SNEVM is an acronym I created after treating tens of thousands of patients over a period of 38 years. I have practiced medicine in three continents of the world, Asia, Africa and North America. You can also call it new approach to holistic medicine or alternative medicine.
1. Stress Management – First Step Of SNEVM
Stress management is the first component of the SNEVM approach to holistic medicine because stress is a major contributing factor towards any illness. It causes excess release of stress hormones – cortisol and adrenaline – both of which affect every organ in our body.
Stress can be physical as well as emotional. Granted, we don’t have much control over physical stress, but emotional stress is a different animal. That’s why I decided to dig deeper to figure out what is the real cause of emotional stress. What I discovered is amazing! The real cause of emotional stress lies inside us, not out there. It is good to know because you can get rid of stress yourself without changing anyone else’s behavior.
I developed my own strategy to get rid of stress while still living in the stressed-out world. Those of my patients who learned it and put it into practice were able to achieve better control of their disease. For example, patients were able to lower their blood pressure after about fifteen of practicing this approach in my office. Diabetic patients saw a significant drop in their glucose control – Hemoglobin A1C – over a period of months. What patients with Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis observed was a cure of their disease.
You can learn about this amazing approach to stress management in my book, “Stress Cure Now.”
As a quick start you can read my blog post on practical tips to manage your stress of daily living.
2. Nutrition – Second Pillar of SNEVM
I realized nutrition plays such an important role in our health. Modern nutrition is a major contributor towards any illness. I am not just talking about the obvious such as junk and fast foods. I observed that patients who were following so called good diets, were not doing too well. For example, my diabetic patients who followed the dietary guidelines – such as the diet from the American Diabetes Association – continued to have elevated blood glucose levels.
Finally, I entertained the idea that the “dietary guidelines” may be flawed and that turned out to be the case. The concept of modern nutrition is based on calories. What is a calorie? A unit to measure thermal energy. Hence, it is a valid concept in a heat-generating plant or a chemistry laboratory, but food is much more complex than just calories. In addition, the human body processes food in a manner very different from a power plant. For example, if you give the same amount of calories to two different individuals, you will see different effects in their bodies. Even in the same person, a certain amount of calories has different effects on two different days or even different times of the same day.
Therefore, I developed my own guidelines about Nutrition based on the actual foods and not the calories. Then, I put this nutrition guidelines into my clinical practice. The results have been amazing! I have included this healthy and practical nutrition approach in my books on Diabetes and Thyroid disorders.
3. Exercise, Rest and Sleep – The Third pillar
The third component of SNEM is a balance between exercise, rest and sleep and it varies from person to person. Too little as well as too much exercise can contribute to an illness. For example, if you are an overweight Type 2 diabetic, you need to do aerobic exercise every day for about 30 minutes to lose weight and control your blood sugars. On the other hand, a thin person with some autoimmune disorder such as Type 1 Diabetes or Asthma, will do herself harm with so much exercise. All she needs is regular walking and some stretches every day. In addition, rest – physical as well as mental – is equally important for our health.
Adequate sleep plays such an important role in keeping us healthy. In fact, our body, mind, and soul rejuvenate during dee sleep.
4. Vitamins – Minerals – Essential Oils – The Fourth Component
The fourth step of SNEVM is vitamins, mineral and essential oils. Unfortunately, most people are low in vitamins and minerals due to a variety of reasons. Subsequently, people suffer from physical, emotional and mental health issues. That’s why most individuals should take vitamins and minerals to stay healthy and to combat their illness.
Essential oils used as aromatherapy or on the skin have been used since the ancient times to improve physical, emotional and mental health. Recent scientific studies do testify to their potential health benefits.
Learn how you can make your own essential oils at home
5. Medications – Last part Of SNEVM
Sometimes, we need medications. However, modern medicine relies too heavily on them. Medications should be the last and not the first choice. Take medications only when necessary and stop them as soon as you don’t need them, because every medicine carries a number of potential, serious side-effects.
