If you’re like many parents, you pick up the phone whenever your child exhibits a new health symptom – because pediatricians have all the answers, right? But when his own health was at risk and mainstream specialists didn’t have the answers he needed, Plano author Alan Smith chose a different tack: alternative and complementary medicine. He came away so satisfied with the results that he dusted off an old degree in journalism to research and write UnBreak Your Health: The Complete Guide to Complementary and Alternative Therapies.
How did you come to write UnBreak Your Health? A few years ago, I was at the Mayo Clinic for health problems and they said, “We have good news and bad news. The good news is it won’t kill you; the bad news is you aren’t going to like it and there isn’t anything we can do about it.” Having run out of options in traditional medicine, I suddenly became very open-minded and interested in complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM as it’s called. Fortunately, I discovered therapies that have worked well for me, and my health improved dramatically.
As I learned more about the amazing options available today, it dawned on me that other people needed to hear there is hope. Just because the doctor says there isn’t anything more he can do, that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything more that can be done.
How did you evaluate the modalities included in your book? Do you test each yourself or require peer-reviewed research or take recommendations or …? It’s funny that safety is the first question most people have about CAM, because they have no hesitation taking the latest – and largely unproven or adequately tested – prescription drugs. CAM therapies have been around for decades – hundreds, sometimes even thousands of years. That means that they work, or they would’ve disappeared quickly, and that they’re safe, or we would’ve heard about it a long time ago.
My main goal in writing the book was to offer as many valid options as possible without filtering them through my own perspective. The bottom line is if someone thinks a particular treatment will help him, then it often does. Some people call it the placebo effect; I call it the body’s natural ability to heal. I did use some minimum standards for how long the therapy had been in use and how many practitioners there are in the United States but otherwise left the door open for readers to find what works for them.
What can parents do now to position their kids for lifelong health? We can better prepare children today for a life of vibrant health better than (our parents) were able to when we were growing up. First of all, kids need to assume responsibility for their own health as they grow up and not expect somebody else to do it for them. We grew up thinking that doctors would take care of us; and, as I learned the hard way, they don’t always have the answers.
Second, parents can take advantage of CAM therapies to find non-drug solutions to the health problems of their kids. For example, there is a therapy for ADD/ADHD called AIT or Auditory Intervention Technique, which was developed by Dr. Guy Berard in France during the 1960s. Basically, he discovered that some kids simply don’t hear sounds the way the rest of us do, which means their brains process information differently which results in different behaviors. He developed a program to retrain how they hear to change how they think. There are variations of the technique available, too.
What common healthcare mistakes – or sins of omission – do you think are most likely to trip up parents today? Sad to say, but I think the biggest mistake is not setting a healthy example for kids. Parents can’t be overweight and think that walking to the refrigerator is exercise and expect their kids to be any different. Those parents, who eat well, exercise regularly and take time for themselves model healthy behavior for their children to follow.
Four hundred years ago, Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver’s Travels, wrote that the best doctors in the world were Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet and Dr. Merryman, and I think it’s still true today. The basics of good health haven’t really changed, have they? We just need to take time out of our busy lives to pay attention to what’s important because it really is true: if you’ve got your health, you’ve got everything.
Is there a side of your work you find especially challenging? Yes, it’s hard for me to not simply give people answers to their health issues. We all have our own path to follow. It’s difficult for many people … to hear that they now have to take charge of their own health.
Tell us about what keeps you ticking along with your work. Being able to empower people to find their own health solutions is the most amazing feeling in the world. I love hearing from readers that they’ve found something in my book that really works for their problem, in some cases, for the first time in their lives. I just wish I could wave a magic wand and give everyone all of this knowledge at once.
This article was originally published in July 2008.
