I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue some years ago, and I have been suffering from bad digestive problems, insomnia and various other ailments for a long time.This book has made a huge difference to my life. I came to it thinking I knew quite a lot about diet and nutrition, but it has opened my eyes. Most importantly, it has made me understand why some "healthy" foods that many nutritionists insist are "really good for you" make me feel unwell.
Of course asparagus, onions and garlic are "really good" for many people, but sadly they're not good for me. I feel unwell when I eat them, and Vasey is the first person who has given me an explanation that feels right: they are sulfurous vegetables, and sulfur being an acid, they can be hard to handle for a system that's become as weak and sensitized to acids as mine.
There were many other revelations. You come across so much conflicting advice, sometimes it's hard to know what to believe. Some people tell you to eat lots of fruit "because they're alkalizing". Others, like Young, tell you not to eat them "because of the sugar". Who do you believe ? Well, neither advice made sense to me because my own experience was different. How could fruit be alkalizing when I felt so unwell after eating most of them ? Yet how could it be because of the sugar since I was doing well on "sugary" bananas ?
Again, it is Vasey who has given me the answers: for some people fruit are alkalizing, for others they are acidifying. It depends on the person. Some people's systems aren't able to metabolize fruit acids, and therefore eating fruit can acidify them even more, but since the banana's acid content is too weak to cause acidification it is usually well tolerated by them. I believe Vasey is right because of personal experience. Tomatoes, too, make me feel unwell, and he confirms that they're very acidic. The list goes on.
In fact, this book has been one long confirmation of my "gut feeling". What a relief to finally find someone who's spelling out what my body has been telling me for years ! I just wish I'd listened to it sooner. Vasey is a godsend, and I believe he really knows what he's talking about.
So I'm puzzled by some of the other reviews here. One reader even claims that Vasey says soy is alkaline. Did we read the same book ? Vasey in fact says soy is a potent acidifier, it only becomes alkalizing if it is sprouted. It is Young who champions soy, not Vasey.
The supplement section in this book is indeed useless. The author is Swiss, and there is a tradition of taking alkalizing powders in continental Europe, where you can find them quite easily in the shops. It's not so easy here. I did try the mail order addresses mentioned, but the products didn't work for me. I even wonder how much Vasey actually had to do with the mail order addresses for the American edition of his book, as he would never have approved of some of the products on offer there. He would never have approved of a product that includes lots of phosphorus, for example, as it's simply too acidic for a sensitive system to cope with. So yes, this section is a weak point. It's not that big a deal, though. We have excellent calcium/magnesium citrate supplements in the shops here, and they do the trick for me.
It's also true that this book doesn't give you detailed eating plans and recipes the way some books do. What it does give you is a lot of invaluable information. Vasey understands that there will never be a "one size fits all" diet that works for everyone. Every'body' is different, and ultimately you have to find out for yourself what works for you. Nobody can do that for you.
Of course not everything in this book will be right for you, I don't eat dairy, for example. But Vasey has given me the information and confidence I needed to work out the right diet for ME.
The most important thing of all: listen to your body !
Mr. Vasey starts the book with a quick review of the chemistry of acids and alkalines, what the pH does, and how the body reacts to over-acidifcation. His review is not as scientific or as thorough as that of San Whang in his book "Reverse Aging"... but it's sufficient to help you understand the rest of the book.
He then goes through a list of symptoms associated with over-acification so that you can identify if you are suffering from this problem. He does this better than many other authors... I specially like the table he gives about the pH measurements of urine and what they mean. He gives instruction for 6 "acid tests" you can perform at home to help you figure out whether you are suffering from over-acidifcation.
The rest of the book is dedicated to eliminating acidification through diet, supplementation, and non-pharmaceutical remedies.
In the diet section, he doest a good job of suggesting alkaline foods and _meals_ you can take instead of acidic ones. Like most other books, he also gives a nice list of foods and whether they are alkalizing, slightly acidifying, or highly acidifying.
The section on alkaline supplements is not really useful. It's not detailed enough, and he doesn't seem to make any clear recommendations for what kinds or which ones to use.
Finally, the section on drainin acids gives some good tips and techniques for removing acids through the lungs and skin.
What's sorely missing from this book is some practical, step-by-step instructions on what to do tomorrow to become more alkaline. Although he gives some very limited menu suggestions, he doesn't give you any recipes or instructions for recording your progress.
Out of all of the books I've read on this topic, I've only found one home study course that does that...
