Perfect Health Diet: Regain Health and Lose Weight by Eating the Way You Were Meant to Eat by Paul Jaminet and Shou-Ching Shih Jaminet offers a road-map to potentially guide readers to a healthier lifestyle.

"Paleo Perfected" as the cover quote indicates will give you a good idea of the basis for the PHD program. The theory of paleo eating is that our hunter/gatherer ancestors in the paleolithic period ate these types of meat, fish and vegetable foods for over 100,000 years while our agriculture driven grain based diet has only been around 15,000 years or less. The Jaminet's take the view that our bodies are much better adapted to the foods of the paleolithic period. Therefore, grain based foods introduced in the more recent period of history are gradually harmful, possibly poisonous, provoking inflammation in our bodies which is very damaging to human health. Additionally, they examine how intermittent fasting had once been a normal part of human life whereas today we have an abundance of food always at hand, so we miss out on the natural benefits of proper fasting. The Jaminet's back these claims with scientific research, case studies from those who benefited from following PHD as well as their own personal health crises that lead them down this path of research in food and health science.

I personally find this a very convincing read, even if the scientific data can be a challenge to absorb, the personal testimonials are much easier to relate to. I do wish the Jaminet's had not used the word "diet" in their title as far too many people approach "diets" as short term fixes. This is really a call for a lifestyle change of what and when you eat and not necessarily an easy change for most of us to make. I am taking a gradual approach for myself incorporating different aspects of PHD and eventually hope to embrace it to a far greater degree. You can read and learn more about PHD on the website at http://perfecthealthdiet.com ( )

I struggled with what to give this for a review because it is very well researched and presents useful information. However, this book is just not readable. It is written for scientists and doctors and not the average person. This diet is based on the philosophy of eating what our ancestors ate and is similar to paleo but more do-able, in my opinion. Where paleo is much stricter with regard to grains and dairy, this diet does accept dairy and some safe starches.

The book just doesn't explain it in a usable fashion like some of the paleo books do. My suggestion would be to read Well Fed and Robb Wolf's Paleo book to get a down to earth explanation of the science and then skim this where you want more details. The other books also present better examples of how and what to eat.

It is really too bad that this book isn't easier to read and understand as I do believe it has sound advice based on extensive research. Although you have to admit that nearly anyone will lose weight by eliminating grains from the diet - after all what are snack foods and desserts mostly made of? ( )

Everyone should read this book.

The Jaminets have outdone themselves bringing together anthropological and historical data, evolutionary biology, mammalian biology, the nutritional content of breast-milk, and other sources of data to form a strong foundational blueprint for a what the default human diet looks like. They then apply this hermeneutic to every aspect of the human diet - macronutrients, micronutrients, toxins, diet strategies for specific health issues, etc - combining copious references to scientific literature with clear logical thinking.

Since adopting this diet, my wife and I have experienced effortless weight loss and maintenance, improvement or elimination of a variety of health issues (energy levels, heartburn, clear skin, warts, muscle tone, digestion, and more), and most importantly have found a diet that is delicious, easy, satisfying, and, well, not a diet at all - just the way we were meant to eat. ( )

A great compilation of research. A very interesting read, and it made a lot of sense to me. ( )

The book includes a lot of counter diet advice to the mainstream doctrine. The book claims to have its theories based on science. While there is much good advice, I am not confident the authors are completely competent. Having a PhD does not make you an expert in other realms than you field of study. ( )