Shelley Young and her husband Dr. Robert Young are the vital forces behind the library of pH Miracle books, alkalizing supplements and therapies. Their powerful philosophy on keeping an alkaline diet and lifestyle – what Dr. Young calls the New Biology – has been a breakthrough concept in health and nutrition since the early 2000s. The Young’s have stirred interest in everyone from NASA’s astronaut training program to our own Guest Editor Kris Carr and her own journey healing from cancer. The Young’s have guided thousands in their pursuit of health and healing with an alkaline diet. We were over-joyed to speak with Shelley personally about everything from the pH Miracle journey to her own personal tips and lifestyle advice.
Shelley is offering one reader a copy of their new revised and updated classic, The pH Miracle. See details at the end of this interview.
The Chalkboard Magazine: How did the pH Miracle begin? Was there a wake up call?
Shelley Young: “Yes, there was a BIG wake-up call. It all started long ago (1974) when Dr. Young and I realized that the vegetarian diet we had adopted way back in our college days (to improve his athleticism while he played tennis for the University of Utah) just wasn’t giving us the higher quality of health and performance we had hoped for. We were eating lots of grains, yogurts, cheeses, pasta and high sugar fruits. This presented new health challenges in the way of weight gain, colds, flu and allergies.
Long after that, Rob became very interested in studying the blood to find out what conditions needed to be present in the blood for optimum health. It was after this season of discovery that he fine-tuned his theories and approach to healing through ‘alkalizing’ the blood and tissues. Paying attention to the pH of the blood, and observing it in live and dry blood cell analysis, gave him the missing link to how healing could really happen for people who were sick and tired.
In 1994, he captured ‘pleo-morphism’ (meaning many forms) on video in the blood of a diabetic, where he found blood cells morphing into bacterias, yeasts and molds – or what we call ‘target’ or sick cells. This led him to align with Antone Bechamp’s conclusions (vs. Pasteur’s germ theory) that it was the terrain of the blood (the fluid around the cells) that had to be free of endotoxins and mycotoxins and remain alkaline for healthy blood cells to exist. The terrain was everything; the germ was nothing or very secondary. After this, in 2002, Time Warner contacted us about publishing our work because of the great results we had experienced in reversing so many symptomologies with our alkalizing program. It was at this point in time, the name and the company pH Miracle was born!”
TCM: pH Miracle uses live blood analysis to determine one’s health. Could you explain how this works?
SY: “Yes, live blood cell analysis is a great tool for demonstrating the nutritional efficiency (or lack of) in the body… simply, whether one is in a state of balance or imbalance in their physiology. We refer to this as your ‘inner terrain’. We take a drop of blood from the finger and observe it under the microscope both live and wet (right out of the gate) and also dried/clotted on the slide. The wet blood shows us the current state of the cells, whether or not there is high amounts of yeasts and bacterial loads, and the integrity of the red blood cell itself. We can pick up on problems in the terrain that are congestive such as fibrin monomers (net-like structures which resemble cobwebs) as well as signs of too much sugar in the blood in the way of white spots of fermentation on or in the cells. We can see the immune system (the white blood cells) and monitor their ability to stream and pick up garbage (bacterial and yeast loads) in the bloodstream. Its fascinating to see one’s own blood, as there is a universe within which can give us good information relative to our nutritional needs and general constitution.
The dry test (called the micotoxic-oxydative stress test) gives us indicators as to where in the body degeneration is happening and how deep seated (or serious) it is. If the clot shows a hyper-coagulated (very tight) pattern with no white puddles in it, and good fibrin connection, this means the person’s general constitution is strong and healthy. If there are many white puddles (polymerized protein puddles) or white spoking patterns in the dry sample, then that means a weaker constitution and a more serious health condition(s) Both the wet and dry test together give us great information for helping people take control of their own health and work on weaknesses or states of imbalance in their bodies. We believe that MOST, if not all health symptomologies are due to an ‘acidic’ lifestyle and diet. For every sickness and disease, there is always an accompanying acid present in the body such as uric, lactic or acidic acid. Our bodies are alkaline by design and acidic by function, so we teach people to bring the body back into a state of homeostasis by super alkalizing the blood and tissues with our great product line, and our dietary and lifestyle program. That’s where I come in as Chef Shelley. I teach people how to live the pH Miracle science from the kitchen, or dine alkaline out there in a restaurant. It’s where the science of food meets the taste of health!”
TCM: You lead retreats around the globe, have a beautiful Ranch in Valley Center, CA and have healed many people. Is there any one particular person that has transformed on your program that stands out?
SY: “Yes! there have been MANY people who have reversed their disease on our program. I hope its okay if I mention a few!
