Customer Reviews

The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat

5 star:		(80)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I'm a big supporter of the Paleo diet concept and the idea that we need to eat the traditional foods our genes need to be healthy.

This book claims to be the last word in explaining what our ancestors ate, and to not be just another book full of fads, but it is seriously flawed. The author seems to be trying to merge information on what the caveman diet consisted of with as many modern food fads as possible. He is particularly ignorant about healthy fats and oils.

The book is also not very convincing in the way it explains the scientific basis for the Paleo diet.

I disagree with the authors very-low salt stance and would advise them to read about unrefined sea salt and the work of Dr Brownstein on the many myths about salt and low-salt diet scaremongering, and the cholesterol scaremongering as well. The author has also been grossly misinformed about saturated fats. You should probably ignore what the author says about fats and oils in this book, as most of it is just plain wrong.

Liquid vegetable oils did not exist in paleolithic times and cooking with flax oil is very unhealthy! Saturated fats are also an important part of a healthy diet, and eating eggs does NOT raise your cholesterol levels. The 'very high' cholesterol levels mentioned in the book of 208 are also not high at all, and well within the healthy range of 200 - 240 according to lipid expert Mary Enig PhD.

The healthiest oils to cook with are ghee (unless you're 100% dairy free), lard, tallow, coconut and palm oils and olive oil. Oils should never be heated to very high temperatures such as in deep frying. These are the traditional fats to cook with, not flax oil!

The book is also very inconsistent and vague when it comes to talking about supplements. The recommendation given for vitamin C is very low and only the alpha tocopherol form of vitamin E is recommended rather than a supplement containing all 8 forms. It is also not a good idea to take only a few supplements in larger doses as this creates imbalances, and a general basic supplementation regime is a much healthier option.

The book also claims 'protein can't be overeaten' which is just not true as excessive protein intake stresses the liver. Far healthier than a very high protein eating plan is a high fat, moderate protein and low carb eating plan as described in the books on traditional eating listed below. Our ancestors ate a lot of fat and a lot of it was saturated. Saturated fat offers many benefits to the body.

The author is also wrong about the 'calories in, calories out' theory of weight loss. The book 'Good Calories, Bad Calories' by Gary Taubes explains that:

1. The 'calories in, calories out' mantra is a myth

2. 'A calorie is a calorie is a calorie' is a myth

3. The 'just eat less and do more exercise to lose weight' message seems to be logical but is actually wrong and unhelpful

4. Overweight and obese people often eat no more calories, or even less, than their thinner counterparts

5. Low calorie diets also reduce the amount of nutrients in the diet

6. Dietary fat, including saturated fat, is not a cause of obesity. Refined and easily digestible carbs causing high insulin levels cause obesity.

The book 'Know Your Fats' by lipid expert Mary Enig PhD explains the facts about fats and oils and why the saturated fat = heart disease hypothesis is wrong. See also books such as Ignore the awkward! How the cholesterol myths are kept alive.

The book 'The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health and boundless energy (Primal Blueprint Series) is a far better book on the Paleolithic diet.

The book 'Deep Nutrition' offers a far more well researched and credible discussion of traditional foods and how they affect our genes. This book provides a wealth of fascinating and compelling information that is not available for free online. This book and 'Know Your Fats' and 'Good Calories, Bad Calories' are essential reading.

The Paleo approach generally is very solid, but not as it is interpreted in this book. This book contains an okay quality 3 star version of the diet - far better than the standard diet full of refined foods and grains but missing out lots of good information as well. This is not the last word on diet, but a book which is quite faddish in its approach overall.

Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E.

