This interview with Ms. Felicia Drury Kliment, author of Acid Alkaline Balance Diet: An Innovative Program for Ridding Your Body of Acidic Wastes, was conducted via email over the past week.
Q) Let me begin by asking you a little more about yourself. Where did you grow up, in particular, and what kind of food did generally eat while growing up?
A) I grew up in the late forties and fifties in Youngstown, Ohio, population 100,000. The food additive industry was still in its infancy then, so food was relatively free of pesticides. At the time a well-balanced meal which included the three food types — carbohydrates, fat, and protein — was the byword to good health. A typical dinner was made up of meat, potatoes, vegetables and salad, while a typical breakfast consisted of eggs, bacon, and toast.
One of the highlights of my youth was the food we got fresh from a farm or grown in our backyard. Although Youngstown was then referred to as a steel town, we — my mother, father, and brother — lived in a suburb only minutes away by car from many small farms. In the summer my mother and I would drive to the Fite farm to buy corn on the cob. When we arrived, Ms. Fite would go out to the cornfields and pick corn especially for us. I also remember our ‘milkman,’ delivering milk in glass bottles. The top third of the bottle was pure cream because milk was not homogenized in those times. What also stands out in my memory are the beefsteak tomatoes my mother raised in the backyard. She fertilized them with her ‘handmade’ fertilizer - a compost heap of leaves and other debris.
Q) Tell us a little more about your professional background. What led you to your current profession and your interest in the Acid Alkaline Diet?
A) You might say that it started when I was 10 years old. I had terrible headaches from the strong glasses I wore, so I started eating raw carrots all day long. In three months my eyesight was normalized and I threw my glasses away! My interest in the healing power of foods then went into hibernation - until I was in my early thirties when I picked out a book in the library at random, unintentionally re-awakening my interest in alternative medicine and diet. The book was about how vitamin E could heal eye disease. I was hooked! I began researching the subject of alternative health and writing articles in professional journals and popular magazines. Years later I began teaching at City College in New York.
What triggered my book writing and health consulting was an ailment I had developed, acid reflux. My knowledge of chemistry had made me aware that the body consists most basically of acid and alkaline particles. Their balance is vital not only to good health but to survival itself. Acid reflux increases the levels of acid in the body, thereby disrupting the acid-alkaline pH of the blood. I set about working out a diet that would heal acid reflux and other degenerative disease, thereby restoring the normal ratio of the acid alkaline ph balances in the body. Then I wrote a book about it, the Acid Alkaline Balance Diet.
Q) Can you talk a little more about the history of acid alkaline diet? Who first came to the conclusion that it is the acid-alkaline imbalances that lead to certain diseases? How has the field grown since?
Article comments
1 - Cheryline Lawson
Acid alkaline balance is very critical in maintaining health, but becoming educated is also a key ingredient. Reading books, research and other informative websites are helpful. An alkalizing diet can be in the form of one of those gree drinks which helps to flush the acid from the body and maintain an alkaline balanced diet.
2 - Frei Maria
The book the acid alkaline balance diet is somewhat old and I definately do not agree with her statement about the negative effect of vitamines. I would not take her advise on the choice nor individual use of supplements. Look for whole food based supplements. They are available in GOOD healthfood stores and have a Naturapath advise you. Maria Frei Hemmingford QC Canada