Dr. Hay diet

The Dr. Hay diet (also called the Hay Diet) is a nutrition method developed by the New York physician William Howard Hay in the 1920s. It claims to work by separating out food groups into those which are "alkaline, acidic and neutral". Acid foods are not combined with the alkaline ones. "Acid" foods are protein rich, meat, fish, dairy, etc., and "alkaline" the carbohydrate-rich starch foods like rice, grains and potatoes.

It is also known as the food combining diet, and many authors have written books expressing its merits and selling recipes.

A similar theory, called nutripathy, was developed by Gary A. Martin in the 1970s. [Rasso, Jack, "Mystical Medical Alternativism", Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, Skeptical Inquirer, September/October 1995. [http://www.csicop.org/si/9509/alternativism.html available online] ] Others who have promulgated alkaline-acid diets include Edgar Cayce, D. C. Jarvis, Robert Young, Herman Aihara, [Aihara, Herman, "Acid and Alkaline", Macrobiotic Foundation, 1986. [http://books.google.com/books?id=fgvKAAAACAAJ&dq=Herman+Aihara&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fq%3D%2522Herman%2BAihara%2522%26ie%3Dutf-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26aq%3Dt%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26client%3Dfirefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=3&cad=author-navigational available online] ISBN 091886044X] and Victor A. Marcial-Vega. [York, Mary, "An Acidic vs. Alkaline Body", Balanced Lifestyle. [http://www.balancedlifestylewithmary.com/acidic_alkaline.htm available online] ]

The food-combining diet has been the subject of one peer-reviewed randomized clinical trial, which found no benefit from the diet in terms of weight loss. [cite journal |author=Golay A, Allaz A, Ybarra J, Bianchi P, Saraiva S, Mensi N, Gomis R, de Tonnac N |title=Similar weight loss with low-energy food combining or balanced diets |journal=Int. J. Obes. Relat. Metab. Disord. |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=492–6 |year=2000 |pmid=10805507 |doi=10.1038/sj.ijo.0801185]

History

Dr. William Howard HayDr. William Hay contracted Bright's disease (or what modern medicine refers to as Nephritis). Heart-dilated and near death, Dr. Hay began eating only natural foods; his calories intake dropped and his health improved. Dr. Hay spent the following decade studying naturopathy and food combining to reduce the acid end-product of digestion. He found that fruits and vegetables produce an alkaline end-product when they are fully metabolized, while processed and refined foods left a high acidic environment after digestion. His theories went on to encompass food-combining; whereas incorrect combination would cause even alkaline foods to leave a less desirable acidic digestion end-product. [Needes, Robin, "Naturopathy for Self-healing: Nutrition, Life-style, Herbs, Homoeopathy", "Acid Alkaline Balance". [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tyQXPxffMWIC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=%22Dr.+Hay+diet%22&ots=BMNXY2OiCz&sig=O0qL2mH7NR2q80NuKLSwCZ7pG-c#PPA29,M1 available online] ]

The Hay System promoted the practice of eating three meals per day with meal one being alkaline foods only, meal two protein foods with salads, vegetables and fruit, and meal three comprising starchy foods with salads, vegetables and sweet fruit. There should be an interval of 4.0 to 4.5 hours between each meal. However, in 1935, Dr. Stewart Baxter showed that the pancreas secretes digestion enzymes simultaneously regardless of whether the food eaten is carbohydrates or protein. [Cardwell, Glenn, "The Skeptic", Nutrition: Food Combining, Vol 16, No 2. [http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/1996/2_combining.pdf available online] ]

American artist Man Ray was a notable follower of the Hay Diet. [Baldwin, Neil, "Man Ray: American Artist", p. 170. [http://books.google.com/books?id=k5qvm7pOI8AC&pg=RA3-PT21&lpg=RA3-PT21&dq=%22dr+hay+diet%22&source=web&ots=yxQN6VyNQJ&sig=Qfzk7SKv-OrLBaXre6ZrGDan_oU#PRA3-PT21,M1 available online] ]

ee also

*Food combining
*Alkaline diet
*Robert Young (author)

References

*Boyer, Josephine, and Katherine Cowdin (1934). "Hay Dieting: Menus and Receipts for All Occasions". With a foreword by Dr. William Howard Hay. New York, New York: C. Scribner's sons.
*Habgood, Jackie (1997). "The Hay Diet Made Easy: A Practical Guide to Food Combining With Advice on Medically Unrecognised Illness". Drawings by Alexandra Habgood. London: Souvenir Press. ISBN 0285633791.
*Hay, William Howard (1933). "Health Via Food". Ed. and rev. by Rasmus Alsaker, with a special introduction by Oliver Cabana, Jr. First printing, June, 1929; Tenth printing, February, 1933. East Aurora, New York, Sun-Diet Health Foundation.
*Hay, William Howard (1935). "Weight Control". New York: Hay System.
*Marsden, Kathryn. "The Food Combining Diet: Lose Weight the Hay Way".

External links

* [http://www.vitaminuk.com/pages/articles/whatisthehaydiet.htm Hay Diet page]
* [http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020165.hay.pdf Health Via Food] by Dr. Hay.