Americans deserve the right to choose the kind of doctor they want to see, and many would like the opportunity to work with a naturopathic doctor side by side with other state of the art medical care providers.

"Can naturopaths deliver complementary preventive medicine?" Thus ran the headline in a recent editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Culture shifts with regard to medical practice come slowly, but having this collaborative style effort from thought leaders of reputable organizations underscores both the timeliness and urgency of these recommendations.

Our health is a product of our genetic inheritance and our environmental exposures. Creating the healthiest possible environment, eating the right foods, and liming stress are all things we can do to optimize our genetic predispositions.

It's time for all states to pass legislation to license naturopathic doctors. Let's establish the laws that create minimum standards that give health care consumers the chance to choose naturopathic doctors to put on their health care teams if they want to.

Present action and policy are laying infrastructure that will inform and embolden participants into the future. Here are the Top 10 for policy and action in integrative medicine and health for 2012.

With the current and impending shortage of MDs and the increasing openness to natural medicine in the general population, NDs should be high on the list of providers to bridge the gap in our imminent provider shortage.

The big money in complementary and integrative medicine fields and their preventive and health-promoting focus that CFO Magazine's McCann notes is not in churning services. It is in saving money by limiting services.

For many patients, their naturopathic doctor helps to bridge their medical care and their everyday life. When we take time to understand them, answer questions, and show how things are related, patients feel they are a partner in their health care, not merely a subject.

"Wait, you're what kind of doctor? A nat-uro-pathic doctor? What's that?" I get this question all the time. It's not so surprising when it comes from someone I meet in a coffee shop or on an airplane, but I still hear it from other doctors, too.

Some might think of hydrotherapy as a quaint approach used in times gone by, but it is commonly used in both occupational and physical therapy. Harkening back to naturopathic medicine roots, hydrotherapy is a treatment many naturopathic doctors also embrace.

Supplements and herbs work, but they should be taken with appropriate medical guidance. Think of them as short-term tools to help steer your health in the right direction.

All treatment falls short if not applied correctly, whether allopathic or naturopathic. A proper diagnosis always precedes a proper treatment.

I enjoy treating acute problems with homeopathy in the context of my naturopathic medical practice. More commonly I see patients with more chronic ailments, and homeopathy will be only one aspect of our work together.

Any self-respecting, institution-building director of a federally-backed center with a title as encompassing as the National Coordinating Center for Integrative Medicine would be a fool to let that mantle slip when HRSA's $800,000 is spent down in two years.

Like any athlete, I put effort into getting into the zone with patients and creating easy access to that place. For me, it stems from being able to quiet my mind, especially in the exam room setting, regardless of the history that is unfolding.

It is easy to be loyal and dedicated to an elegant philosophy, especially one that leads to the effective treatment of patients with so many kinds of complaints.

As we wait on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, I find myself focusing on the meaning of full repeal to a limited but growing part of U.S. health care: integrative medicine.

In search of the science to support whole person, integrative medical care, the emerging guild of board-certified integrative M.D.s may use a strategy favored by the naturopathic doctors 30 years ago.

A bit of integrative medicine history was made last month when the U.S. Indian Health Service (IHS) quietly announced that licensed naturopathic doctors, acupuncturists and chiropractors would be included in 2012 in the IHS' student loan repayment programs.

The premise behind homeopathy is that symptoms of illness are not just something "wrong" with the person but are actually efforts of their bodymind to fight infection and/or to adapt to stress.

The Clayton school for years has been a diploma mill operation, offering doctorates and other degrees to students of natural health care, without providing clinical training of any kind.