Before it was called the alkaline diet, the alkaline-based diet that is
now current part of the Happy & Active lifestyle program was known as the
Ash Diet or the alkaline/acid diet. The reason it was called the Ash Diet is
because alkaline foods contain minerals: mainly calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc
and copper. In biochemistry these elements are incombustible, which means they catabolize
differently when they processed by the body.
When digested, they create ash in water, which in turn creates an
alkaline state in the body.
Robert 0. Young’s
Theory About Alkaline Foods
One of the most well-known contemporary proponents of the Alkaline was Dr. O. Robert
Young, who created many of the Western alkaline/acid food charts still in use today. Since
the early seventies, Dr. Young written a series of groundbreaking books on the
subject with the most famous being The pH Miracle (2002).
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| Robert O. Young |
His claim was that health depends primarily on proper balance between
an alkaline and acid environment in the human body. According to this theory,
when the blood becomes too acidic, the body does whatever it has to do to
regulate the acid-alkaline balance. This can result in all kinds of symptoms
including food cravings, digestive symptoms, weight gain, yeast overgrowth, fatigue,
raised cholesterol, raised insulin resistance and more.
Young claims that this one sickness and one disease is acidosis, the
over-acidification of the blood and then tissues due to an inverted way of
living, eating, and thinking. The "one treatment" is to maintain the healthy design of the body through an alkaline lifestyle and diet.
The Alkaline Diet
The original Robert Young diet recommends eating fish, vegetable and some
grains. This groundbreaking theorist also recommended abstaining from
"acidic" foods — such as red meat, shellfish, eggs, dairy sugar, refined
foods, artificial sweeteners, coffee, alcohol, chocolate, and sodas, However,
long before Young and his series of miracle pH books came into the picture
there was a wide spread recognition that alkaline foods and liquids restored
health to the body in the spa communities throughout the world.
For example, many of the mineral springs and mineral waters in Europe
were recognized to be alkaline in character and therefore healthy for the body.
Of course, Robert O. Young originally got his information from a much earlier work. Young’s work was based on one of the first books on the subject. It was penned
by an alternative health advocate named George S. Weger who wrote a book called
The Genesis and Control of Disease which identified acidosis as the cause of a
many conditions including fatigue, infections and “mental disharmony and
sleeplessness.” It was penned in 1840
and talked about acidic states in the blood. Revised editions of this book also were printed in the 1930s.
Alkalinizing Using
Fasting
One of the most famous books about achieving body alkalinity through
fasting was written a century later. The Master Cleanse included instructions
for Three Day Cleanses, 21 Day Detoxification Cleanses and ones that last as
long as three months. This book was written in 1940, by Stanley Burroughs and
is considered to be a foundation text about how to use fasting to detoxify and
alkalinize the body. The book made a comeback and was massively reprinted in the seventies.
Burroughs purported that consuming no food at all and drinking a
concoction made from lemons, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and purified water for
a period of days (as long as you can stand) is the key to getting rid of acid
wastes in the body and restoring them to a healthier alkaline state that does
not support disease.
For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please
visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call
us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Micheal
Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.
