When it comes to all extra weight we are carrying around, we have to understand the cause before we can comprehend the cure. Any program that address only the obvious symptoms of the problem (excess pounds) will never truly solve the problem. It's like pulling a weed without getting the root.

To this point, the cause of obesity has been misunderstood anyway. We've been pulling up roots like crazy, but none of them connected to the actual weeds we're trying to rid the garden of! Subsequently, not only do we still have weeds, but also the flowers and plants are suffering.

Weighing too much is not about fat. We've been focused on low-fat everything for a couple of decades now, and look where that has gotten us. Nor is it about calories, cards, or cholesterol. Collectively, we've tried all that, too, and still we, as a nation, are fatter than we've ever been.

That will never change until we grasp what's really at the heart of the matter: acid. The body retains fat as protection against the overproduction of acids produced by the typical American diet. Some of these acids are eliminated through the bowels, urinary tract, and skin, but whatever is left must be buffered, or neutralized.

Excess acid in the body starts to break down cells your tissues and organs --pretty much the same way acidic steak sauces tenderize meat. Cell breakdown sends the body into self-preservation mode; it uses dietary and body fat in a desperate attempt to protect itself, no matter what the costs.

Fat can bind up acids and sometimes escort them out of the body. But fat is used primary as a way to store those acids. Ask any plastic surgeon: The fat they liposuction out their patients is brown and black because of all the acids it contains. In the short term, those fat/acid deposits create a whole bunch of health problems.

You cannot avoid acid production in your body altogether. Acids are formed during the digestion process (though to a lesser degree on an alkaline diet), respiration, normal metabolism, and cellular breakdown.

Before you even account for what happens while you breathe, digestion and metabolism add enough acid to your body to significantly affects its pH, potentially decreasing it by as much as 2 points.

That means that unless we help our bodies cope productively with these acid by-products, and/or if we overwhelm the body's ability to do so by pulling on acidic food, drink, and behavior, we are destined to remain fat (and sick) (and tired).

Most Americans are caught in the grip of a cycle of imbalance. We eat acidic (proton saturated) foods. We live with negative emotions that, as you'll see in this book, also work against maintaining an alkaline body.

Our bodies grow more and more acidic, which causes our healthy cells to change into bacteria, yeast, and molds. This is not only deprives us of healthy cells, but also exposes us to the toxic acidic waste products of these organisms.

The body protects itself against the acids as best it can by binding them up with fat and storing them away. We pile on the extra pounds, feel the aches and pains inevitably associated with acidity, and become vulnerable to sickness and fatigue. Feeling sluggish, we don't exercise.

Or we exercise, with the best of intentions, by inadvertently do so in ways that end up making us more artificial stimulation, whether it be coffee, medications, alcohol, or sugar, making us more and more acidic. The cycle keeps right on going, picking up momentum with every turn around the track.