I would like to write this review for 2 reasons:

1)I just want to say that I first started to lose weight when I switched to a low-carb diet, but continued to eat lots of dairy and soy, as I was a vegetarian. I have always been a size 12-14, and was quite pleased when I dropped to a size 10 by eliminating bread, pasta and sugar from my diet. I still experienced occasional fatigue and lots of digestive upset, though, and it wasn't until I took an allergy test and found I was allergic to grains and dairy - and subsequently cut both completely out of my diet - that I started to feel the energy and vitality for which I have been searching for years. I'm also allergic to most beans, so my only alternative source of protein was meat. I started to eat lean, unprocessed meats and fresh fruits and veggies, and my energy was not only soaring, but my depression lifted, my skin became smoother and softer, and I dropped down to a size 4 without even trying to lose weight! (I've never been less than a size 10 in my life!) Anyways, I effortlessly maintained that level of vitality and a size 4 until I started to eat rice flour, oats, processed meats and candy. I quickly gained 15lbs and fell into depression once again, leading me to realize that once on a paleo diet, it must become a way of life. The foods that Dr.Cordain describes as detrimental to our health (grains, dairy, legumes) are indeed factors in all sorts of health problems. If you are a possible buyer of this book, please take note of this, you cannot expect to lose weight and then go back to your usual style of eating. Buy this book and undertake Dr.Cordain's suggestions only if you are ready to change your lifestyle - it will be well worth it, I promise! In any case, I have since started back on the paleo-lifestyle route (feeling better already and have lost 5lbs in one week), with the help of Lauren Cordain's book, and it has been an invaluable resource for me. I have beeen waiting for him to write a book for a while now, as I have been reading interviews and papers written by him on www.beyondveg.com since I first started on the paleo nutrition route 2 years ago. This brings me to my second point in writing this review:

2)In response to the reviews that mention disdain at the apparent contradiction with Dr.Cordain discouraging the use of saturated fat while promoting the idea that humans' natural diet contained lots of meat, known to be rich in saturated fats, I have read research that sheds some light on this, at least for me. It seems that the saturated fat found in lean game meat - buffalo or wild boar that has been running around the jungle or the plains all day - has a different composition entirely than the saturated fat found in your average piece of supermarket meat - cows, chickens, even free-range game. There is a more favorable ratio of omega 3:omega 6 fatty acids in the lean game meat, as well as other aspects that I can't remember offhand, but you can read more for yourself on this subject in interviews of Dr.Cordain on beyondveg's website.

One more note for those of you trying to decide between Dr.Atkins or something similar, or a book such as this one or Neanderthin: speaking from the point of view of a person who has developed IBS and multiple food allergies as a result of the Standard American Diet, I wholeheartedly agree with the low-carb way of life, but must offer my 2cents that any diet that fails to caution the consumer on the downfalls of consuming fake foods such as artificial sweetners and salty, processed meats, cannot be healthy for the long-term. I would eat fresh cream or whole milk before I put MSG, nitrates, sulfites or Splenda into my body. I have tried Atkins, and I felt a big difference in my general health from that program to one of eating more natural foods as advocated by Dr.Cordain, Diana Schwarzbein and Ray Audette.

If you are undecided, please take your long-term health as well as your short-trem weight into consideration. Any of the above-mentioned authors can help you lose weight and feel great, but unlike Atkins or Eades, they will help you do it for life. As far as deciding between the above-mentioned authors, "The Paleo Diet" is written by a well-respected professor and expert in the field of paleolithic nutrition, and if you were to go with one book on low-carbing, this would probably the healthiest, most sane and moderate approach I have seen out there.

Let me begin by saying that I am a 100% believer in the paleo diet/ caveman diet concept. I am a national-level olympic weightlifter and have tried every combination of high/low carb/fat diet to find something that allowed me to stay in the same weight class as I got older. The only thing that has ever worked is the paleo diet.

For a good, concise description of the paleo diet, search for it on wikipedia.

Having said that, I will now be critical of this book. I found this book to be very verbose and never provided a convincing argument for the paleo diet. Very little evidence was provided that the diet described in this book was what was eaten 20,000 years ago. Most of the argument for this diet was modern research on how ingredient X (e.g. omega-3 fatty acids) is good for you. I have heard excellent evidence supporting the paleo diet during a few lectures by a scientist that studies coprolites (few thousand year old petrified excrement), unfortunately, similar evidence is not in this book.

