Naturopathic medicine excels in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease. With expertise in healthy lifestyle counseling, nutrition and stress management approaches, your naturopathic doctor can help you prevent the onset of chronic disease in your life. If you already have a chronic disease, naturopathic medicine provides a different set of solutions beyond pharmaceuticals and/or surgery to treat your condition.

Therapies practiced by naturopathic physicians are natural and often very old reflecting back to times before the introduction of drugs. In addition to our modern day training in medicine, we are taught these older medical approaches affording a new outlook on an individual's condition. Referring to knowledge in botanical, traditional Chinese or homeopathic medicines as well as observing mind body relationships, we often identify signs and patterns unrecognized by modern approaches. Using this information, naturopaths are sometimes able to treat conditions 'not known' or understood by conventional medicine - only because the training is different.

So everyone is different and unique. Naturopathic medicine embraces you and your body's individuality. At The Charlene Deeks Centre for Naturopathic Medicine, we look forward to helping you.

Acne	Arthritis	Auto-Immune Conditions	Asthma
Bronchial Infection	Crohn's Disease	Cancer	Diabetes
Eczema	Elevated Cholesterol	Fibromyalgia/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome	Heart Disease
Food Allergies/Sensitivities	Leg Length Discrepancies	Plantar Fasciitis	Shin Splints
Fibromyalgia	Hypertension	Hypothyroid/Hyperthyroid	Psoriasis/Psoriatic Arthritis
Osteoporosis/Osteopenia	Obesity	Ulcerative Colitis

When your body is at its ideal weight it functions better. Even more importantly for your health, is when you carry an ideal muscle to fat ratio. As we grow older, we tend to gain fat and lose defining muscle. Our muscle mass keeps us young - perceptively and literally. By losing weight but not your muscle, your body has enough protein to maintain its 'high performance engine'. In other words, muscle mass keeps metabolic enzymes and cell activities functioning optimally providing increased energy and sense of well being.

Adopting your ideal weight includes management of your body's blood sugar levels - your cells' basic fuel source. Learning how to select and prepare the right foods helps to keep blood sugar levels balanced with resulting decreases in food cravings and the onset of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and other common chronic diseases linked to weight gain. Extra weight in the form of fat can even increase the chances of a woman developing breast cancer. Ongoing research is now demonstrating fat tissue as a storehouse for many different hormone-like substances capable of disrupting normal body processes.

Sometimes the reason for weight gain is a hormonal imbalance or food sensitivity. By removing the allergen and/or rebalancing the responsible hormones we can quicken the body's return to its ideal weight.

At The Charlene Deeks Centre of Naturopathic Medicine, we can help identify and manage the reason for weight gain, remove triggers for food cravings, provide nutritional advice in daily living and lifestyle choices. Although supplements may be suggested at the start to quicken weight loss, the core of the treatment approach is about educating you in maintaining a healthy weight with renewed energy for the rest of your life.

Who says you can't look 35 and really be 50 years old? It is all about providing the body with the tools it needs to optimize its functioning. Sounds simple. Maybe, maybe not.

Nutritionally, key vitamins and minerals, essential fatty acids and proteins are needed by the body on a daily basis. Emotionally, meditation, mind-body awareness and healthy stress management increase immune system activity. Regular exercise keeps the heart and cardiovascular system fit and primed and reduces stress. Specific supplements can be given to reduce systemic inflammation and increase anti-oxidant activity. Just as importantly, minimizing exposure to trans fats, food additives, pesticides and other environmental toxins can be key in stopping the initiation of a chronic disease. There are so many therapeutic approaches to prevent disease. Which one is best for you depends on you.

Every individual has a different history and health status. At The Charlene Deeks Centre of Naturopathic Medicine we identify and help you understand what your body requires to reduce the odds of developing a chronic disease. We will help you identify your current state of health with the goal of maximizing your body's wellbeing.

Balanced hormones are one of the key factors in being healthy. If one or more of the body's hormones is lacking or in excess, it can directly impact your quality of life and contribute to the development of chronic disease.

The human body is constantly self-regulating itself always striving to remain in a balanced state. It does this by secreting hormones or, chemical messenger systems, to regain the status quo. If for whatever reason these pathways are disrupted, further stress on the body results.

So many health conditions are the result of, or encouraged, due to an underlying hormonal imbalance. Metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, PMS, sexual dysfunction, hypo- or hyperthyroidism, obesity, insomnia, breast, prostate and colon cancers, depression, parkinson's disease, constipation , fibromyalgia, and endometriosis are all examples of this scenario. Many of us have hormone -related health issues and don't even realize it.

What perhaps is more evident to us as individuals is the slow erosion of our quality of life as we age. This is an unnecessary phenomenon and can be avoided in many cases. In our clinic, we search for the root cause of your condition to identify any hormonal imbalances and provide the necessary supplements, treatments and lifestyle counsel to reestablish equilibrium.

Perhaps the title should be 'Integrated Cancer Care and Prevention' as this is the approach adhered to at The Charlene Deeks Centre of Naturopathic Medicine. Our program integrates healthy nutrition, exercise, naturopathic modalities like botanical medicine, homeopathy and acupuncture with conventional cancer treatments for a comprehensive whole-person approach to care.

Although chemotherapy and radiation is practiced outside of our clinic within conventional medicine's institutions, we respect the value of these treatments, while, at the same time, recognize the importance of supporting health at the level of mind, body and spirit.

Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation can play a very key role in cancer treatment. However, these treatments do not address the underlying factors that predispose to, or prevent cancer development (such as diet, lifestyle choices, environmental toxins, coping styles) or the important broader aspects of emotional and spiritual support.

There is growing evidence that supporting your body's health (eg. healthy diet and exercise) is as important as the cancer treatments you take. Supporting your body's innate sense to heal underlies the strategy used by naturopathic medicine. Science journals are now reporting on what ancient 'healers' have known for a long time - that our mind and body are inseparable. Meaning: the optimal functioning of our immune system and healing involves more than drugs alone.

At our clinic, we understand the efficacy, safety and toxicity of your chemotherapy. Each patient receives a pharmaceutical analysis so that naturopathic treatments do not interfere with chemotherapy objectives.

Sometimes naturopathic treatments are prescribed to protect against drug toxicity whilst increasing the drug's effect in the cancer cell itself. Dependent on the cancer, there are also naturopathic solutions with proven cancer fighting ability directly. Every patient's situation is individually reviewed to ensure therapeutic synergy between all treatment regimens.

It is generally ideal to see the patient prior to the start of chemotherapy, radiation or surgery as this allows time to prepare the body for the upcoming medical treatments. In between chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments, further naturopathic treatments can maintain healthy blood cell counts, reduce side effects, inflammation and restore nutrient levels so that the body can continue fighting the cancer.

If you have any questions about preventing or treating cancer, please don't hesitate to call the clinic. We are happy to provide further information.