Customer Reviews

The pH Miracle: Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health

5 star:		(131)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

Having waded through all 69 reviews, it's clear that people are either strongly in support of Dr. Young's approach to health and wellness (based on personal experience), or strongly against his ideas/theories. Really ... check it out ... you'll see either five stars or one star.

Interesting though ... if you read carefully, you'll notice that most of the critics and skeptics haven't even tried the program. Instead, they're focused on attacking Dr. Young, his lack of credentials, his lack of published papers, his "mumbo-jumbo" science, etc., etc.

But honestly, who cares? I don't care if he got his degree out of a CrackerJack box. Like most people, I want results that I can see and feel. And that's exactly what I'm experiencing as a result of two things that are the cornerstone to his program: eating more greens and super-hydrating.

No need to follow all the fancy diets, either. It can be as simple or as difficult as you want to make it. Bottom line to his program entails 3 things:
1. Super-hydrate the body by drinking plenty of water (4-5 liters a day)
2. Alkalize the body by eating foods high in alkalinity (and this is where people get stuck ... you don't have to eat like them and fix all those fancy meals ... simply increase the % of veggies at each meal).
3. Supergreens - if you can't get enough veggies, and most of us can't, then use the supplements or powder. I mean you really can't beat them - 49 different organic grasses, vegetables and sprouts; as well as 125 different vitamins, minerals and amino acids.

What does all this sound like? That's right ... grandma's recipe for "good health and longevity".

Again, skip the skeptics and try it for yourself. No doubt your body will thank you for it!

I've learned a lot from this book, and it really changed the way I view food. Basically, according to this book, almost all the food I have been eating is bad for me, even fresh organic fruits that contain natural sugar (apples, melons, etc...), because sugar feeds the bad bacteria in our bodies.

From what I've gathered, the ideal diet would be to eat raw fresh organic green vegetables picked from the garden and consume within a few days. Fortunately, it is okay to cheat and have a treat once in awhile, such as once a month. The "treat" can be fish for dinner or something like that. I was open to the concept, but one thing that I think Dr. Young needs to mention and mention again and again, or maybe he did and I missed it, is that every one of us is different. Our body absorbs food differently.

Although it did mention to consult my doctor before changing my diet, I completely forgot that I am extremely sensitive to iodine intake. I can't even take the recommended dozage for a healthy person. I have to keep my diet extremely low on iodine, otherwise, my thyroid would become overactive.

While reading this book, I changed my diet to 70% raw vegetables, did the colon and liver cleansing, and started taking the Garden of Life Perfect Food and Daily Multi Supplement for Women, taking flax seed oil by the tablespoons, and drinking more water. Little did I know, the Perfect Food is FILLED with iodine and the daily multi supplement, too. I got real sick with symptoms of hyperthyroidism and liver dyfunctions.

I gave the supplements to my acupuncturist who was also taking a different brand of green powder. He took a look at the Perfect Food (the green powder) without reading the label and smelled it. Immediately, he said that I can't take it because it contains too much iodine for me. He took one recommended dozage, and told me that he can taste and feel that this green powder contains a large amount of iodine. I don't believe he is taking it anymore after trying it once. This explains why my hyperthyroidism returned after being in remission for over a year.

Although I do recommend this book to everyone to read, but if you are going to change your diet, you need to keep in mind that your body is different than everyone you know and don't know. I recommend paying attention to your body and getting to know your body and food. As Dr. Young suggested, consult your doctor - someone who believes in healing through what you eat. Many doctors don't appear to believe in curing illnesses through food and herbal supplements. This is why I consulted my acupuncturist [...].It is always best to get the nutrition you need from eating fresh organic food rather than taking any type of supplements.

I am really glad that I read this book, and I am doing research to tailor a diet that will work best for me. I believe we all need to find a diet that works best for us as individuals. Good luck.

This book and recommended supplements worked great for someone who I encountered and his brother. He was the one who recommended the book and the supplements to me. After getting on this diet, his brother was healed from an illness that no doctor could diagnose, and he was healed from his inability to breathe through his nose due to allergy. Unfortunately, I got the negative reaction. I hope sharing my experience will prevent others from experiencing what I have and am. Good Luck.

Dr. Young maintains that there is only one disease and only one cure. The desease: too much acidity in the blood; the cure: alkalize. I have read all his books and have followed his advice for more than a year, and its transformed my life in many ways. I had some serious health challenges and spent years researching and consulting and have found nothing more powerful. I certainly recommend his books...BUT I do not recommend buying his products. Although his products are first class, Dr. Young insists on selling them in the most nauseating way possible...through Multi-Level Marketing. Shop around...there are equally good products on the market that are at least half the price and much easier to buy. 5 Stars for the books; 0 Stars for Dr. Young's sales practice (hence the 4 Stars).

