A naturopath specializes in total body wellness. They do not diagnose, prescribe drugs or treat disease, but help people find ways to identify sub-health conditions, cumulative effects and sub-optimal eating and living habits. In this way, they can help people to better balance all body systems. Naturopathy is a recognized occupation at the Federal level, protected under the 9th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Symptoms, conditions and disease itself is a signal your body is trying to correct imbalances. A naturopath can help individuals analyze overall lifestyle indicators to address causes that can lead to worsening conditions before disease becomes evident. Naturopaths can help you identify imbalances in nutrition, rest, exercise, stress and environmental toxicity so that you can enjoy an elevated sense of well being without drugs.

A: Most doctors do not go to the level of nutritional study that naturopaths do. The scenario is usually 1. See doctor for symptom 2. Get prescription for symptom

3. Symptom may relax, but side effect now dictates new drug prescription. And so it goes. Drugs may relax symptoms, but do not cure the underlying problem causing the symptom, which may be far removed from easy identification. For example, a naturopath can help you take steps to boost your immune system so that those allergy symptoms go away, without drugs. Drugs take much of the body's immune fighting power away by destroying the "good bacteria" in the body that helps your digestion and immunity. Doctors are not generally prone to going into depth with you about how the body works, health, nutrition, AND THE PREVENTION OF DISEASE.

Thomas Edison had the right idea, which has yet to come to pass:

"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."

Would I be right in assuming that fiber isn't the silver bullet for weight loss, just another weapon in the holster? Why or why not?

The common misconception about weight loss is that a silver bullet does exist to help us achieve rapid weight loss, but the reality is not quite so rosy. While several popular diets may provide an opportunity to lose 5 or ten pounds in a short period of time, they rarely teach us how to maintain our body weight once we have shed those pounds. Further, they can often thwart our weight loss efforts by offering harmful advice. For example, several diets advise us to stop eating carbohydrates altogether, but many beneficial carbohydrates (such as those high in fiber) actually play a critical role in weight loss and maintaining our health.

So yes, fiber is certainly another weapon in the holster. Consuming a diet that includes plenty of natural, high-fiber foods will not only help you lose weight, but it will teach you a lifetime system of optimum nutrition that will help you achieve your weight loss goal and sustain a healthy body weight for life.

In addition to its beneficial role in heart health and disease prevention, fiber is also an indispensable weight loss tool when incorporated into your daily diet. Specifically, there are four very important ways in which fiber can help you lose weight and maintain a healthy body weight:

1. Fiber will help curb your appetite. High-fiber foods, like high-fat foods, stimulate cholecystokinin (CCK) in the same way that fat does. CCK is a hormone that sends a message to your brain that you are full. Fiber promotes and prolongs the elevation of CCK in the blood, which makes you feel full for longer periods of time. This way, you can feel just as satisfied from a high-fiber meal as you would from a high-fat meal, but the meal that is high in fiber is better for you.

2. Fiber will actually eliminate calories from the food you eat (also known as the Fiber Flush Effect). Research has shown that people who consume a diet high in fiber tend to excrete more calories in their stool. This is because fiber helps to block the absorption of calories you consume and lead those calories out of the body. In one study, scientists determined that for every gram of fiber consumed, your body excretes an average of 7 calories in the stool. That means that if you consumed 35 grams of fiber in one day, you would excrete 245 calories in your stool-just by increasing your fiber intake!

3. Fiber foods are low energy-density foods. Because high-fiber foods typically have a very low energy density (the number of calories in a particular volume of food), eating them allows you to eat a larger volume of food without consuming a lot of calories. In this way, fiber helps to manage your hunger by helping you feel satisfied longer. 4. Fiber slows down the rate at which your body converts carbohydrates into sugar. High-fiber foods help normalize blood glucose levels by slowing down the time it takes food to leave the stomach and delaying the absorption of glucose (blood sugar) from a meal.

Fiber foods are also generally lower in calories, allowing you to consume a healthy portion of food but with fewer calories.

While increasing your fiber intake is a gradual process, results are often seen in the first 2 to 4 weeks. This is because you will be taking advantage of fiber's unique ability to prevent the absorption of calories and lead calories out of the body. Further, high-fiber foods will help manage your hunger, so instead of feeling hungry all the time, you will feel satisfied for longer periods of time. And when your body feels satisfied, you won't feel the need to eat constantly. Finally, consuming more foods that are high in fiber will help to jumpstart your energy and motivate you to exercise more frequently, and exercise is a key factor in any successful weight loss program.

By consuming at least 35 grams of fiber every day and following a comprehensive weight loss plan such as the one I have laid out in The Fiber35 Diet, it is possible to lose up to 8 pounds each month.