Page 92 - summer2016

All Thumbs Book Reviews
All Thumbs Book Reviews

The Paleo Approach: lifestyle and genetics is somewhat debatable.
Reverse Autoimmune Disease and What that sounds like to me is that if lifestyle
Heal Your Body and environment aren’t trashed then genetics
by Sarah Ballantyne, PhD isn’t really the issue. I think in a bad environ-
Victory Belt Publishing Inc. ment and lifestyle any genetic makeup will
suffer in some way sooner or later.
What goes on in the human body is incred- Can someone really get healthy and stay
ibly complex, to put it mildly. Early in the book healthy on the diet described in this book? I
is a detailed account of how the immune system would say yes. One of the shortcomings of
works, which may leave the average reader some versions of paleo is lack of good fat. Dr.
slightly dizzy. I was, anyway. What makes me Ballantyne makes it clear that you need plenty
a little dizzier is the fact that our understand- of good fat and correctly identifies what good
ing of the subject is certainly still incomplete fat is. Insufficient fat can make one emotionally
and simplistic at best. There is a reason for all fragile, tired and cranky.
the detail. The main purpose of the book is The Paleo Approach is definitely more
to expound on a lifestyle approach to healing restrictive than the WAPF approach. There is
from autoimmune disease. Of course diet and a long list of foods to avoid, which includes
nutrition are strongly featured, but all aspects grain, nuts, dairy, eggs and alcohol on the short
are addressed, including exercise, sleep and the list (page 140). I don’t know about you, but that
importance of circadian rhythms in general. might make me a little cranky.
The dietary approach could be described as I have to be careful about referring to
consistent with the WAPF approach with some certain versions of the paleo diet because the
restrictions. As is the case with many variations definition has drifted over the last decade or so
of paleo, grains and dairy are not encouraged and there is still debate over what paleo really
here. In the beginning stages of recovery they is. I know paleo is a cool word and those associ-
are strictly prohibited. Once you have recovered ated with it don’t want to change it, but if you
you may carefully introduce dairy. Grains? are going to change the definition of a word,
Forget about it. Sarah Ballantyne is not very confusion is your destiny. You are asking for it.
enthusiastic about dairy but does recognize the All of this is not necessarily Ballantyne’s fault
difference between industrial strength dairy and the thumb is UP for this book. She is very
and raw and cultured dairy. She makes a point clear and specific about what her approach is,
of specifying raw when speaking of allowable and while it may be difficult for some I would
Dr. Ballantyne dairy. take this over a vegan approach or genetically
modified, chemical, pharmaceutical approach
Genetics also come up as a factor in auto-
makes it clear immune disease. The author says genes account any day. Review by Tim Boyd
that you need for a third of susceptibility. I’m always a little
plenty of suspicious when genes are blamed. I like to see

good fat and some historical perspective as a sanity check
to our modern lab rat mentality, and I didn’t
correctly notice much in this book. I’ve read elsewhere
identifies that many autoimmune diseases were rare if not
what good nonexistent a few hundred years ago. Did our
genetics really change that fast? A claim that a
fat is. disease is due to a combination of environment,
92 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2016 Wise Traditions