Often specific herbs for digestive support are required.

CHINESE HERBAL THERAPY
Chinese Herbal Therapy is the most highly developed form of herbal medicine in the world. Many other systems of
herbal therapy have much to contribute but the theoretical foundations and the system of diagnosis and treatment which
makes up Chinese Herbal Therapy allows for treatment of an extremely wide range of conditions from short-term, and
milder problems to so-called “incurable” conditions. While Chinese Herbal Therapy cannot do everything, often it is dif-
ficult to obtain certain results without it. It is especially helpful in reducing and eliminating the need for medications and
alleviating their side effects.

NUTRITIONAL BALANCING AND HAIR TISSUE MINERAL ANALYSIS
Dr. Paul Eck developed a powerful method of nutritional therapy called Nutritional Balancing. Dr. Eck was a biochemist
and naturopath who studied the nutritional status of many thousands of people for over 30 years utilizing the diagnostic
method of hair tissue mineral analysis. Hair tissue mineral analysis measures the mineral content of the hair. As hair is a
soft tissue of the body, the mineral content of the hair reflects the functions of the body at the cellular level of the soft
tissues where all metabolic activity occurs. Blood tests are useful and very important in acute conditions but they often
fail to reveal chronic conditions until they are very advanced. This is because the body keeps the blood values as close to
normal as possible, even at the expense of the body tissues. Blood values must be maintained in very narrow ranges or
severe, even life threatening symptoms may result. Therefore, the body will sacrifice the soft tissues if need be to main-
tain those values. Hair tissue mineral analysis can reveal the imbalances which have developed at the cellular, soft tissue
level. Using this information, Dr. Eck developed a highly sophisticated nutritional therapy designed to reverse the toxic
and degenerative developments in the body due to all types of stress. After many years of experience with this method
of nutritional therapy, I can say it is the most powerful and effective method I have seen. It is the best way to address
problems of toxic metals, which are very often an important factor in chronic fatigue and chronic illness in general.

HEAVY METALS AND THE LIMITS OF CHELATION
Chelation and other forms of detoxification from heavy metals can only remove metals that are in a free form. In
many cases, these metals such as aluminum, mercury, nickel, cadmium and lead are tightly bound and sequestered in
the body tissues. The body is actually making use of these toxic metals as substitutes for minerals that are deficient or
bio-unavailable in the body. The preferred minerals are the optimal minerals needed for each enzyme function in the
body. If a preferred mineral is not present, due to deficiency, bio-unavailability, or any other reason, it is replaced with
a less optimal mineral in the enzyme binding site. The result is lowered efficiency and often breakdown of that enzyme
function. This is an adaptive mechanism that allows us to survive in the face of deficiencies or metal toxicity. Replacing
less-preferred minerals is a central concept in Nutritional Balancing and in healing chronic illness. As the balancing and
replacement process proceeds, the body releases nutrients and toxic metals that were acting as replacements for the optimal
minerals. Until the nutritional status of the body has shifted to a degree that supplies these minerals in a usable form to
the tissues, the body will not release the toxic metals. Nutritional Balancing is a method that systematically re-balances the
body chemistry to allow the tissues to release these toxic metals and replace them with the proper nutrients to allow full
cellular functioning and energy production. The balancing process is achieved by providing the specific nutrients needed
to balance the oxidation rate and support the energy production pathway in the cells. These nutrients are determined by
the results of a properly performed hair tissue mineral analysis. As cellular energy is restored and nutritional deficiencies
and bio-unavailabilities improved, healing naturally proceeds.
42 Wise Traditions WINTER 2008