Acid & Alkaline

This is a great book on acid/alkaline balance in the body. It is technical, but quite readable -- written by a Japanese man called Herman Aihara. Towards the end of this short book, he gets a little more philosophical -- inserting gems of Japanese wisdom. In a section on Fatigue and Acidity, otherwise devoted to biochemistry -- he wraps it up with: "Walking or gardening in the early morning will be the best exercise and result in a tireless body and a joyous and healthy life". I love it. Elsewhere, discussing a macrobiotic diet, he gives us (out of nowhere): "Of hard work, gardening with bare feet is best." These are a reminder to us that when reading on a subject we should not be hide-bound by one culture's myopia. Well done Mr Aihara. Thanks for a great book on acidosis -- and the wonderful gems of advice for a good life.

This book is a very important one, and very well done. I had to study it a little harder than some people, as I am not very chemically inclined. But with study it was graspable, and what is learned here is extremely important. The reason he goes into the detail he does, is because he is not giving you a list of foods to eat. He is teaching you how to choose foods for yourself. I think this is very important for anyone (especially) who is doing macrobiotics. It really explains what your doing, instead of just saying it's yin or yang. Once you learn the principles in this book, it is also easy to apply it to other diets you may find. You want to make sure that you have alkaline forming foods in your body, and this book teaches you how! Some things in the book are his opinion, and he tells you that. There are many "I think" sentences in this book. I think he's done a wonderful job and a great service with this book, and heartily recommend it.

This book contains very important information about how to balance one's internal body chemistry which is the key to health. His quadrant chart of a balanced meal is excellent. I have been following it and advising others about it for almost twenty years. Aihara alludes to and I also explain to people how their external diet--over 125 possible household problems--has an even greater impact on one's health and affects internal body chemistry. Margaret Rouse Shontz, Author, Speaker, and Consultant Book: Is Your House Making You Overweight, Sick or Tired?

First off, i am neither a chemist nor a nutritionist: i actually have almost no background in either except for high school chem class-- and i only just became interested in eating healthy, let alone consciously-- and i'm finding this book is not only the most accessible chemistry book i've ever read, but is also the most clear explanation of what exactly is going on with the macrobiotic diet.Unlike alot of the other books explaining the principles of macro and the acid-alkaline balance, this is largely a scientific explanation of exactly what are the chemical reactions *causing* the different foods we eat to have various effects on us, rather than simply instructions on how much of what to eat per day etc. For me personally, i like to go in to any program informed; and for a while i cringed at the idea of having to go heavilly into chemistry to know what the macro nutritionists are really talking about-- but i would definatelly push this as an excellent introduction: concise, elegant, comprehensive and suprisingly accessible. I might even suggest this book to someone just starting out learning chemistry of any sort; i wish i had had this book around when i was first learning the subject :) . Aihara is good at raising interest in the subject, and also at building up to it: framing the entire discussion in terms of where cells first took on all the traits they still have: in the ocean water where they evolved. It's a great way to introduce the subject and at a slender 177 pages of text, a good place to get your bearings or, if you like, just a good read.

This is a book I found in a healthstore library. Very simply written, concise and clear about the need to keep an alkaline (not acid) base in our body. This is a matter of serious import, and I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who truly cares about good health.