I sometimes have a new patient that comes in with a bag full of supplements that they are taking or have tried in the past. Often it will make me cringe.

I feel bad for them because they have fallen prey to the myth that there is a pill to cure every ill and this couldn't be farther from the truth.

Consider the leaves you see on a tree like the symptoms you experience. You don't want to take a medication for every single leaf on the tree. You also don't want to take a supplement for every single leaf on the tree. 

Yet this is type of treatment that is so prevalent in both the allopathic and naturopathic medical worlds.  

In my experience, you want to find the problems in the big branches and treat those. When you approach health in this way every leaf attached to the branch you are addressing will get better as a result. 

Here is a list of big branches that we need to look at that medications and supplements won't fix long-term:

1. A crappy diet
2. Not enough sleep
3. Too many toxins
4. Over-commitment
5. People pleasing behaviour
6. Staying in your comfort zone even if it's making you sick
7. Saying yes when you want to say no
8. Limiting beliefs
9. Going against our intuitive knowledge of what we can handle
10. Doing things out of duty instead of love

Often addressing these branches is the "hard work" so many people default to a pill, a drink, a drug. 

One of the illusions that we often hold on to is that it's supposed to be easy.

It's not supposed to be easy.

It's supposed to be hard, because that's what makes it worth doing.

Without challenge we would never grow.

Now I would love to hear from you! What branch did you identify with the most? Leave a comment below and I'll be back again next week with another edition of Doctor as Teacher Tuesday!

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