Sarah Whitman's work has been featured in newspapers, magazines, websites and informational booklets. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in nutrition, and her projects feature nutrition and cooking, whole foods, supplements and organics. She also specializes in companion animal health, encouraging the use of whole foods, supplements and other holistic approaches to pet care. Skip to main content. Dietary Guidelines In the book, Wolf outlines foods to include and avoid while pursuing a paleo diet. Diet Research A March article in the journal "Research Reports in Clinical Cardiology" notes humans' diets have changed too rapidly for their bodies to evolve accordingly.
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Food and Lifestyle Differences A "Scientific American" article highlights potentially relevant differences between current humans and Paleolithic ancestors. References 4 Scientific American: What Is the Paleo Diet? There are probably a hundred examples in this section alone of terrible and sinister thinking. By the way, I mean sinister thinking in the sense that I'm starting to not believe that he is accidentally this dense and that at least some portion of the bad thinking and manipulation is intentional. I hope I'm wrong about that.
He makes this statement after the experts say that evolutionary biology isn't useful for understanding humans [hint: By this he means that since they don't follow evolution exclusively as a guide for nutrition, they have no science. His point seems to be that only evolution is science and anyone who doesn't use that exclusively as their end all be all guide, then they literally have NO SCIENCE to stand on. I don't think it's a stretch to see this as what he's saying since he pretty specifically spells it out.
One does not need evolution to see that people get scurvy when they are chronically short of Vitamin C, for example. He seems to think that this is not science since it's not all about evolution. Seriously, is this guy going to hold a press conference one day where he admits this whole book was just a practical joke? I simply can't bring myself to believe that he is serious. I probably wouldn't mind nearly as much if he didn't stop periodically to complain that OTHER people don't think things through. The good news is that he promises science is coming up next. Part Nine Adventures in the "Science Section" "Some well-intentioned but misguided souls will tell you that you can get protein from beans and rice, nuts and seeds.
That's true but these are what I call 'third world proteins'. They will keep you alive but they will not make you thrive. This should be clear from the previous chapter that compared hunter-gatherer and agrarian societies. He has just declared it to be true. Understand, I'm not even saying it isn't true. I'm just saying that he hasn't supported this statement at all. Anyone can declare anything they like. I can declare myself the King of Spain and then suggest that it should be clear since you saw me read a Charles Dicken book one time. Wait, that doesn't make sense.
- Building A Healthy Paleo Diet.
- The Lawmans Secret Son (Mills & Boon Intrigue) (Skye Brother Babies, Book 1);
- Health Benefits of a Paleo Diet?
- Tiffany Sexy Band 82: Ein Lied von Lust und Liebe / Verführ mich, geliebter Feind! / Sinnliche Affäre über den Wolken / (German Edition).
- A Partridge in the Au Pairs Tree (A Short Story) (12 Days of Christmas series Book 1).
- Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety.
If you want to make a declaration, at least TRY to support them. I don't recall even hearing this subject mentioned before this declaration, let alone "made clear". Mr Wolf, why do you insist on treating me like an idiot? I'm rapidly running out of character-space for this review.
- The birds call me Seb?
- Il giro del mondo in 80 giorni: Le grandi storie per ragazzi (Italian Edition).
- Vidas oblicuas: Aspectos teóricos de la nueva biografía en España (1928-1936) (Spanish Edition)!
- What Is The Paleo Diet?.
- Paleo Solution Diet.
- TANGO FIRE - A memoir.;
- .
- Till Death Do Us Part?
- The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet.
- ?
- ODonnell Aboo.
- Finanzkrisen in Schwellenländern - Eine vergleichende Bewertung ihrer fundamentalen Ursachen (German Edition).
Perhaps I should switch to a. Part Ten "The next time you have a chubby physician or dietician tell you that complex carbohydrates are healthy, ask yourself 'does it make sense that 'many sugars' might be good for me? See, that's his subtle way of invalidating them before they say anything. Apparently, he won't even allow his fictional people to have differing opinions. Of course, lots of people know about things they do not do.
Pat Reilly is one of the all-time great basketball coaches but you won't see him on the court driving to the hole on Labron James. His coaching advice is no less valuable as a result of him not being able to dunk on Shaq. Here's the next problem with this sentence: There is no difference between my statement about fat and his about sugar except that he wants you think one and not the other. Part Eleven I am quite happy to report that things have improved some. It basically says "eat reasonable amounts of reasonable foods lots of protein, plenty of vegetables, sparingly on everything else and you're in pretty good shape".
Not really an endorsement for paleo per se, but a key point. I'm nearly out of space for this review, so I think I'll try to go out on a positive note. Basically, skip the first 50 pages and just assume it says "lots of people feel better and lose weight on this approach. I'm hoping it gets better. View all 9 comments. Aug 17, Gordy rated it really liked it.
