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

Loren Cordain (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 7, 2010

Eat for better health and weight loss the Paleo way with this revised edition of the bestselling guide-over 100,000 copies sold to date!

Healthy, delicious, and simple, the Paleo Diet is the diet we were designed to eat. If you want to lose weight-up to 75 pounds in six months-or if you want to attain optimal health, The Paleo Diet will work wonders. Dr. Loren Cordain demonstrates how, by eating your fill of satisfying and delicious lean meats and fish, fresh fruits, snacks, and non-starchy vegetables, you can lose weight and prevent and treat heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, metabolic syndrome, and many other illnesses.

• Breakthrough nutrition program based on eating the foods we were genetically designed to eat-lean meats and fish and other foods that made up the diet of our Paleolithic ancestors
• This revised edition features new weight-loss material and recipes plus the latest information drawn from breaking Paleolithic research
• Six weeks of Paleo meal plans to jumpstart a healthy and enjoyable new way of eating as well as dozens of recipes
• This bestselling guide written by the world's leading expert on Paleolithic eating has been adopted as a bible of the CrossFit movement

The Paleo Diet is the only diet proven by nature to fight disease, provide maximum energy, and keep you naturally thin, strong, and active-while enjoying every satisfying and delicious bite.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

AT LAST, THE UPDATED EDITION OF THE BESTSELLING DIET BOOK!

"The Paleo Diet helps you lose fat, improve your health, and feel great. Why? Because the Paleo Diet works with your genetics to help you realize your natural birthright of vibrant health and wellness."
—Robb Wolf, author of the bestselling The Paleo Solution

"Loren Cordain's extensive research demonstrates how modern westernized diets drastically depart from the original diet humans consumed for millions of years. In The Paleo Diet and The Paleo Diet Cookbook, Dr. Cordain shows how diets high in grains, dairy, vegetable oils, salt, and refined sugars are at odds with our genetic legacy and then shares his uncomplicated strategy for losing weight and getting healthy."
—Arthur De Vany, Ph.D., author of The New Evolution Diet

Healthy, delicious, and simple, the Paleo Diet is the diet you were designed to eat. If you want to lose weight—up to seventy-five pounds in six months—or if you want to attain optimal health, The Paleo Diet will change your life now. Dr. Loren Cordain, the world's leading expert on Paleolithic nutrition, demonstrates how by eating all the lean meats and fish, fresh fruits, and nonstarchy vegetables you want, you can lose weight and prevent and treat heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, metabolic syndrome, and many other illnesses. Incorporating all the latest breakthroughs in Paleo nutrition research, this new edition of the bestselling The Paleo Diet includes six weeks of meal plans to get you started on the Paleo path to weight loss, weight control, increased energy, and lifelong health.

About the Author

LOREN CORDAIN, Ph.D., is one of the top global researchers in the area of evolutionary medicine. Generally acknowledged as the world's leading expert on the Paleolithic diet, he is a professor in the Health and Exercise Science Department at Colorado State University. Dr. Cordain and his research have been featured on Dateline NBC and in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other media. He is the author of The Paleo Diet and The Paleo Diet Cookbook, among other books, and makes regular media and speaking appearances worldwide.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Revised Edition edition (December 7, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470913029
• ISBN-13: 978-0470913024
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (184 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diets & Weight Loss > Paleo
  • #24 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diets & Weight Loss > Weight Loss
  • #24 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Nutrition

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

546 of 599 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for the paleo diet, 3 for this version August 10, 2011

By Jodi-Hummingbird TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

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. Vitamin C is a genuine exception to the 'too good to be true' rule. Vitamin C is the way nature designed us to deal with stress and disease, as can be seen when we look at animals that still produce their own vitamin C in their livers. Vitamin C helps diseases of all varieties as well as all oxidative stress and is one of the safest substances you can ingest, even at very high doses. 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. When fat intake is more reasonable one would probably not overeat protein, but with a lower fat intake this could easily happen surely - you have to eat something. 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. As the book 'Good Calories, Bad Calories' by Gary Taubes explains:

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. Even better is Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life - this is a real 5 star health and diet book.

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. (HFME) and Health, Healing & Hummingbirds (HHH) Read more ›

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth Reading but.. April 1, 2012

By Trina S. Shreck

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book has been an interesting read. IF they didn't ramble on about evolution I'd recommend it. Another epic fail is that they put diet soda on the OK list but yams are a no no Seriously?

