I recently read The pH Miracle. Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health and found several points to disagree with in the book, which has recently become very popular. Dr. Young has done great work and I have a lot of respect for him and many of his concepts on health. However my areas of disagreement with him are profound because they refer to critical components of human health. We disagree on several other minor points such as the fact that he doesn’t encourage us to exercise, but others cannot go unchallenged because they are misguided in the most fundamental way. In my opinion, Dr. Young should reconsider his position on the following stances:
- Dr. Young promotes the consumption of fish, which is a problem for two reasons. First, almost everyone cooks the fish they eat. Cooked foods acidify the body and lead to nearly all disease. However, even if fish is consumed raw such as with sushi, it has become extremely laden with heavy metals, in particular mercury. The US pumps 40 million tons of methyl-mercury into the atmosphere, China over 300 million tons and Russia reportedly even more. Because of this, mercury has accumulated in fish, especially larger species such as Tuna, Albacore, Sword and Shark. Heavy metals are replete throughout our environment, having accumulated because of industrialization over the last 200 years. Cooked animal protein is one of the leading causes of disease. Eating raw meat, fish, eggs and dairy is not a health hazard as long as it is organic, non-medicated and disease free. The higher we eat on the food chain, the more concentrated the toxins we consume because animals have hundreds and sometimes thousands of meals that contain toxins that become concentrated in the flesh of the fish, animal or the milk and eggs they produce. When we consume animal flesh, we are consuming those concentrated toxins found in the animals. Because of these reasons, I would never suggest anyone eat fish.
- Dr. Young promotes a diet that is only 80% raw, 20% cooked. He offers many cooked food recipes in the back of his book, something I would never do. People don’t need to be tempted with cooked foods, nor instructed on how to make them in delicious ways. Of course, I want people to be eat as many raw foods as they possibly can. If someone is only able reach 20% raw foods in their diet, it is better than nothing. On the other hand, I encourage everyone to strive for a diet of 100% raw foods. Most of us won’t reach that goal. It has taken me many years of hard work to reach a 99% raw food diet. When I first started eating raw foods, I believed that 20% of our diet should be comprised of cooked foods, mostly starchy carbohydrates such as rice or potatoes. But after four years of eating that way, I eventually realized that chronic disease does not exist in the wild not because those animals who live disease free do so on a 100% raw food diet, not 80%. There are others who promote less than a 100% raw food diet, but they do so in ignorance. Or perhaps they want to rationalize their inability to reach a 100% raw food diet. It is very difficult to achieve that goal, but that is no excuse for promoting anything less. It may appear to be a practical approach to encourage people to eat cooked foods, but that will only encourage and sustain their addiction to cook foods. It is no different than offering an alcoholic a beer occasionally because you think they need it. Giving an alcoholic a drink is encouraging alcoholism in that person and suggesting anyone eat cooked foods is telling them to engage in an activity that prematurely ages us and leads to all disease. If you do suggest anyone eat cooked foods under any circumstances, then you are an enabler. People often will ask me which cooked foods are healthy and I answer that none of them are. And as to which raw foods are healthy, they all are, which is why I promote a 100% raw food diet and attempt to eat that way each and every day.
- Dr. Young states that “spirulina and algae supplements . . . thrive in acid conditions and . . . are the scum you see growing on the surface of stagnant ponds and lakes.” While you may find algae mixed with scum growing on a pond, it is not scum itself and should not be confused with it. There are over 70,000 species of algae and most are quite nutritious. I quite often hear nutritionists and dietitians refer to algae as pond scum and it demonstrates a profound ignorance about some of the most powerful foods on Earth. They regurgitate this ignorance of the facts because that is what they are taught during their college years and they have never bothered to research it themselves. It does not take a lot of research to discover the truth about the miraculous health properties of certain species of algae. Dr. Young also states that algae are drawn from natural sources such as lakes. All the Spirulina and Chlorella found on the market is grown in a controlled environment in ponds and not harvested in lakes such as Klamath Blue Green Algae, which is sold under various brand names. He also states that the vitamin B12 derived from algae is “made by bacteria that get into the algae via bird feathers and droppings. ” Spirulina and Chlorella naturally contain the entire vitamin B-Complex, including B-12. The body will not easily assimilate vitamin B-12 when it is not consumed from a natural food that contains the entire vitamin B-Complex, such as Spirulina and Chlorella. Dr. Young also suggests that broccoli and algae are equally nutritious, which is an absurd notion. “Fortunately, a day’s dose of algae differs little from a serving of organic broccoli, so you can reap the benefits without facing the risks.” A nutritional analysis of broccoli will show it to be a food that contains a very narrow range of enzymes and other organic chemical nutrients that are particular to that food. Nutritional analyses of either Spirulina or Chlorella reveal them to be the two most nutritional foods known. They contain the broadest array of nutrients and are the most nutritionally dense foods known. They also happen to be the two most scientifically researched foods in human history.
