'Nature-Cure' is the overriding principle behind naturopathic medicine maintaining that all disease is a result of violating the laws of nature. Each individual has an inherent ability to restore and maintain health and balance under the right circumstances. This is referred to as the healing power of Nature. It is the job of a naturopath to assist in providing the ideal conditions for good health, to allow the body to function at the optimum level.

The word 'cure' is sometimes taken to mean that the individual is healed by the application of some treatment or substance that has been applied to them. In naturopathic philosophy it is not the actual treatment or substance itself that does the healing, but the action of the body's innate self-healing capacity that restores correct function: Only Nature cures.

Naturopathy is based on the following principles:

• The Healing Power of Nature, or Vis Medicatrix Naturae: There is a 'vital force' or 'life force' which drives the self-healing or self-correcting mechanisms of the body.
• The 'Triad of Health', which describes the connection and interaction between the structural (physical), biochemical (nutritional) and mental/emotional aspects of all living beings. Dysfunction in one area invariably leads to an imbalance in the whole person; and
• The uniqueness of the individual: People are genetically, biochemically, structurally and emotionally unique. Each person responds in an individual way to influences, whether psychological, physical, nutritional, social or cultural.

Naturopaths are eclectic, and use various methods of assessment and treatment in which they have been trained and which are closest to their personal philosophy. Forms of naturopathy at The Nature-Cure Centre are:

Blood Group Diet and GenoTyping Consultations
Naturopathic Medicine

For more information on naturopathy see the website of the British Naturopathic Association: www.naturopaths.org.uk