AFter 3 1/2 weeks of following the Youngs program:

* I have lost 14 pounds
* All feelings of bloat and gas have vanished
* My energy has noticeably increased
* Every afternoon my brain got 'fuzzy' (dull, tired, hard to think) - this has entirely disappeared and I feel sharp and clear

Seeing my great results, a close friend bought the book and is trying it, too. Her results have been even better than mine, because her severe asthma has already lessened in only 10 days.

Some of the reviews here have critized the Youngs for various reasons:

First, "Those who have lost weight on the diet is almost certainly for no other reason than it has the tendency to be low in calories." Eating olive oil, avocados and nuts does NOT create a low calorie diet. Further, I have tried to lose weight in the past by cutting calories - and was spectacularly unsuccessful. We weight loss is happening because I am being cleaned from the inside out, and I can feel it clearly.

Other reviews say this book is '"dumbed down" for the masses' and others refer to it as 'junk science'. I don't need the blessing of "science" to attempt to heal myself. Are these the same experts who jeered at meditation, acupuncture and yoga? <I> am responsible for my health, and the only authority I trust is my own body. It will give me all the feedback I need. I don't need long scientific documents, or the approval of others. As for the claim that there is nothing new about this information - that is exactly right. Acidity and alkalinity have been discussed for decades. Does this mean we can only write books on subjects that are completely new?

As for this comment: "for those of us in the real world, it's more trouble than it's worth." Gee, and all this time I thought I was in the 'real world' and yes, I agree that it's a lot of trouble. But how much trouble is it to be sick? To feel rotten? To be exhausted? To be fat? I really don't want to be one of those people who becomes seriously ill and then looks back and says, "If only I had ..."

Several reviewers criticized the Youngs for selling supplements. Isn't that the ideal work that we all wish for: to do what you love, make a contribution and be richly rewarded? Sounds ideal to me. And as for the comment that "you really can't follow their program without their products." ... absolutely not true. I haven't bought a single one of their supplements and am following their program without difficulty.

This is quite amazing: "I tried to sell the products I bought, but the prices were too high for online sales" and then this same author refers to "greed for many of the MLMers who feed from its trough." The writer admits that he failed in selling the products - yet obviously he was trying to do so. Does that mean he was greedy and trying to profit, too? Quite a contradiction.

Does this program work for everyone? I have no idea. My experience has been nourishing and enriching but we are all individuals, with different bodies and different chemistries. Personally, though, I eat in a very satisfying way, it's easy to follow the program, I feel better than I have in years and plan on living this way from now on. We must indeed listen to our own inner wisdom. Everything else is just static. If you're wondering about the merits of this, try it for a couple of weeks and let your body give you the only answer that matters.

One of the reviewers here questioned the "junk" science invoked in the book, and questioned the motives of the authors since they market products based on the recommendations in the book.

Baloney. This is anything but a "magic pill", as the reviewer suggests. It is a change in your life, and for the better. It's not easy, especially if you love food like I do, and who doesn't love food?

But we've been sold down the river, as a nation and a people, by the greed of food conglomerates who saturate our foods with garbage: sugar, additives, fillers, clogging and poisoning foods. All so they can increase their profits.

There's a better way: a way to improve your zest for life, live longer, cure yourselves of maladies, and all you have to do is throw away all the damn drugs and pills and other, true "pseudo-science" stuff being hawked every day in magazines and on tv and in newspapers and on the radio and just READ ONE BOOK: this one!

It will change your life as it's changing mine.

In the face of skeptics and cynics, I can only say my wife and children and I began this program after stumbling on the book in a book store, and I have had incredible results. The kids (two teenagers!) have jumped into this discipline (with the family pulling together it's fun and easy to do)and now take fresh green salads and quinoa and soaked almonds and such, based on Dr. Young's book, to school. They help us make dinner each night. We have terrific family meals together. And we all feel great.

I've been plagued with sugar cravings, candidiasis, constipation, mood swings, depression and other systemic maladies for decades. When I embraced the suggestions in this book, I had the following short term results (this review is written about 6 weeks after I did a colon cleanse with my wife, then, after finding the book two days later in the bookstore, we started to change our diet to conform to the guidelines in Ph Miracle).