- Dr. Young also promotes the consumption of soy. Soy is rarely consumed raw unless it is sprouted. Nearly all soybeans are eaten after they are processed into tofu, textured protein or fermented into foods such as tempeh. Once you have cooked or processed any food, you have altered its natural chemical structure. Heat is a chemical reagent that radically alters anything it comes in contact with, including the foods we consume. The energy footprint of soy is unlike any other food we commonly consume. All raw foods contain negatively spinning ions, which are advantageous to our health and in fact are an absolute necessity if we want to be healthy. However, soy contains positively spinning ions, which are counter productive to our health, as are all positively charged particles. There are plenty of other problems with soy and its negative effects on the body, such as it produces a lot of gas for many who consume it. Other digestive problems often disappear when soy is removed from their diet, including infants. Processed soy products are rich in phytohemaglutinin (PHG), a glue-like substance that unbalances body chemistry, slows circulation and thickens the blood, numbing the immune and nervous systems. Enzyme inhibitors found in soy interfere with the action of trypsin, a digestive enzyme that breaks down protein. Soy also contains goitrogens, which suppress thyroid functions; phytic acid, which can block the absorption of essential minerals such as calcium, copper, magnesium, iron and zinc in the intestinal tract. The high amount of manganese found in soy-based infant formulas, 200 times that of breast milk, can cause brain damage in babies and a slowing of brain functions in children. One study concluded that the last thing women should do to prevent breast cancer is to consume soy. Another study showed accelerated brain aging in those who regularly consumed soy. Women who are pregnant should avoid soy because of the risk of breast cancer. Soy has also been linked to pancreatic cancer. Soy can slow sexual performance because isoflavones interfere with estrogen function. In one major study, Asian men who ate tofu increased their chances of getting Alzheimer’s Disease. “Soy can be used as a transition food to move away from meat and other animal protein to plant protein, that of Spirulina and Chlorella. But once that bridge has been crossed, it must be burned and soy should be completely avoided.”
- Lastly Dr. Young offers rather confusing advice regarding the most important component of human health, that of water. “Getting liberal amounts of alkaline water (having a pH between 9 and 11) neutralizes stored acid wastes and, if consumed every day in conjunction with a good diet, gently removes the acids from the body.” This is essentially true and I agree with Dr. Young, although I don’t recommend drinking water with a pH over 9.9 because it has become too caustic at that level. Ironically, Dr. Young promotes consuming purified water produced by distillation or reverse osmosis. He claims: “Distilled water comes closest to rain water, which, if our atmosphere wasn’t so polluted, would be the ideal source of water.” Distilled water is not anything like rain water. Rain water is full of oxygen and crystallizes into snow flakes unlike distilled water which has no crystalline structure. Dr. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese researcher, first introduced the concept of micro-cluster water molecule clusters. Using Magnetic Resonance Analysis, he demonstrated that water which had been distilled, polluted or passed through the body after consumption had lost its structure or inner order. It has been changed beyond its natural structure the same way cooking foods changes the natural chemical structure of food. The water found in plants is quite similar to distilled water in its purity. However, when we consume a plant such as a carrot, we do not only consume the water, but the whole plant as well, thus the water is buffered by the alkaline nature of minerals and enzymes of the plant. But to extract that water and consume it without neutralizing its purity and acidic nature, our body becomes the buffering agent and alkaline minerals are leached from it. I have written extensively in both my books about the dangers of drinking purified water. “[purified] water – like rainwater—have more oxygen atoms or hydroxyl ions (OH-), and fewer hydrogen ions (H+). More hydrogen makes water acidic.” Purified water is acidic, yet Dr. Young prescribes drinking both purified and alkaline water. Ionized Water and purified water are the exact opposite from one another in every way. Purified water is acid; Ionized Water is alkaline. Purified water leaves the body dehydrated; Ionized Water is extremely hydrating. Purified water leaches minerals from the body; Ionized Water provides minerals to the body. Purified water does not provide the body with oxygen; Ionized Water does. Purified water does not scavenge for free radicals; Ionized Water does. Purified water encourages oxidation of the body; Ionized Water reduces oxidation. On the other hand, Dr. Young seems to promote ionized water and even helps promote a water ionizer.