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the Diet NATURE Designed YOU To Eat - EXTRAORDINARY - 5 STARS !!!!! January 25, 2011

By A Customer TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

When you discuss dieting, in the end when all is said and done, you have to ask yourself - does it make sense? I like most of you have read dozens of books on dieting through the years. The result is that nothing has worked, the so called yo-yo effect. You lose and you gain it back. The idea of the Paleo Diet makes sense and other people have written of the effects of the actual diet on their lives.

This book lays it all out for you, and the author Loren Cordain is one of the original researchers of the prehistoric lifestyle. The whole concept comes down to this. Human evolution goes back 5 million years. Genetic researchers tell us that tell us that there have been no genetic changes in human development in 40,000 years. What this means is that we could transport a new born baby born today, back 40,000 years and the child would grow up perfectly in tune with the environment. The reverse is true as well. So what we have to do is explore the diet that nature intended us to live by, and that is certainly not the one we are using today.

More than 40,000 years ago the following did not exist:

* Agriculture

* Animal Husbandry

* Technology

* Processed Foods

Yet our current economy is dominated by the above four concepts today. The result is that we are living on grains which agriculture provided us. The planting of seed and harvesting crops only started about 10,000 years ago. There was no dairy. Could you imagine the cave man milking a cow? Refined sugars did not exist or refined oils for that matter. As for processed foods, that is a 20th century happening. In the end it is our genes that determine our needs nutritionally, and we are not living in conformity with them.... What it really comes down to is that we have Stone Age genetics living in Space age.

Author Cordain quotes a study in which Eskimos in Greenland were studied. Now these are individuals who eat about 60% animal food. Most researchers would think they would die heavily from heart disease. During the ten year study which lasted from 1968 until 1978, not one Eskimo died from heart disease, heart attacks, or even had detectable heart disease. Here are the highest protein foods you can currently eat:

1) Skinless turkey breast - 94% protein

2) Shrimp - 90%

3) Red Snapper - 87%

4) Crab - 86%

5) Halibut - 80%

6) Steamed Clams - 73%

7) Lean Pork tenderloin - 72%

CONCLUSION:

What we are currently taking into our bodies is a nightmare for our biological systems. We are not eating enough protein. We are taking in too much of the wrong carbohydrates. There's not enough fiber, and too many of the bad fats. Carbs do not furnish fiber as most people think. Fruits possess two times the fiber of whole grains. As a society we need to move back to what we were originally intended to eat. The Paleo diet is the answer and this book is probably the best presentation of it. I thank you for reading this review.

Richard C. Stoyeck Read more ›

21 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is it! September 29, 2011

By JMacEye

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars good book! August 28, 2012

By Tom

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have done several diiferent 'low carb' diets over the years and have successfully lost weight on each. This is different because I have made a lifestyle change and this is the way I am eating now. Joint pain and swelling no longer existed after two weeks on the diet. I no longer have acid reflux. It was totally eliminated when the gluten and wheat were removed from my diet. I am losing between 2.5 to 4 pounds a week. I lost 15 pounds in the first month and feel great.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Paleo Diet October 8, 2011

By William F. Barry

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is an easy to read book and it is not difficult to put into practice. I have been on this program for 60 days and although I was not considered overweight I have been able to lose 11 lbs. of bodyfat. I follow the plan about 90% and exercise 5 days per week and I feel better and I am definately more fit. This program gives me the energy to exercise and feed my body to lose body fat and gain lean mass.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Reference But Maybe Not Realistic February 12, 2011

By Books and Chocolate TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

The Paleo Diet is another version of a low-carb diet that focuses what ancient man (cavemen) probably ate. The author contends that the human body was created to eat those kinds of foods and will be healthiest as a result.

What I liked about this book is that what is allowed is healthy: lean meat, fish, and seafood; some nuts and a little "good" fat, fruit and non-starchy vegetables, and no processed or refined foods. The author makes the case that most of our modern diseases, including allergies and digestive problems, are the result of processed foods and ingredients that are non-foods never meant for human consumption, calling the American diet a nutritional nightmare. I agree. He also promotes eating local, organically raised and grown meats and produce, something that makes sense if they are available and affordable.

However, anyone considering this diet should know that it is quite strict and eliminates all cereals, grains (including rice) and flours and anything made with them; legumes (beans and peanuts), dairy products, and salt. That may make this plan unrealistic for many people to follow in the long-term, as usually happens when a diet eliminates complete food groups.

I know from personal experience that a low-carb diet works for people like me who are insulin resistant so as plan to kick-start weight loss, get back on track nutritionally, and to help reverse things like metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, this book has good information. While I don't see it as a plan I could realistically stick with for long periods at a time as presented, I do like the book as a reference and came away with ideas that will help me with a low-carb diet.