* I lost 15 pounds without any exercise at all. (I was about 25 lbs. overweight: not fat, but just soft and getting paunchy; tired looking all the time; low energy too much of the time. I lead an active life as a photographer but was finding it more and more difficult to get going. I also spend a lot of time on computer with digital images and as an author, so it's harder to make myself exercise)

* My bowels have been consistently regular...until I "slip" and have some sweets or eat something that is acidifying instead of alkalizing. Then I bind up again almost immediately.

* My skin rashes on my arms and back are clearing up

* I truly love and relish the food we eat, thanks to the detailed suggestions and terrific recipes in the book. Instead of cereal, eggs and bacon, toast and jam, and orange juice that I used to consider indispensable to a "healthy" breakfast, I'm now eating things like cooked buckwheat groats with fresh avocado, tomato, soaked and chopped almonds, and one of the sesame oil/lemon juice/tahini dressings mentioned in the book, and this meal sustains me well into mid afternoon, with no post-sugar or post-caffeine crash, because I don't take in those physiological pollutants any longer.

I expect to feel a whole lot better in 6 months, but meanwhile, I felt, as I prepare to turn 60 next week, that I was starting the long slide toward incapacity, declining physical health, and death. Now, 6 weeks later, I am feeling like my old, youthful, energetic self again.

You are what you eat. There are so many delicious foods in here that it will amaze you. Plus when you get off the sugar/meat/acid foods, everything, I mean everything, tastes better.

I used to hate cucumbers. Now I eat them like I used to eat apples or oranges. And I don't get a manic rush afterwards.

This is a great book and once you read the author's theses, based on 20 years of research (he's a microbiologist), you'll ask yourself whether it's worth remaining a creature of habit...and watching your health go slowly down the toilet, the way I was watching mine.

Good health!

I read this book a couple of years ago and I did the program. I returned to my peak health and lost tons of weight.

Changes in my life made it difficult to continue with the raw diet so I stopped following the acid/base balance and soon started to gain weight. I went really out of control actually.

If you fall off, get back up as soon as possible. Waiting so long as I did is a big mistake.

What has changed? I no longer EVER sick. Remember, I am a medical professional myself- I am in contact with lots of sick people suffering from contagious viruses. I do not take the flu vaccine- and never worry about getting sick. My colleagues all suffer. I tell them about what I do, and I get that BLEH! look.

I have done my own research. Intensive. Harvard School of Medicine's Library has copies of the research Dr. Young bases his theory on. I believe a research study completed by Harvard School of Medicine was just released regarding a similar thought. His theory is sound. In fact, I am considering doing a research project at a major hospital in Boston, MA just to move his theory a bit further.

Acid/base balance is working. Chemical free plant food diet is really the way to go. There has been lots of research that says... 'eating broccoli will do this, eating tomatoes will prevent that... ' How about eating all of the above in a healthful combination?

Even today, I read this book; mark it up- question his theory a bit- do some more research. But all in all... the theory IS supported.
I wish the Medical Doctors (MD) will read this- place thier ill patients on this program.

I gave this four stars- because I could barely stomach half the recipes. Maybe it was because I was sugar and carb addicted at the time and was NOT used to such change. That means half I LOVED! I marked each recipe with a score 1-5 on whether I liked it or not (I didn't want to repeat the unfavorable ones). I must say though - I did grow fond of the raw diet and in fact craved the food. Just like I used to crave a candy bar or bread. I started sharing the food with my family- and they suffered the same 'gross' thing I had at first. So, it takes a bit of adjustment on the taste buds. Dr. Young talks about that.

In order for me to continue Raw, I needed to buy additional recipe books to help. This book is great as a start, a strong knowledge base- not as an 'end-all' to a complete and thorough diet. Knowing WHY you're doing something is the best foundation.

I know this book so well- I could practically quote it word for word. I tell EVERYBODY I know about this program. Open-minded are interested. Closed-minded don't care. Tis okay. Someday they will come to me.

Please read this book. Keep it for reference. Scientifically speaking- it's what we Americans need. Please do yourself a favor. Learn what Dr. Young and his wife have experimented with over the last 20 years. Let thier life's work help you.

