Best Paleo Book - PaleoHacks.com

Best Paleo Book

2012-10-11T19:38:01Z

Looking for a recommendation. If you were to buy one book to give to a friend on Paleo, what would it be?

Answer by nada for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-11T19:40:46Z

umm, none? there is no point in buying a paleo book.

Answer by borofergie for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-11T19:42:22Z

Dude. Cavemen didn't read books, I'm pretty sure that they didn't have kindles back then.

Answer by CD for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-11T19:51:53Z

I vote for Primal Blueprint with Solution as a close second. Art and Science is a decent third, but not enough depth for me.

Answer by joanna for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-11T19:54:57Z

i've only read the paleo solution and i like rob's writing style. he's pretty funny. he does explain things really in depth so it's like reading a human physiology book most of the time.

Answer by Asclepius for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-11T20:57:01Z

Get your hands on Arthur Devany's Essay on Evolutionary Fitness (the circa 2006 version). I reckon it's the most powerful chapter in paleo.

Answer by bj for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-11T21:23:55Z

This would not be my 'one book', but try "Chez Panisse Vegetables" by Alice Waters. Seriously. Tons of the recipes are paleo, and it'll teach you great cooking techniques that respect and highlight the flavors of fresh seasonal vegetables.

While meat's easy to like (and gets most of the attention on these boards), side / vegetable dishes are often where paleo cookbooks come up short. This is a great resource.

Answer by Miriam for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-11T21:25:26Z

I would have gone with Primal Blueprint right up until my copy of Practical Paleo arrived. This book is absolutely fantastic. It's got everything in plain English, many meal plans for different types of diets (fat loss, high blood pressure, etc) and lots of fabulous recipes. I just bought it for my brother-in-law and he loves it.

Answer by KL for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-12T13:19:18Z

Robb's book was the one that started it for me, and for a new to Paleo person, this is what I would recommend. However, I want to give a shout out to Balanced Bites' book Practical Paleo. For someone like me, who's been in this Paleo thing for a while, it's my choice for favorite book. I love the info she gives (it's like taking Paleo to the next level), the meal plans and the recipes.

Answer by jess6 for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-12T16:49:00Z

Depends on the friend. Some people want something that goes deep into theory. Others will do better with a cookbook full of appealing recipes that lightly touches on the basics.

Answer by balor123 for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-12T20:13:32Z

My vote is for Perfect Health Diet

Answer by dani24 for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-12T20:16:32Z

Primal Blueprint from Mark Sisson. It's very detailed. He goes into practically everything from evolution, environment, genetics, nutrition, metabolism, organic vs non organic, exersise, sleep. It's a great book for noobs. lol

Answer by Diane for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-13T01:40:25Z

I'd go with Loren Cordain's Paleo Answer or with Phil Maffetone's Big Book of Health and Fitness.

Answer by carlos for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-13T02:12:36Z

The fat loss bible

Answer by MarkES for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-13T14:05:32Z

I'd be tempted to wait for the 2nd edition of the Perfect Health Diet coming out December 11, 2012. The Jaminet's are amazing at summarizing all the science literature and evidence.

It probably does depend on the person, though. The basic info is pretty similar and varies a little with things like dairy. Back when I read The Paleo Diet (classic), Primal Blueprint, and The Paleo Solution (style of humor most like and some find off-putting), the Primal Blueprint was most enjoyable for me. And Mark Sisson's website (author of Primal Blueprint) is a fantastic resource. I think it helps to have a good ongoing online resource after reading a book. Then I read the Perfect Health Diet and the evidence-based style makes sense for me.

I haven't read Arthur De Vany, maybe because he's had a membership web site, instead of more open.

I haven't read Practical Paleo, but other commenters have me interested ...

Answer by raydawg for Best Paleo Book

2012-10-14T10:19:35Z

Depends on your goals, or if it's a gift for someone else, their personality.

These are my favorites:

Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf.

Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo

Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson

Paleo Answer by Lauren Cordain

Perfect Health Diet by Paul and Shou-Ching Jaminet

New Evolution Diet by Arthur De Vany

Wolf's and Cordain's books are best for those who are more interested in the science, Cordain's for those that wouldn't enjoy the fun snarkiness of Wolf's book.

Sisson's book is for those that just want a quick start without too much science.

Sanfilippo's book straddles both of the above categories and covers material that they don't.

While the Jaminets' book is considered "high carb" by some, it's actually very low carb when compared to a typical SAD diet, and covers materials that the others don't.

De Vany's book is shorter than the others, but covers interesting topics in working out that the others don't, specifically, that you shouldn't do the same thing over and over again, not just in terms of workouts, but also diet. Applying a fractal approach to living is far more beneficial because you don't constantly stress the same pathways at the detriment of the others. For example, by not eating just chicken breasts and broccoli, you don't constantly stress the same detox pathway; By not doing the same workout over and over, you don't hit a plateau and convert fast twitch muscle to slow twitch. His video lectures are probably even more valuable (but read the book 1st).

I used to be subscribed to his pay website, which admittedly had a lot of interesting articles, but before I decided to not renew, the posts of mostly "another marathoner died of heart failure" and "here's what my dinner looked like." Not sure if that's changed or not, but I may renew again if I see he posted interesting things again. He's got a nice forum, but nowhere near as full of life as paleohacks.

They all bring something to the table, and almost all are suited for beginners (again, with the focus on the readers' personality, plus different topics.)

Although I've not yet read it, but it's in my kindle, Dave Asprey's Upgraded Chef may turn out to be a decent book just based on his podcast, blog posts, and presents a different way of looking at paleo. (His intro to this version shows spectrums of food and other things where the more you stay to the green side, the better off you are.)