The Battle for Health Is Over PH: Life and Death Hangs in the Balance

The major premise of this book is that oxygen heals. Low oxygen equals low pH. Increase oxygen and the pH goes up, making it hard for anaerobic pathogens to exist. He shows how to increase oxygen and test pH. He tells you what numbers to aim for. Disease comes from inside, not from outside, the body. The internal terrain, at the cellular level, is the focus of health or disease. A sick internal milieu attracts pathogens like garbage attracts rats. Instead of being in the KILL mode, healing should be in the CLEAN UP mode. Degenerative disease is a vicious cycle of acidification caused by oxygen blockages at the cellular level. Agreed. All this makes sense. But I have reservations. On page 36 he claims that bacteria can change into viruses. That sounds dubious to me, but I'm not a scientist. He advises against distilled water, saying that it has no bioavailable minerals. So what? Neither do spring water and tap water! The minerals in spring water are harmful. The body cannot use them. He says on page 78 that "the body needs living minerals coming from living foods." Agreed! And you won't find living minerals in spring water. He says that drinking distilled water "leaches valuable minerals from your body." I have never seen any evidence to support this. Anyway, there is no need to drink any kind of water if you eat raw food. He recommends drinking lots of water but I agree with Dr. Emmet Densmore, who said, "Digestion goes forward much better when the gastric juice is not diluted with fluids." There are some very quotable lines in this book. The description of the US health care system on page 65 is right on target. This book may be a bit of an oversimplification, but most of it makes very good sense.

Though this book is short and somewhat crudely slapped together, the information is solid gold. The author is a true crusader for disease prevention via an alkaline diet. But he goes much further than simply presenting the alkaline/acid food chart and discussing the importance of pH. For such a short book, he goes into an array of critical subjects such as detox methods, cellular oxygenation and the two kinds of acids: lifeless enzyme-deficient acids from processed foods and beneficial acids from natural whole foods. He even goes back in history to debunk Pasteur's Germ Theory which is the basis of our modern health care system. And he champions Bechamp's crucial discovery that it isn't the bacteria or viruses that produce disease - they are actually the aftermath of disease borne in the cells. Pretty important distinction that will eventually be taught in the finest medical schools, we can only hope! If everyone were exposed to this crucial information our health care epidemic would be a thing of the past. But of course, so would the profits of many of our conspiring Fortune 500 companies. Until then, our revolutionary subculture will have to be content knowing the actual cause of disease. Just be happy that YOU know and enjoy a long and healthy life.

This is one of the most concise well-written books I have ever read. I wish it were required reading for every school student...we might then have a chance to turn many of our major health crises around in this nation.

I recommend this book to all of my customers who inquire about the pH of their water. While Tunsky's work covers a wide array of tactics to bring the body into balance my own work focuses on the pH of the water we drink. Most tap water is already alkaline but well water is often acidic. Tunsky isn't the only person to emphasize the importance of bringing the body into an alkaline condition, but his work is perhaps the most concise and helpful description. And his suggestions are most helpful. The conclusion is this - it's important to be alkaline. Yet most of our beverages and foods lead our body toward an acidic state. And with acidic conditions we open our bodies to invasion by disease. This issue is far more important than most people consider. It is generally passed over entirely and yet offers hope for many individuals fighting to regain their health. Tunsky's book is a must read for anyone who is thinking about the pH balance of their body and perhaps for anyone trying to regain their health through diet.

I purchased this informative book after hearing the author interviewed on a community radio station, KGNU. KGNU airs a program called "Tributaries" that discusses all sorts of health issues in ways that the medical establishment avoids. There is simply too much money at stake for the pharmaceutical industry and other businesses to expect honest discussions of alternatives from them. So, we need to seek out our own information. Fortunately doctors like Andrew Weil have brought complimentary medicine into the mainstream with several best-selling books. One of the interesting aspects of Tunsky's book, and the topic of pH generally, is how it provides a different approach to health than the "kill the germ" approach of so much conventional medicine. We spend a fortune on anti-biotics and various germ killers - products that often create a more viulent strain of what we're trying to get rid of. It's kind of like our approach to this so-called "war on terror," we spend a fortune trying to "kill the terrorists" and we end up creating more people who resist US militarism; meanwhile, the environment in which "terrorists" are being created is largely ignored. Tunsky recommends we eat more whole foods - foods that have not been heavily processed, or irradiated, or canned. There is a healthy food movement going on across the country, with stores like "Wild Oats" and "Whole Foods" popping up in cities across the nation. Even fast food chains are feeling pressure to change, providing better options like salads and more items that aren't fried and don't contain trans-fats. If people want to discover their own pH levels, they can buy strips at health food stores that will indicate the pH level of your saliva and urine. Tunsky's book provides all sorts of tips on how to put your body into a better acid-alkaline balance.