If Dr. Young wishes to be considered someone who promotes true health, he needs to re-examine some of the basic tenants of his ideas about health, particularly those I have outlined in this article.
_____________________________________________________________________
Endnotes:
The pH Miracle, Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health, by Dr. Robert Young. Time Warner Book Group. 2000. Pg. 120.
Mercury In Your Fish, by Ken Cook, President of the Environmental Working Group.
The pH Miracle, Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health, by Dr. Robert Young. Pgs. 117 – 118.
Ibid. Pgs. 86 – 87.
Ibid. Pg. 87.
Ibid. Pg. 87.
Ibid. Pgs. 63 – 64.
Phytohemaglutinin: Phyto=Sun hema=blood + glutin=glue or blood glue.
Nutritional status and phytate: zinc and phytate X calcium: zinc dietary molar ratios of lacto-ovovegetarian Trappist monks: 10 years later, Journal of the American Dietetic Association 88:1562-1566, December 1988.
Dietary estrogens stimulate human breast cells to enter the cell cycle. Dees, C. et al., Environmental Health Perspectives (1997) 105(Suppl. 3):633-636.
Dr. Lon White, Honolulu Heart Program. 1965-1993.
Oncol Rep 1999 Sep-Oct;6(5):1089-95.
The USDA trypsin inhibitor study. I. Background, objectives and procedural details Rackis, Joseph J. et al., Qualification of Plant Foods in Human Nutrition, vol. 35, 1985.
Heather Patisaul et al, Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. 2003. Study done with rats produced blood levels of the isoflavones similar to those in women regularly taking the supplements.
White LR, Petrovich H, Ross GW, Masaki KH, Association of mid-life consumption of tofu with late life cognitive impairment and dementia: the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study. Fifth International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease, #487, 27 July 1996, Osaka, Japan.
White LR, Petrovitch H, Ross GW, Masaki KH, Hardman J, Nelson J, Davis D, Markesbery W, Brain aging and midlife tofu consumption. J Am Coll Nutr 2000 Apr;19(2):242-55.
ACHIEVING GREAT HEALTH. How Spirulina, Chlorella, Raw Foods and Ionized Water Can Make You Healthier than You Have Ever Imagined In 90 Days or Less, by Bob McCauley. Pg. 52 – 54.
The pH Miracle, Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health, by Dr. Robert Young. Pgs. 92 – 95.
Ibid. Pg. 94.
Effects of alkaline ionized water on formation & maintenance of osseous tissues, by Rei Takahashi Zhenhua Zhang Yoshinori Itokawa (Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Dept. of Pathology and Tumor Biology, Fukui Prefectural University).
Bob,
I suspect that you are mostly right in your criticisms of Dr Young’s approach.
However the jury may be still out in regards to distilled water.
Jon Barron, and his wife are very good alternative healing advisers and he apparently drinks distilled water each day.
If it was doing him a lot of harm, it would probably have shown up by now.
but he has good articles on his website about magnetized water http://www.jonbarron.org
while distilled water may be different than the water you prefer, it still retains the usual oxygen and hydrogen components with the added advantages that it contains no
chlorine or fluoride – and is likely to draw impurities from the body.
It a pity that you and Jon don’t get kidney analiysis and other tests done – to see who benefits most from your respective water preferences.
any comments ?
Jim
Dear Bob:
Just came across your website and this page on Dr. Young. Thank you so much for these clarifications. I have friends who are very pro his work and buy the notion that blue green algae is not healthy. I couldn’t understand why but didn’t do the homework to find out. Today I found your great explanation on why he is wrong on this point. I feel I can safely go back to using algaes again. Thank you!
Cecile:
Thanks for the comments. I’m sure Dr. Young is sincere in his beliefs but I also do live blood cell analysis. I take lots of spirulina and chlorella, have for 14 years now and my blood is clear and looks good for 53.