Overall, if you already have a book with alkaline menus and day-to-day instructions, I would pick up this book or "Reverse Aging". Otherwise, I would pick up the home study course at AcidAlkalineDiet.com and "Reverse Aging" by Sang Whang.Finally, an author who simply does what he says he will do. Vasey does a great job presenting how to balance the pH of your blood gives very practical instructions and then how to analyze the results of all testing. He doesn't seem to have an ulterior motive, like Young, to create vegetarians or raw food groupies. Vasey sticks to one single diet rather than adding an additional 5 10 diet plans as Kliment does in her book.
If you want to learn how to manage your blood's pH, then use this book.In spite of my best efforts to find any evidence that an acid urinary pH is associated with chronic disease, I cannot. I'm a physiologist and health educator, but I'm definitely not one of those establishment medicine "types" who believes that complimentary modalities are quackery. In fact, I'm a champion of alternative therapies and haven't been to an MD myself in many years. Unfortunately, all I am able to find in defense of the acid/base theory are homeopaths and naturopaths (each of whom I tend to respect in all other areas of their work) making claims of infections and diseases propagating in an acidic cellular environment. But none offer any evidence that there's any connection between urinary pH and cellular pH.
And I have to say, this diet just doesn't make logical sense. The stomach is quite acid, always. Doesn't matter what food you put into it, and that's because of the hydrochloric acid natural to that organ environment and used for digestion. Once in the intestines, pancreatic secretions make all food alkaline...that is, all food.
We couldn't function if the body's cells, plasma or blood were acid. Fall-down maximum exercise may drop the pH down to 7.2 or so (normal blood pH is about 7.4), but a drop even this small overwhelms the blood phosphate buffering system, denatures the enzymes that drive exercise metabolism, and we stop making fuel (we can't live if we're not making fuel). There aren't any cells in the body that can survive in an acidic environment for any time (nevermind over the course of time as chronic disease develops), and any significant shift in pH is immediately restored by the body's buffering systems, and within extremely tight parameters....because to fail to do this can be almost immediately fatal. Just consider diabetic ketoacidosis which can be life threatening within 24 hours and needs immediate hospitalization.
The range of urinary pH can change due to food ash, but to link urinary pH to cellular, blood or plasma pH is a reach.
The tons of anecdotal reporting of restoration of health from this high quality diet has, in my opinion, probably nothing to do with changes in urinary pH, but rather is due to ceasing a previously toxic diet. I request that any proponents or authors of +/diets offer true evidence of cellular acidity. I would be grateful for that evidence.After reading all the reviews for this book, I decided to contribute because there is one important aspect that has not been mentioned, which has helped me immensely: it is a fine point on the subject of physiological acidity / alkalinity that I have not found in other books on the subject.
The author frequently states that he actually wrote this book for people who have an innate or periodically acquired metabolic deficiency for oxidizing acids (here is the fine point), particularly weak acid foods that for many people, even most people, are alkalinizing in effect. He further explains that for people having this metabolic deficiency, urine PH testing commonly shows false results, i.e., alkaline results when in fact the body's internal state is acid. In this case, urine's alkalinity is not reflective of a healthy system but a loss of needed minerals in an attempt to balance against internal acids.
If you are someone who has tried many "health" foods, such as berries, yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, and even many of the current "super foods," as well as popular health protocols such as fruit or lemon (citrus) juice fasts or using apple cider vinegar as a tonic and even as a regular salad dressing, and consequently, felt worse instead of better, you really might benefit from this book, as I did.
Also addressed is the obvious, though not often perceived, fact that an "acid" condition is not merely a physical state but an holistic creation, which can be replaced by application of opposites, not only in diet, but in behavior and lifestyle. Stress, restlessness, hurry, and worry are all "acid" in effect, and though one may strive for a perfectly alkaline food intake, greatest results are attainable through a relaxed (though active) approach to living which may include a discipline of not becoming stressed or obsessive over the relationship of acid to alkaline !
The author is European, hence, some of the foods that he recommends are not common to standard American markets, and his list of supplements for encouraging alkalinity seems excessive (I used just food-grade potassium bicarbonate add cream of tartar and lemon juice if you can tolerate them but the potassium bicarbonate alone worked well for me). Also, many of his assertions as to which foods are acid and which are alkaline bear discrepancies with other sources; however, the author addresses this:
"Based on your own experience ... you may feel that one food or another is better placed in a category different than the one assigned to it here. ... It can in fact be the case that a food has a very acidifying effect on one person, whereas for most people its acidifying effect is weak. You are well advised to trust your own experience rather than to base all your food choices on theory."
Good advice for anything, not just diet !
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