If you have, or suspect, autoimmunity issues and want to save your life you need to read this book. The book actually claims it may save your life which may sound like a bold - possibly outlandish and ridiculous - statement to make, until you learn that it's very likely going to save mine. To understand this, I need to give you a quick background as to why I came to read it In I began a journey that would lead me on a search to find answers to why my mental health was deteriorating and I If you have, or suspect, autoimmunity issues and want to save your life you need to read this book.
In I began a journey that would lead me on a search to find answers to why my mental health was deteriorating and I was experiencing symptoms consistent with Attention Deficit Disorder and Asperger's Syndrome at the high end of the autistic spectrum. The symptoms, which probably crossed over between the two, included disrupted executive functions; inability to concentrate and focus attention, poor working memory, an intense dislike and inability to function in a social setting making conversation, reading body language, etc , and an inability to prioritise tasks.
I was now dangerous when driving because my mind would wander instead of concentrating on the road and traffic ahead, and university study was a constant battle because I was in an almost permanent state of 'brain fog' which I can only describe as akin to trying to look at the world clearly after drinking a bit too much alcohol. My journey took me to see numerous health professionals in the UK that meant the NHS whose opinions would range from not having a clue what was wrong, that there was nothing wrong with me, or simply patronizing me with arrogant and ignorant attitudes, devoid of any constructive plans of action.
Suffice to say, I wasn't going to find any answers to my problems here. Nevertheless, the diagnostic findings resulting from these hospital appointments were informative. They confirmed damage to the Cerebellum area of the brain, inflammation and a small ulcer in my gut, and the presence of an auto-antibody in my blood.
Only after reading Robb Wolf's book did all the pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place. I learned about the connection between auto-immunity and how susceptible individuals can have an adverse reaction to grains wheat, barley, rye, oats, etc , dairy or legumes. These substances can penetrate the gut wall and cause the immune system to mount an attack which ends up with the immune system destroying healthy cells in the body because it confuses them with almost identical protein signatures from external substances. In my case, working backwards, the cerebellar damage was being caused by the immune system inadvertently attacking the cells in the brain which then were causing my symptoms.
The presence of the auto-antibody in my blood was evidence of this immune response taking place and the inflammation in my gut was suggestive of the root cause of the problem. No doctor had ever suggested this connection, including a neurologist who almost laughed at my early suggestion that gluten a protein in wheat may be a causative factor in neurological problems. In his words, he had never heard of any connection between gluten and neurology. Now, this is important, to be clear Robb's book did not specifically link the neurological symptoms I had with auto-immune disease; that link came from over a year of personal research that involved reading hundreds of academic medical journal articles.
What Robb's book did do was tie up the other end of the equation, giving me a root-cause for the auto-immunity to take place. Furthermore, the book actually identified one of the known causes of this type of food-induced auto-immunity as being a type of cancer known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The auto-antibody in my blood is specifically linked, in the medical literature, with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. To cut a long story short, I radically changed my diet, following the advice in Robb's book eating mainly meat and vegetables and have slowly started to feel better.
A full recovery may now take many months, even years; but I've started this process by starting to heal my gut and, little by little, each day I feel a bit better. For the first time in years I am actually experiencing total clarity and focus in everyday life. The next step is healing the damage to my brain which, with no guarantees, will take a lot longer. Without this book I would never have found the root-case of my problems and the solution. Nov 22, Holly rated it it was amazing. If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired - this is your answer. If you're trying to gain weight, trying to lose weight, trying to stop being sick or having freaky weird symptoms your doctor sucks at explaining I have been reading a lot about nutrition small obsession for many years now.
Only recently have I been able to find the truth about how our bodies work. It takes some digging. Basically, I would say this book and Gary Taubes' Good Calories Bad Calories explains everything you need to know to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This one is less heavy on the scientific stuff though. Instead of the constant "AH HA! Robb Wolf has a pretty good sense of humor I listen to his podcast and it comes through well in his writing. There is a lot of information in this small book.
It's not hard to read either. Unlike Good Calories Bad Calories. The hardest part of all of this might be giving up cheese - even if it's raw - for 30 days. There are several autoimmune diseases in my family, and I have one as well I think I'm going to try stricter Paleo for 30 days and see what happens. I will be honest though, I probably won't be strict until after the beginning of the year My hand keeps exploding into eczema boils and I'd rather just give that up crap food and the eczema completely.
Also, I am convinced that I need to exercise more. That I've already started. May 07, Nicole rated it really liked it. It amazes me how many negative reviews for this book there are out there. And I feel the need to write a decent review for this one.
