Biobalance: The Acid/Alkaline Solution to the Food-Mood-Health Puzzle [Paperback]

As this review is being written (May 2000), the debate among the so-called nutrition experts rages. Characteristically, it has been forced to fever pitch by the recent clash between Dr. Richard Adkins (an advocate of the high protein diet), and much of the mainstream dietary community (advocating low fat, high complex carbohydrate fare). As illustrated in his book, Dr. Wiley has resolved this debate in addition to others being waged within the nutritional community by demonstrating that different individuals metabolize foods in different fashion. Specifically, he has shown that while some individuals will thrive on regimens similar to the regimen advocated by Dr. Adkins, other individuals will require low fat, high complex carbohydrate fare. (For biochemical reasons made clear in his book, Dr. Wiley classifies the former and latter as acid and alkaline metabolic types respectively.) Conversely, Dr. Wiley has demonstrated that each of these regimens can be catastrophic to both physical and mental health when inappropriately applied. Hence, metabolic compatibility is the key to matching or pairing each individual with his or her biocompatible nutritional regimen in the quest for optimal performance.

Dr. Wiley has gone on to show that some individuals (most notably, some premenopausal women) metabolize in different fashion at different times during a monthly cycle. These individuals require not 1, but 2 different nutritional regimens (each at a different time of month) to sustain optimal metabolic performance. Dr. Wiley concludes that this metabolic variability over time, is genetically driven, is not the result "deep-seated psychological trauma" or "stress," and (if untreated) is largely responsible for the severe and often icapacitating distress which accompanies menstrual disorders. In fact, Dr. Wiley's research concludes that many disorders currently classified as "psychological" or "mental" (including chronic fatigue syndrome) are instead the result of metabolic or acid/alkaline biochemical imbalances, and will thus not lend themselves to "talking things over with a sensitive mental health expert."

Equally remarkable is the fact that Dr. Wiley has been able to accurately reduce metabolic identification to one simple test, namely caffeine tolerance. Specifically, he has shown that individuals who report a favorable response to caffeine will generally thrive on low fat, high carbohydrate fare, while individuals who are caffeine-intolerant must limit their carbohydrate intake, and must increase their intake of proteins, in particular nucleoproteins which are found in specific meats, fish and vegetables. (Ironically, these proteins have largely been ignored by the so-called nutrition experts irrespective of their dietary recommendations.) In essence, Dr. Wiley has rigorously demonstrated what you have suspected all along, but have been unable to articulate as part of a coherent food-mood-health plan, namely that one size does not fit all.

Dr. Wiley's analysis of the chaos sweeping the nutritional and health care communities today is best summarized in his remarkable book as follows. Today's nutrition experts are akin to the wise but blind men in the children's fable, "The Blind Men and the Elephant." Because each wise man is blind, he misunderstands the nature of the elephant, despite repeatedly touching one part of the animal. Consequently, after touching the elephant's tail, one sage insists that the elephant is very much like a snake. After touching its leg, another sage insists that the elephant is not at all like a snake, but instead resembles a tree. After touching its tusk, a third sage insists that the elephant is neither like a snake or tree, but more closely resembles a spear, etc.. Consequently, because each nutrition expert has unwittingly encountered notable success in treating one and only one metabolic type, he or she has tragically generalized this success to everyone. (Failed cases are of course dismissed, and shuffled off to psychotherapy, or stress management therapy.) Sadly, these generalizations in turn form the root of the chaos, confusion and contradictory advice dispensed by the nutritional community. Dr, Wiley rigorously argues that absent an understanding of the metabolic diversity which characterizes the human species (a diversity which forms the cornerstone of BioBalance Therapy), little if any progress will be made in the nutritional treatment of disease.

In summary, Dr. Wiley's book will show you how you can quickly and non-invasively determine your metabolic type, and thereby self-administer one or more nutritional regimens which will allow you to maintain optimal psychophysiological performance. In conclusion, Dr. Wiley's book is a must read for anyone who is either a serious student of the food-mood-health connection, or for anyone interested in ridding himself or herself of any illness which has either been classified as "psychological," or which has persistently eluded medical diagnosis.

I am well-read and have been told by those with a master's degree in nutrition that I understand the chemical process of nutrition better than they do. I say this to help the reader of this review understand that I was expecting a detailed book on 'The Acid/Alkaline solution to the Food-Mood-Health Puzzle" not a book on how bad other programs are and that more research isn't possible because the Dr. ran out of money.

This is the first negative review I've ever written as well.

I will continue looking to find a book that addresses the acid/alkaline issue.