The pH Miracle: Foreword

By Gabriel Cousins, MD

The pH Miracle is a historically and profoundly significant conceptual medical breakthrough in the functional understanding of the basic cause of disease. The focus of Dr. Young on the pH is a major conceptual insight and contribution to natural healing. It reflects a brilliant continuum from the work of medical doctors like Antoine Bechamp and Claude Bernard, who taught that the biological terrain (a person's basic psycho-physical-biochemical balance as reflected in the immune system) was the most important factor in whether a person remained healthy or developed acute or chronic disease. As Florence Nightingale described in the 1850s, the swamp breeds the mosquitoes; the mosquitoes do not create the swamp. As Dr. Young beautifully clarifies, "Germs are really just the expression of the underlying disease condition (overacidity and microform growth)."

This way of understanding disease is distinctly different from the current allopathic model, which is based on the theory of Louis Pasteur of one pathogenic organism - one disease approach. Even Pasteur himself refuted it on his deathbed, when he stated that Claude Bernard was right, the terrain is everything. Today this represents the core of the debate between the holistic approach to disease, which reflects a body-mind-spirit pleomorphic approach to preventing and healing disease, and the allopathic-symptom-focused approach to disease.

The pH Miracle is sharing a new and fundamental view of health and the prevention of disease. It it BASE-ic. When you create a healthy pH, you create a significantly more disease-resistant body. With this book Dr. Young has established himself as a visionary pioneer in bringing forth this elegant yet profoundly simple approach to maintaining high-level health and healing disease. At the Tree of Life, a clinical study of more than a thousand people found that those who were healthiest had a venous blood pH of approximately 7.46 - distinctly more alkaline than the traditional teaching of 7.35 as a healthy blood pH. Research done at UCLA by Dr. Watson produced similar findings; in a study of more than three hundred people, the venous blood pH associated with healthiest brain and emotional functioning was 7.46.

The optimal alkalizing dietary approach for creating and maintaining optimal well-being is organic, plant source only, 80 percent live food, and low glycemic. Dr Young's revolutionary teaching about minimizing fruit in the diet, especially sweet fruits, is both courageous and one that I share with him. The other components of the healthy alkalizing diet are good hydration, high oxygen intake, and highly mineralized food intake. In addition, this revised addition has made a significant and healthy step away from recommending all forms of soy as part of the diet. The decrease in emphasis of soy shows the evolution of thinking as new information has emerged since the first edition.

After thirty-six years of clinical experience, these are the basics of what I consider the optimal dietary way of life. I would add one additional emphasis, which is to eat moderately, as excessive eating, even of the most alkalizing food, can also create acidity because it overloads the digestive system.

In sum, this is a powerful approach. As we expand our understanding of the implications of The pH Miracle, we begin to look at our whole acidic, high-stress lifestyle as a source of illness. It takes us beyond diet to a whole alkalinizing way of life.

This book is great theoretically, yet also offers a well-balanced practical side. The pH Miracle shows how to transition to this lifestyle step by step. Remember that although it may appear difficult to live an alkalinizing, plant-source-only, organic, live-food lifestyle, it is profoundly worth it. From my own experience of living this way since 1983, I know it creates extraordinary vitality, strength, health, and a most delicious sense of well-being. For example, at the age of 21 as the captain of an undefeated football team, I was able to do 70 push-ups more than anyone else on the team could do. That was before I went alkaline. Almost forty years later, having lived for years on an alkaline diet and lifestyle, I was able to do 601 consecutive push-ups. It is interesting to note that in more than ten studies, nonathletic vegetarians had two to three times more endurance than meat-eating athletes. Research by Dr. Brekman in Russia showed that the same mice eating the exact same amount of cooked and raw food has three times more endurance when eating raw food. A properly alkalinized person optimizes all mental and physical functions.

A visionary breakthrough, this book is already a classic in natural healing literature. It makes a great contribution to the emerging culture-of-life world in which we choose to return to the natural healing ways of the Divine.

Sir Gabriel Cousens, MD, MD (H), DD is a diplomat of the American Board of Holistic Medicine, director of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center and Foundation, and author of Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine, Conscious Eating, and Spiritual Nutrition.