I'll concede that I guess I can see how his tone is obnoxious, but anyone who's ever been to a gym or worked with a trainer probably won't see it that way because the great trainers get in your face and don't let you back down. I actually think he's funny. I like the irreverent tone to be honest, for example, "lack of sleep cock-blocks weight loss. Lighten u It amazes me how many negative reviews for this book there are out there.
Part of that though I read as a challenge, like, "okay smart person. You think I'm a jackass? If you do, great, but step up to the challenge. As a former vegan, like Wolf, I have to admit that he is harsh, probably correct, but harsh in his treatment of vegans. And he does actually offer a vegetarian ironic as that may be version of Paleo eating. But he's trying to make a point. I mean, what do you think is better? A block of processed tofu or a whole unprocessed save for head, feathers, and guts removed non grain, properly fed chicken?
And there seems to be a lot of criticism about how expensive it is and how snobby he is about certain foods. He's clear in arguing that if you can and when you can, you need to buy the best meat possible. How is that NOT good advice for anyone?? In comparison to all of the vegan books that I have, none of them emphasize the importance of sleep, stress management, or exercise in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
And just like anything, those who half-ass it are going to think it's crap because you can't half-ass it. Studies show that more and more people legitimately have problems with gluten and corn. Because more and more products are filled with variations of wheat, rye, barley, and corn. So I think he's probably pretty fair in saying that most people don't realize the impact it has on their bodies until they cut it out.
But even still, just about anyone can benefit from this. Legit research shows that diets that focus on grains and cut out fat expand our waistlines and cause CVD see Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy. Serious scientific nutritionists advocate a limit on grains and absolutely NO refined or white grains at all, including potatoes, and a limit on starchy veggies like corn. Paleo just goes one step further and says just don't eat it.
So I honestly don't understand the disconnect. I'm still on the fence about beans and peanuts, to be honest, but I get it, and I don't miss beans, and I have come to prefer almond butter anyway. I have to say that I'd recommend this book if you're interested in the really sciency stuff and the practical stuff as well.
Or if you're just interested in paleo living. But seriously, how much more balanced can a meal get than lean meat, an abundance of veggies, some fruit, and good fats, for every meal? I have yet to figure out what in the world is so wrong with that way of eating. Jan 24, Rachel rated it it was ok Shelves: I came close to creating a new shelf just for this book, titled "couldn't finish.
If his goal was to persuade me, he failed, and not because of his data. Rather, it was that I felt that he didn't understand his audience. He thought he did, but his sense of it was clearly based on people who'd come to him looking for help, and people who'd opposed him from the start, and there was no room for I came close to creating a new shelf just for this book, titled "couldn't finish. He thought he did, but his sense of it was clearly based on people who'd come to him looking for help, and people who'd opposed him from the start, and there was no room for the curious but somewhat sceptical reader.
He even mocks one woman who failed his program for her attitude - nice. Second, he doesn't factor in the time involved in this diet - not just the time to prepare the food but also the time needed to shop for it. As "evil" as grain-based and legume-based foods may be, one thing they do have going for them is a stable shelf life. If you don't want to spend your time shopping every other day for your fresh veg and meat, you're going to have to include something else in your diet. If you live in a food desert, or work a double-shift, or live on food stamps, sorry, folks.
If you're fat and unhealthy, it's your fault for not going Paleo. I was hoping to be persuaded that the Paleo diet was feasible - and instead I came away feeling scolded and irritated and condescended to by someone I couldn't respect. Perhaps this is what works for some people; it didn't work for me. It's reasonable to advise people to eat only local in-season vegetables when you're in a place like California where a variety grows year round. In many parts of the country, however, you're looking at several months of turnips, potatoes, onions and squash - and that's if your grocery store even carries local produce.
View all 3 comments. Mar 26, Michael rated it it was ok. While this book contains some useful practical information in its final chapters and has some succinct definitions of rather confusing health terminology, the overall attitude and arguement of the author is wildly disappointing and aggravating. Given that the author had such a difficult time in his personal life with nutritionists and doctors, it's understandable that he'd take them to task.
However, he begins the book by disparaging vegetarians and vegans, stopping just short of calling them st While this book contains some useful practical information in its final chapters and has some succinct definitions of rather confusing health terminology, the overall attitude and arguement of the author is wildly disappointing and aggravating.
However, he begins the book by disparaging vegetarians and vegans, stopping just short of calling them stupid, and he's taken it upon himself to strip nutritional scientists of their scientific credentials a move he makes using an entirely fictional dialogue in which anthropologists are super-dee-duper smart and nutritionists are ignorant even of their own field.
