Book Review - Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle

Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle

By Diane Sanfilippo

 

Rating **** 1/2 (4 1/2 stars)

This review is for the Kindle version of Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle. While I do not usually make a distinction there is no tear out guides, and it may be missing some charts. I am not thrilled when there is a drastic difference from a print copy and a kindle copy. However, I have never seen the book in print, so the difference is only hearsay at this point.

This is a three part book. The first part of the book is paleo non fiction nutrition information. The information is amazing. I learned so much, I can completely understand why Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyleis held up as one of the gold standards of paleo nutrition books. One of the biggest things I took away from this section was an appreciation for the types of oils I am consuming when I do eat food not prepared in my home. This is just a small part of the information included in this section. I my opinion this is worth the price of the book alone.

The middle part of the book is a collection of 30 day meal plans. There are plans for autoimmune conditions, diabetes, sugar cravings, weight loss, general paleo, cancer, and several others. I like how she broke it down for each concern and helps the reader to focus their diet. I do see myself coming back to this section to help my body further heal. At this point I am just happy I eat vegetables.

The third section is for the recipes. This is where the book lost a half a point in the rating. Do not get me wrong, all of the recipes are amazing. There is a wide variety of main courses, vegetable sides, dips, and even desserts. The problem is that to fully implement these recipes you would need to take off work, and postpone family obligations, so that you can actually learn to cook like this. While almost all the recipes had me hungry and longing, the sad reality is that they would be way too time consuming for most of them. I do not see how anyone could hold down a job and eat like this for thirty days. That is not taking into account kids - or other stressors. It would be even harder if you did not cook before eating paleo.

Makes me wish that I had a nanny/cook and I could come home to one of these meals already prepared.