How can alternative medicine and your diet be beneficial? The major fact that practitioners of the alternative medicine industry push is the fact that what you put into your body has an intense effect on your health.
Many practitioners will recommend herbs, vitamins and other supplements to assist the average person with occasional complaints, but for people with chronic or serious illnesses a special diet is more often than not recommended.
There are many different diets that are commonly prescribed by alternative medicine practitioners for those patients with regular complaints.
Those who complain of fatigue, weight gain, or just general poor health can often benefit from a detoxifying or cleansing diet.
Patients with diabetes and acid reflux are often put on specific diets to improve their conditions.
For more serious illnesses like cancer, more strict diets are enforced.
Many people have had incredible luck beating cancer by using a macrobiotic diet.
So let's look at the definition of a macrobiotic diet and start with analysing the word macrobiotic.
Macrobiotics, from the Greek "macro" (large, long) + "bios" (life), is a lifestyle that incorporates a dietary regimen.
The earliest recorded use of the term macrobiotics is found in the writing of Hippocrates, the father of Western Medicine.
But the modern day diet and philosophy was developed by a Japanese educator named George Ohsawa, who believed that simplicity was the key to optimal health.
A macrobiotic diet consists of low-fat, high-fiber diet of whole grains, vegetables, sea algae, and seeds and is rich in phytoestrogens from soy products.
It is much more than a diet though it is a way of life that aims at achieving balance with nature which includes a balance with your own body.
However a word of warning, as with any change to your dietary or exercise regimes it is important to follow a medical professionals advice when trying a diet, so be sure to check with your practitioner before starting any restrictive diet.