Update 3/07: still eating green as much as possible. Love spinach, avacado and frozen broccoli smoothies (really, I do). However, it looks like the greens that Dr. Young sponsored are still around but he isn't. So, I recommend going with some other greens (just read labels). I like Paleo Mint through a health care provider and you can find some at Whole Foods and mercola.com as well.......get some with fruits in it as well and you can kill 2 birds, less the sugar and carbos of eating alot of fruit. Garden of Life seems decent (but expensive). Shop around.
Original review: I read this book at advice of a friend. I sort of bought into it but thought it was a bit extreme. I had been really tired and just lost 2 babies so I was up for feeling better. My friend told me to do nothing buy try the SuperGreens listed in the book along with the PH drops. So I did. My energy went up immediately. I kept my diet the same (wine, beef, chicken, you name it). I started feeling better but just thought my depression had lifted. Well, 4 months later, I went to my MD. I had a BMI test done that also includes cellular health. I had my blood lipids run. When I got the results back, I was ASTOUNDED and so were my doctors. My total cholesterol dropped 57 points (I am only 39, in fairly good shape, size 8 and have NEVER had a cholesterol level below 210). The check I did in august 04 was 233 total cholesterol. The test last month: 176. All I did differently was drink supergreens 2 times per day with PH drops. All of my lipids lowered including my C-Reactive Protein. My cell health went WAY up, my BMI went down, i lost 16.8 pounds of fat without losing any muscle. I will share my reports with you and my doctors comments if you like. I got so excited, i signed up to distribute the product so i could get the discount. I have 22 of my friends and family on supergreens. My mom says her energy is great (she is 72 and obese). Contact me if you want details of my story and on the SuperGreens. Read the book if you like or contact me for some highlights first. I don't know if this is the answer to everything, but it is the answer to alot of things. I was so skeptical before but not anymore. This has made me WANT to start cleaning up my diet in addition to supergreens and I am well on the way. Take baby steps and start with their supergreens. contact me for a free sample.

This book is going to change a lot of people's thinking about health and nutrition. The ideas, which Dr. Young has been saying steadily for over almost 20 years in more technical, but largely unnoticed, books and lectures, are not based on any theory but on his own discoveries under the microscope in a Utah research center. They explain so many unrelated things... reversing a lot of the common diet hype out there...and put first-hand molecular science behind the claim that a plant-based diet is essential for optimal human health. Not only that, but that an over-acidified body--caused by too much "diet" food like protein, artificial sweeteners, low-fat starches and fruit (and even excess exercise!)--actually not only CAUSE protective fat layers to form, but also set up an environment that acid-producing yeast, fungi, and mold thrive in. So do all diseases including cancer, arterioscerosis, diabetes, lupis, chronic fatigue--all of them.

Dr. Young challenges even long-held cultural myths like "drink milk for strong bones" by asking where do elephants, gorillas and bears get their calcium? Then he explains in a totally rational way why humans were never meant to drink cows'--or any other species--milk. I could go on, but you won't be sorry you bought this book. Read, learn, and change your life, whether or not you take all the supplements and eat only the foods he recommends. You'll start doing some things differently, and you'll understand why.

I happened to attend one of Dr. Young's talks 10-12 years ago and knew by his quiet passion he was onto something big but it was so radical there was little media support. Now I see the likes of Tony Robbins, James Redfield, and a TV talk show host are endorsing him. The main thing is that these concepts get out there to people who are sick and tired (who isn't?) They will replace a lot of well-marketed but contradictory diet nonsense with a unifying nutrition theory that finally holds water.

I read the book. I do what it says. And it works.
I lost 20lb in 1 month, dropped 40 cholesterol points, am no longer hypoglycemic, and no longer have allergies.

I have friends who use the supplements recommended. One has reduced her insulin from 6 shots to 2 shots per day. One no longer has ankle swelling. One no longer has constant fatigue.

As with any book, it works only as good as you apply it.

It's hard for me to imagine someone not having amazing results on this program. I don't use his products but I do follow the alkaline diet and the results have been amazing.

I feel great, have tons of energy, don't get jetlag anymore, never get sick, etc, etc.

At the outset of following the program you probably will feel lousy becuase your body needs at least a month to flush out the toxins from all the [bad] food we've all been eating our whole lives. Ever have a hangover? You feel lousy at the time but after the toxicity has left your body your feel much better.

Everyone owes it to themselves to read this book and try the diet for at least a short time.

You think some of his ideas are quacky? Well guess what, medicine is a very young science and it wasn't that long ago that people used leeches! The important thing is the results you get and everyone I've known has had great results with this program.

Don't like the fact that he sells some products? I can understand that - but are you going to let that get in the way of a life where you feel vibrant and great every day?

It costs nothing to follow the diet, and in my experience if you occasionally stray a little from going out to eat, etc. you still feel great as long as you 1) have an initial intensive period of following the diet religiously (maybe for 3-6 months), and 2) only eat acidic food occasionally.

Thank you, Robert and Shelly for this book!