Whether you are a follower, fan, member, active patient, or just getting our content for the first time, you may still have a lot of questions about what exactly is going on at Back to the Garden. What is our guiding philosophy? What happens on a first visit? What is the difference between being a member and being a patient? Many are still confused about what kind of "doctor" they are going to receive when they visit the office or when they come to stay at the residential center for a fasting program. Many want to know what our vision and education about health is that differentiates us from the system based on remedies for health. Below we will answer several of these questions.
Let's start by explaining our philosophy:
Behind all our decisions as doctors (in Back to the Garden) is the basic knowledge that the body is designed to be healthy. That health is our natural state. Disease is not an enemy, simply a term that defines a loss of health, a loss of normal healthy function in our body or in a specific organ. Health and disease are not random events, both health and disease have causes. One set of conditions can cause disease, while another set of conditions can cause health. Our approach is to first identify the causes of disease, eliminate these causes, and then build the most appropriate environment for health to develop. Of course, each individual person is different, so the methods used to achieve the most effective environment are different in each case. The main guidelines we follow are the same in all cases.
What are the guiding principles of health?
Human health requires certain conditions. Proper diet, adequate sleep, exercise, proper psychology, connection with nature, sun exposure, water intake, spending enough time outdoors, and avoiding exposure to toxins are the main conditions that promote our health. Focusing on these areas would naturally be at the core of our practice as doctors. Investigating and identifying the conditions that create disease and providing the best conditions for the patient to return to health is key to our practice. This is why our patients are so successful. This means making specific and sometimes radical habit changes, changing the way we live.
What happens during a first visit as a new patient?
Since we need to investigate causal factors, a first visit to Back to the Garden is often much longer than a typical doctor's visit. New patients spend an hour or more with the doctor at the initial visit discussing the patient's history and learning about the person who has a disease or wants to improve their health and prevent disease. Many details about the patient's current condition are discussed, not just the illnesses and symptoms he is suffering from at the time of the visit. The objective of the visit is to obtain a general idea of what health factors may be the cause of the patient's loss of health or the development of a disease. In other words, what conditions have created the patient's current state of health. This allows us to know where to focus and where to start making changes. The visit typically includes a detailed patient history, a complete and personalized physical examination, review of current laboratory tests, and discussion of the need for further laboratory studies. At the end of the visit, the patient will receive homework (specific things to do, change, or information so we can keep track of her progress), educational material related to her specific case, and lab orders.
Why is it so important to understand how we get sick?
A sick person certainly wants to get better. We know. But not everyone is motivated enough to make the big changes they need to be healthy. Understanding how they got sick is crucial to rooting out the causes and reversing the disease process. This knowledge not only clears the path to well-being, but also gives us the power to stay in good shape. Farmers cannot just drop seeds on the ground and wait to harvest the crops. Good farmers are masters at creating and perfecting the best conditions for healthy plants. When crops are not doing well, a good farmer can identify the reasons and correct them. What if the farmer did not know why the crops failed?
The medical paradigm teaches us that disease is inevitable, common, and that it happens without cause or through bad luck. So trying to understand how we get sick would not be worth it. They teach us that