Hi, Alicia, I'm no expert on naturopathy, but I believe its basic approach is that the body will always tend to heal itself and regain balance, given the right conditions, so the important thing is to try and provide the right conditions. Diet is important, ie eating only food that is as natural and unprocessed as possible; fasting is a key therapy, usually along with detox techniques such as colonic irrigation; good sleep and regular exposure to fresh air and water are important too, but a naturopath might also use herbs, homeopathy, massage, counselling, depending on his/her preferences.
The diet and fasting approach of naturopathy is totally different from - or even opposed to - Heather's recommendations. I don't know whether they would work. I was considering trying colonic therapy myself, out of desperation, and because I know of people who have done this regularly and swear by it - but they didn't have IBS, other problems. Then I found this site and knew straight away that Heather's approach would suit me better than the "healthy" diet I had been trying to follow previously, which included wholemeal bread, very sour yogurt and lots of raw vegetables, nuts and seeds. It may have been healthy but very hard on IBS - probably not healthy at all in fact as most of it passed straight through me! For some conditions, naturopathy may be very good - these people were way ahead of their time in stressing the nutritional value of fresh whole foods. But it can come across like a "one size fits all" approach and, if there's one thing that's obvious from reading this messageboard, it's that everyone is different - oh, so different!
Sorry this is a long reply - and a bit opinionated too! - not meaning to put you off, I am very drawn to this approach myself, but have decided to treat my gut kindly for a while! If you google naturopathy you will find lots of sites with more information anyway. Good luck!
Josephine
Edited by dozyveeny (12/29/04 05:01 PM)
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