I've come across the concept of Paleo diet frequently, as it seems to be the latest 'craze' sweeping the ranks (Google's most searched for diet in 2013 apparently). It's a firm favorite of many, including some of the weight-lifters and crossfit fans I follow. Now I'm not a big fad of diets (in the term of them being short term quick fixes), but a quick glance at the primal blueprint seemed to indicate that it is more complete than many 'diets' (as it stresses the importance of diet, exercise, play and mental stimulation rather than only an extreme diet).
Intrigued, I bought the book The Primal Blueprint by Mark's Daily Apple's Mark Sisson (recommended as a starter book) which I have, for the past week or so, been reading.
First Impression:
Groan - not again.
Like my review of Strong Curves, I found the tone of the book very American and slightly dummed down(always a danger with American diet/fitness reads lol). This was a bit of a shock because Mark's website is much more intelligent and interesting. The repetitiveness of the narrative reminded me of standard powerpoint guidance; tell them what you'll tell them, tell them it, then tell them what you told them - OHMYGOODNESS when will people learn this should only ever be applied to presentations (not TV shows and books too). The concept of Grok was immediately annoying as a device for justifying the dietary and exercise recommendation within the book (it's so far gone that what do we really know about primal lifestyles). It seemed that the primal man was made to fit the diet rather than the other way round (see Ted talk: Debunking the Paleo Diet) e.g. grains/legumes banned (even though there's evidence that our ancestors ate them) but cheese is fine (because our ancestors ate mammary glands).
Like my review of Strong Curves, I found the tone of the book very American and slightly dummed down(always a danger with American diet/fitness reads lol). This was a bit of a shock because Mark's website is much more intelligent and interesting. The repetitiveness of the narrative reminded me of standard powerpoint guidance; tell them what you'll tell them, tell them it, then tell them what you told them - OHMYGOODNESS when will people learn this should only ever be applied to presentations (not TV shows and books too). The concept of Grok was immediately annoying as a device for justifying the dietary and exercise recommendation within the book (it's so far gone that what do we really know about primal lifestyles). It seemed that the primal man was made to fit the diet rather than the other way round (see Ted talk: Debunking the Paleo Diet) e.g. grains/legumes banned (even though there's evidence that our ancestors ate them) but cheese is fine (because our ancestors ate mammary glands).
But it did get better:
After I put aside the whole idea of this mythical paleo bloke, and his extreme opposites - the 'Korgs' - the exaggerated version of modern Americans that seemed so over the top as to be comical, I noticed that there was some potentially good stuff in there.
The diet proposed seems sensible, combining the ideas of gradual calorie restriction with a low carb diet (but which still includes a lot of good fruit and veg unlike it's dubious Atkins cousin). There was some interesting info about Omega 6&3 that was all new to me too.
The exercise is a bit of an adjustment as my current amount (apparently I'm overdosing on cardio :-S ) and I think I would need to try it out to be convinced.
I liked the stress on getting back to nature, playing more, being creative and so on.
Overall:
I think it's a OK book and I mostly enjoyed reading it, but the good was buried in unnecessary blurb. Aside from the patronising and fictitious Grok storyline and Mark's slightly self righteous opinion about some side issues from bottle feeding babies (very bad and harmful to poor child) to stretching (Grok probably only hung off of trees and squatted so that's all the stretching you need) there is some good stuff in there. Paleo is talked about as a 'fad diet' but this book is more about changing your life in a sustainable manner.
The advise seems sensible and is explained well. I like the freedom to adapt the recommendations (within reason) to fit with your instincts and tastes. Mark has clearly done a lot of research and has been putting his suggestions to the test on his website for a while.
But really - unless you are keen on getting the whole book. I would recommend reviewing the below picture (the blueprint in brief) and catching up on Mark's thinking via his website, and save your £6.99 (current Kindle price on amazon) for something else. Like some cheese (yum cheese).
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