Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Hello dear fellows paleo hackers.

My father is an MD, specialized in anesthesiology in cardio surgery. He suffers from atrial fibrillation and this really affects his life quality. He is 62 years old and a bit overweight (thin with a belly you can say).

I suspect he would benefit highly from removing gluten and adopting a paleo lifestyle. Being a doc he was formed with the lipid hypothesis and so on. He does like to keep up to date but obvioualy nutrition is not really his field. This bring me to the question:

What is the best scientific book regarding paleo you would recommend for an MD?

flag	asked May 18 2012 at 11:41 Roberto 646●1●8

Thank you all. I have already read Wolf and Jaminet. I will read Davis and then probably feed him that one as it is written by a cardiologist might be very well suited! – Roberto May 19 2012 at 9:02

jo60 · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-18 17:05:05Z UTC

Coming from a 3rd generation medical family (and around your dad's age myself) I recommend

"The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living" by Jess Voltek, PhD, RD and Stephen Phinney, MD, PhD

"Wheat Belly " Dr. W. Davis MD (Cardiologist)

I love Listening to podcasts. You get such a better feel for the individuals and their beliefs.

GCBC /Taubes, is excellent, but as mentioned a dense read even for some one with time. I do however think it is the one book that has the most immediate and profound impact on one's beliefs about diet and breaking down the status quo..and after several chapters you can gain a fair amount by skimming/speed reading and coming back later to get the details.

I would keep it clean and simple and non paleo for the introduction and background. You want a clean approach.

There are also many excellent" podcasts which can be downloaded or streamed at

Low Carb Experts LLVLC

5: Ketosis: Devil or Angel?’ | Mark Sisson [excellent and every Paleo person should listen]

4: ‘How To Improve Cardio-Metabolic Health’ | Dr. Fred Pescatore

3: ‘Healthy Whole Grains?’ | Dr. William Davis [another must listen]

2: ‘All Things Leptin (Leptin 101)’ | Dr. Ron Rosedale [and another]

1: ‘Weight Loss Obstacles’ | Jackie Eberstein

Beth-WeightMaven · Answer 2 · 2012-05-18 12:26:33Z UTC

I think the Jaminets' Perfect Health Diet is a great book for someone with a science background. It's not paleo per se (allows grains in the form of white rice) and is fairly prescriptive in terms of macronutrient ratios, but is very well cited in terms of its recommendations.

Robb Wolf's book is far more consumer friendly (not as heavy on the science), but is a great foundation for paleo.

borofergie · Answer 3 · 2012-05-18 12:46:10Z UTC

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Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes.

Everything else follows from this. Reading it was Kurt Harris' first step into the Paleosphere.

If every Doctor read this book, there would be a lot less obese people in the world.

answered May 18 2012 at 12:46

borofergie
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I think it was Good Calories, Bad Calories, which is more detailed. – orust May 18 2012 at 13:02

Yes my bad. But it'd be easier to get someone to read WWGF than GCBC which is a pretty weighty tome. – borofergie May 18 2012 at 13:07

Kurt Harris has decided much of it is wrong though. The part KGH disagrees with (Insulin Hypothesis) seems to be the focus of WWGF. In terms of the Lipid Hypothesis, Stephan Guyenet has always listed The Great Cholesterol Con by Anthony Colpo on his recommended list instead of GCBC, even before his incident with Taubes. – Paleo2.0 May 18 2012 at 13:33

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I don't disagree that there are holes in the Taubes books, but as well-written and digestable introduction to the topic I still think they're difficult to beat. If you had one shot at changing someones mind about the lipid hypothesis then I still think Taubes is the best shot. – borofergie May 18 2012 at 15:26

For the lipid hypothesis, this blogpost is what initially did it for me personally: wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/12/… – Paleo2.0 May 18 2012 at 18:32

Aili · Answer 4 · 2012-05-18 14:48:20Z UTC

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"The Smarter Science of Slim" by Jonathan Bailor. Your dad will love it because many, many leading medical people from well known universities around the world endorse his work.

answered May 18 2012 at 14:48

Aili
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Sloan · Answer 5 · 2012-05-18 15:15:49Z UTC

Wheat Belly by cardiologist Dr. William Davis... Davis talks about his own plights with weight and how it made him feel insecure because it sent mixed messages to his patients.. He also refers to how things were better in the 'good ol days' (this will probably resonate with your father)...

Davis is very relatable. It may be best to give him something like this (before giving him heavy scientific material)because it will pique his interest through relate-ability. After all, just because he's a MD and can understand it all, doesn't mean he'll even want to bother if he's truly not interested in changing his life style (this can be a sore spot with MD's, after all I'm sure you can understand he wouldn't want to be told about nutrition from his son).

stoic · Answer 6 · 2012-05-19 20:05:55Z UTC

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I would look into putting together some selections from various blogs, specifically Whole Health Source, PaNu/Kurt Harris, maybe Hyperlipid. Most of the other stuff mentioned in this thread would probably turn off someone with a scientific bent. While the Perfect Health Diet is interesting, it is hardly evidence based.

answered May 19 2012 at 20:05

stoic
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agreed. I think many cardiologists would be very turned off by Wheat Belly. My favorite paleo book is actually Food and Western Disease by Staffan Lindeberg. GCBC is excellent for a physician except the second half. Also, there's a newer book, a short read, called the Cholesterol Delusion by a cardiologist that is well done. – Evolutionarypsy May 19 2012 at 23:22

What book would you recommend for an MD?

6 Answers