First Steps Toward a Healthier Future

If you’ve ever suffered a health problem or been close to someone who has, you know how improving nutrition can improve health. Knowing what foods to eat is just as important as knowing why we need to eat them.

If you’re passionate about good nutrition, perhaps you should pursue a career as a Nutritional Consultant. The alive Academy of Natural Health offers individual certificate courses that lead to one of the four diploma programs: Health and Nutrition Diploma, Advanced Nutrition Diploma, Community Health Advisor and Nutritional Consulting Diploma.

The Advisor Certifications include: Registered Nutritional Product Advisor (RNPA) and Registered Sports Nutrition Advisor (RSNA).

These diplomas are a great way to get involved in natural health, which remains one of the fastest growing industries in North America. Baby boomers in the population bulge are choosing to eat healthier as they try to fight or slow the aging process. Meanwhile Generation Xers have grown up hearing about the dangers of chemicals and pesticides in processed foods. As a result, the natural health industry is growing rapidly, and the demand for professionals in this industry will only increase.

Now entering its second decade, the alive Academy has achieved accreditation with the International Organization of Nutritional Consultants, registration with the Private Post-Secondary Education Commission of BC, and endorsement by the Canadian Health Food Association, British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association, College of Massage Therapists of BC and Ontario, Canadian Sports Massage Therapists Association, and various boards of education in BC.

Students find the convenience of distance education allows them flexibility to study when and where they choose. Admission to the alive Academy of Natural Health is open throughout the year, allowing you to enrol and begin your studies at any time.

The Academy offers courses in Applied Nutrition, Anatomy & Physiology, Biology, Environmental Science, General, Organic, & Biochemistry, Vegetarian Nutrition, and Herbs & Healing, Family Health & Nutrition, and Digestion: Your Inner Path to True Health. The Applied Nutrition course, which is the basis of all the diploma programs, helps students gain an understanding about proper nutrition, how it is lacking in processed foods, and how this can be alleviated.

Many foods on our grocery shelves today go through processing procedures where additives, chemicals, and dyes are added to perfectly healthy foods. These practices can lead to a staggering list of health conditions such as arthritis, aging, unbalanced blood sugar levels, allergies, obesity, mental problems and children’s development issues. Using natural foods and supplements are methods that are discussed in great depth, including ways to help combat these issues. Course content has been developed by experts in the field of nutrition such as naturopathic doctors, herbalists, nutritionists, various authors of the alive Encyclopedia of Natural Health and registered sales trainers.

Step-by-step instructions guide students through every stage of the program. Everything is included: course notes, study aids, audiovisual aids, and textbooks that will become an excellent reference library for years to come. A toll-free help-line and a student services team are available to assist students. For students with computer access, an Academy Online Learning Centre is available to provide students with immediate test results, complete access to their tests and grades and the opportunity to share ideas with fellow students through an online forum.

The courses at the alive Academy of Natural Health provide the skills to pursue employment in many different areas, including consulting within a private clinic, chiropractic office, massage therapy clinic, fitness centre, or therapeutic spa. Graduates may also choose to participate in public speaking, writing and journalism, and corporate consulting. The list is almost endless.

We encourage you to take a step toward successfully achieving your personal and professional goals, and enrol in one of our programs.

Public awareness of natural health is at an all time high. Don’t miss the opportunity to develop your knowledge so that you can help others eat and live well.

You may be a potential student for the alive Academy of Natural Health if you:

are interested in nutritional knowledge for personal and family health
are considering a career change
want to practise nutritional consulting and natural health care for medical, health, and wellness, as well as fitness purposes
are interested in the flexibility of a home-based business
work in or own a health food store and need sales training and product knowledge
work for a manufacturer and need training in nutritional consulting

Certificates and diplomas are issued on successful completion of the program and can be proudly displayed to highlight competence and credibility. As a graduate of the alive Academy of Natural Health you will:

have the credentials to provide nutritional advice
have the knowledge needed to live a healthy, natural lifestyle
build customer confidence and loyalty
increase product sales
help businesses provide customers with the best possible service in natural healing
give businesses the edge over the competition
be a motivated and integral part of the sales force

Call 1-800-663-6580 or visit aliveacademy.com.

Source: alive #263, September 2004

New Millennium, New Healing Attitude
After 22 years of general medical practice and over 2,000 letters from readers requesting advice, I have observed some general principles that determine whether or not an individual is capable of controlling his or her heal.

A New Breed of Doctors
"While going to university, [medical doctors] are somehow taught to close their minds." So said Vancouver talkshow host Croft Woodruff in a recent interview.

What is Environmental Medicine?
First of all, environmental medicine does not reject modern medicine. In certain acute and traumatic situations, head for your nearest hospital. Be grateful for the research and technological progress which has allowed patients to survive incidents that would have meant certain death at one time in history.

Victory For Medical Choices
Charges against Dr Hulda Regehr Clark were recently dismissed, as happy supporters prepared to continue the battle. Attorney Steve Dillon's office gave notice that the judge granted the defence Motion to Dismiss. Clark was charged with practicing medicine without a license in Indiana.

Doctors Under Fire
Canadian doctors are being harasse.

Transfusions
Blood has become one of the most scrutinized fluids of our time. Canada's tainted blood scandal left thousands of people infected with hepatitis C and shook public confidence in the Canadian Red Cross. Yet there is more information threatening to rock the medical establishment and causing people to demand safer alternatives..

Beware Nursing Home Nutrition
Hospitals and nursing home dieticians don't seem to have the recipe for good nutrition. Caregivers don't know how much of anything patients are really consuming.

Environmental Illness Is Not A Life Sentence
Imagine a world where your dreams are manifesting before your eyes; a world full of hope and promise. Imagine all this coming to a sudden, crippling halt and down into the cocoon you go . . .

Copper Overload
I would like to share with the readers of alive my story about a hidden illness that most doctors don't recognize. I feel this story could help a great many people.

Millennial Medicine
Conventional medicine can learn from alternative medicine how to "gentle" its approach by focusing on the patient's inherent capacity for self-healin.

Magnetic Power Heals
We are magnetic beings-magnetic energy affects everyone's health. From the smallest particles to the largest celestial bodies, positive and negative electrical units called protons and electrons are fundamental constituents that establish and maintain the empty space that dominates all matter.

State-Of-The-Art Health Care
The "functional medicine practised at the CCFM, explains D.

Achieving True Health
Illness, not health, is quickly becoming the norm in our country. Statistics show that childhood, chronic degenerative, autoimmune and malignant diseases are steadily increasing to epidemic proportions. So the question that everyone is asking is: "Why are we so sick?"

Native Health Problems are Not Solved with a Prescription.

Dr. Krop Loses, Environmental Medicine Wins
Dr. Krop's case has brought about a revolution in the highercourt of public opinion, which demands safe medicine and a return tounpolluted planetary life-support systems.The 13-year trial of Dr. Jozef Krop may be over, but its impact on thefuture of environmental medicine in Canada will be lasting.

Taxes That Make Sense
Every time there's a national election, candidates make promises about tax cuts. We hear endless dialogue in the media about the inadequacies of our universal health-care program and the out-of-control costs of funding that system.

Holistic Health Research
Wouldn't it be nice if Canadians who support complementary and alternative medicines, including researchers, practitioners, and organizations, banded together to share resources and support one another?

Supporting Evidence
Science is working constantly to help us understand the role vitamins, minerals, herbal products, and other natural compounds play in promoting health and healing. Many noteworthy clinical studies with natural products were published in 2004.

Wearing Life Well
Many of us know Marilu Henner best as Elaine Nardo on TV's long-running series, Tax.

Backward Medicine
"The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease. Thomas A.

Lifesaver or Billion-Dollar Industry?
Coronary artery bypass surgery took centre stage in 2004 when former US President Bill Clinton underwent emergency bypass surgery.

First Nations Medicine
Where does learning end and stealing begin? That's the hard question non-Natives interested in exploring traditional Native North American medicine are forced to ask themselves.

Speaking of Plants
Have you ever taken time to go outside and just sit next to a big old oak tree? Did you feel anything, hear anything? Some people have an impassioned relationship with trees and believe it is possible to take energy and learn from them.

Reviewing the Romanow Report

BC Naturopathic Doctors Fight for their Rights-and Ours!

Holistic Health: A Hit at University Conference

Iridology
Our eyes can reflect inherited tendencies to weakness in just about any part of the body; neuromuscular problems or stiffness in the joints; or even hearing disorders. In fact, new information suggests iridology can identify a whole range of syndromes, from simple bowel tendencies to complex glandular problems.

