An open letter to my Naturopathic friends and colleagues

So…I was supposed to be blogging today.  You know how it goes… we have to keep churning out the latest research on how to stay healthy and prevent disease.  We know it sure as heck isn’t coming through mainstream media.  We have to talk to our patients about unpopular views of health and wellness every work day.  “Why, no, juice isn’t actually healthy for you”.  “Actually, we don’t need dairy in our diet for adequate calcium”.  And the always shocking… “You really should be having 2-3 bowel movements daily.  Yup, whenever something goes in, something should come out”.  Then we have to go home and prepare meals that try to meld our utopian nutritional views with the reality of our loved ones.  God help you if you have a friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, parent or spouse who doesn’t “get it”.  Dinner becomes an epic battle of what you spent $80,000 learning vs. what the general population believes to be true about nutrition.  Shudder.  So you compromise with gluten free pasta even though the GMO corn in it is killing you inside.

Instead of blogging today, like I promised my fellow NDs at work, I watched the documentary GMO OMG!  And you know what?  It was awesome.  As a Naturopathic Doctor who has been food / food industry obsessed for the last 20 years, it wasn’t a shocking documentary but I learned some interesting things and was re-invigorated.  Monsanto is the devil.  Check.  GMOs are untested and probably one of the most devastating human experiments ever conducted.  Check.  I tried to work the content into a patient friendly blog but all I could think about was how we, NDs, are soldiers in this inexplicable yet essential war.  Corporate greed has transformed our food supply into a frankenstonian hodgepodge contributing to cancer, allergies, chronic disease, birth defects and developmental delay. We know that.  We see it every day.  We help patients who are impacted EVERY DAY.  This is no small feat.  All around us, corporations are marketing (lying about) products that are threatening not only our quality of life but its longevity.  Hey!  Health Canada, walk me through how you allowed Gatorade and Power Aid to be sold to children when it contained a fire retardant!!???  Fire retardants, as you know, have been linked to autism and ADHD.  You know this because you have dedicated yourself to making other people’s lives better by knowing all you can about the food that is killing us.  Products with no governmental oversight.  Food from companies who blatantly and arrogantly disregard the health and wellbeing of the dupes who buy their products.  Food dyes, sugar, preservatives, GMOs.  Lies… lies… lies.  Poison… poison…poison.  And who is standing up to these lies every day?  Naturopathic Doctors.
It is the naturopathic profession that is debunking food myths and helping people transform their health.  Yet many of us feel marginalized.  Many of us feel this battle is unwinnable; that these institutions of greed are insurmountable.  You know what?  Truth will out.  A small but mighty profession can and is changing the world.  Our messages are taking hold.  Our patients are believers.  Every day they feel better, they spread the word. Which… is why I am writing this blog; to you… my fellow Naturopathic Doctor.  This open letter / homage is to thank you all for your tireless work. Battling “Big Sugar”, exposing pesticides, holding “Big Pharma” accountable, exposing the evil of Monsanto.  We are soldiers.  We are fighting against billion-dollar-a-year industries.  We are whispering truths, we are shaping change, we are shouting out against companies that value money over human life.  Our little profession has a lot of work to do.  And there is a lot at stake.  So, keep at it.  Dig deep.  This is not a profession full of accolades and appreciation.  We have a lot of unpopular messages, and we face an army of goliaths but if you were called to be a Naturopathic Doctor, you know that every skirmish transforms someone’s life.

 

Yours in good health,

Dr. Sonya Doherty, N.D.
Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine