Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle Paperback – August 7, 2012
Author: Diane Sanfilippo ID: 1936608758
Review
“Diane has made a work in Practical Paleo that is as useful as it is beautiful. Are you an athlete? Do you suffer from digestive distress? Have you been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition? Maybe you just want to live a long life and look good naked! Whatever your goals, Diane has done the heavy lifting by condensing the science and a lot of practical how-tos into bite-size pieces.”—Robb Wolf, New York Times best-selling author of The Paleo Solution
“The recipes in Practical Paleo are nothing short of exceptional. I say this without hesitation because I tasted every single dish in this book. Watching Diane cook was inspiring, and I’m proud to say I learned much more about cooking just from being in the kitchen with her. This book will not only feed your brain with knowledge of health, but also nourish your body with outstanding recipes.”—Hayley Mason, co-author of Make it Paleo
“Practical Paleo is a gold mine for those new to the Paleo diet or struggling to integrate it into their everyday lives. I’ve always believed that personalization is the key to long-term success, and Diane’s 30-Day Meal Plans will help you achieve just that. Practical Paleo will prove to be a resource I recommend to my patients and online community again and again.”—Chris Kresser, LA.c, integrative-medicine practitioner
About the Author
Diane Sanfilippo holds a BS from Syracuse University and is a Certified Nutrition Consultant who specializes in blood sugar regulation and digestive health. Diane writes for her popular health blog http://ift.tt/xCiYC4, works with clients 1:1, teaches Paleo nutrition seminars nationwide and has a top-rated weekly podcast in iTunes, “The Balanced Bites Podcast.”
Paperback: 432 pagesPublisher: Victory Belt Publishing; 1 Csm Org edition (August 7, 2012)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 1936608758ISBN-13: 978-1936608751 Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 1 x 10.9 inches Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Best Sellers Rank: #1,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #2 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diets & Weight Loss > Gluten Free #3 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet > Gluten Free #3 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diets & Weight Loss > Paleo
As someone who’s been actively involved in this community for years, as someone who’s attended seminars (even the Practical Paleo seminar), someone who wrote a paleo book (Eat Like a Dinosaur) I am LEARNING NEW STUFF in Diane’s book. There’s SO much information – I’ve had the book for weeks and am still finding new things.
Diane’s poignant and practical definition of complicated concepts, are so very clear to me – a skill she has a knack for unlike anyone I know of in our community. The entire book takes all the ideas you just can’t quite figure out, and makes it easily digestible, easy to understand, and absolutely practical to implement.
This book is intended to be used like a reference book, and that’s just what it is. From the tailored information on specific conditions (in my case, Autoimmune) to the reference points on leaky gut, carbs and blood sugar regulation, everything you’re looking for is here. There’s even sections on stress reduction and self care.
I personally followed the Autoimmune protocol defined in the book for 3 weeks. I took seriously Diane’s personal challenge to de-stress and followed, exactly, her defined protocol in Practical Paleo.
I added the supplements and nutrient dense foods.
I stuck to the defined foods to avoid and to add.
I left work earlier every day.
I played with electronics less.
I went to bed sooner.
After some serious hair pulling, temper tantrums and screaming about how limited I sometimes felt (thankfully the book has lots of ideas and recipes to make it interesting)… the results are in:
My skin is clearing up! Admittedly, the massive break-outs on the lower half of my face are one of the main contributors for my commitment to eating more cleanly.
This is a great book, but it’s suffering from some inattention to detail. My husband and I have been following a paleo/primal way of eating for about a year now and after completing a Whole30 program, we discussed having him try an Autoimmune Protocol for the lingering issues he was still dealing with. I was completely overwhelmed at the thought of feeding us without eggs or nightshades so when I heard about the meal plans in this book I was elated! I snapped it up in the Kindle format and started reading. Since I mainly wanted it for the meal plans, I largely skimmed the first half of the book. If you’re already familiar with Robb Wolf and other paleo authors, this book will be mostly review. For the uninitiated, the book is easy to read and understandable without needing a degree in biochemistry.
The meal plans themselves have some oversights. In theory, each meal plan will specifically note what, if any changes need to be made to a recipe in order to make it adhere to a specific health condition and, in some cases, it does just that. In others it’s completely overlooked. For example, the autoimmune meal plans uses potato pancakes for several meals which, if you look at the recipe, include eggs. Neither the meal plan nor the recipe itself offer suggestions for how to alter the recipe to eliminate the egg, but still end up with something resembling a pancake instead of hashbrowns. It’s not necessarily a huge issue if you keep in mind your "avoid" list, but even though I was pretty certain I understood the protocol, I still went back and forth between the meal plan and the avoid list multiple times feeling like I had missed something.
The formatting of the Kindle edition also leaves something to be desired.
First, the positives:
The first section of the book, explaining the idea behind paleo (coming not from a "caveman" perspective but from a modern nutrition perspective, which I find more reasonable) and how to incorporate a paleo diet into your life, is very well written, with clear explanations and instructions. The physical book is well put together, suitable for the kind of wear and tear a cookbook gets. And there are lots of colorful pictures and graphics, if that’s your thing.
Also, the recipes are clearly written, and not confusing.
And I really like the idea of well laid-out 30-day meal plans.
Ok, now the negatives:
My first problem with the book is that, despite all the talk about eating "real food," most of the meal plans include a dozen supplement recommendations. It seems to me that the most important thing about a diet is that it should provide all of the nutrients you need. Most people switching to paleo (a) want to eat as much natural food as possible, and (b) are already making a fairly substantial change to their diet and lifestyle, so it seems like designing a diet that included more vitamin-rich food would be preferable to telling people to pop a pill.
Second, the meal plans have a few problems. The biggest one is the inconsistent number of servings. It’s not really clear from the meal plan how many people the plan should serve. Each recipe indicates the number of servings, but there are also meals based on leftovers, so it’s not a direct conversion. Also, despite all of the instructions in the first part of the book about the advantages of eating local/seasonal food, the universal nature of the 30-day plans can render those instructions moot.
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