Welcome. Here's where you'll find some tips on what to eat - which foods are considered alkaline and which foods are just plain BAAAADDD. As you move along and start to change your diet you will start to come up with your own recipes. You'll also find yourself finally buying all those things you saw in the supermarket but never actually bought (including produce that you passed right by and said to yourself, "I wonder what THOSE are?"). And, remember, this is just a starting point to help you get going. If something is not listed here and you are wondering if it is good for you or not - use your intuition, you will usually know inside if it is healthy or not. We will also try to dispell some rumors about certain foods. Have fun!!

Let's start out this section with a few comments seen on Amazon.com in a review of Dr. Young's book entitled 'The pH Miracle'.

You need a dietician, October 8, 2002 "All this might work wonderfully if you had time to do all this stuff and manage to work out how to eat exactly the way it says, but for those of us in the real world, it's more trouble than it's worth."

Get Real, July 17, 2002 "You guys gotta be kidding. No one can tell me that they can use this diet in everyday life. Unless you are a shut in or wealthy with someone buying and preparing these meals...GOOD LUCK! I tried it for one month. First of all, most of these products have to be purchased at health food stores and are very expensive. Second of all, if you have to eat out a lot for business or just for pleasure FORGET IT! I couldn't find one thing on a restaurant menu that remotely filled these stringent guidelines. Third, I don't know about anyone else, but I like some taste with my food...this stuff and the recipes that went along would gag a goat. After a month I lost 5 lbs...got sick three times and could barely make it up a flight of stairs. I told someone about this diet and they said that Anthony Robbins has an interview with the authors on tapes circulating around the country. At the end of the tape they tell you how to contact a distributor to purchase their products. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you really can't follow their program without their products...mmmmmm sounds a bit like MLM. Be careful with this one."

Can you imagine? More trouble than it's worth?? Since when is eating well, feeling alive and energetic, being at your optimum weight, feeling free from sickness and disease, and increasing the overall passion and vitality of your own life trouble of ANY kind? When I take a look at the "real world" I see disease and decay (1 of every 3 Americans will contract some form of cancer), I see my countrymen the fattest they have ever been (70% of America is overweight) and I see billion dollar powerhouse corporations telling us to buy cigarettes, milk, meat, carbohydrates, and fatty snacks. Top it off with a handful of Tums and weight control pills and you got a clear picture of the "real world."

Imagine a person stricken with cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or acid reflux disorder being told that if they simpy change their eating habits they could increase their chances of survival, or at least minamalize or completely heal their disorder. Do you think that they would respond by saying, "ya know doc...I really enjoy my sausage and pepper parmesan hero and chocolate shake...so...changing my diet is more trouble than it's worth!"?

And, let me ask a question. Which do you think is harder to prepare and costs more: 1) a Porter-House steak with mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, a small pile of cheese laden asparagus and a beer. or 2) A salad fixed with lettuce, broccoli, asparagus, and sprouts topped with a lemon juice/olive oil dressing followed by a whole wheat wrap stuffed with eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers and a glass of water or soymilk.? I think anyone with any common sense knows the answer to that one. If you think choice #1 is easier and cheaper, I plead with you to go to the supermarket and buy both meals and prepare them. You'll be quite shocked back into reality! Which of these meals do you believe will give your body energy after consumption and which do you feel will make you run to the bathroom followed by a nice nap to work off all the damage done? Again, a no brainer. Every restaurant I have EVER been in sells an alternative to a meat-lasagna and coke, and at lower cost. Again, just go check if you are unsure of this fact.

I find that most supermarkets, unless you live with the Australian Aboriginals, carry everything you can want to prepare a healthy alkaline-enriched meal. Ever see a supermarket without a produce section? Health food stores come into play when you truly want to be creative with your meals.

Issues of taste? Two thoughts. Is it really YOUR taste buds that crave sugars, carbohydrates, and fats? Or could it be that your body is so laden with candida (yeast) and bacteria (which feed off of your glucose) that you just can't help enjoying the taste of those damaging foods. When you start to alkalize and energize your system you start to really enjoy the flavor for all things alkaline. The cravings for fats and sugars will never go away completely-much like a smoker who quits and still has cravings 30 years later. Being healthy isn't a luxury you enjoy for free - you have to work at it, and it takes practice. But, keep this one important thought in mind: nothing tastes as a good as feeling healthy, fit, and truly alive feels...NOTHING! Wouldn't you agree?

And lastly, concerning using supplements that come from a dealer. Do you take a multivitamin every day? Most do. Do you take extra vitamin C when you are feeling ill? Why is that? Does your doctor have you buy expensive prescription drugs to fix what ails you? We all know the answer to that. Is there a company that manufactures these products for free to hand out at your local street corner to all in need? Imagine that. The supplements for this program are exactly that - supplements! They are meant, just as with multivitamins and pharmaceuticals, to increase all those things which your body may be lacking. The program calls for an alkaline-enriched diet. Some find the transition to alkaline foods a little harder because of their old habits so they will use the supplements to get what their body needs until the transformation to a healthy diet is complete. The supplements are meant to boost the overall success of this eating plan. Nothing more, nothing less.

Do you think the average American could ever be as healthy as a goat?

Now, with all that said, let's move to our next subject - The Food "Ash" Table