Bob McCauley
[email protected]
Jim – Ionized Water and distilled water are completely opposite from one another. I have several articles on my website about it. Bob
I am so impressed with both of your work, I am reaping benifits from it every day. Thanks to Anthony Robbins I got to know about this type of research. I used to be the guy in the gym that thought that I have to eat lots of eggs and chicken to gain muscle. Now I am in better shape than ever. I lost 12 Kilograms (3% Body Fat) and gained muscle (2.5 cm on my biceps). This is in just 2 months of healthy eating and exercise.
I still drink water from the tap though. I am using an Ozone machine to clean my water. By the way I am using that same machine to clean my fishtanks water. It is amazing and my fish is in better condition than ever. In the last year I did’nt add any chemicals to the water to get the right Ph for my fish….
Works for 53 fishies (50 malawian chicklets and 3 placostimus), works for me… Please tell me why it works, I just know I feel better than at 18 years old, superfit airforce soldier. Now I’m 36 and runs a very demanding business. I will soon break all my fitness records I set up in 1993. I lived a lifestyle of junkfood, stress, smoking, drinking and cholestroll for 12 years after my airforce currier. I started cleaning up 3 months ago and I feel awesome…
From next month I’ll start with Static Contraction at my local gym, thanks to John Little. (Any Comments?)
Thanks to all of you (Tony, Bob and Robbert)
Thanks for you support and your compliments. I am happy we have been able to help you be a healthier person. Just remember, it’s only the beginning of what you can accomplish.
Dear Bob
Thanks for your reply, I would like to find out if the following foods are alcalin or acid. I can’t find it on the internet or any book.
Corn (meelies – South African)
Raw Oats
Parsley
Please let me know if there is any research on these foods
Kind Regards
Gerhard
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Hello Bob, great to see an article that questions some of the claims made by Dr Young but does not write off the whole idea as a fad, which is something I have seen across many websites. Generally I have found comments from smart-ar*se health professionals who seem completely unwilling to look outside of their mainstream medicine education and I feel this is an incredibly blinkered approach. Nobody has a monopoly on the truth. I am a firm believer that PH balancing has much merit in the fight against disease and will be reading your blog in future as this is obviously an area that you are knowlegeable in.
http://blogicalcomment.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/ph-balance/
I think while Dr. Young means well, his theory of acid/alkaline balance determining how much fat our bodies store is nonsense.
I know plenty of skinny people that have a very acidic diet, on the other hand, I also know overweight people who eat alkaline foods, and drink alkaline water. Also, look at all the people who lost weight on the Atkins diet (which is highly acidic).
Dr. Young ignores caloric intake and exercise in his theory, and I feel that because of this, his advice is misguided. Alkalinity can help you flush acids from your body, and in combination with exercise and eating right, alkalinity becomes an important part of healthy weight management.
Dear Bob
You are one of the best writers Ive ever read! I so agree with ur point of view. Im using Kangen Alkalined Water 9.5pH for years. Spirulina and Chlorella r my favorite supplement. Im trying to advise my friends to eat raw foods to feel way healthier… but i always needed some good facts that I found in ur answers.
I would love to google Your opinions from now on!!!! Write all your wise thoughts!!!! Thank you for being on this planet 🙂
Thoughtful article, Bob. I agree with that Spirulina and Chlorella are very healthful. I wonder if they are also alkalyzing?
Hi Bob, I am convinced and have personally experienced the benefits of ionized water but I am not yet 100% convinced about the best way of purifying water or filtering the water before the ionization step. In your consumers’ guide to purchasing a water ionizer you talk briefly about some filtration methods and state that distillation or RO produce water that should not be consumed and can not be used as source water for water ionizers. In your guide you list the book “water – the ultimate cure” and in this book the author, steve meyerowitz, concludes that distillation is the most effective water filtration method covering the broadest range of contaminants. He coins it “the crown jewel of water purification”. Why do you list this book if it actually contradicts what you state? I understand that distillation removes all minerals from the water and changes or destroys its chrystalline structure. What if I add minerals after distillation? Would that change anything? What about adding Flanagan Enhanced Silica Hydride? Is there any way to combine the benefits of water ionization with the effectiveness in water purification through distillation or RO?
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I’m just beginning with this way of eating. Can you please point me in the direction of how to go about getting ionized water? Perhaps an article you’ve written on the subject? Thanks
I just have a problem with some of the statements you make. You dont see chronic disease animals because they dont have an extended life expectancy as we do. Domesticated dogs have chronic disease because we provide them with shelter and healthcare where they would die if they were subject to their true environment. This has little to do with eating cooked foods.
