Where to Buy
Here are links for purchasing from Amazon in the US, UK, and Germany:
A good source for global buyers because it offers free shipping worldwide is:
Other online outlets include:
There are also various international editions of the book, including:
- The Australian/New Zealand edition from Scribe.
- The Hungarian edition from Jaffa Press.
- The United Kingdom edition is coming soon from Scribe UK.
Publishers interested in acquiring foreign rights may contact Paul at pauljaminet@perfecthealthdiet.com for referral to a rights agent.
Why You Should Buy the Book
Perfect Health Diet shows you how to optimize your diet and lifestyle to eliminate the causes of disease for a lifetime of great health.
The Perfect Health Diet is an ancestral (Paleo, Primal) diet that synthesizes insights from evolutionary biology and the dietary and nutritional literature to offer an innovative, yet ancestral, view of the optimal human diet.
As our Reader Results show, Perfect Health Dieters have experienced greatly improved health including cures of chronic diseases, permanent weight normalization without hunger or cravings, and improved energy, strength, and mood.
The food is delicious – it resembles gourmet cuisines such as French, Thai, and Chinese. There’s good reason for a healthy diet to be tasty: our brains evolved to make us healthy, so the foods that make us happiest are also the ones that make us healthy. The diet is also less restrictive than other Paleo/Primal diets, making it easier to fit into modern life.
Perfect Health Diet explains the science of good health clearly and comprehensively. If you enjoy science, or want to know the reasons why ancestral diets work and modern diets make us obese and sick, you’ll love the insight you gain as you see many lines of evidence lead to the same conclusions.
In short, if you would like:
- Better health
- Delicious and satisfying food
- Improved understanding of the science of diet and health
then this is the book for you.
More Information
If you’d like more information, here are some resources:
- Media, