Books

Please note that these items are linked to an Amazon.com affiliate page. I only promote products that I actually use, and wholeheartedly believe in, and if you find yourself looking to buy one of these items too, buying through these links would help support You’re An Animal. Thank you!

Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle by Diane Sanfilippo: While I don’t categorize this blog as a strictly “Paleo” blog, much of my attitude toward food corresponds with the Paleo way of life. If you want to know more about the physiology behind grain-free living, this is THE book. I bought it thinking it would be predominately new recipe ideas, but in reality it was the book that first opened my eyes to what is actually going on inside our bodies when we eat certain foods. As someone who really enjoys anatomy and physiology, not only did I find Diane’s writing interesting, but also very clean and clear and easily understood. I would recommend this book as one of your first steps!

Against All Grain: Delectable Paleo Recipes to Eat Well & Feel Great by Danielle Walker: Holy moly this girl is a genius. I want to be like her. After dealing with debilitating illness, she cleaned up her diet and went grain-free, refined sugar-free, and dairy-free. Her recipes have inspired me beyond belief, and are the basis of most of the meals we eat throughout the week. She has put so much time and effort into her recipes, and it definitely shows.

The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why by Jonny Boden, PhD, CNS: This book was one I got a while back, just wanting to be healthier in general. I didn’t know much about WHY foods were healthy, I just knew which ones had good reputations. I can’t say I agree with every food in this book based on my own research, but the majority are spot-on. Plus it’s really helpful if you’re looking to find out the macro and micro nutrient ins and outs of certain foods. Some will definitely surprise you (or at least surprised me at the time), like how for example strawberries are a better source of vitamin C than oranges, and kiwis are pretty much one of the best things on the planet that you can eat! I actually predominately use this book to figure out what I should put in my smoothies to make the greatest powerhouse green smoothie possible!

The pH Miracle: Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health by Robert O. Young, PhD: It is gradually getting talked about in everyday conversation more and more that our current diets are too acidic. What are acids and why do we need them? Acids, very simply, break things down in this world. Why would you want to break down your body? That’s pretty much what is happening to most humans because they really don’t understand the science of food. A few acids are necessary, such as Hydrochloric Acid (HCl), to help with digestion. We need to break down food chunks in order to absorb the smaller micronutrients they contain, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids. Dr. Robert Young does a marvelous job at explaining in layman’s terms the pH scale from your high school chemistry class in regards to human health and disease prevention and/or disease reversal. The average American consumes roughly 75% acidic based foods and only 25% alkaline based foods. That is utterly shameful! Those numbers, at a minimum, should be completely reversed and closer to 80% alkaline/20% acidic. The pH Miracle truly is a miracle and will make you think twice about every food you may want to consume in the future. Dr. Robert Young’s book will make you want to invest in a juicer or a Ninja Master Prep Blender.

Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food by Catherine Shanahan, MD: Most humans really don’t know anything about food. They just know foods that the government deems “healthy.” This naturally leads you to ask, “OK so what does ‘healthy’ even mean?” In her book Deep Nutrition, Catherine Shanahan describes in accurate detail what “healthy” truly means from a deep level that goes beyond the surface and well into the depths of proper human nutrition. Human nutrition at its finest levels deal with the chemical make up of foods and how they provide the molecules we need to fuel our cell’s DNA to correctly replicate themselves in order for each and every bone, muscle, and organ to ultimately yield true beauty and an impeccable immune system that can fight off just about every illness. In a very well written and easy to understand book, Deep Nutrition will, at a minimum, get you thinking about how to eat to change your genes to yield their true potential. It may even lead you down a path that will ultimately change your life… Forever.

The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet by Robb Wolf: One of the first books I owned that helped me get an idea of the truth behind correct human nutrition. If you want a great read with some good humor to it, this is a must have! It will open up the world of human nutrition and help disprove all the conflicting crap that our government feeds us (pun intended) in order for its employees to make a living including many medical doctors, nutritionists, and dieticians. Written by a research biochemist, a strength and conditioning trainer, and one of the world’s leading gurus on Stone Age human nutrition, Robb Wolf truly understands what a healthy lifestyle is all about. Robb got his start as a student to whom most consider the founder of the Paleo movement, Loren Cordain. If this book gets you remotely interested in changing your life, I highly recommend checking out Cordain’s website, thepaleodiet.com.