Conventional allopathic medicine has brought great benefits to the world. Hygiene which prevents infection, complex life-saving surgeries, miraculous prostheses, sophisticated emergency care which saves lives that would have been lost, all represent great innovations. There are many times when the smartest decision one can make is to head for an allopathic doctor.

However, the allopathic approach is only one way of approaching disease and health, and it is by far the most invasive and dangerous for the patient. Holistic treatments which try to find and eliminate the cause of symptoms are safer. Outside the somewhat limited arena where allopathic medicine shines, the alternative treatments - although sometimes more difficult for the patient because they involve taking charge of one's own health and changing one's cherished habits - are often much more effective.

For about the last ten years, hundreds of books and articles - many by doctors observing from inside the system - have been written about the growing multitude of problems with our current medical system. They warn about, among other things:

• the dangers of pharmaceutical drugs not revealed to the public,
• the collaboration of the FDA with drug companies in approving new medications,
• conflicts of interest inherent in having companies which are motivated by profit rather than by medical need develop and sell drugs and medical devices,
• unnecessary surgeries,
• the subtle and blatant bribing of health professionals by corporate interests,
• pressure put on doctors to order unnecessary and possibly dangerous tests and procedures by the prospect of being sued,
• the narrow, big pharma-funded approach of standard medical training,
• damage done to the quality of health care by for-profit insurance companies,
• questionable practices which have become standard in for-profit hospitals,
• the fact that there are numerous poisons in our air, water and food which change the way our bodies function and which need to be eliminated from the body by natural means, not by adding more toxins in the form of drugs.

These exposes are frightening and depressing. Who wants to hear about serious problems with the system we rely on, or to entertain the possibility that what our doctor tells us to do may not be the best advice, or may lead to worse medical problems?

But ignorance, fantasy, and avoiding taking responsibility for our bodies are dangerous indulgences if we wish to live a vibrant life in good health. So I urge you at least make yourself aware of the underside of the bright story we hear constantly blasted at us in high-end advertising. Since I expect that most people, with enough depressing news already in their lives, are not actually going to buy these books and read them, I have included lots of links to information you can read on the web, and have reviewed some books that are worth getting for the practical information they give about negotiating the system.