What do you think?
Rate this book
Paleo Principles: The Science Behind the Paleo Template, Step-by-Step Guides, Meal Plans, and 200 + Healthy & Delicious Recipes for Real Life
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Paleo Approach and The Healing Kitchen comes the most comprehensive resource to date for those seeking a scientifically founded nutritional approach to optimal health. In her signature approachable yet comprehensive style, Sarah Ballantyne, PhD, has laid a complete foundation for understanding the principles of the Paleo template in order to inform and empower people’s day-to-day choices. Combined with an unprecedented collection of practical strategies, tips, and visual guides, plus more than 200 delicious recipes and twenty meal plans for a variety of health goals, this book is a one-stop-shop for nutrition nerds, health nuts, and gourmands alike.
The Paleo diet is a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory whole-foods diet based on eating a variety of quality vegetables, meats, seafood, fruits, eggs, nuts, seeds, healthy fats, herbs, and spices. It is clinically proven to improve health by providing complete and balanced nutrition while omitting most processed and refined foods and empty calories. Far from being a historical re-enactment, the Paleo framework is derived from thousands of scientific studies that illuminate our understanding of which foods support health and which foods undermine it. Combined with attention to essential lifestyle factors like physical activity, sleep, and stress, the Paleo template is quite simply the most robust approach out there for optimal health, performance, and longevity!
With the perfect balance of detailed explanations, accessible summaries of actionable information, and visual guides, Paleo Principles provides everything readers need to achieve their best health. Beyond a set of rules, this book teaches precisely why some foods are better choices than others while providing indispensable resources like food lists, shopping guides, and cooking how-tos. Health comes from more than just the foods on our plates, however, which is why Dr. Ballantyne also incorporates a focus on lifestyle factors known to improve health, including being active, getting enough sleep, managing stress, and connecting with community. People needn’t worry that following a Paleo-style diet will leave them feeling hungry or deprived. Healthy re-creations of family-friendly favorites, from pizza to pancakes, prove that you can regain your health and love every bite! Paleo Principles contains more than 200 nutritious Paleo recipes that are free of gluten, grain, dairy, legumes, and refined sugar—including kitchen basics, breakfasts, soups and salads, main dishes, side dishes, baked goods, and desserts—all labeled for the top eight allergen ingredients as well as other common food sensitivities, like FODMAPs and nightshades, and the Autoimmune Protocol.
Adapt the Paleo template to serve your specific needs and health goals by using Paleo Principles’ guides on customizing macronutrient ratios, navigating gray-area foods, troubleshooting chronic illnesses and food sensitivities, transitioning to a Paleo-style diet, understanding your body’s individual response to different foods, and balancing Paleo priorities with competing interests for lifelong success. Combine these resources with twenty meal plans reflecting the most common health objectives, and you have the know-how to personalize your plan to fit your life. Join the millions of people taking back their health by following a Paleo lifestyle. Whether your goal is to lose weight, increase performance, reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors, prevent cancer, mitigate autoimmune disease, reverse diabetes, or simply achieve your best health, Paleo Principles gives you answers and a veritable toolkit to make lasting, positive change toward better health.
The Paleo diet is a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory whole-foods diet based on eating a variety of quality vegetables, meats, seafood, fruits, eggs, nuts, seeds, healthy fats, herbs, and spices. It is clinically proven to improve health by providing complete and balanced nutrition while omitting most processed and refined foods and empty calories. Far from being a historical re-enactment, the Paleo framework is derived from thousands of scientific studies that illuminate our understanding of which foods support health and which foods undermine it. Combined with attention to essential lifestyle factors like physical activity, sleep, and stress, the Paleo template is quite simply the most robust approach out there for optimal health, performance, and longevity!
With the perfect balance of detailed explanations, accessible summaries of actionable information, and visual guides, Paleo Principles provides everything readers need to achieve their best health. Beyond a set of rules, this book teaches precisely why some foods are better choices than others while providing indispensable resources like food lists, shopping guides, and cooking how-tos. Health comes from more than just the foods on our plates, however, which is why Dr. Ballantyne also incorporates a focus on lifestyle factors known to improve health, including being active, getting enough sleep, managing stress, and connecting with community. People needn’t worry that following a Paleo-style diet will leave them feeling hungry or deprived. Healthy re-creations of family-friendly favorites, from pizza to pancakes, prove that you can regain your health and love every bite! Paleo Principles contains more than 200 nutritious Paleo recipes that are free of gluten, grain, dairy, legumes, and refined sugar—including kitchen basics, breakfasts, soups and salads, main dishes, side dishes, baked goods, and desserts—all labeled for the top eight allergen ingredients as well as other common food sensitivities, like FODMAPs and nightshades, and the Autoimmune Protocol.
