The Alkaline 5 Diet: Lose Weight, Heal Your Health Problems and Feel Amazing!

by Laura Wilson

This incredibly easy-to-follow diet allows you to eat five meals a day without restricting calories, and create the best health you've ever had! Written by ultra-marathoner and health coach Laura Wilson, who has used these principles to turn her own health around, this diet is easy to stick to, provides all your macro and micro-nutrient needs, and supports bodily regeneration and healing without the use of medical interventions. Discover a simple, practical way to eat, that will help you to heal health problems
By following Laura's easy-to-learn protocol, you will be eating naturally alkaline foods that support your body and promote optimum health. The meals you will be eating take very little time to prepare each day, making this diet convenient no matter what your day-to-day routine is like. Laura shares her own inspiring story and the fantastic results that thousands of people following her eating plan have achieved. Full of helpful information, advice and delicious recipes, this is a comprehensive resource for anyone wishing to turn their health around.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Laura Wilson is an American photographer. Her photographs have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, GQ Magazine, London’s Sunday Times Magazine, Wallpaper and the Washington Post Magazine.

Wilson has done four books. Her latest, Avedon at Work, documents one of the great photographers of the twentieth century. Wilson was Richard Avedon’s assistant for six years and her photographs and journal entries show Avedon’s creative process, working methods, and range of subjects as he worked to complete, In the American West. (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center/University of Texas Press October 2003).

Yale University Press published Hutterites of Montana: photographs and text by Laura Wilson (Fall 2000). Winner: Book of the Year, Carr P. Collins Award, Texas Institute of Letters 2001. Winner: Golden Light Book of the Year Award, Maine Photographic Workshops 2001. David McCullough, the historian, said “A book such as this – a book so clearly and genuinely extraordinary comes along rarely and only as a result of exceptional skill and dedication.”

Watt Matthews of Lambshead: photographs and text by Laura Wilson (Texas Historical Association 1989). The New York Times said the book has become “a classic of Texas history”.

Grit & Glory documents the energy and thrill of six-man football in small Texas towns. (Bright Sky Press September 2003).

Wilson is currently working on three projects, one documents life along the Texas/Mexico border, the second, Making Movies, documents Hollywood directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, and actors behind the scenes. The third documents American fighter pilots, who have seen combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Reviews

[Acquafortis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for a review.
The book starts with the good and bad news about diet and health, from the “health” agenda of the giant corporations, GMO food, the false ideas of health induced by the medical authorities and health experts, the lies about cancers etc. Followed by enlightened beliefs about health as suggested by the author. Then there is a description of what is an alkaline diet and how it works.
The author explains why an alkaline diet is not exactly the same as vegan diet and goes into explaining the alkaline-acidic ratio (in this case 80:20) and the benefits obtained by following such diet and how to apply it in daily life.
Part One of the book gives the framework for Optimum Health and Healing that is:
Sunlight and deep oxygenation
Pure hydration
Sleep and balancing rest
Living alkaline foods
Eliminating acidic toxins
Movement and posture
Postive mindset and emotions
Each of the above topics has a small chapter fully dedicated to the argument.
Part Two expands the principles of the Alkaline 5 Diet. Which is from 30-80% (by calories) raw fruits, vegetables and leafy greens, the rest are cooked vegetables as in soups and whole grains and wholegrain products. Seeds and nuts are only allowed in a measure of at max 50g per week. Natural condiments are allowed but only if vegan, GMO-free, low fat and free of any additives, flavourings and colouring. Pulses are allowed in very small quantities because they are only 68% carbs.
Then there is a description of the Alkaline 5 Diet Meals that are:
Blood Cleanser
Vitamin Vitality Meal
Fat-Loss Sugar Meal
Raw Alkaline Mineral Meal
Hearty Cooked-Fibre Meal
All accompanied by a detailed description of what each is and a list of how to stock your pantry to follow the diet.
Part Three is a day by day, 21-days diet programme.
I am not new to the subject and much that has been written in this book I already knew. In the book there is a lot of motivational talks, personal health story and testimonials of people who followed the Alkaline 5 Diet.
My only warning for this diet is: always check your insulin sensitivity. If you have low insulin sensitivity, known as insulin resistance, you may have difficulty metabolising all the glucose released in this diet and excess glucose becomes fat.
If you are diabetic or pre-diabetic check your blood glucose regularly with each meal plan as indicated in this diet. If you are going to keep it for a long haul check your A1C.
We are all made differently and the concept of holistic health and diet is that each diet is tailored to the individual.
I am sure many will find this diet an excellent way to reverse diseases, even serious ones. As I am sure for a percentage of the population this low fat, high carbohydrate vegan diet, is not a good way to achieve an alkaline environment in the body and urine.
However even if you can’t follow the diet as a whole, incorporating several of the alkalinising fruits and vegetables mentioned in the book, the healthy lifestyle tips plus a blood glucose monitor and a litmus paper at hand in the morning, will surely help to obtain a healthier solution for some.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an easy read. The information is nothing new but told in an easy format. The author came across a bit angry/negative and now, she is preaching the exact opposite of what this book suggests which tells me she just follows the trends and is a fraud.

