I just got the book today and went through the whole thing, not carefully reading the immunology parts at the beginning because that's a little heavy for me right now. But I appreciate that it's there because I will go through it more in depth. I don't like diet books that make things superficial; I want the explanation for things and this book gives them. Beautiful pictures as well.
When it comes to the actual diet the author recommends, my thoughts were 'holy cow, is she serious', because it was so restrictive!
I got this book because I realized I was getting sick to my stomach (indigestion and bloating) really bad after I was having some ketogenic-friendly peanut-butter and almond butter sandwiches with a new low carb/grain free bread I found at a local health food store. I realized my body might need more help than what I was giving it with my already strict dairy free, gluten free, ketogenic, no artificial ingredient, factory farmed free diet. Like that isn't strict, right?
So, this book did provide information that gave me insight as to why nuts could be messing me up, because they disrupt the gut. Could be eggs, too. That was in the bread I found. When I read one of Dr. Gabriel Cousin's books a few years back (I have 3 of his, forgot which one mentioned it), he mentions that Macadamia nuts don't need to be soaked, so I'm guessing those are safer to eat than this author suggests and so I will keep eating those. Also, this author suggests that we don't eat stevia and doesn't present a good case for that. She also says to stop eating spices that are seeds such as mustard, cumin, ect. That is the point where I was like 'is this author serious?!'. She really is!
So, if all goes well, she gives a protocol for re-introducing foods into the diet, but apparently I don't need to worry about that for quite some time...
Also, there aren't recipes as an FYI.
So, my bottom line is that this is a well-written, beautiful book that provides some hope, but I doubt that I could adopt such a strict diet as to cut out stevia and spices that are seeds. Other foods that are purported as being health foods by various gurus that this book's diet says to exclude are chocolate, chia seeds, xylitol and erythritol. This book tries to make it sound like the diet isn't as restrictive as we think by having list of foods that we can eat that are full of obscurities that I've never heard of before, and others I'd never be able to find. Seal, sea lions, camels and beavers are acceptable red meats. You can even eat starfish! For the ketogenic people out there like me who can't eat the mid-high carb foods on the list, don't worry, plenty of leafy greens are on the plan such as lizard's tail, melokhia, fluted pumpkin leaves, poke, orache and more! Take away the obscurities and the list isn't as vast.
While waiting for this book to arrive, I stopped eating nuts except for macadamia and cut out egg, and that alone took away my bloating and indigestion. I have psoriasis which has not gone away after being strictly gluten free for over a year (and dairy free for nearly 3 years), and I think the gut has a lot to do with it, so I'm hoping the info here about legumes and nuts, lectins, and all these anti-nutrients really does the trick. The scientific community, which doesn't seem to embrace diets at all, is starting to explore the gut microbiome. This author might have written a book that might save our country millions of dollars if giving up these foods that destroy the gut truly help us heal.
And in case anyone was wondering, yes I know nightshades are bad for psoriasis. Yes, the author talks about that. Yes, I've been nightshade free before and no, that didn't work. In combination with being grain, nut, legume, and dairy free, maybe it will. And going nightshade free means getting rid of half the spices I have, which is why getting rid of even more seasonings seemed outrageous. So, I can't say I'll follow this 100%, and there is room to make some really big changes without doing this 100%.
**Update Feb 5 2015**
It's been a bit over a month so I'd like to give an update since I've given this diet some time. Key points:
*With all the things I had to give up on this diet, I found myself not needing stevia for anything, so I've ditched it even though my autoimmune disease isn't hormonal so I see no reason why I'd benefit from not eating it.
*I was using Garden of Life probiotics for several years, and I thought they worked really well (compared to the million others I've tried) but I had to stop because they weren't in compliance due to nightshades, so I switched to the soil based organism probiotics recommended in this book. Not only do they work better, but they don't need to be refrigerated and you don't have to take as many pills. Huge plus!
