Holistic medicine has its place, but it's featured much too prominently most of the time. Things like garlic, ginger, sodium bicarbonate, etc have proven to be worth something. But many, MANY holistic cures are just snake oil.
And common western medicine is based off of old apothecary cures. I'm all for fewer chemicals and what not, but what bothers me is people who won't go to the doctor because of their hubris. Or they think some old woman from the congo knows more about medicine and the human body than someone who spent 12 years studying things that are proven to work.
The body is designed to repair itself, and for the most part, it does a wonderful job. However, because of the Fall of man, we're not going to be able to fix everything. Holistic medicine doesn't offer as many answers as western medicine; however, combining the two is acceptable. Well... sometimes. There are things that occur naturally which can't be mixed with western meds.
Which is why you should ALWAYS tell your doctor which vitamins/minerals you're taking.