[Rhapsody Phoenix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read/informative

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

The diet pendulum swings every few years - someone new comes with a surefire way to get people healthy and to lose weight. Alkalinity management and gut biomes seem to be the diet catch words of 2015. With The Alkaline 5 Diet, author Laura Wilson presents a strict vegan diet approach - drawing upon her own experience with managing her own health. But the emphasis is more on holistic than it is on what you eat; from breathing to balancing rest. It pretty much condenses to live better and eat vegan.

The basis of the 'diet' is Wilson's framework: a positive mindset and emotions through 1) Sunlight and deep oxygenation; 2) Pure hydration; 3) Sleep and balancing rest; 4) Living alkaline foods; and 5) Movement and posture. Within that framework, she'll recommend some very radical changes: e.g., from not eating fruits before meals, drinking only well before or well after meals, wi-fi and internet connections turned off at night, getting rid of most store-bought shampoos/conditioners/beauty products (parabens); stop gossiping or negative behaviors, buy special filtration devices for your faucets and sinks, avoid cooking most of your food, drink a LOT of green juices, and eating a lot of dates and bananas. This is a true lifestyle change that some will likely find restrictive and perhaps a bit too nitpicky.

The author also makes strong statements about everything from superfoods, supplements, to nearly all processed foods (including olive oil or hemp oil) as being government or corporate hype and not healthy. She suggests avoid all but wheat grass, sprouts, and probiotics. This works with the diet's emphasis on uncooked whole foods.

The diet breaks down into the following: Raw foods, seeds and nuts, natural condiments, easy preparation, and a vegan lifestyle. The meals themselves break down into types: 1) Blood Cleanser (BC), 2) Vitamin Vitality Meal (VVM); 3)Fat Loss Sugar Meal (FLSM); 4) Raw Alkaline Mineral Meal (RAMM); 5) Healthy Cooked Fibre Meal (HCFM). In other words, each day will have a combination several of the five above. Typically, each day starts with lemon water as a BC, some fruit as a VVM, a smoothie as a RAMM, some medjool dates and a banana as an FLSM, then ending the day with Bulgur wheat cabbage wraps as the HCFM.

For me personally, I kind of checked out somewhere around the holistic areas. It's a very confining diet, without a lot of variety, and didn't grab me as other diets have done. I found myself reading to see the author's point of view on health and lifestyle but not really engaging or 'clicking' with either her personal story or the whole approach. She's clearly done research on the topic but that research seems to be more to support the decisions she's made on her own life rather than a scientific analysis of a large population to find a cure or root cause of obesity/unhealthiness. The diet worked for her and made her life richer and I'm sure it will likely do the same for others. But for me, I wasn't engaged.

There are some very intriguing statements made here and again, though the book didn't work for me, I don't doubt that it would work for others. Certainly, author Laura Wilson is friendly and engaging, encouraging and motivational. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this idea and book to pose a very interesting concept. I had heard of Ph balance and acidity etc before but never as an idea or answer for health, weight, immune issues, etc. I thought the author did an excellent job showing the benefits from a personal and from a client perspective. I did have some concerns with the book that I am sure further research would answer, but it would be nice to have addressed in the book about trying out such a diet. So what are my concerns you ask..well keep on reading lovelies! I think about all the individuals with health concerns looking for a way out or a way to improve such as diabetes or PCOS or auto-immune where carbs have been looked at as something to curtail or lower...how does this diet or lifestyle impact those people? Can they safely try it?

While I enjoyed the entire book and her using examples from her life and her clients I did feel at one point it was almost more of a defensive position on the diet rather than a here are some successes! The three things I thought were best about the book were 1)all the meal plans, serving size suggestions and references for more research, 2)the lifestyle tips for those looking to just improve overall health internal, external, mental, physical, etc. and 3)while she mentions animals and ethics of being a vegan once, it is truly a sentence or two at most and is just a quick here is another reason to help you think about trying this out. I love that it is not all about you are killing a pet, a family member, etc. I am an animal lover, I am obsessed over their care, spoiling them, etc. but I get very tense when I see people getting made to feel bad or as if they are villain for not doing something a certain way. I thought the way that LW addressed the ethics of vegan-ism just with that sentence and references to research more was very classy and effective.

After reading this book I am not reading to dive into the Alkaline diet (I have health questions that I must research a bit more about), but I have already found some of those resource sites and documentaries and am ready to learn more to see if that might be an option for me and my family to try out for at least the 21 days if not longer.

full review at www.meghanvarner.blogspot.com

[L · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick read. I wanted info on how to better alkaline my diet, which this does. I'm not diving all in. I'm afraid of how much fruit sugars is be consuming with this diet. I will definitely take the pieces I can and incorporate it into what I am already doing to improve what I eat & alkaline more. Every diet you read about says it is the thing to fix your health problems. It's a pain, but you have to learn to listen to your own specific body. Taking what you can from different sources will help, so that's where I will shelve this book.

[Gisela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. Well-structured. Well written. Convincing arguments. Great detail in the 21-day sample diet.