What is a "Natural" lifestyle

I found a quote on what is likely a very controversial website (http://beyondveg.com) that spurred this post. I came across it while exploring naturopaths in Calgary. Which led me to "traditional" or "natural" diets. Which had me then groaning because everytime I look more deeply into some new health trend, I realize it is a dead end.

My issue is I have issues with naturopaths.I want to love them, I do. I took Charlie there and they performed a psychic reading on him. They didn't call it that. But they did say, stop medicine and just wait for him to get better. 6-8 weeks later he got better. Not scientific so I could never trust they did anything. And the weird voodoo didn't help their case, nor the cost.

Other than that, I have some points.

1. Their college here in Canada teaches a couple courses in homeopathy. I cannot say for sure that this "medicine" does not work. But I can say that there is no scientific evidence that homeopathy is no more effective than the placebo effect (taking sugar pills and believing they are true medicine). Let's not forget that the Placebo effect, even when someone knows they are taking a placebo, has a 20% success rate. However, the appointments and medicine are not free nor are they cheap. I do not want a part in this. Can I avoid homepathy while seeing a naturopath? Will they hate me for saying as such?

2. Many naturopaths practise dietary suggestions to patients including gluten-free, dairy-free, etc, diets. While professing that they steer away from hypothetical trendy diets and stick to traditional, whole-food diets, this in itself is actually a "trend" meaning in the last 100-200 years certain people have loosely studied native diets and modern followers have cited these diets as the new, best diet. However, most of these diets are just not proven scientifically and using the word "natural", they seem better, when in fact, those peoples had high infant mortality rates, horrid disease, and they didn't have the science to know what was actually in their food, meaning they had to consume some of it more than we do when we could just pop a pill with vitamin C (or have it injected by a, you guessed it, naturopath). You get success stories but none of the ex-diet people speaking up. Moreover, some are extremely time-consuming for real families. SO many breastfeeding advocates go along on this line of thinking. What was natural then must be good now, begetting any infant mortality, lack of dietary knowledge (ie. creating a viable substitute for breastmilk that wasn't a. poisonous or b. malnutritious). What really gets me is saying getting no sleep is natural for our cavewomen ancestors. That one really kills me as they only lived a few decades. Sleep is, to me, one of THE factors in good health.

3. One of the quotes I liked from above controversial website was "vegetarianism often is an enthusiasm of younger, more idealistic people that doesn't last or doesn't "stick" as they get out into the world, and start dealing with the everyday vicissitudes of life that make idealism of any sort difficult."

4. If that previous idealism and currently waking up to reality doesn't perfectly describe my daily existence these days, nothing does. There is no more happiness found in not having cable tv, not driving my car, not eating meat. In fact, there is a certain large amount of misery found in no tv, walking and preparing vegetarian meals. The fact is that my child needs to be driven to daycare lately. We have a lot of illness lately and i just can't trust walking to get me/him home quickly in emergencies. It's called survival state. He hates vegetables and loves meat, which is a whole protein. Easier. I don't want meat, but veggie meals take longer for us to make. I am actually slightly afraid of meat and contamination, but the "everyday vicissitudes of life" are encroaching in what I used to believe in and would like to do with my life versus what I can actually do with my life right now.

5. With the lack of idealism in my life, I seem to be floating in space with no anchor. My sense of identity has become what I imagine is a wild cavewoman, hungry for meat, irritable and more likely to grunt than talk to someone saying with a fuzzy-bunny chime "how was your weekend!!!" I hate the weekends. I loathe trying to fit in quality family bonding, big meal preparations, having a nap, going for 20 minutes of exercise, and an endless list of Things That I Wanted To Accomplish This Weekend. I literally fall apart, grouch a lot and feel intense anxiety on the weekend.

6. Something has to change. For some reason I keep getting flare-ups of my ulcer. I have an ulcer! This is known as a chronic health condition, something this happiness-book-reader knows does NOT lead to happiness. It leads to chronic depression or in my case, more anxiety. Which led me to today.

7. Therefore, I am resigned to go visit a naturopath. Maybe it will be pointless. I know they cannot pry my latte out of stubborn hands as this is the only thing in life that makes me happy, but maybe something will arise from the venture into more health awareness that I have not thought of yet. Outside of not touching ANY doorknobs, light switches, kissing my husband, going out with friends, drinking weirdass health drinks constantly, thinking 'happy, grateful thoughts' when I can, etc, etc.

8. Wish me luck. It isn't easy being a skeptic. Truly, I cannot help skepticism. Some people have more than others. I have a lot. I tend to become interested in new ideas and look them up, usually with an open-mind, but the older I get, the more I look it up because I don't know how I had not come across this before. Turns out Shakespeare was right. There is nothing new under the sun. New ideas usually mean new fabricated ideas.  Could I live a long life believing every evangelist that I came across? Who knows. Perhaps happier. But it just isn't me.

Move away to Rural BC

After a throw-up incident on Friday night with Charlie in which I basically had a panic attack that we were all about to succumb to the dreaded norovirus (for those who don't know, it's the most prevalent GI illness out there and after having it once, I can say, it warrants a panic attack).

Today I learned at the daycare shmaycare that Charlie wasn't the only one, and it wasn't just a too-full belly that caused his illness as some suspected (not me!). Luckily I bleached the hell out of everything we touched that night cleaning up, well, except for Charlie's head, but I was tempted. And:

• I haven't had bleach in my house period since I left home.
• Now I feel it's a necessity as this is the only way to stop the spread of norovirus once it gets in your house, daycare, etc.
• I feel guilty about it, even though at the same time I feel like drinking the stuff "just to be safe".
• I seriously want to pull Charlie out of daycare.
• I don't trust one of his caregivers who is super defensive and never happy.
• The YWCA is now allowing homeless women to sleep in their gym, where the kids play, as an emergency shelter. I feel guilty about it, but I also want it to stop. They are babies and they are on the ground. How can I be assured they are safe from the things that unfortunately exist in vulnerable populations such as bacterias, viruses, etc?
• How can I be sure the daycare is safe? The caregivers giving enough hugs?  The food handled properly (well, I do read the Health Inspection reports in this case. Yes. I actually do.) How can I be sure all medium and large urban areas are not just cesspools of disease?
• In other words, I am freaking out. I want to pack up and run away with my family. Hawaii would be nice. But rural BC, some farm that doesn't get too cold...live in a trailer.
• I realize my family doesn't come visit anymore often with a house than they used to. And we have no furniture for them. And one bathroom. And when they fly here, I get paranoid about the germs. And when I fly to see them, I get paranoid. I'm losing it.

In the end, I would like to state that the world is a very scary place with too much uncertainty and I have very little delusional optimism which I've read recently is a necessary human trait to get through the misery of life.

Here is a farm for sale near J's brother's home on the west coast. Only $949,000 (laughs crazily).