jankp's Full Review: Robert O. Young Ph.D. and Shelley Redford Young - ...
There are few things in this world that, after all I’ve read, still fascinate me as much as books touting wisdom about how to eat for our health. You might rightly wonder why this is so because I am not one to catch the bug going around and maintain my ideal weight to boot, as well as enjoy my vegan diet. My answer is twofold. On one hand there are new research findings all the time that may help me improve my diet to slow the effects of aging; on the other hand, I hope to communicate interesting, helpful findings to people who wish to eat for better health. This book, The pH Miracle, proved to be very interesting and helpful to me after reading its sequel, The pH Miracle For Diabetes, and I think it will be to you, too.
It’s especially fascinating to me to learn from the authors of this book, microbiologist Robert O. Young and chef Shelley Redford Young, that in 1980 they were strictly vegetarian, eating mostly complex carbohydrates, a little simple carbohydrates, proteins and fats, and considered it an ideal diet, though they became tired in the afternoon and they felt like they were getting older and no better physically despite their efforts. For the next fourteen years they developed their essentially vegan way of eating and laboratory techniques to chart their progress, so for about five years at the time this book was published, they had followed the pH Miracle plan.
When they became more alert, energetic, even less heavy, and Robert noticed the amazing change in their blood and ph levels, Robert writes that he was ‘eager to test the effects of the dietary changes we were making on people facing serious health challenges, such as diabetes, cancer, obesity, heart disease, lupus, gout and arthritis.’ He soon found out in his studies that this way of eating was dramatically improving unhealthy peoples’ lives and scores of their excited testimonials are found in gray boxes throughout the book.
Besides being essentially a vegan plan, it’s also a way to balance the pH level of our blood for those millions of us who are imbalanced from eating too much fast food, junk food, soda, caffeine, animal products and alcohol (all turning into sugar in our bodies) and not enough green vegetables, low sugar-fruit and grains, and pure water. Because of the way most of us eat, our blood has become too acidic, which after a while wreaks havoc on our bodies and resulting dysfunctions can spiral out of control if our blood remains acidic. Why? As Robert explains, the body tries desperately to keep the acids and alkalines, or bases, in balance in the blood so that they cancel each other out and prevent germs from thriving in it. We need to help our bodies or face the consequences of poor health.
I have no problems with this tested theory, no problem in understanding that we are what we eat or drink, we cause the majority of our health challenges and we can do something significant about it by changing the way we eat. What I did wonder about because of the lack of explanation in The pH Miracle For Diabetes, is if the Youngs’ plan has enough protein and minerals. This first published book fortunately gave me the answers. Besides soy, legumes, nuts and seeds for protein, grasses in the green drink they recommend have excellent protein and nutrition as do sprouts grown from beans and lentils. I’ve started drinking a grass-filled green drink and am growing sprouts eagerly.
The pH Miracle is divided into three sections: the first explains the theory and why overacidity of the blood causes health problems; the second gives the program for us to follows if we wish, which includes transitioning, cleansing, motivation, supplements and maintenance; the third offers us a vast variety of simple vegan recipes for salads, salad dressings, soups, entrees, side dishes, sauces, condiments, veggie juices, nut and seed milks, breads, snacks, cereal and (icky) desserts. I thought the book was put together well and was impressed with how Robert had researched into every angle to satisfy my every curiosity about yeast build-up in the body (for the rest of my life!) and my doubts about how healthy his plan was. Then I started reading the recipes. I can’t say that I’m overly thrilled with the sound of quite a few of them and I’m even a vegan! I recall that Robert claimed in the second book that this was a high fat, low carb and low protein diet, but in this book I sometimes wondered. Luckily there are about 150 pages of recipes (no muffins, cookies or cakes) to choose from. I was disappointed that the natural alkalizing sweetener, stevia or chicory root powder, wasn’t used that often.
Final Comments
The Youngs make a strong case for people with acidic blood to balance their blood’s pH level with this strict way of eating. When it eventually balances, more foods that are mildly acidic like whole grains, some fruits and starchy vegetables may be added with an eye on your pH level. The pH Miracle seems much more convincing, thorough and helpful than The pH Miracle For Diabetes, although you might like to check out both recipe sections. I also enjoyed getting to know the Youngs more in this book.
While I can agree with their theory and how they’ve developed their eating plan, I’m not convinced that mushrooms, yogurt, walnuts, peanuts, mustard and fermented soy products will increase acidity and yeast or mycotoxin build-up, but I’m not the microbiologist, right? Another thing I’m not thrilled about is the infomercial-type before and after pictures of clients on the back cover. This isn’t like a miracle drug that will melt away the fat without a lot of discipline. This pH Miracle plan could be a drastic change for many of you, but the authors realize this and if nothing else, this 321-page book will encourage a healthier way of eating and even a couple of transitioning changes, recipes provided or create your own, will be a step in the right direction.
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