Practical Paleo, 2nd Edition (Updated And Expanded): A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle

The only Paleo book you’ll ever need!
My man and I are strictly Paleo and have read the best of the best in terms of books – everything from Robb Wolf to Gary Taubes, Mark Sisson to Dr. Cate Shanahan – and I can tell you for sure that this is the only book you’ll need.I found Diane when I was having severe digestive troubles earlier in the year. My stomach cramped up and I experienced awful reflux every time I ate. Sometimes when it would really flare up, I’d have to fast for an entire weekend to feel better. I was regularly constipated for up to TWO WEEKS at time (as in, no bowel movements for 14 days – awful)! I saw a holistic doctor but licorice root, marshmallow root, natural laxatives and magnesium did nothing to solve my problems. Four hundred bucks on holistic supplements later, I found Diane’s podcast. Through listening to her podcasts with her enthusiastic teammate Liz Wolfe, I started adding kombucha and sauerkraut to my diet, cutting out nuts and never, ever eating gluten. It took time for me to find what my exact triggers were, but now I know that I have an over-exposure allergy to eggs and that raw nuts can mess me up for days. I can tolerate gluten once in a while but after seeing how flat my tummy got when I avoided it, I don’t indulge anymore.I listen to their podcasts every week and wasn’t sure if I needed this book since I already own so many Paleo books. Boy, was I wrong – if only this book had come out first, I wouldn’t have needed any of the other ones! The section on poop alone is life-changing!What really stands out here are the customized meal plans for the specific issues you might be facing. I found myself wanting to copy each of them and hand them out to family and friends. The tear-out guides, as other reviewers have mentioned, are also fantastic. The recipes are so incredible – my man and I made the artichoke lemon chicken last night, as well as the chocolate coconut cookies. I also spent my time elbow-deep in cabbage and carrots to make the sauerkraut.Diane is so knowledgeable and delivers the information in easy-to-understand action steps. This book is perfect for beginners and even great for the seasoned Paleo eater. The photographs are lovely and the recipes are easy to follow. A truly beautiful book well worth the list price and more. If I hadn’t found Diane and Liz, I would have definitely seen a GI specialist by now and wiped out whatever good gut flora I had left with antibiotics. That being said, there is so much more covered here than you can get in a forty-minute podcast. Well worth the money spent.I bought the book in paperback to have and to hold – Kindle lovers may want to pick up the Kindle version for portability reasons – this is a heavy book and it could be useful to have recipes at your fingertips. That being said, I just took a picture of the recipes I wanted to make on my phone and took that with me. The quality of the physical book is very high and will not disappoint.Before going to the physician, go practical! Practical Paleo, that is. 🙂

Super useful book

This was one of my first Paleo books and still one of the best, in my opinion. I have used her recipes more than any other Paleo cookbook I own. I appreciate that her baked goods used coconut flour vs nut flour as we have nut allergies in our family. The Gingerbread muffins are out of this world–the book is worth it to get that recipe alone. They are delicious and moist and do not taste like a gluten free muffin.One small issue is the index– she tries to be helpful by having an ingredient index and then an index for topics in the book, but some major areas are missing from the ingredient index. When I want to make a chicken recipe, I usually flip to the index and look up “Chicken”. And while there are a lot of great chicken recipes, they aren’t indexed that way (at and a few other ingredients, like salmon and fish in general). That said, the recipe section is organized very well, and the edges of the pages have the categories color coded, so a quick flip brings me to the Poultry section.She provides a variety of homemade seasoning blends which are tasty and affordable. I enjoy the recipes in is book a lot because they seem to appeal to a mass audience. These are recipes I can make for my family and my children will eat them. (Side note–Another great Paleo cookbook is Well Fed, but the hard part for me with that one is the dishes are heavily spiced–most of them are too strong/too hot/too much for small children. A nice resource to experience new favors, but not ideal for young children. )One of the most beneficial elements of this book are the 30 day meal plans–there are a wide variety, for instance for digestive health, or for auto-immune conditions. This is an incredibly valuable resource.The photos in this book are wonderful and there are a ton of them. The sheer amount of information in this book makeit a must-have addition to your Paleo library.If you are new to Paleo, this is an excellent, user friendly guide to the hows and the whys in a very readable format (lots of information, but not dull or overly textual). It will provide you with all the information, and then give you ways (thru the recipes and meal plans) to execute it.Highly recommended.

**Come notato, questo libro e’ scritto in inglese. Anche le misure sono “imperial” (americane). Se qualcuno ha una domanda riguardante le ricette o le misure, chiedetemi! :)**This book is, hands down, the best paleo book I’ve bought to-date (and I’ve bought an impressive stack)! If you’re looking for a “first” paleo cookbook, this is the one as it has menus, spice blends, pantry lists, and other information I found to be very helpful when first starting out with the paleo diet in addition to many wonderful recipes.For me, it was just the right explanation of how to make paleo work for me and I’ve recommended it to friends and family since. Great book!