*My sinus got noticeably better in the week I started, very quick results. Not 100% better though. Not 50% better, actually. But better than before.
*There was so much info in this book that I missed the details that although coconut is permitted, only in small amounts (besides coconut oil). Whoops - I was eating way too much coconut for the first month! No more coconut wraps, milk, nor cereal. Huge bummer.
*I ended up not cheating with spices and macadamia nuts although I was tempted to. I've never eaten in restaurants nor other people's houses, so I know there was no unknown cross contamination affecting my results. However, I had to cheat with some cold lozenges when I got fatigue and a sore throat. It's a bigger setback to get sick than to have a few lozenges even though every single one I saw at both a standard pharmacy AND my local health food store had prohibited ingredients. Anybody looking for a business idea please make us some grain-free zinc lozenges...
*My skin is unaffected so far by the diet. I wouldn't expect miracles in a month, especially since I was eating more than a few tablespoons of coconut every day. So I will give this a few more months before deciding whether it actually helps my psoriasis. I will update accordingly.
*Besides that, I find that I am skipping breakfast for the sake of it being too monotonous to eat a lunch/dinner style breakfast. So that's not great. Nobody said this was a fun diet...either way, it's not meant to be forever. If it works, you get to introduce food back. If it doesn't work, you'd be a fool to keep doing it. So I'll plug away for a few more months.
**Update 9/26/15**
I could have kept going on the diet for quite some time longer, but I got an intuitional feeling that it was time to move on and reintroduce other foods even though my skin problems, asthma, ect didn't go away. That was back in March, maybe. So, I've been off the diet for about half the year and I'm doing relatively well. I did break out in eczema from exactly four bites of organic macaroni and cheese, but after taking gluteneaze supplements, that cleared up. So, now I'm eating almost everything this book says not to but I'm not having the original problems that resolved when I gave up dairy 3 years ago (mental fog), nor have my seasonal allergies came back bad after reintroducing gluten, nor has my mental fog and bad ups and downs from glucose swings came back after not being ketogenic. So I think there was definitely progress made from healing my gut on this diet. I continue to take Prescript Assist probiotics. My psoriasis, which didn't clear at all on the diet, has cleared maybe 90 percent by now though! My arms and shoulders have none, my face has almost none, torso has very little, and my shins were my worst area, and they are 75% better. So, I don't know whether to attribute that totally to the diet, meditation, or what, but I have no regrets with the month and a half I spent on this diet, nor do I regret stopping when I felt like it was time rather than staying on for what would feel like eternity. So I have upgraded this to 5 stars, but one of my bottom lines besides this diet being worth it if your problems are bad enough is that it's like a psychological prison for how restrictive it is. But at least it's temporary!
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From the Publisher
The Paleo Approach is the first book to explain how to adapt the Paleo diet to bring about a full recovery from autoimmune disease. Read it to discover what you can eat to calm your immune system, reduce inflammation, and help your body heal itself. Find out which simple lifestyle changes—along with changes in diet—will make the biggest difference for your health.
Dr. Ballantyne puts together all the pieces of the autoimmunity puzzle, providing expert tips on how to tailor your diet, sleep, and physical activity to your body’s unique needs.
Check out the cookbook companion to this groundbreaking guidebook, The Paleo Approach Cookbook. This cookbook offers more than 200 delicious recipes, from breakfast staples to decadent desserts, along with hundreds of variations to spark your creativity.
About the author
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A True Tour De Force Into The Paleo Approach!
