Integrative health practice
Integrative Health Practice is a practice focused on healing and disease prevention, aimed at achieving optimal health and well-being by treating the person as a whole. During this practice, all factors influencing health, well-being, and diseases are considered, including mindset, stress, emotions, and the body.
The goal of the practice is to address the root causes of health problems and help bring the body back into balance.
Integrative health practice encompasses knowledge from seven different disciplines:
- Ayurveda – the science of life
- Bioregulatory medicine – the science of self-healing
- Traditional Chinese medicine and herbalism – using herbs and energy practices to improve overall well-being
- Eastern philosophies – using the mind to heal the body
- Traditional naturopathy – using lifestyle practices to balance the body
- Orthomolecular medicine – the science of vitamins and minerals as medicine
- Functional medicine – helping individuals at a functional and root cause level rather than at the disease level
"Rain barrel" principle
Dr. Stephen Cabral’s practice is based on the principle of a “rain barrel,” described as follows:
The rain barrel is used to collect rainwater every time it rains, and it needs to be occasionally emptied to prevent water from overflowing into the garden. When the barrel becomes too full, rainwater spills into the garden or terrace, potentially causing damage.
This analogy extends to the human body, likening it to a rain barrel. Instead of water, the body accumulates toxins throughout life. If we do not reduce this toxic load and it accumulates excessively, external symptoms may start to appear.
These symptoms can manifest as indicators of declining health—pain, skin issues, fatigue, inflammation, or diagnosed diseases.
The rain barrel continues to collect until the owner empties its accumulated load.
Integrative health practice suggests maintaining a lower toxic load to prevent the manifestation of external symptoms. This can be achieved through lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise, stress reduction, sleep, removing toxic emotions, and detoxifying the body.
In which cases can integrative health practice help?
- Fatigue
- Skin problems
- Overweight
- Digestive issues
- Stress
- Hormonal imbalance
- Headaches
How does integrative health practice work?
Integrative health practice aims to help individuals regularly “empty their rain barrel” and keep their toxic load low.
Dr. Stephen Cabral developed the DESTRESS protocol based on eight personal health areas that individuals should monitor to maintain balance of body and mind.
- Diet
- Exercise
- Stress
- Toxins
- Rest
- Emotions
- Supplements
- Success Mindset
Each area includes comprehensive guidelines based on research and client experiences to achieve optimal health.
Integrative health counseling sessions are conducted in a conversational format. During these sessions, the practitioner assesses the client’s health situation through guiding questions to gain insights into lifestyle habits, concerns, and imbalances, and to create an individualized action plan to achieve health goals.
The practitioner helps identify barriers that may hinder healing and provides opportunities to take action on their health journey by building new habits and creating long-term changes.
In the video below, Dr. Stephen Cabral summarizes the “rain barrel principle”.
National Geographic article
Many people still refute that toxins are a problem. The reason is that most toxins, while very real, are nanoparticles that are not visible. Scientists know these nanoparticles exist, but we cannot observe processes like gold nanoparticles within our bodies. However, even the staunchest skeptic cannot deny the existence and harmful effects of these toxins on the body when tested in a laboratory.
One of the most notable examples dates back to 2006 when skeptical journalist David Duncan from National Geographic decided to investigate what actually happens with our internal toxicity levels. The article was titled: “Pollution within: How modern chemistry is keeping bugs from decimating our crops, lifting stains from carpets, and saving lives. But widespread chemical use exacts a toll.”
The article discusses the inevitability of environmental toxicity. “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reviews about 1,700 new compounds each year that industries want to introduce. The problem is that the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 requires them to review them for potential harm only if there is evidence of possible harm – which is rarely the case with new chemicals. The agency approves about 90 percent of new compounds without restriction. Only a quarter of the 82,000 chemicals in use in the U.S. have ever been tested for toxicity. (Note: this was written in 2006, and since then, the number of chemicals has significantly increased.)”
The National Geographic writer then underwent a test to see if his body contained any of these toxic chemicals. Feeling perfectly healthy as a human being, why would dangerous toxins or metals be present in his body? For this article, he was tested at the world-renowned Mount Sinai Hospital in New York by Dr. Leo Trasande, and the results revealed numerous toxins. David Duncan, like everyone else who decides to challenge their skepticism, eventually came to the realization that the issue is serious and must be addressed to maintain health.
Study of 10 Americans
Here, science becomes shocking:
Today, every newborn baby entering this world is already filled with human-made toxins that didn’t even exist about 150 years ago. These chemicals can cause birth defects, autism (in 1 out of 68 cases), cancer, and other diseases.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a video and study titled “10 Americans,” revealing that even before a child is born, their blood and tissues contain approximately 287 toxins. Data was gathered from 10 newborns whose parents consented to screening for toxins at birth. On average, each newborn was found to have around 200 chemicals. Among these toxins, 47 were consumer product ingredients like those found in cosmetics, while 212 originated from industrial chemicals and pesticide breakdown products. In reality, the study tested only about 400 chemicals – with broader parameters, thousands of others could potentially be detected.
Many of these toxins found in newborns included plastics and other chemicals that disrupt brain function, IQ, the nervous system, and hormones. Some of these chemicals, such as DDT, believe it or not, have actually been banned for over 30 years, yet they still appear in blood and urine samples. The reason is that certain chemicals never fully break down in the environment.
