Solving the Paleo Equation: Stress Nutrition Exercise Sleep Paperback – January 28, 2014

I'm a big fan of Matt Stone's work (though I'll admit I'm not too familiar with Dr. Garrett Smith's work) and couldn't wait to read this publication once it was released.The majority of the information presented in this book is great. I believe the point of it was to keep things as anti-dogmatic, anti-alarmism as possible, while keeping the information simple and concise.The chapters on Stress, Nutrition, Exercise, and Sleep are quite good, and are a refreshing read considering all of the avoidance diets and High Intensity Exercise routines out there.The only issue I have is with with the last half of the "Sleep and Recovery" chapter on 'Electromagnetic Fields and Radiofrequency Radiation').While all the other information in the readings prior to this comes across with a good sense of humour and reassures the reader that it's not too difficult to achieve great health with a couple simple changes, the final chapter suddenly launches into a lengthy fear-mongering rant about EMF's and RFR's written by Dr.Smith that takes on a completely different tone than the rest of the book.While the purpose of this book it seems was to not be overly preachy and dogmatic, this part of the book comes across as the total opposite.While I do agree it can't hurt to keep EMF/RFR exposure to a minimum, in this day and age it's literally impossible to avoid. Most buildings, schools, malls, hospitals, condominiums, etc. are all wired with Wi-Fi access. While turning your phone to Airplane mode all day will prevent EMF's radiating from your OWN phone (How do people contact you?), the EMF's everywhere else would still be an issue and there's no way to prevent that.I think Matt realized this halfway through this section as he throws in a small blurb in the middle of this section trying to inject some humour about it, but it still picks up where it left off afterwards.It doesn't make sense to guide people on stress and relaxation techniques, then suddenly inject anxiety into them by causing them to fear something they can't see and quite honestly can't prevent much of thanks to technology. I can't see anyone unplugging all of their electronics, phones, etc. everyday without eventually becoming OCD and turning into a modern day Howard Hughes.

I'd read some of Matt's work before and always thought highly of it so decided to give this book a shot when it popped up on my recommended products. I'm really glad I did - I think this book provides an excellent and practical point of view on health & wellness (and a bit on fitness too) that I found to be super useful and better than most of the crap out there from "experts" in the health and fitness field. Tons of simple and basic recommendations that you can implement immediately with noticeable changes (well for me anyways). Some unconventional recommendations have been particularly helpful for me - drinking less water, adding in some more salt + carbs. You'd almost certainly never see recommendations like that anywhere else and they provide solid arguments and evidence showing that a lot of the health/fitness advice we hear is nonsense.I think this book will be most appreciated by folks who are a bit burnt out on an excessive fitness program or overly restrictive diet. Matt & Garrett provide a practical and well-written guide to help you realize that you don't need to do a lot of the BS that we're commonly told to do and in fact you should do the opposite. I've benefitted already by being less restrictive with my diet and chilling out a bit more on the fitness side of things.I'm being nitpicky here, but one thing I would've liked to see are a few more specific recommendations (particularly on the diet side). I understand they want to avoid getting too nitty gritty b/c they believe that's part of the problem with a lot of people's approach to health & fitness, but a few more details would've been appreciated.All in all this is a kick ass book - give it a shot if you are interested in an alternative point of view and sick of the conventional approaches to health/wellness and fitness.

Out of the dozen or so books I've read that have the word Paleo in it this is hans down my strongest recommendation. And even if I were to read all of the "Paleo" books, I think this would still top them all. Although I'll admit that I have yet to read Your Personal Paleo Code by Chris Kresser which may top this one since it's so deep and I really enjoy Chris' thoughts - it was the Beer and Pizza diet email that Chris sent me that had me paying attention to him after all.I am a huge huge fan of Matt Stone. I appreciate his unbiased attitude towards health and nutrition which is hard to come by. This book goes beyond nutrition and Mr. Stone even admits that legumes and grains are the hardest digesting food groups by nature. Avoid these 2 food groups and even if you are not strict with your diet which you shouldn't be, then you eat "Paleo" in some way. Or eat some properly prepared grains or eat some white rice.This book goes beyond nutrition. I thoroughly enjoyed the section on EMF's. Not only does putting your phone in airplane mode potentially save you from long lasting damage but it has a huge positive impact on your mental stress since you are not connected as much as you are if your phone is never on airplane mode.And here is a question for you: Is it possible that MOVEMENT is more important than what we eat? Or what about HOW we eat versus what we eat? Or HOW we live in other ways? And is eating intuitively which may mean eating oatmeal more Paleo than avoiding eating a food because it's "new" to us? Just some food for thought that has me thinking mostly because of the work by Matt Stone.Cheers!

Author doesn't want you to eat like the paleo crowd, but will terrify you that your cellphone and wifi are going to kill you. I don't eat paleo myself but I don't think it's as bad as this author makes it out to be while simultaneously railing against multiple modern inventions. Just a weird book all around.

So much more than "Solving the Paleo equation", this is an excellent book with a great overall approach for good health. If you are looking to fix your health and heal your body, and you feel like you have tried everything with no success, this is for you. If you have just started your health journey, this is for you. If you are a health nut, this is for you. So many other examples - just read it! I am almost 2 years into the principles outlined in this book (no, it hasnt been published for two years, this is an excellent follow up from Matt Stone's Eat for Heat, which is where I started), and my health is better than I EVER remember. And the principles are so simple, none of these difficult to follow meal plans, hard to prepare meals or strict food guidelines that you have to follow...it is all very basic stuff that you can start today with the food that is already in your house. And it works. A definite recommend!

This book promotes, above all, balance. Since that is a rather novel concept in the 21st century Matt and Garrett break it down into simple, easy to understand concepts. I really liked that this book doesn't bash the "paleo" lifestyle )or in fact criticises/judges any other eating approaches), but strives to prevent the modern caveman from falling down the all too common pitfalls a health nut encounters. This book does not serve to inspire couch potatoes/junk food munchers to just move it move it, rather it provides an easy way for the afore mentioned health nuts to assess their vital signs and decide whether their healthy lifestyle is actually healthy, or just not doing them any favours. I believe that the focus Matt and Garrett place on destressing is revolutionary and should be taught as part of the school curriculum.Although a lot of this won't be any news to those familiar with Matt's previous work this book is a must read for anyone wanting to evaluate how their diet and lifestyle is affecting them. I would venture as far as to say that this is a must read for anyone thinking of embarking on the paleo diet or already deep in its throes - it is crucial to hear what those two guys have to say! To those that have read/heard all of Matt's previous books - in this one he is taking a much more serious, mature approach (although his awesome sense of humour remains!) that is worth seeing!

This book is a serious life-saver.