As students of natural medicine, it is common to experience the constant stream of new — or newly resurrected from old — health trends. Social media presents the latest in detox supplements, home infrared saunas and cold plunges.

These can be wonderful things. Receiving genuine questions about these topics from others is at worst entertaining and at best flattering. However, it becomes concerning when the interest in these trends is isolated from an underlying philosophical foundation of health and wholeness.

Naturopathic medicine is as simple as supporting the instinctual wisdom inside us that abides by natural law and order. Due to this, we instinctually know how to be healthy for the simple reason that when we are healthy, things work.

Eat whole foods, spend time with loved ones and indulge humor, express affection and creativity, breathe fresh air, appreciate beauty, be part of a purpose greater than yourself. When people live accordingly, they tend to feel good. When people do not live accordingly, they tend to feel bad.

Note, organic kale smoothies, seed cycling, and breathing techniques are not specified. For many of us, these things are not needed as part of a healthy life. They are not bad. Sometimes they can be helpful. But oftentimes they can demand more stress to maintain and end up distracting from the true root cause of our imbalances, which is almost always a deficit in one of the simple lifestyle ingredients above. In this regard, trends can keep us from confronting the pain of the real issue and transitively rob us from experiencing true healing.

Perhaps the better investment would be to walk in timeless wisdom and seek out an old friend. To sit outside, with a spouse if available, and watch day turn to night. To attend a religious service or listen to a symphony. To read scripture. To partake in an endeavor beyond yourself and realize your small, yet irreplaceable, role in the grand design.

I so often fall short of remembering the bigger picture and need to recenter. Health trends are fine. Sometimes they can be helpful. But they must be treated with vigilance. In being a naturopath, it is not only our privilege but our responsibility to keep the trends within the confines of our philosophy, and not the other way around.

Meet more of our naturopathic medicine students here.