What do You think about The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight And Get Healthy By Eating The Food You Were Designed To Eat (2003)?
Two words: citation needed. Look, I came at this some months back (a borrowed copy) hoping to find something I could use even though it's way outside my "lifestyle" of choice, at odds with an ethical, humane way of consumption. But I hoped to find something, healthy diet-wise, that I could adapt, something I could use to help others. I thought there must be something to it, something interesting and unique... What I found was juvenile and lacking in evidence. I should have expected more "broscience" I suppose, like the flood on paleo blogs out there, but I thought the author's credentials were a bit better than the rest of the primal guru crowd... Oh well. I shouldn't have wasted my time. Now I know for sure that's not the place to go looking for info unless one wants a pat on the back for engaging in bad habits and naturalistic fallacies of the highest order. Disappointing. I was hoping for something. Anything. Eh... Some of it smells awfully close to Intelligent Design drivel - a little worrying. Why did I go there? Put it down to a lack of sleep! Nothing to see here, move along.If you want something similar, Tim Ferriss's Four Hour Body is around the same calibre, but far more entertaining, and - perhaps most remarkably - more scientifically sound... staggers the imagination...
—Renée
While there is merit to the general idea behind eating like our Paleolithic ancestors, many of the extreme ideas behind this book have been called into question by recent research. For example, the suggestion that a protein calorie is not equal to a carbohydrate calorie has not been verified by real-world studies. But the real failure of the book is clear in its ridiculous portrayal of a vegetarian diet: yogurt and carbs. In this "case study", the person is portrayed as weak and sick because of their avoidance of meat. Utter rubbish; there are elite athletes who thrive on a proper vegetarian diet. It's a weak argument at best. In general, the science is good. But it falls down when it resorts to shorthand -- a chloride ion is not basic (as in acids and bases) no matter how much you want to simplify the science. And a sodium ion is not acidic. Readers would be better served by using the words and concepts of acids and bases correctly.Am I convinced that a meat-heavy diet will cure diabetes and prevent cancer, as this book suggests? No. But I'm glad I read it and now can understand the hype.
—Margaret
Yes, I jumped on THAT bandwagon and read this book. Was curious about they hype since several friends and acquaintances have tried this with grand success in terms of feeling better and getting lean (but not mean). This books makes comments about "research" and "my teams" and "statistics show", but doesn't footnote it so the reader can cross-check. That's a big issue for me since I like to trust but verify things (yeah, I just pulled a Reaganism). I'm not convinced of the validity of the few studies alluded to nor am I convinced that Paleo ancestors were cavity-free and disease free. Instead, they likely died before they reached twenty-five and had little to no chance to develop heart disease because they just didn't live that long. So, no, I don't buy the whole "cavemen were healthy" hype. That said, I do think there's value in the eating methods proposed in this book. I've done a lot of research and read a lot of books on nutrition (China Study, lots of Vegan and Veggie stuff, Raw diets, blah blah) and have tried them all to see how they made me feel energy and health-wise. For me, the vegan thing resulted in super weakness and the raw thing was impractical and the vegetarian thing while making me feel good at first ended up w/ me getting my calorie load in carbs rather than veggies. So, I think the paleo concept in terms of eating is probably a very healthy way to go. I'm going to give it a shot because it seems simple - eat meat (but only LEAN meat), lots of veggies and lots of fruits and moderate wine/spirits. Grains are out and all processed foods and sugars are out, of course, which may be a problem for many folks. I think the true test is to see how it makes you, as an individual feel, and if it boosts energy and all that jazz, then it's a good fit. Either way, it's absolutely more healthful than the typical American diet high in bad fats, processed food, salt and sugar.
—K. M.