Furthermore, there are a few technical issues I have with what is presented in this book. I have a PhD in theoretical chemistry. Having gone through graduate school, I know that just about anyone can get a PhD or become faculty if they are patient. Because of this, I'm immune to the Doctor/Professor name dropping used throughout this book.

Repeatedly, the author asserts that chloride from salt causes the body to become more acidic. Offhand, it is not at all clear to me how this could happen. Chloride ions in solution are basically inert. I have to believe that this conjecture is wrong.

The author also makes repeated comments about how bad salt is for you. A few years back, there was an article in the journal Science (one of the two highest tier scientific journals) about the politics of salt. The article describes a political agenda to show that salt caused medical problems. A few hundred million dollars and a half dozen project leaders later, the program was shut down because the researchers could not prove what the politicians wanted. I'm not suggesting that people should eat a lot of salt, since cavemen ate much less sodium and more potassium than we do today, but I am suggesting the health problems blamed on salt have sketchy research backing them up.

In spite of this book's problems, it is worth reading. The description of the paleo diet is good enough to be effective when followed.

When I first heard Loren Cordain was finally authoring a book on paleo nutrition I was quite excited, for Cordain has conducted a lot of very insightful research into the eating patterns of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. When I finally got to examine the book though, I was sorely disappointed.

Cordain evidently seems to have ignored much of his own research. The most alarming error is his frequent recommendation to use flax oil when cooking meat dishes. Recipe after recipe calls for marinating cuts of meat in flax oil before cooking - a very bad idea! For those who don't already know, you should NEVER cook with any type of polyunsaturated oil. Their high degree of unsaturation makes them extremely prone to oxidative damage, and this process is greatly multiplied by exposure to high temperatures (e.g cooking temeratures). Omega-3 fats, like those found in flax oil, are the most vulnerable polyunsaturates of all. When eaten, these 'healthy' fats trigger a chain-reaction of nasty free-radical activity in the body, leaving one open to the development of all sorts of degenerative ailments. Cordain should be well aware that liquid vegetable oils simply did not exist back in paleotlithic times.

Cordain also denigrates saturated fat in his book, which once again is rather pitiful considering his background. The anti-saturated fat doctrine is a product of agenda-driven 20th century researchers and beaureaucrats, eagerly supported by commercial interests and their cheerleading squad of ignorant nutritionists, health authorities, and authors. Cordain claims that a single experiment where saturated fat raised cholesterol levels in young men is proof that this fat is bad. Big deal! Such an assertion assumes that the cholesterol theory of heart disease is a valid one. Considering the numerous absurdities inherent in the cholesterol theory, that is a rather risky leap of faith. Hunter-gatherers ate lots of animal fat, which is around 50% saturated. And no, just because an animal is wild does not mean it is low in fat - I had the pleasure of sampling some camel steak last week, and you can be sure I enjoyed every bit of the backstrap fat covering the steak! Even the leanest animals have fatty portions of meat, and if observations of recent hunter-gatherer societies are anything to go by, these would have been the most valued and preferentially eaten cuts.

Cordain also jumps on the anti-low carb bandwagon, even though his own research shows hunter-gatherers were far more likely to consume a low carb diet than a high carb diet. In fact paleo nutrition, with its emphasis on animal foods and starch poor plant foods, and low carb nutrition are a perfect match.

The whole book reeks of an attempt to squeeze paleolithic nutrition into currently fashionable and politically correct guidelines. Only problem is, back in the stone-age there weren't any pompous cholesterol researchers who thought they knew better than mother nature, and there were no advertising campaigns to let people know of the `heinous' health effects of saturated fat - so people ate it, and lots of it!