Your own June guest editor, Kris Carr, came to us a few years ago with a serious blood cancer condition which was attacking the lining of her veins. She has numerous tumors all throughout her body and she and her boyfriend attended our pH Miracle Retreat where, for the first time, she was able to see her own blood both wet and dry and learn from Dr. Young and I how to alkalize and energize – become well again. TRUE healing. She spent many days with us and videotaped both Dr. Young at the microscope viewing her blood, and she also spent a day of alkalizing food preparation with me. We taught Kris Carr about alkalizing the blood and tissues and did her blood tests, and also her follow-up blood tests after she had been on the program for many weeks – that proved our program was working for her. As I view Kris’s program that she promotes now, called her Crazy, Sexy, Cancer diet, you will notice that much of her regime is patterned after ours, and she talks about the importance of alkalizing and pH.
Tony Robbins is also one who found us years ago, and came to restore optimum health to his system through pH balancing. He had been following the Fit for Life program and had been ingesting nothing but sweet fruits from morning until noon. He found his energies waning, and knew intuitively that something was very wrong. While inviting Rob and I to teach his health seminars for a couple of years at his Life Mastery Events, he participated in restoring his own health and vitality through following our pH Miracle program. He has promoted our work ever since.
Gladys Knight, the famous singer, also received great benefit from following our pH Miracle program, and we were instrumental in teaching her to take charge of her own health and wellness through alkalizing. She was on our program when she received her lifetime achievement award for music.
We also have numerous video testimonials of reversing type 1 and type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, lupus, skin disorders, fibromyalgia and many other health issues on our website, pHmiracle.com.”
TCM: What are your thoughts on fruit?
SY: “I’m SO glad you’ve asked this question, as I think there is some confusion and misinformation out there about fruit, especially sweet fruits and their affect on health. It’s true that fruits have vitamins, minerals and many healthy components and bio-flavinoids. They are high in fiber, visually beautiful and really quite delicious. The problem is in the sugar content of fruit (fructose) going into a body that is not in a state of balance, but rather a sick body that is full of yeasts, molds and acids which are ravaging the physiology of the body. When someone is sick and tired, the fructose found in fruit can contribute to the illness by feeding the sick cells, so to speak. This is true in cancerous situations and this is why we pull all sweet fruits from the diet in the case of illness. Cancer cells feed off sugar, and so fruit is not a good choice when this serious state of imbalance is present. Sugars can also anesthetize (paralyze) white blood cells in the blood and keep them from moving and streaming throughout the inner terrain to do their ‘immune system’ job.
If someone is not dealing with serious health conditions that must keep all sugars to a minimum and they are in a state of balance in their systems, then when eaten occasionally, fruit does not create such a problem in the body. For the most part, we do not eat sweet sugar fruits very much… occasionally for a treat, like fresh raspberries over our seed pancakes with coconut whipped topping.”
TCM: Most people get overwhelmed with where to even start on a alkaline diet. Can you give some pointers?
SY: “Sure!
1. Start by drinking alkaline water. Ideally, the pH should be around a 9 pH. Many water manufacturers are now listing their pH on the their labels. We have drops that can be added to any water making it more alkaline called PuripHy drops that you can order on the website. We recommend drinking one liter for every 30 lbs of body weight a day.
2. Start adding chlorophyll to your ‘structured’ pH water in the form of greens. We feature our Doc Broc Greens and our pH Miracle Greens that are low heat dehydrated and electrically charged for optimum life force. We also recommend liquid chlorophyll which can be found in our product line, also on our website. Just by doing these two things, people can notice a big improvement in their energy and health.
3. Ween yourself off of highly acidic foods such as meats, dairy, baked goods and fermented foods, and make substitutions like use lemon or lime juice instead of vinegar and liquid pHlavor Salt instead of soy sauce.
4. Eat more vegetables in the way of salads, green smoothies and soups… the greener, the better! Use asparagus, kale, parsley, broccoli, celery, spinach, green peas, sunflower seed sprouts, just to name a few.”
TCM: Do you recommend Raw Foods? Cooked foods? Going vegan?
SY: “We call ourselves Alkarians, which we consider to be a notch-up from Vegans!
Our diet is high in vegetables, especially chlorophyll-rich ones, and healthy fats like avocados, almonds and coconut. For the most part, our meals are raw, with some foods that are dehydrated. People who prefer a little bit of cooked food on our pH Miracle program follow our 80/20 rule. 80% raw, 20% percent mildly cooked or steamed food, like a steamed quinoa or buckwheat, or a sprouted wheat tortilla.”
TCM: What does your personal day look like from start to finish?
