Continuing the theme of personal revelations and selling things this week is my review of The Wild Diet by Abel James.
Today’s revelation is that I used to be addicted to introductions to the paleo diet. I was so in love with the whole idea. Every book for me was a cornucopia of validation and delights, and one of my bookshelves is full of them. I’m a bit over that, now. The mechanics is super old news. Plus, I know the people who write the books too well to find them impressive at all. (This is a joke. They impress me so much it makes my skin hurt.) But — since I am a paleo writer and health advocate, I now have a new reason to love these books: they teach me how to write.
And boy oh boy, does Abel James teach me how to write or what. The quality of his writing is a bit hard to demonstrate in a review, but just go ahead and trust me when I say that his ideas are clear, not a word goes off track, all the good information is in there, and none of the bad stuff makes it in at all. The very first page contains the following paragraph, for example:
The discoveries I am going to share with you are the result of countless hours of obsessive research and years of relentless experimentation. Your journey will be far more straightforward: all you need to know about how ot lose fat permanently without magic pills, absurd gadgets, or soul-crushing dieting is contained within this manual.The primary goal of this manual is to educate you in the process of losing fat rapidly and permanently — without bias, conjecture, or ulterior motive — and to lift the fog of confusion about nutrition and exercise that may have hindered your progress in the past. To achieve this goal, I decided to write this manual in layman’s terms with minimal cryptic scientific jargon.Be assured — the Wild Diet is based on proven scientific principles and a growing body of peer-reviewed and independent research. But instead of hurling studies and their equal and opposite counerparts back and forth, this manual ism eant to get straight otthe point and show you what works so you can achieve rapid and dramatic results.Fair warning: many of these principles and issues are “controversial” and stand in direct opposition to current conventional wisdom and popular beliefs. While the principles in this manual may seem radical today, I wholeheartedly believe that they will be the “breakthroughts” of the future. I am confident that if you read this book with an open mind, the knowledg eon the following pages has the power to change your life.
Also, I’m a big fan of his graphs.
Better than Abel’s writing, however, is the fact that Abel combines profound thoughtfulness along with his data and his explanations and plans. The whole idea of “The Wild Diet” is not that good foods are necessarily paleolithic, nor that they are set by some dogma of current paleo trends and norms, but rather that good foods should be valued if they can be found in the wild. I love this approach; it is my own. It’s elegant, and it’s wild. Two things you know get me all riled and happy.
The Wild Diet begins with the sentence “This is no dietary bootcamp.” The book ends with instructions for and a nod to the difficulty of maintenance. And in between, Abel emphasizes the pleasure of the paleo diet. Afraid of restriction, of hunger, of misery? Don’t be. That’s not a part of the life of a paleo dieter — not a part of the Wild Diet — and Abel is sure to remind you of that fact at every step along the way. This is a diet and a life for pleasure, and Abel’s book is one of the best ways I’ve stumbled on telling you how.
The book is broken down into three parts: Step I: Prepare Your Mind. “If 50 million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing,” says Anatole France. This is my favorite part of the book, as I am sure you could guess. Step II: What to know. It’s important to know why and how stuff works, and Abel does this elegantly. Step III is What To Do. Brand new to paleo or an expert in the life, this is an excellent chapter for inspiration and maximizing the quality of your life.
Couldn’t recommend it more highly, this book. It’s great for us seasoned vets, if only for the quality of reading and the reminders for health. It’s phenomenal for newbies, I couldn’t overstate that fact.
——————-
--------
So, just as a heads up - some links above may be my affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you click on it and make a purchase. Doing so is no additional cost to you, but helps me tremendously. Your support is SO greatly appreciated, so thank you in advance if you choose to do so. Check out my entire disclosure to know exactly how things work.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks