Ultimate Health 2: What Can We Do?

Can we prevent and improve our health in this polluted world? What can we do to achieve this?

Perhaps, the first thing to do is to have a medical check-up. The available medical tests provide very useful information on our health condition, the diseases and their possible causes. A medical check-up is important particularly at the early stage of disease development. If you are healthy and do not have any specific disease yet, consider detoxify the toxins in the body to prevent potential future diseases. Detoxification may be achieved through one or more of the following means:
Change to health food and use of appropriate health supplements–to remove the toxins through urination and bowel movement. The toxins include urea, uric acid, and other nitrogenous wastes, sodium chloride, substances suspended in fluid, cellulose and other undigested food remains, bile pigments, mucus, bacteria and water.
Regular exercise and gardening–to remove sodium, urea, oils, fluids and other wastes to the surface of the body by sweating.
Deep breathing–to release carbon dioxide and other gaseous wastes into the atmosphere.
Occasional less than two-day fasting–to burn up excess fat in overweight person.

If you are diagnosed with a particular disease, you may relate it with your lifestyle and eating habits. You may choose a combination of the following treatment options:
Use of prescribed western medicine.
Sweat through regular exercise or gardening.
Have adequate rest.
Use of alternative medication such as health food, acupuncture, herbal food and drink, meditation, religious medication and prayer.
Practise Qi Gong, Tai Qi or yoga.
Quit drinking alcohol.
Stop smoking.

Most people choose prescription medicine, which has improved health and enabled them to live a normal life. In some cases, the conventional medication may not bring the expected results in the long run. Consequently, alternative medication is now receiving more attention. More people are turning to holistic and non-medicine-based treatment for various illnesses (Netzer 1999). More governments are also supporting alternative medication now. In the US, the government established the Office of Alternative Medicine some years ago and it was later upgraded to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Natural foods are served in schools, hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants and on airplanes (Kushi & Jack 2003). In Malaysia, the Ministry of Health has established a Traditional and Complementary Medical Division to increase the health level in the country. See Netzer, C.T. (1999). Big Book of Miracle Cures. New York: Dell Publishing; Kushi, M. & Jack, A. (2003). The Macrobiotic Path to Total Health. New York: Ballantine Books.



In February 2007, the Malaysian government announced that Chinese physicians from China will be employed and served in government hospitals. This is part of the collaboration between Malaysia and China on the use of traditional and herbal medication. The collaboration also includes training and the pursuit of higher education of Malaysian doctors in selected Chinese universities and conducting courses in a Malaysian government university (Nanyang Siang Pau, 1 February 2007).

The use of complementary and alternative medicine along with modern medicine is practical. It may be unwise to choose alternative medication if you do not have sufficient knowledge and confidence in it. A combination of prescription medicine and alternative medicine is commonly practised. If you are under treatment for a particular health problem (such as diabetes and high blood pressure), you may consider taking alternative medicine besides modern medicine.

According to the Minister of Health Malaysia, a hospital research in China showed that patients normally seek modern medication within two months of illness. If the patients do not recover within a month, the patients would begin to seek the assistance of traditional Chinese physicians. The Chinese physicians are of the opinion that western medical facilities are necessary in assessing the disease condition and some of the critical diseases need western medication, to be assisted by traditional treatment such as acupuncture (Nanyang Siang Pau, 1 February 2007).

This is also the case of my mother-in-law who was confirmed to have high blood pressure since 1992. Both her father and her uncle had high blood pressure, had stroke, went into coma and died. She does not want this to happen to her. The doctors told her that her condition was inherited. Her eldest son (aged 46 in 2007) also has this problem since he was 35 years old. She realized that the medicine she has been taking may be harmful to her health in the long run and hence, she decided to find her middle path.

Since 1996, she switched to health food gradually. She also started exercising daily, taking up gardening and drinking herbal tea. Over the years, she has gradually reduced the consumption of hypertension control medicine (both in terms of quantity and frequency). She still visits the government clinic regularly (i.e. four times a year) and continues to take this medicine when necessary.