It is a distinguishing feature of natural therapies that they are straightforward and reliable enough to safely do on your own, at home.

he very word "patient" implies passivity and powerlessness. Me-teacher-you-dumbbell, or me-doctor-you-patient, or me-politician-you-voter, or any other paternalistic or maternalistic stay-in-your-place tradition will not pass muster with me.

I wish there were easy answers to people's health questions. There aren't. There are answers, all right, but they are not easy.

We can take more time and interest, and give more attention to our personal health than a hired professional can. We have learned to go get medical help, not to give it. We have learned to relay our body's needs to another, not to provide them ourselves.

Most medical personnel remain largely unfamiliar with non-medical treatments, and tend to dismiss them without knowing about what they're dismissing. This is a great loss to the doctor as well as to the public.

Modern medicine has created more co-dependents even than co-pays. We've learned to hold out for a magic bullet such as a new miracle drug, breakthrough surgical procedure or new organ transplant. What rubbish.

It is possible to learn more than your doctor knows, particularly in key areas that specifically apply to you. In fact, you may discover material that your doctor never saw, or did see and never investigated.