Integrating traditional healing into modern medicine
by Elizabeth Oguss, July 13, 2009
"Most of the world uses herbs," says Dale Bellisfield, a clinical herbalist. "That’s what’s kept us alive for millions of years."
According to the World Health Organization, in many parts of the world, 70 to 80 percent of the population has used some form of alternative medicine. Bellisfield doesn’t use that term; she calls what she does integrative medicine and she works closely with doctors like those at the Montclair Breast Center to complement conventional medicine in the treatment of cancer and other disorders with the medicinal use of plants.
Bellisfield is quite clear about the fact that herbs and herb compounds are not meant to cure anything by themselves, and promotes what she calls a healthy skepticism.
"Anything that promises to cure — from dandruff to cancer — don’t believe," she told The Times.
In addition to her work with patients, Bellisfield trains both doctors and nurses in integrative medicine at UMDNJ. She has offices in Montclair and Fair Lawn, and is the herbalist at the Saint Barnabas Health Care System’s Siegler Center for Integrative Medicine.
"It’s always my wish to blend the best of traditional medicine, plant medicine, lifestyle changes, good diet and supplements with Western medicine," she said, "so that the patient has the best of what we have to offer. No one has the whole answer.
"Life is complicated," she said. "We need it all."
She teaches and lectures widely and is one of the speakers in the Montclair Breast Center’s Healthy Breast Series taking place this summer and fall. She’ll be speaking on Wednesday, July 15, at 7 p.m., on "Integrating Food, Herbs, Supplements & Lifestyle into a Healthy Breast Regimen."
Shaken to the core
Eighteen years ago, Bellisfield owned a successful graphic design business but felt unsatisfied. At a design conference in Colorado, she met two Native Americans who gave a lecture on the Anasazi, prehistoric inhabitants of the Southwest.
"I was spellbound," Bellisfield said. Soon after the meeting, a compelling dream prompted her to find a teacher, and for three years she apprenticed with an herbalist.
That wasn’t enough: she also studied with David Winston, a leading herbalist and ethnobotanist; earned a nursing degree, studied with an herbalist physician in New Mexico, took training in Chinese herbal medicine, and did graduate-level work in herbs and nursing. A member of the American Herbalists Guild, Bellisfield said she’s still learning.
For 10 years, she has been working with the Mohawk Nation in northern New York State to set up an herbarium — a systematic collection of dried plant specimens — before the traditional knowledge dies with the older generation. Her written work will be translated into Mohawk.
Breast health
Breast health equals whole body health, Bellisfield said, though some things, such as vitamin D, turmeric, and green tea, have a particular affinity for breast tissue.
"Everything is connected, everything communicates within our body. Exercise, which reduces breast cancer risk, is also a whole-body benefit. Breast cancer triggers estrogen, insulin, sugar, cortisol. Keeping them in line benefits the whole body as well."
Once a disease has been diagnosed, "We’re not into prevention, we’re working with the Western medical approaches."
Dr. Dana Holwitt of the Montclair Breast Center told The Times that integrative medicine helps to maximize the benefit of Western medicine.
"Traditional medicine is not 100 percent successful all the time," Holwitt said. "Dietary and natural supplements [help] to get the most benefit out of your traditional care.
"I’m sure there are people who’d say it’s all bunk, but that’s not what we believe," Holwitt said, adding that most modern medicines are derived from plants.
When a patient is referred, "It’s a very intimate kind of relationship that forms," Bellisfield said. "I’m really kind of a coach for their health. It’s individualized."
Bellisfield’s lecture will be "a hopeful look" at ways women can protect themselves from breast cancer, including therapeutic foods, nutritional supplements, specific herbs, and environmental and lifestyle changes. She will also discuss herbal compounds that are particularly helpful for patients receiving radiation or chemotherapy.
Living what she teaches
"I walk my talk," Bellisfield said. Her own formula includes turmeric for memory, medicinal mushrooms to lower cholesterol, and ginseng for stress.
She eats a good diet of mostly organic foods — except for the biscotti she ate while being interviewed — but "ritual foods are good too," she said with a smile.
The Healthy Breast Series at Montclair Breast Center, 37 North Fullerton Ave., continues on Wednesday with Bellisfield’s talk. To reserve a spot, call 973-509-1818. For information, go to www.montclairbreastcenter.com. For more about Bellisfield, go to www.herbaldale.com.
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