Adapt the Paleo template to serve your specific needs and health goals by using Paleo Principles’ guides on customizing macronutrient ratios, navigating gray-area foods, troubleshooting chronic illnesses and food sensitivities, transitioning to a Paleo-style diet, understanding your body’s individual response to different foods, and balancing Paleo priorities with competing interests for lifelong success. Combine these resources with twenty meal plans reflecting the most common health objectives, and you have the know-how to personalize your plan to fit your life. Join the millions of people taking back their health by following a Paleo lifestyle. Whether your goal is to lose weight, increase performance, reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors, prevent cancer, mitigate autoimmune disease, reverse diabetes, or simply achieve your best health, Paleo Principles gives you answers and a veritable toolkit to make lasting, positive change toward better health.
672 pages, Hardcover
Published November 7, 2017
84 people are currently reading
244 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 25, 2019
This book one of the most comprehensive manuals I have ever seen related to nutrition and gut health. Science based, incredible detailed. Well illustrated. The focus is paleo, and it should be called the Paleo Bible, in that, it is THE resource for Paleo. But, Ballantyne's work goes beyond Paleo to being a general guide to how our gut works, what we know, and what we don't know. Nutrient density, macro-nutrients, probiotics, biological systems health, how to avoid toxins, understanding fiber and the different types of fiber. Is metamucil healthy for everyone? What about people with auto immune diseases. IBS-- covered in detail. Phenomenal resource.
January 20, 2018
This book is an amazing resource! It truly is a resource book, more than the type you read straight through. I flip from section to section as I look up & research differing areas I'm concerned about, or just need to understand better. As a 672 page book, I doubt I'll ever read it cover to cover. But when I have a question about the difference between glucose & fructose, how I digest, which hormones affect my ability to sleep, how my cells regenerate, (or any other question I come up with) this is the book that will answer all of my how/what/why/when/where questions that deal with the principles of how Paleo works inside me. It's a great health book to have on hand.
February 8, 2018
Clear explanations. (Mostly) clear diagrams and infographics to help with the explanation. This is an encyclopedia of food and lifestyle changes that could help with lots of things -- mostly low-hanging-fruit-type changes. Not really fully appropriate for AIP, but mostly so. Also, it's huge!
December 4, 2017
This is one of the best (if not the best) paleo book I've read. There are many tables showing the composition of foods, etc. There is some good science here, although the book is less dense than I'd like and the science is somewhat buried. Sarah also somewhat questions the healthiness of common paleo foods like red meat (though she doesn't seem to worried about it) which is rare for an author.
There are enough recipes here, but also more than I'd like (I already have several paleo cook books and don't need more recipes I just want the data!)
If the book was smaller I'd definitely buy it, for now I will reread some other paleo books and see how they compare.
Although this book isn't ideal, if a person were interested in learning about paleo this'd be the book I'd recommend (I'd also recommend a counter balanced book like Proteinaholic).
There are enough recipes here, but also more than I'd like (I already have several paleo cook books and don't need more recipes I just want the data!)
If the book was smaller I'd definitely buy it, for now I will reread some other paleo books and see how they compare.
Although this book isn't ideal, if a person were interested in learning about paleo this'd be the book I'd recommend (I'd also recommend a counter balanced book like Proteinaholic).
May 16, 2018
This is a serious, comprehensive look at the science behind the paleo principles diets and lifestyles. Not the kind of book to just sit down and read, it’s more of a textbook that covers EVERYTHING you want to know about how your body reacts to certain foods. I think it is a valuable guide and reference tool. It has guides, recipes and steps to be more successful in following this life change. I got some great recipes from it and will probably return to this book again and again for reference.
August 19, 2019
4.5 stars
January 6, 2020
This book might be best used as a resource to look up particular things, for instance information on certain health conditions and guidelines for improving them. There are quite a few very complete lists that may be of use; what can be used for egg replacements and the like. Some of the information is rather technical and is probably more than the casual reader would need. Good recipe section, and meal planning help for those starting out. FYI the book weighs over 5 pounds.
January 11, 2024
This offered a much more reason based argument for why this way of eating is so beneficial to every person that embraces it; much more so than “because that’s the way the caveman ate.”
December 30, 2025
Long! Very thorough, if you're looking for this kind of textbook info.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews