Sick and Tired?: Reclaim Your Inner Terrain [Paperback]

I focused my attention on the parts of this book that pertain directly to pH balance, which is the center of Dr. Young's theory. I read with special care the part of the book that purports to explain the fundamentals of pH to the non-scientist. This section contains basic errors that suggest to me that Dr. Young is not very knowledgable about this area; his understanding of basic chemistry seems limited. His definitions of fundamental terms such as "hydrogen ion" are poor, and his explantion of what table salt (NaCl) is and how it dissociates in water is incorrect. He gives the same pH values for blood that comes from arteries and veins; in reality, venous blood is more acidic than arterial blood.

The manner in which Dr. Young writes suggests a religious fervor that has nothing to do with science. I saw no footnotes that support his extreme views; in fact, judging by the titles of the journal articles he cites, I saw no citations in either this or another book by him that pertain specifically to the effect of pH on disease. Further, Dr. Young does not describe any of his own experiments that might lead one to think he has a valid scientific basis for his ideas. He makes many extreme statements without any supporting evidence.

From what I can see, Dr. Young does not have any interest in actually *testing* whether his ideas are correct. For example, the simple way to test his assertions about the effects of pH on disease would be to give sick people a couple of teaspoons of baking soda per day mixed with water. Baking soda (NaHCO3) is a base and will alkalinize the person's blood at least as well as any of the dietary manipulations Dr. Young suggests. But he appears not to have done this, or even to have studied the medical literature to see if other's have.

I also listened to Dr. Young on a marketing-oriented group phone call, which one of the distributors of his diet plans invinted me to listen in on. Dr. Young repeats the phrase "alkalinize and energize" like a mantra, many times; yet he provides no evidence that I can see that "alkalinizing" the blood through dietary or any other means actually increases energy. I have nothing against an ash-alkaline diet; in fact, I personally believe such a diet might have a positive impact on bone strength. But if someone is to make broad assertions about the benefits of an ash-alkaline diet, they should have persuasive evidence; but I didn't see any evidence for his claims.

As Dr. Young correctly points out in his book, there is a long history of science and medicine making errors and going down the wrong paths; and sometimes these wrong turns are not identified for decades or perhaps even centuries (some surely have yet to be identified). However, what he seems to fail to recognize is that there is also a long (really, much longer) history of non-scientific healing going down the wrong paths. Both scientific and non-scientific healers have made mistakes, and these mistakes have sometimes gone uncorrected for long periods. The only way to catch these mistakes is to test one's ideas, to see if they actually work; this applies to both conventional medicine and holistic medicine. Dr. Young seems to have an almost paranoid skepticism about many aspects of accepted medical practice, yet he is entirely credulous about much that falls outside of the mainstream. He seems to be entirely credulous about his own ideas.

I accepted my friend's request to check out Dr. Young's ideas thinking that he might have something interesting to say. I didn't expect perfection, but I did at least expect enough evidence that one might think he has framed a plausible hypothesis, an idea that is interesting and worth exploring further. But I did not find even that. Instead I found an almost religious fervor, an inadequate grasp of the fundamentals of the very field that is central to his ideas (pH balance), and no evidence that he has any real interest in testing his ideas to see if they actually work.

To say this, however, is not to rule out the possibility that some of the particular dietary or nutritional interventions he recommends might be beneficial. For instance, he seems to recommend a low-carbohydrate diet (a la Atkins), various nutrients (which are supported by some valid studies), and the like. Some of these things might actually be good for a person. Perhaps doing many of them together will be even better for a person. But the point is this: Dr. Young believes and claims that these things all work through a common pathway: that they work *because* they alkalinize the body. For example, the low-refined carbohydrate diet is not effective, Dr. Young seems to believe, because it prevents rapid release of insulin, etc.; he believes the diet is effective because it (allegedly) alkalinizes the body. This emphasis on pH and alkalinization as the supposed common pathway behind a seemingly unrelated group of nutritional strategies lies at the core of Dr. Young's ideas. It is this emphasis that differentiates his approach from the approaches of many others who focus on nutrition. Yet it is precisely this aspect of his theory that appears to be almost entirely unsupported by evidence.

Other than the fruit issue, this book is right on target. It is yet another book in the string of Acid/Alkaline books and the information is nothing new, but the layout, and the way Dr. Young puts it into words is extremely easy to comprehend. I have already known of the benefits of Alkalizing the body from following the Bragg's Healthy Living Lifestyle, but there was a lot of information in this book that I hadn't known.

I have the genetic tendancy to store most of my acid in my gut (intestines), and my liver. Being Acid also makes me LOSE tons of weight, just like it makes Millions of people gain tons of weight. By taking care of my two problem areas, and living an alkalizing lifestyle (exercise, raw foods, deep breathing, etc), I have reached a new level of health. This information is for real, and there is no reason why anyone should feel deprived on this kind of diet. The most delicious foods in the world are the ones God created.