As for the fish containing “a lot” of toxins, animals are not wired to store toxins in their tissues, all animals on earth are unbelievable creatures that have survived billions of years of adaptation, and storing toxins is not a benefit to anything other than for self-benefit. There may be trace levels of toxins from recent exposure but accumulative effects would lead to quick death in nature… as they dont have health care like humans do!
There are multiple diets that are appropriate for the right person, ask my 93 year-old great grandpa who mows steaks and his lawn still!! Many uncooked foods have natural toxins to begin, with look it up!
I kno little about the water issue, but do wonder about how giant algae tanks, despite having closed bottoms, can not get bird droppings on the precious product? It seems inevitable.
One major issue I have with Young’s book is his promotion of certain, and many, supplements, including colloid metals. Too many supplements!
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hi bob,
thanks for that article,
the wisdom of the body is smarter then any study ever taken.
my body tells me, that for me personally it is absolutely fine to eat cooked foods every once in a while, and even that i do great on 20 % cooked.
being a 100 % whatever, doenst really matter if you dont know
how your body speaks to you…
On my journey since Feb 20012 have choose natural products over store bought and to date i am 50 pounds lights of three medications. Three names that i have found, DR Max Gerson, Edgar Cayce and now Dr Robert Young and although Dr Young s comments on you tube in the area of its because of the Germans puzzles me and Gerson says stay awway form SALT where Young is the opposite ,after finding out about young on yt last nite i tired a test on my tape water which was more in the alkaline area and my bottled reverse osmosis water acid i kinda couldn’t figure that out any way i am on the road to better health and we can bicker whats right and wrong but for me if i am gonna fight cancer i will use the Gerson Method and if i want my body to become less alkaline Young s is a good bet and most of his stuff makes sense to me anyhow . Now with that said the big company’s and doctors are out to lie and poison us, so BEWARE and do your part to pass on info to people i guess and watch THE BEAUTIFUL TRUTH free on you tube I hope everyone find the way to stay safe and healthy i will leave an email addy [email protected] if you have info that helps always like to listen
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Hi Bob,
Just to clarify, Dr. Young does not primarily promote the consumption of fish. In the part of the book where he wrote about ‘What to Eat’, the heading for fish had the term ‘Occasionally’ or ‘As a Transition Food’. It is clear that he advises the readers to eat it sparingly, or when you are not yet fully subscribed to a “full blast” alkaline diet. I am still learning about this new concept and would just like to clarify this matter based on what I have read from the book.
Thanks
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Bob, could you please revised your publication/article a little? As some of the pullouts are not really correct.
Ex: Dr Robert Young is telling us not to exercise, but he NEVER told that.
As far as cooking, if people are cooking it is the same level of ease or difficulties to create recipes raw or cooked.
As far as RO/Distilled water, he is FOR ionized and alkaline water even offer Salts.
He help many people with Acidity problems that are fighting cancer.
Talking about ionized and alkaline water the brand Kangen Water, Enagic Manufacturer is the leader and still remain #1 probably because of the BBB reading, reputation, real guaranty, and better product that does not remain in the landfill as other brands. Washing your fruits veggies, fish etc… with one of the 7 types of the water that this machine makes is a must to avoid pesticides, microbes etc… I recommend it highly especially for the 3 properties: anti-oxidation, Micro-Clustering, Alkalinization. Read more online…
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Good Morning Mr. McCauley,
I came across the acid-alkaline balance on Tony Robbins program Get The Edge and it really made sense for me. Being a Wellness Coach for 6 years now, I´m “always” on the search for better information to first of all, take care of myself and then my relatives, friends and of course customers.
Not having yet read the Ph Miracle, but starting Alex Guerrero´s In Balance for Life, one thing I can draw out of this whole discussion is that there is a lot of contradiction regarding this. And what I realize is that all of you are right in your own terms.
Regarding your topic, the point 4 you sair: ” … it must be burned and soy should be completely avoided”. I would like to ask for your opinion about a product of a company that I represent that has isolated soy protein. I believe in the product and the company of course but because I think of you as a reference your opinion is very importante. Here is the link – http://az31823.vo.msecnd.net/content/en-us/pdf/catalog/120424_sku3117_us_label.pdf .
And this one too: http://az31823.vo.msecnd.net/content/en-us/pdf/catalog/121107_sku0194_us_label.pdf
Please send me your feedback on this for the email provided.
Thank you very much.
NB: I´m not looking for an analysis on the company but to the soy on the product.
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