Paleo eating is still the ultimate nutrition in my opinion. It is the only eating plan that cannot even begin to be accused of being a 'fad'. Subsistence patterns that dominated for over two million years can hardly be considered a fad. Cordain's book does contain some useful info, but Neanderthin by Ray Audette is a far better, and cheaper, book on paleolithic nutrition. Buy that instead.

We have been struggling with weight issues all our lives. Now, just by following the guidelines that suggest ways to eat as close as possible to our Paleolithic ancestors, the weight has come off and stayed off: 50lb for my husband and 34lb for me. We are both only 2-3lb from our ideal body weight and keep losing slowly.

[NOTE: This review relates to the paperback edition.]

At first glance, the Paleo diet seemed extreme to me. Give up grains AND beans AND dairy completely? What's left? Won't I be hungry? Won't I get bored? Won't I die of malnutrition? Obviously the answer is "no." My body adjusted quickly to lean meat, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, raw and cooked vegetables, and fruit. I'm eating 10 times more fruits and vegetables than before, snacking more and cooking more. My food cravings are gone, and I feel sated after I eat. Oh yes, and did I mention that I lost 8 pounds over the past 4 months?

I've seen numerous health benefits from lowering my glycemic index and salt intake and eliminating the indigestible proteins found in grains and beans. Acid reflux, gas, joint pain, sinus congestion -- all completely gone! Amazing.

Since nobody's twisting my arm, I've "cheated" a few times and eaten something that used to be part of my diet, like oatmeal or corn chips. Next day the acid reflux, gas and congestion come back. My sense of taste has become more sensitive and I notice a rancid, unpleasant note even in foods like organic oatmeal. So the desire to stray has diminished and staying on the diet is easy. However, there are a couple of things I've chosen not to give up: organic butter as a condiment on vegetables, and organic half-and-half in my coffee. I've noticed no ill effects, and get a lot of taste enjoyment from these items, which is important even when eating healthy!

I've given the book 4 stars rather than 5, because there are a few things here and there that I don't agree with. I don't think one should heat flax seed oil. And the recipes, while passable, don't excite me very much. Also, the book is written in a popular self-help style, focusing on weight loss and bypassing a purely health-conscious viewpoint. One example: although Dr. Cordain says we really shouldn't drink it, he mentions diet soda as a possible beverage. He knows better.

On the other hand, the health benefits for "eating Paleo" are offered in an understandable way, explaining why it's good for high blood pressure, osteoporosis, diabetes and so on. If you read the book, you will know how to "do the diet" and why it's a good idea. The science is well-presented. There's a 20-page index of double-blinded study research results from around the world, to which Dr. Cordain refers throughout the book. This is not some weird dietary notion that somebody invented. It was arrived at by hard research, investigation and study. Whether you accept the theory that we should strive to approximate our caveperson ancestors' diet is beside the point: from my experience, this is a healthy diet that eliminates the pitfalls of eating foods our bodies were not genetically programmed to digest. My results speak for themselves.

Some people do have bodies that can handle just about anything they feel like eating. And ethnic, regional and personal variations ensure that the Paleo diet will never take over the world. All I can say is that eating Paleo has improved the quality of my health immeasurably. And as a weight loss diet, it's foolproof. Eliminate junk food and fast food and replace them with high quality animal protein and as much fresh veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds as you can pile in your mouth...and thank Mother Nature (and Dr. Cordain et al) for Her bounty with every bite.

Since I reviewed this book here several months ago, I've surveyed a number of other nutritional guides and found that this one does not hold up so well. Several current diet books discuss saturated fats much more thoughtfully than Dr. Cordain does with his dismissive "artery-clogging" epithet. As he points out, animal fat today--at least in most commercially available meats--is not the nutritious animal fat that Paleolithic people ate, but his solution to this problem can create more problems. I tried restricting my meat consumption to eating only lean meats, as he recommends, and I lost too much weight. He also recommends range-fed/free-range animal foods (a better solution), but so do numerous other nutritional guides, most of which don't advise cutting the skin off poultry as Cordain does.
Although this book's 20-page bibliography as well as its endorsements from authors of other diet books indicate that Cordain is not the mere exercise professor that Sally Fallon (in her review here) claims he is, he has not, in my view, presented a diet for everyone. His diet may help people who need to lose weight, but for improving one's health I've found better guides elsewhere. I'm sorry I rushed to recommend this book so highly in my first review; before I recommend any other diet book or nutritional guide, I'll wait until I've used it for a while.

