Sarah Ballantyne - The Paleo Approach: Reverse Autoimmune Disease and Heal Your Body

First Published in 2013 by Victory Belt Publishing Inc.

Copyright 2013 Sarah Ballantyne

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 13: 978-1936608393 (paperback)
978-1628600254 (ebook)

The information included in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The reader should always consult his or her healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation or if they have any questions regarding a medical condition or treatment plan. Reading the information in this book does not create a physician-patient relationship.

Victory Belt is a registered trademark of Victory Belt Publishing Inc.

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For Adele and Mira

may my knowledge

compensate for my genetics

to break the cycle.

My first thought when I flipped through my review copy of The Paleo Approach was holy cats. My second thought was this is a game-changer, and my third thought was wow, I didnt know that (and I know a lot). My fourth, fifth, and sixth thoughts were a mix of all of the above. Even with the abundance of alternative health and Paleo resource books and cookbooks currently available, you have never seen a book like this.

Theres a reason no one has written a book like this before: Sarah Ballantyne, PhD, is uniquely qualified to do so. Drawing from her background in medical research, insights gleaned from over 1,200 scientific studies, and her own personal health battles, Sarah has compiled a comprehensive collection of diet and lifestyle recommendations that will regulate your immune system so your body can stop attacking itself and finally heal.

Sarah has a remarkable ability to explain complex scientific concepts in a way that is easy to understand and yet not oversimplified. She has applied this talent along with some kickass technical illustration skills to create a visually stunning guidebook aimed at solving a very important public health problem: autoimmune disease. With autoimmune disease estimated to affect more than 50 million Americans and counting, the need for a better solution than a life of fatigue, pain, and medication side effects is in high demand. And The Paleo Approach delivers.

In The Paleo Approach, Sarah explains in detail how the foods we eat interact with our bodies to directly impact our health, all with a writing style that makes you feel like youre sitting around the kitchen table discussing health with a close frienda damn smart close friend! As you read through this book, you will find yourself learning detailed cell biology and biochemistry, understanding the many components of the immune system and the complex interplay between them, appreciating the contribution of hormone systems and neurotransmitters to immune health, and discovering the multifaceted relationship between the health of your gut with its resident 70 trillion bacteria and your own health. With Sarahs focus on nutrient density, she advances the discussion from a diet that just gives you a list of donts to one that also gives you lists of dos and do mores. With these guidelines, you will learn not only to avoid those foods that may be contributing to your disease but also which foods provide the nutrition your body needs to effectively heal.

This book fills a void in the health and nutrition literature, not just with its focus on autoimmune disease and general immune health, but also with its comprehensive approach. Sarah wasnt satisfied with simply explaining how diet affects immune health; she also emphasizes the importance of lifestyle factors like how much sleep and activity you get, how well you manage your stress, and how well you regulate a variety of hormones. Yes, its not all about what you put in your mouth, folks.

The Paleo Approach not only explains what to change, but inspires and motivates you to get it done. In this sense, The Paleo Approach is truly a guidebook, explaining the reasons why and giving you practical strategies to implement diet and lifestyle changes to effect improvements in your health. Through Sarahs engaging and accessible explanations and her innovative yet pragmatic ideas, you will finally see how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together to form a simple set of achievable guidelines to improve your health.

The Paleo Approach is the ultimate resource to empower patients looking for a natural yet effective solution to their disease. Motivated purely by contemporary scientific studies, this book bridges the gap between patients and their healthcare providers. Finally, diet and lifestyle modifications will take center stage in patient treatment plans. And finally, autoimmune disease sufferers have a viable long-term solution to manage and reverse their diseases.

If you suffer from an autoimmune disease or other chronic illness or just want to understand how what you eat and do impact the health of your gut, your hormones, and your immune system, then you need this book. This book should be on your bookshelf, on your doctors bookshelf, and in every waiting room.

Dear Reader,

You are about to embark on a nutritional roller-coaster ride. Some of the concepts in this book may shake the very foundations of everything you thought you knew about health. But, as you will quickly learn, every recommendation I make is steeped in science.

I am a scientist by both training and nature. For me personally, knowing the reasons for things helps me make good choices. While this applies broadly to every aspect of my life, it has been particularly important for me throughout the process of healing of my body. There have been many moments when I have felt frustrated or deprived, but understanding the why behind those feelings and behind the choices I knew I needed to make enabled me to do the right thing for my health.

I have always been passionate about scientific literacy. I believe that the general public has a far greater capacity for understanding science than we are typically given credit for. Yes, that means you. I believe that you can understand the complex science behind how diet and lifestyle affect your healtheven if youve never grown anything in a petri dish, even if you dont know how many elements there are in the periodic table (118!), and even if this is the first popular science book to grace your bookshelf. So this book is as much about engaging you with the facts of health as it is about helping you make choices that will allow your body to heal.

While my focus is to help those with autoimmune diseases, the vast majority of the science in this book can be applied to almost everyone. For example, I explain in great detail how plant proteins in grains, such as gluten and wheat germ agglutinin, affect both the lining of the gut and the immune system. These interactions occur in most of us, not just those with a genetic predisposition to autoimmune diseases. And people afflicted with autoimmune diseases are not the only ones who feel the consequences of how nutrient-dense their diets are, how much sleep they get, or how well they manage stress. So even if you dont have an autoimmune disease, I hope that reading this book will give you a better understanding of the role that diet and lifestyle play in your entire well-being.