SY: “Arise and SHINE!
Exercise with deep breathing: either running through our 40 acre avocado ranch or a Younga yoga class.
Breakfast consisting of fresh green veggie juice mixed with a little almond milk called green milk, cut up red ruby grapefruit slices and a green smoothie shake: spinach, avocado, cucumber, coconut, grapefruit juice, salt, ice
Work with clients and patients at our pH Miracle Center in beautiful Valley Center, CA.
Lunch – usually pureed veggie soup, big salad and vegetable side dishes such as raw pates.
Snacks – pH Miracle Kale Chips, pHlavored Nuts, dehydrated veggie crackers, Super Soy Pudding, coconut shake, Seaweed sheets.
Work, followed by family time, reading, writing, speaking, art, teaching, travel, etc.
Dinner of veggie loaf, or veggie stir-fry, soup and salad. I may have tofu occasionally. Other entrees would include: curry coconut crepes, veggie lasagna, veggie tacos.
TCM: What’s your guilty food pleasure?
SY: “Hm… I guess that would mean guilty as in ‘going off’ my program? That happens rarely, but when in Rome, I do have the gelato. Those guys are masterful at that cool and creamy stuff! And then I go right back to alkalizing and energizing the very next day!”
TCM: For new parents out there who would like to feed their kids an alkaline diet, can you recommend a healthy & tasty recipe for kids?
SY: “Yes! The great thing about our alkaline diet is that we puree our shakes and soups, making them smooth and creamy, which is a texture kids like. (Sometimes they don’t want chunky veggies!)
Kids Actually love our AvoColada Shake made with coconut palm sugar, which is made from the sap of coconut blossoms. It’s high in minerals and has a low glycemic index for diabetics. You can find this recipe in our new pH Miracle book, updated and revised or go to our website’s video section and see our demo of our Limely Love Shake with my little granddaughter Isabeau Rose. She loves it!
Also, I make a pudding for kids young and old alike:
Super Soy Pudding:
serves 4
- 2-3 avocados
- 1 cup fresh silky almond milk
- 2 inch piece of fresh ginger
- 2 limes peeled
- 2 scoops Super Soy Sprouts powder
- 2-3 TBs of Coconut Palm Sugar OR 1/2 tsp. raw green Stevia powder to taste
- 8-10 ice cubes
Whip in Vita Mix or blender until smooth and glassy. Serve immediately.”
TCM: Can you recommend any beauty products?
SY: “First and foremost, beauty, in my opinion, comes from WITHIN, both spiritually and physically.
The most important beauty product (or practice, rather) you can apply to your physical appearance is your diet and the way you hydrate your skin with what you eat and drink. Our program is anti-aging because it works in harmony with the body’s pH and doesn’t rob the body of precious alkalizing mineral salts, calcium and magnesium. Drinking pH water continually assures that your skin will have less eruptions, wrinkling and spotting caused by dehydration and exposure to too much sun. Foods like avocados and Omega 3-6-9 oils are internal moisturizers and keep the skin subtle and glowing. Also, skin pH doesn’t have to be acid… it can be alkaline too, including your sweat and urine. Regular exercise is also a beauty-enhancing practice because it increases oxygen and blood flow to every organ and system in the body. All of this makes for a more youthful, beautiful and fit appearance.
Beauty products in our pH Miracle product line include a wonderful pH balanced shampoo and conditioner, which has mint in it for a refreshing, clean feel. We also have a pH balanced facial cleanser called repHresh with a spray repHresh toner and an repHresh avocado moisturizer. I use all of these products and love them because there are no harmful ingredients in them. Doc Young even concludes that you could eat them and not be harmed.”
TCM Do you have any new exciting projects you’re working on?
SY: “Yes! Our trilogy of pH Miracle books are being published all over the world now, just recently in Spanish, Russian and even Arabic! The word is getting out that alkalizing really works. It’s the greatest preventative measure one can take to achieve true homeostasis or balance in the blood and tissues.
We have two new foreign pH Miracle retreats scheduled in the coming months. We will be at the Te Sana Resort and Health Spa near Como Italy in September. Then we will be offering our pH Miracle Retreat in Goa, India for the very first time at the Taj Exotica 5-star resort on September and October.”
The pH Miracle Book Giveaway
One reader will win the Young’s classic book The pH Miracle! Simply leave your best tips on how you keep your own diet healthy and alkaline in the comments below and we will select the lucky winner! Good luck readers!
pH Miracle’s Fun Food Show: Sweet Almond Shake
Watch Shelley as she shares this simple recipe for a delicious and alkalizing shake on pH Miracle’s practical and down-to-earth Fun Food Show!
