Book Review and Giveaway of Practical Paleo By Diane Sanfilippo

This giveaway is now closed.

The winner of the Practical Paleo Book is: Eileen Lindsey!

"What is paleo? "Paleo" is short for Paleolithic, but the name is actually less important than the power of the overall approach.
While the term "Paleo" has gained traction in the mainstream media and on bookstore shelves everywhere due to the improved health of those who follow the lifestyle, you could call it "Primal", "Grain Free", "Real Food", "Whole Food", "Nutrient-Dense", or "Ancestral". Whatever name you choose, the "Paleo" way of eating is simple: Mimic our Ancestors, who suffered from fewer chronic diseases than modern populations." Diane Sanfilippo  Pg. 22 Practical Paleo 

I feel so honored that my humble blog was chosen to receive an advanced copy of Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo to review. I am so excited to share this book with you today, it truly is a treasure! I'm actually not really sure what to call this book, it's not just a book or a cookbook, it's both, wrapped up in a gorgeous, photo filled, information packed book! You know those authors who publish health books, then make you wait a year or more and publish a separate cookbook to go with their health book, well there is no waiting with this one, cookbook is included!

Her book is divided into three parts:

Part 1: The Why-Food and Your Body.

Part 2: Thirty Day Meal Plans

Part 3: Recipes

In part one, Diane explains the science behind the "Paleo" or as I like to call it the "Real Food" way of eating. She explains in detail and easy to understand terms why real food is best for our bodies. She includes colorful and extremely helpful guides and illustrations as well as many tips to help us when eating out or on an airplane or at a party.

Part two contains the meal plans. She has 11 different ones to choose from depending on your health issues:

Autoimmune Conditions

Blood Sugar Regulation

Digestive Health

Thyroid Health

Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue

Neurological Health

Heart Health

Cancer Recovery

Athletic Performance

Fat Loss

Squeaky Clean Paleo

Each meal plan contains Diet and Lifestyle recommendations, nutritional supplements & herbs to consider, supportive nutrients & foods that contain them and then the meal plans themselves. I personally plan to implement the Autoimmune Conditions, Thyroid Health and Fat Loss meal plans for my particular health issues.

Part three is all about the recipes! She includes step by step picture tutorials on how to chop an onion, how to chop a pepper and how to chop anything. I have found them tremendously helpful and am now chopping more like a chef than a crazy lady :) She has recipes for salt blends and spice blends that are wonderful. She has really inspired me to break out of the salt and pepper only mold and start using more of the spices in my cabinet!

The very best part of the recipes is that they are fast and easy to prepare with short ingredient lists for most...just how I like it!! Also each recipe has a least one gorgeous photo for you to drool at, taken by the talented Bill Staley of The Food Lovers Kitchen. I must stress the fact that this book, from start to finish, is chock full of glossy, beautiful photos...no skimping on that. I don't know about you, but I love looking at photos when I'm reading a cookbook or book on food.

Here are some of the recipes I have made from Practical Paleo...

This was adapted from her recipe Chicken Wings, two ways...

First my husband could only find regular size drumsticks at Costco instead of the recommended drummettes (or you can use wings too of course). Secondly I decided to only make it one way lol. I doubled the recipe for the Pineapple Teriyaki wings and boy was I glad I did...they were finger licking good! I really appreciated that there was no actual teriyaki sauce called for in the recipe, the combination of ingredients give you a delicious, lightly sweet sauce to mimic the teriyaki flavor without the harmful soy and sugar.

Pumpkin Pancakes...

Thank you, thank you Diane for giving the option to use a banana as a sweetener for these yummy, nourishing pancakes! This is a picture of my son's plate with the whole shebang of butter and maple syrup on top. Mine was just plain with butter, but still quite sweet that I did not miss the maple syrup.

The next day when heating up the leftovers for my breakfast, I had a great idea...drizzle on coconut butter. Let me tell you, it is so good this way, very decadent, but without the guilt!

Citrus and herb whole roasted chicken...

This was one of our favorites, so simple, yet full of flavor! The picture above shows the lemon version which my family just woofed down so fast. I saw my oldest son (aka pickiest eater) spooning extra roasted carrots and onion on to his plate, the lemon gave them so much flavor.

OK, I have to admit I goofed the first time I made this recipe, I used oranges instead of lemon, (I actually loved the orange version better) but I had set the chicken, breast down in the baking dish and proceeded to season and roast it upside down...it was still delicious and I ate some of the skin anyway :)

Upside down Orange chicken...live and learn :)

Lemon rosemary broiled salmon...

Wowie zowie, this is our favorite recipe so far! We all wanted to eat the whole thing in one fell swoop, but thanks to my husband, the voice of reason, we ate half the first night then enjoyed the other half the next night.

Lemon rosemary broiled salmon with sauteed zucchini, onion and kale

When I am finished with my sugar detox, I will be trying this recipe for Flourless mocha-bacon brownies...sounds and looks so good!

In the back of the book, Diane has guides that can be torn out and put on your fridge to help you remember important information.

My favorite guide was the one to paleo foods, I can get in a rut eating the same veggies over and over again, this guide helps remind me there are many vegetables and protein sources to choose from!

I hope my review was able to give you a good idea of what you will be getting if you purchase this "Encyclopedia" of information. It will arm you with the knowledge and tools you need to attain radiant health, which is what many of us are searching for.

This book will be released tomorrow, Aug.7th 2012!

Now for the giveaway! A brand spanking new copy of Practical Paleo will be mailed to the winner's doorstep!

"Like" my facebook page, Reading Your lips

"Like" Balanced Bites facebook page (Diane's page)

Post a comment below stating you have done both of these. The contest will be closed on Aug. 19th 2012 and the winner will be chosen and announced Monday, Aug. 20th 2012

**Update, I've changed the contest end date to Aug. 19th 2012

Good luck!

Steph