Dr. Chris Chlebowski is a naturopath, chiropractor, clinical herbalist, and homeopath with a medical practice, Ashland Natural Medicine in southern Oregon. At the clinic, Dr. Chlebowski and his staff use cutting-edge technology blended with traditional therapies, with a particular specialty in the treatment of chronic Lyme disease, mold illness, cancer, neurological disorders, and – most commonly – “mystery” diseases that other doctors have been unable to diagnose. When he isn’t working up a difficult case, staring into his microscope, or spending time with his wife and their two children, you can find Dr. Chlebowski climbing up the rocks or skiing down the mountains of Southern Oregon and northern California. In addition, he has written a fascinating, new book called The Virus and the Host available right here at Chelsea Green Publishing.
Chris starts by talking about his background in various healing modalities, from Chiropractic to Homeopathy and Naturopathy. Given the complexity and prevalence of the illness on the planet today, he realized he needed more tools in his healing toolbox. As he says, “people on the planet are getting sicker and sicker, and the old things aren’t necessarily working any more.”
Chris says that he’s always been interested in pandemics. Back in December 2019, Chris reflects on how he started to read reports about this new virus in China and he felt terrified. He felt it in his bones that this was the big one. He began to do lots of research and make preparations even before it was widely reported in the media.
At the onset of the pandemic in the US, he started treating patients and he began to realize what was working effectively. He followed three key principles: make sure bowels and kidneys are moving; avoid suppressing the fever; and bring down inflammation.
Chris explains that people are exposed to more toxicity than ever before: “Fundamentally we have more toxicity in our body than we have ever had in the history of the planet.” This toxicity creates inflammation, suppresses the immune system function, makes us more susceptible to virus infections and directly leads to cardiovascular disease and cancer.
For Chris, the reason he wrote the book is because he’s afraid that we won’t learn the lessons from the pandemic: “I wanted people to have a tool in their hand that if they read my book, they could be more prepared and less scared the next time.” Chris also says that it’s not a matter of if the next pandemic shows up, but rather when.
The 2nd half of the book is a guide book to get healthy and survive anything that’s coming along. Chris explains some keys for rebooting our health: Eat good clean organic food; Move the body; Drink clean water; Be fulfilled spiritually, emotionally and in our work; Create balance within our microbial inner world.
As an herbalist, if Chris had to choose one herb that stands out above the rest, he chooses Dandelion. He says that dandelion is the archetypal most important plant because it’s perceived as a weed and grows everywhere, yet it’s a gentle and powerful detoxifier for the blood, liver and lymph.
You can find Dr. Chris on his website right here.
And you can order his book The Virus and the Host here.
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