The widespread acceptance of alternative therapies marks profound changes in attitudes towards health and the body. Alternative therapies are based on a new philosophy of the body, health, and nature, a new philosophy which has somehow managed to capture or echo popular consciousness. Its central tenets are the beneficial healing powers of nature, natural energies, the possibility and
... [Show full abstract] desirability of the whole person, and the importance of attending to the inner ‘ecology’ of the body, primarily through the medium of food. Interest in alternative therapies rarely stops at using one particular therapy to deal with an ailment when allopathic medicine has failed. The interest invariably extends into a wholehearted adoption of these philosophical concepts.