“Pharmaceutical treatment has, thus far, failed to inhibit the tsunami of endemic diseases spreading around the world, and no new tools are in sight. Dramatic alterations, in direction of paleolithic-like lifestyle and food habits, seem to be the only alternatives with the potential to control the present escalating crisis.”– Stig Bengmark, MD, Ph.DFor me, this book has been a life changer. As someone who has had chronic Ulcerative Colitis for almost twenty years & am barely in my thirties, hospitalized countless times, this book is a godsend. This is due to the many benefits my health as accrued from implementing much of the advice within this book.As a side note, the evolution of my health progression with UC went something like this: clean fluoride-free water > removal of toxins [aspartame, nitrates, soy, msg.] from dietary choices > removal of all fast foods > removal of processed foods > switching to organic/non-gmo nutrient-dense foods > gluten-free / paleo approach.That’s just what helped me. We are all different, so different people will benefit at varying degrees. Am just sharing what helped me in order for it to possibly help others.Now let’s dive in, shall we?The Paleo Approach – Reverse Autoimmune Disease And Heal Your Body by Sarah Ballantyne, PhD is an absolute tour de force into regaining your health, with a top-down approach that is as extensive as it is deep in scope.Although a great length of the book almost has a textbook feel, it is that very precision that shows how exact and thorough Ballantyne’s approach is. She details every aspect of the Paleo Diet discipline [if we may call it that] in a manner that is not just easy to follow, but simple to comprehend.Ballantyne commences with many of the causes for autoimmune diseases as well as what contributes to those type of health complications/diseases. Thence she couples that along with lifestyle changes that could be contributing to the cause of your dis-ease.Personally, this is the type of book that should be mandatory reading for everyone in High School, let alone college. The previous statement does not mean that this is the only approach, however. There are many [dietary] approaches that can and have helped people. A few of these different approaches helped me at varying degrees, the paleo approach being the last anchor that has solidified my health.Knowledge is imperative in our day an age. That is why nutrition and diet should be an integral component in everyone’s lives. Am saying this to outline the fact that the public school indoctrination system does nothing remotely substantial to address the lack of health knowledge in basic schooling. Then again they do the same with finance & logic, all three of which would help individuals greatly in attaining health, financial versatility and a range of analysis that is sorely needed in the world we live in.Getting back on track, Ballantyne makes it a point in stating and restating the fact that diet alone cannot help an individual if that individual is still making poor lifestyle choices. While this might seem ‘common sense’ to some, it isn’t. Countless people believe that if they just change their diet, while not addressing other vital [and just as detrimental] issues, all will be okay. Nothing can be further from the truth.Stress, for instance, causes deleterious issues to those that do not address this common problem. Ballantyne addresses the stress topic rather poignantly, outlining many solid approaches that have helped many, myself included.Ballantyne also dovetails into the importance of sleep, which is such an underrated component to health [and thus healing!], as well as not remaining physically stagnant. Moving, doing exercises, heck WALKING outside, all have great benefits. Don’t forget getting ample amounts of sun, for a variety of reasons.Other issues that are addressed rather trenchantly within this book are the issue of gluten sensitivity [this one affected me greatly] in relation to autoimmune disease and how it affects the intestines, as well as the issue of gut dysbiosis, what it is and how it is caused.Inflammation is another essential and yet abstruse topic that is focused upon. Ballantyne addresses this issue from myriad directions while also coupling it with stress, sleep and lifestyle choices.Parasites, as well as persistent infections such as C.Diff are touched upon, as well as the role of probiotics in gut health.The detrimental side effects of some medications are tackled and talked about in relation to optimal health.Finally, lest not forget the role of healthy fats, antioxidants, nutrient-dense food, and much, much more.Ballantyne anchors her book with a thorough nutrient table that’s an excellent reference for anyone, especially those following the ‘Paleo Approach’.All in all, if you are someone, or know someone with an auto-immune disease, or simply want to live a healthier life, then this book should be at the top of your priority/research list.The rest revolves around taking the first step, and staying on track.The choice is yours.By: Zy MarquiezDecember 20, 2015
Top reviews from other countries
Anne LeBlanc Beaulieu
Reading this book saved me from going into a wheelchair!
Reviewed in Canada on March 31, 2017Carlos Gustavo
best of best of nutrition book!
Reviewed in Brazil on February 13, 2016
