Health detectives

What is a “Health Detective” and what does she do? When someone is sick there’s a reason for it. The body doesn’t just suddenly decide ‘Hey! I have nothing else to do today. Maybe I’ll make my immune system go haywire, or maybe I’ll just make the heart shut down, or just for kicks, I’m gonna give this person a migraine!’ It doesn’t happen that way. Although the easy fix is to take a drug to suppress the immune system, bring a damaged heart back to quasi functioning (with drugs), or stop the migraine with another drug, that isn’t identifying what went wrong.

If you believe in the body’s innate ability to heal itself and you believe in the body’s intelligence, then you probably already know that there is an error in the mechanism somewhere. But where? Some answers are easy and obvious. Mostly they aren’t. That’s where the health detective comes in.

The most important question for a health detective to ask is WHY? Nothing in the body happens for no reason. Good or bad, if there is a symptom, the body is trying to accomplish something or warn you of something. It’s up to us to interpret it.

One of the first things to look at is what is missing that the body needs in sufficient quantities to do its job. The body can’t make things such as strong blood vessels, brain cells, brain or sex hormones, anti-inflammatory hormones or anything else without certain nutrients. If coming up short, the body will either make sub-standard tissues or hormones, or simply not enough. What’s missing? Is it missing because it isn’t in the diet, or because the body cannot assimilate it. If it’s not in the diet, the remedy is easy — get it in your mouth! If it is an issue of assimilation- where is the breakdown? The mouth? The stomach? The intestines? Where? And when identified, why is that system or tissue compromised? Dig and keep digging until you get to the answer.

The other thing to look at is what is present that shouldn’t be there. What is blocking the body from doing what it inherently wants to do and knows how to do? Certain dietary habits, like the consumption of sugar, caffeine, alcohol- anything that strips nutrients from the body- falls into this category. Lack of movement can cause congestion of the liver, bloodstream, lymphatic system, water accumulation, etc. Lack of movement can also cause issues with the cardiovascular system, blood sugar, emotional hormones, etc. Toxicity from any number of chemicals, either from foods, water, employment and other sources, can interfere with function. When identified, corrections can be put in place.

Some of those corrections are simple lifestyle changes. Other solutions are a change in dietary habits. Some are so deficient in nutrients that they need nutritional supplementation to satisfy the deficits. Others need care such as acupuncture or chiropractic to get some of the systems kicked into gear and functioning again.

If you are tired of not feeling well, perhaps you need to get extra help from a Health Detective!

- • •

Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with nearly four decades of experience. Carling is a “Health Detective.” She looks beyond your symptom picture and investigates WHY you are experiencing your symptoms in the first place. Carling is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d’Alene clinic. Visit Carling’s website at www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about Carling, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Carling can be reached at 208-765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.