Alkalize or Die: Superior Health Through Proper Alkaline-Acid Balance by Theodore A. Baroody Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Alkalize or Die: Superior Health Through Proper Alkaline-Acid Balance
Book Review: Don't waste your time or money
Summary: 2 Stars
The title says it all. The food chart is worth a few bucks. The book is not well written. I may try to sell it on amazon marketplace. Too much fluff, religious points of view etc. When I buy a book on nutrition, I'm looking for good science, not someone's religious/philosophical points of view.Book Review: Dynamic Decision
Summary: 4 Stars
I wanted to try and find something to help my body repair itself and help improve my health. This is a product that will help me accomplish just that. To cleanse the body on the inside is as important as cleansing the body on the outside, maybe more so. I have lost 13 pounds in a month and I feel intensely better with more energy and attention span. I know this sounds too good to be true, but it works. Buy the book and get started today. You too will be amazed in my opinion.Book Review: Edgar Cayce reincarnated
Summary: 3 Stars
I am reviewing the ninth edition (2006) of Dr. Baroody's book, Alkalize or Die. Dr. Baroody's book has helped me understand the relationship between acid-forming foods and alkaline-forming foods, yet I must say it required some level of discernment to sift the wheat from the chaff.
One of the positive features to Dr. Baroody's approach to healthful living is his recognition of each person's unique biochemistry. Throughout this book he continues to remind his readers that each person is an individual and therefore might experience variant results when compared to other people.
It is important to understand that Dr. Baroody's theories and principals are based as largely on his personal alternative health experiences (trial and error) as they are on any demonstrable medical science. It is also important to know that Dr. Baroody gives much credence to the metaphysical teachings of eastern spiritualism, which may be a detractor to some readers. In the book's introduction, Dr. Baroody writes, "My viewpoint is founded on ancient Hindu, Chinese, Tibetan, and Greco-European healing philosophies and on several great modern men in the field of health." One of these "great modern men" is Edgar Cayce, who is referenced as an authority many times throughout the book.
So long as the reader is a proponent of New Age and/or Eastern spiritualism, this book should be quite acceptable. For those of us who are more Western in their worldview, the book requires discernment to pick and choose what you care to take from it.
An example of how Dr. Baroody's metaphysical beliefs influence his dietary advice can be seen in his counsel for reducing the consumption of red meat: "The destructive emotion of slaughter is assimilated by the person who eats flesh." (pg. 63). For many, this statement might resonate well with their worldview, but for others this statement will likely be challenged as to it's applicability to the subject of acidity/alkalinity.
Dr. Baroody's experience in the alternative health field appears to be quite extensive. No doubt he has learned a lot from published medical research and other practitioners, yet much of what he proposes in this book is admittedly derived from his own experience; some of which he still doesn't fully understand himself (for example, read chapter 4 on the "Vagus Nerve"). Those readers who are looking for a book filled with footnotes and documented scientific research will be disappointed with this work.
What I found most helpful in the book is Dr. Baroody's exhaustive list of foods with a corresponding rating as to their alkaline-forming or acid-forming properties. Dr. Baroody abandons the conventional 0-7-14 pH scale in favor of a scale he developed to measure alkaline-forming and acid-forming foods. Dr. Baroody's scale (pg. 38) ranges from 0.5 to 7.5. All foods below 4.0 are acid-forming and all foods above 4.0 are alkaline-forming.
The chart I refer to above is alone worth the price of the book. Depending on the readers religious and scientific convictions, the rest of the book may or may not be appreciated.
Book Review: Eye-opening!
Summary: 5 Stars
If this book doesn't change the way you look at the food that is available to us today as far as fast food and sugar content then I don't know what will.Book Review: Good book, BAD CREDENTIALS...or at least misleading!
Summary: 1 Stars
The content of the book contains accurate and important information. The author and his seemingly impressive and extensive "credentials", on the other hand, are somewhat misleading.
What appears to be genuine and traditional schooling comes to the author from the Western Carolina University, where he received a B.S. in Psychology, and a Masters in Educational Counseling in 1974 and 1976; and perhaps the D.C. degree he earned in 1981 from Life University - College of Chiropractic.
What is sketchy are those degrees that afford him the most credibility: the N.D. from Clayton School of Naturopathy in 1991, and the PhD in Nutrition from the American Holistic College. Clayton College of Natural Health (Naturopathy) appears to be an easy admission, short-term, online "degree mill" college that describes their Doctorate level completion as follows:
"A degree from Clayton College can provide personal enrichment, professional growth for an ongoing career, or the foundation for a holistic health or nutrition consulting practice."
This falls quite short the scope of a Doctorate level education from one of the four Naturopathic Medicine colleges in the United States with accreditation from The Council on Naturopathic Medical Education (C.N.M.E.), the only accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Clayton is, rather, accredited by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners and the American Naturopathic Medical Accreditation Board. Both are private accrediting associations designed to meet the needs of non-traditional education (the schools) and are not affiliated with any government agency or recognized by the Dept. of Education. Furthermore, Clayton does not and can not award an ND. What they can award, as listed on their website, is a CTN: Certified Traditional Naturopath for graduates of any "doctoral" program; and a CNW: Board Certified in Nutritional Wellness for graduates of the Master of Science in Holistic Nutrition program or Ph.D. program. So Theodore Baroody saying he "completed an ND from Clayton..." does not of itself make him an ND. And since, conveniently, Clayton titles their courses with "Doctor of Naturopathy", etc., it is easy to mislead. The same is true for his PhD earned at the American Holistic College-Clayton's sister online college. Nuff said.
I hesitated in writing this review because as a person about to about to embark on an ND from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, OR, and as a person on a mission to play some small role in the rescue of us all from the disease that is modern medicine (that was dramatic, I know, but I believe that modern medicine should be secondary and small in comparison to naturopathic healing and prevention), I wasn't sure I wanted to employ the kind of slanderous tactics certain organizations and individuals within the medical and drug industry like to employ to, in a sense, kill the growing competition of naturopathic alternatives. Truthfully, despite his misleading credentials, I wouldn't have written this review...if he wasn't selling products! If he was just passing along good information I'd have just been glad someone was doing it! Anyone! Everyone? ...But this guy is using half the alphabet after his name in what seems to me a mere platform to earn credibility in order to sell...stuff! And that sounds too much to me like the tactics of the ol' drug industry that just wants to keep us sick...and spending our hard-earned cash to be so! Not that I think his products might be harmful in any way, but my method of operation has simply become don't trust it if it can't be trusted.
So my bottom line and humble opinion is, sure, buy the book. It's simple and explained well (although there is plenty out there on the alkaline/acid balance that does not use a book and list credentials to gain credibility in order to sell you products), but think before you buy any of the products he sells in the book and on his website. Perhaps even take his supplement advice and buy them somewhere else! Because I think Mr. Baroody's extensive credentials may have earned him reasonable doubt and the additional title of...DSO, Doctor of Snake Oil?