I downloaded a sample--this is the old version. The new version is out but apparently not for Kindle. I have the old hardcopy, and I lost 2-3 pounds a week and was never hungry. Doctors would tell me I didn't have impulse control when it came to food. It turns out that is just BS, but was down on myself for years because I was hungry all the time. A co-worker was supposed to go on statins and didn't want to. I convinced him to try this for 6 weeks. His cholesterol plummeted. He lost 25 pounds over a few more weeks and his cardiologist was AMAZED that diet could do that.

I only give it 4 stars because I didn't much care for the recipes and would have preferred more discussion. I want to get the newer edition, which addresses some objections such as using flax oil to cook. I never did use flax oil because the taste is too strong. Some of this information people object to is addressed on the author's website and you can sign up for a free newsletter.

Before I found this book, I'd heard of the Stone Age diet and wished I could adopt it. The restrictions--no grains, legumes, dairy products, or processed foods--sounded formidable, as did the requirements--fresh meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit, the wilder/more organic the better. But my health problems have recently goaded me into adopting a rough form of this diet, and I've needed a diet manual to focus and refine my new food choices. Voila! I found The Paleo Diet just yesterday and am already convinced it's the right diet book for me. I do feel better since I started eating more animal protein and no starch a few weeks ago, but I've been having trouble with fatty meats, and Loren Cordain's book explains why.

The reviewers here who argue that saturated fat has been getting a bum rap, that our Stone Age ancestors undoubtedly ate the whole bird and not just the breast, etc., appear to have read the book cursorily, if at all. Cordain clearly explains that the animal protein prehistoric people thrived on had nowhere near the amount of saturated fat found in today's domestic meats, poultry, and dairy products. Quoting from the book, "Paleolithic people couldn't eat fatty meats if they tried--they had nothing like the tubby grain-fed animals that produce our steaks today." Readers who want more science may consult the 20-page bibliography in the back of the book.

The Paleo Diet is primarily a diet manual, a nutritional primer, and a cookbook, loaded with practical information (e.g. "How to Be a Savvy Shopper for Fish," "Dining Out, Travel, and Peer Pressure," etc.) for readers who want to adapt the Stone Age diet to the 21st century. What's more, the book is engagingly written and extremely readable. Above all, Cordain makes the Stone Age diet seem simple. If I could give his book an extra five stars, I would!

I grew up believing that all the things I was eating are good for me. Surely white flour products like bread, bagels, cereals (especially coco puffs) are good for me. All the advertisers told me so. But reading this book and others by (Melissa Diane Smith, Burton Berkson, Jack Challem etc...) my paradigm changed. This and the other authors give you just the facts, it's well documented, meaning it is the truth. On April 28 (my weight was 173) my doctor told me my cholesterol was almost 300. He suggested "Crestor" to lower it. Thank god to never took the drugs. You next questions should be "well what is you cholesterol and weight now". Well, after about two months, July 1, my cholesterol was 137 (actually this is to low, but I didn't think it would work so fast) my weight was 153. My fasting glucose is 79; my Blood pressure is 110/120 over 60/70. I'm 48 and feel like 28.

When I read other comments stating that this author is wrong, misguided and just plain wrong, I just had to write. Just look at the facts, they speak for them selves.

I had the misfortune of telling my friends who are on medication that they to can be drug free, feel better, never be hunger, live longer, etc.... they just ignore it and go on doing the same thing.

Don't be stupid, read this book, follow it for just 3 months, even if you don't believe it to be true. After the 3 months you will know who telling the true.

shakercuda@yahoo.com