Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond The Paleo Diet For Total Health And A Longer Life (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
This is by far the best book I have read on nutrition out of the 23 books I have read on the subject. I read the forwards first and then the last chapter and appendices because I wanted the bottom line before I got into all the details. I then started on chapter 14 and read to chapter 23 and was wowed. I then started at chapter 1 and read to chapter 13. The first 4 chapters are pretty dry and were not terribly interesting to me. From chapter 5 on I was hooked and looking forward to reading more. I wish I had started with chapter 13 instead of 14 because that chapter was amazing and set the stage for chapter 14. All this said, I didn't rate this book with 5 stars because 1) there were too many generalizations, 2) the author gave advice which was only supported, in some cases, by the words "trust me" which is ridiculous for an author who has 8 pages of references and 34 pages of recommended reading; 3) the author has taken a very definite position on the subject of diet and pulled one sentence quotes from various articles to support her position. Sometimes the journals were named and other times they weren't. Specific citations for the quotes were not given so the reader doesn't know if the quotes were taken out of context. 4) Many statements were presented as facts that were not substantiated by any sources so they should have been presented as conclusions, such as her advice on water. 5) The author tends to be a bit of an alarmist and extremist and 6) the author left out information that could have been helpful to the reader such as what supplements can be taken to offset the ill effects of trace amounts of gluten being left in the diet. I am guessing this was done purposefully to get the reader to go totally gluten free (which is no easy feat). I've been studying nutrition for 20 years and have read many books on the subject. In recent years I've been blown away by two books, one of which is this and the other which was "Good Calories, Bad Calories." This book is simply amazing. The chapters talking about sugar's effect on the immune system alone is worth the price of the book. I haven't seen such a detailed description in any book, I don't think. And the parts on cholesterol are similarly illuminating, and dispel much of the myths about high cholesterol and "healthy" diet. There are so many great chapters in the book, but read it yourself and see. You won't be disappointed.
What do You think about Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond The Paleo Diet For Total Health And A Longer Life (2009)?
I liked the content but not the apologetic and snarky retorts that often arrived in parentheses
—Brittany
Interesting book about eating "Paleo", full of good information.
—sarah89
Possibly the most important book I've ever read.
—moonwitchbleu
