The Challenges of Incorporating Ancestral Medicine in Modern Healthcare: Navigating Animosity and Resistance

Physicians and dentists who embrace the potential benefits of addressing the root causes of health problems rather than merely treating symptoms can fall into functional medicine, ancestral medicine, or other holistic paradigms. However, our journey is fraught with challenges and obstacles, including skepticism and resistance from various stakeholders in the medical field and sometimes patients. So, why do healers who promote non-pharmaceutical, non-surgical, lifestyle-related cures receive pushback from mainstream practitioners, mainstream media, search engines, and the public? I will answer the question in this post, but what remains prevalent is that more and more patients believe that their medical care is not promoting their overall health.

Don't Put Up with Bad Medicine

I am sure you have all experienced in the doctor's office not being seen on time, techs taking more tests without an explanation from the doctor, incomplete understanding of symptoms, lack of rapport with the staff and doctor, lack of communication, procedure-driven ideologies, expecting compliance without questions, discounting your desires, unmet expectations, being left in examination rooms for long periods, and being treated as a low-priority. So today, I want to talk about bad medicine, specifically the doctor-patient relationship, and how you can find good medical care.

Seven Overlooked Health Challenges

Most Americans are not healthy. The reasons are numerous, but I want to focus on seven of them today. First, data published in the February 2019 issue of Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders found that only 12.2% of the population is optimally metabolically healthy. The percent of adults aged 20 and over that are overweight or obese is 73.6%. The percent of adults aged 20 and over with obesity is 42.5%. In 2008, 107 million Americans—almost one out of every two adults aged 18 or older had at least 1 of 6 reported chronic illnesses: cardiovascular disease, arthritis, diabetes, asthma, cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Here are seven contributing factors.