Canada Lacks Environmental Illness Clinics

A Prescription For Better Doctor/Patient Communication

Parkinson's Disease Treated Naturally
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disease of the nervous system. It is symptomized by tremor, muscular rigidity and emaciation and used to be a malady of the aged. That's not so anymore. The disease is afflicting younger and younger victims.

How to Choose a Health-Care Professional
When seeking professional help about your health, do your own research. Some health food stores offer consultations with qualified staff or can recommend a herbalist, homeopath, naturopath or nutritionist in your area.

Profile of Dr. Andrew Weil
Andrew Weil is definitely changing the face of medicine. His familiar, white-bearded face has beamed at us from the cover of TIME magazine twice in the last nine years, most recently last October when his new book, Healthy Aging (Knopf, 2005) hit the stands.

Nature's Essentials
Along with your bear spray, bandages, and homeopathic arnica, you may want to pack some essential oils that can help with common ailments such as itchy bug bites, bruises, cuts, rashes, blisters, and sunburn. Compact, versatile, and effective on a variety of levels, essential oils such as tea tree and lavender are must-haves in your first aid kit and can be used directly on the skin without a carrier oil.

Growing Doses of Acceptance for Complementary Medicine
Jill Franklin's story is a tribute to the power of human spirit. It also exemplifies the state of complementary and alternative medicine in Canada.

Biofeedback for Beginners
Biofeedback, also known as physiological feedback, is a treatment technique established through scientific experimentation that helps people improve their health by making use of signals from their own bodies. This noninvasive technique measures bodily functions such as breathing, blood pressure, skin temperature, and muscle tension.

A Question of Ethics or Ethical Questions?
You may have heard some fairly wild claims made by proponents of natural products. Even wilder claims, however, seem to be coming from the pharmaceutical industry. To find out more, you might want to start by asking your physician, but medical doctors usually have little or no training in natural remedies.

Spa Treatments
Spas attract a wide range of clients from teenagers to seniors, both male and female. I put spa treatments into three rough categories: holistic, stress release, and cosmetic. Often these categories overlap; simply stated, holistic treatments are therapeutic and include various types of massage, reflexology, and hot paraffin wax treatments.

Health Shows
The Health Show is coming to Edmonton in September. I wouldn't miss it for anything! Mixing entertainment with education is a perfect way to learn. Information seems to sink in better when it's in an informal, fun environment.

Canadian Health-Care Reform: Fit for Failure?

Electrodermal Screening
Many Canadian natural health providers use electrodermal screening (EDS) to gather bioenergy feedback and find energy imbalances that may be symptoms of disease. Some naturopaths also use the devices to test for sensitivities to certain foods and other substances. How effective is electrodermal screening?

Looking for a Healthy Tax Break
Benjamin Franklin famously said, "In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. A coalition of groups involved in natural health products and services would like to ease the burden of the latter for those who take care to delay the former.

Consumer Confidence- at a Cost
Consumers can expect to pay more for natural health products in the coming years. But at least they'll know what they're getting. New Health Canada regulations will affect everything from manufacturing and distributing to licensing and labelling.

Flower Essences
On a recent wilderness walk, I was greeted with the refreshing briskness and sweet aroma of wildflowers. I felt alive as the rays from an early morning sun sparkled on dew glistening with the essence of the flowers. Was this how people discovered the power of flower essences millennia ago?

What's the Buzz?
There's a lot of buzz about the health benefits of bee pollen and royal jelly, but apart from being good for bees, are there any real benefits for people?

Sweet Healing
Who needs a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down when honey is medicine itself? Long used in traditional medicine, honey has recently been the subject of many scientific studies that provide evidence of its effectiveness as a healing agent.

Lacking Libido
A healthy libido or sex drive is a normal part of being human. While it is not uncommon to go through periods when sexual desire declines or wanes, libido problems become self-evident when these low periods recur and lead to personal stress and interpersonal problems.

Check your Chocolate
Over the last decade, the medicinal value of cocoa has been the focus of scientific scrutiny. For example, researchers from the United Kingdom found that cocoa is rich in naturally occurring polyphenols, plant chemicals with antioxidant activity.