Saturday, 23 July 2011 04:38
Dr. Dennis Godby, Naturopathic Practitioner & Founder of The Run (video interview)
Written by Whitney LauritsenWhile at the Natural Products Expo West 2011 I sat down with Dennis Godby, MA, ND to talk to him about his naturopathic medical practice, his upcoming event (The Run), and hear what he had to say about health in general. He's incredibly down to Earth and provided some great tips on how the food that we eat and they way that we live effects how we feel, which is very much inline with my opinions.
Most people don't know what naturopathic medicine is, so to clarify, it's a natural approach to health and healing, treating disease through our inherent healing capacities and truly respecting nature. There are specific principles of the practice that are really quite fascinating, which all seem pretty intuitive. Unfortunately, as you likely already know, the majority of the American health care system is pretty far from natural and based on problem solving instead of prevention or treating the cause.
Dr. Godby, who is based in Sacramento, had some amazing things to say and advice to offer in the interview, which I'll let you hear in the video. In summary, he believes that we can have a happy, healthy, stressless life if we just eat properly, exercise, take part in our community and respect one another. Sounds pretty easy and obvious, but it takes people like Dr. Godby to shine that light in the dark state of our society.
If that isn't reason enough for you to appreciate his work, Dr. Godby and his sons and nephew started running across the country just a few days ago on July 17th. The reason for doing The Run is best stated on the website, which is certainly very compelling:
"Tens of millions of Americans are living below their health and vitality potential, unaware that there are a plethora of answers to their diminishing quality of life that can help them to flourish and live their lives with energy and passion. Very often, after just one or two appointments with naturopathic doctors, patients return feeling wonderful, with a new outlook on their life and health. Often, however, patients also feel incredibly frustrated that it took so long – usually years – to get to the root cause of their illness."
Godby wants to bring awareness to naturopathic doctors so that people who are suffering with easily treatable conditions can learn natural solutions to feel better faster and more effectively that typical Western approaches. What better way to get attention than by conquering 3,258 miles of land by foot? And as Dr. Godby said to me, "you don't see pharmaceutical reps running across the United States"!