Tough love means you feel better

What happened to the under­stand­ing that medi­cine should not always be con­veni­ent or tasty to actu­ally be work­ing? Buckleys’ com­mer­cial and the infam­ous slo­gan Tastes awful, but it works, was an import­ant part of my young adult life.

Translation:

Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do to move forward.
Message received.

Working with herbal medi­cine as a part of natur­o­pathic prac­tice is always amus­ing to me, and even work­ing with modi­fic­a­tions in the diet can be a chal­lenge. What I find very sur­pris­ing and I should be clear about for all of you new patients is two things:

1. Not all of the treat­ments I will sug­gest to you will taste good
2. You will not neces­sar­ily enjoy tak­ing some of the herbal sup­ports or eat­ing new foods that are bet­ter for you

As much as I will endeav­our to make is less pain­ful or give you cop­ing strategies to assist with these changes, I would not be doing my job if I allowed you to con­tinue down the road you are on without some small discomfort.

In short, some­times you need to suck it up. When you start an exer­cise régime, you anti­cip­ate sore muscles and per­haps a period of dis­com­fort until get­ting to that hot body that you want. No pain, no gain. No dif­fer­ence in my office. Do you want to get rid of that cold? There are some dis­gust­ing herbs that yes, when mixed with orange juice are not so unpal­at­able, but they are going to help you feel bet­ter. Will you need to take these for the rest of your life? Probably not. So, rip off the band-​aid, plug your nose, and take them.

Same with veg­gies. Truthfully, I don’t care if you like them. A diet of sugar, cof­fee, and bread does not a healthy body make. I’ll help you find veg­gies that are more pal­at­able for you, and we’ll work towards a bet­ter you, but I’m not inter­ested in the whin­ing. I’ll tol­er­ate it, but only to a point. It’s called tough love. You’ll thank me for it later.

Note: Most adults whine more than my pae­di­at­ric patients. Food for thought.