This is all exceptionally aggravating, because I'm, for the most part, sympathetic to the claims Wolf makes.
He too easily lapses into hyperbole, however, at one point even claiming that cancer can be reversed just by adopting his dietary recomendations. How does he know this? Because hunter-gatherers didn't have cancer. Regardless, I've decided to surrender myself to the paleo diet for a time to test it out. I'm relatively certain that I will feel some significant benefits from it, but I'm equally certain that it won't guarantee me a cancer-free existance. Aug 18, Kristin rated it did not like it Shelves: There is a lot of interesting information in this book, but it is really hard to get past the author's obnoxious and condescending tone.
He makes some ridiculously sexist comments, refers to the reader as "Buttercup", and generally acts as if no one else could possibly understand all the science-y stuff they way he does. He tries to be witty and humorous, but his attempts fall flat and he just comes off as juvenile and obnoxious.
His constant digs at vegetarians and vegans get really, really old There is a lot of interesting information in this book, but it is really hard to get past the author's obnoxious and condescending tone. His constant digs at vegetarians and vegans get really, really old after a while and are counter-productive. However, I can't imagine me ever recommending this book to a friend or family member because of the problems above.
The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet
It's hard for people to keep an open mind about the message when the messenger is so obnoxious. The book is interesting and Sisson doesn't insult his readers or come off like a scam artist. His voice is far more authentic and sincere. May 18, Audrey rated it it was amazing. Exercise your brain; you CAN read this book! You don't have to memorize anything for a test, so get over your issues with "geek speak". Reading this information WILL transform how you look at food and your health and particularly if you watch the documentary "Food, Inc.
The combination of this book and that documentary turned my perception of the food pyramid, and what I had previously considered to be "healthy foods", compl Exercise your brain; you CAN read this book! The combination of this book and that documentary turned my perception of the food pyramid, and what I had previously considered to be "healthy foods", completely upside down. This paragraph on page 71 really stands out for me: Processed food manufacturers make crap foods that are making us sick, diabetic, and dead too early. The government subsidizes the development of statins and a host of drugs to manage the diseases that are a direct outgrowth of the processed foods they are subsidizing!
A hell of a racket, am I right? I strictly followed the Paleo "diet" for 30 days last fall. I kicked myself at the end for not weighing and measuring myself at the beginning. I'm not hugely overweight and stand only 5'2"; I easily dropped pounds I consider that to be significant. I felt great - I did not experience hunger or cravings, and I had plenty of energy. I'm re-reading the book now to re-commit to the Paleo style of eating.
I agree with Robb Wolf. Jan 27, Rachel rated it it was amazing. Most of my friends know that I'm a foodie.
Paleo Solution Diet | Healthy Eating | SF Gate
And most know of my struggles with weight loss brought on by my struggle to defeat Cushing's Disease. While no cause for Cushing's has been identified, I've long suspected that since it throws off hormonal balances namely cortisol , the root of the problem may be other things that cause hormonal imbalances.
After watching Food, Inc. I adopted a mostly organic lifestyle, mainly organic meats. I Most of my friends know that I'm a foodie. I did not give up whole grains or dairy at this point, but I did switch to organic dairy and free-range, vegetarian eggs. Now that I have successfully battled Cushing's Disease, I am trying to get rid of the weight. I have tried nearly everything in the past. I have been resistant to higher-protein diets, especially from animals, but since it's the only thing I haven't tried, I decided to at least read a book on it before completely ruling it out.
A fellow Cushie sang the praises of a Paleolithic lifestyle, so I researched Robb Wolf and purchased this book. Fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that have been shown to decrease the likelihood of developing a number of degenerative diseases including cancer, diabetes and neurological decline.
Scientific research and epidemiological studies show that diets rich in Monounsaturated and Omega-3 fats dramatically reduce the instances of obesity, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and cognitive decline. Saturated fat has been demonized by our health authorities and media. What is the basis for this position on Saturated fat? Are current recommendations for VERY low saturated fat intake justified? How much saturated fat and what types , if any should one eat?
Without a historical and scientific perspective these questions can be nearly impossible to answer. For most people the fact the Paleo diet delivers the best results is all they need. Improved blood lipids, weight loss, and reduced pain from autoimmunity is proof enough. Many people however are not satisfied with blindly following any recommendations, be they nutrition or exercise related. Some folks like to know WHY they are doing something.
Fortunately, the Paleo diet has stood not only the test of time, but also the rigors of scientific scrutiny. With a very simple shift we not only remove the foods that are at odds with our health grains, legumes, and dairy but we also increase our intake of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Here is a great paper from Professor Loren Cordain exploring how to build a modern Paleo diet: The nutritional characteristics of a contemporary diet based upon Paleolithic food groups.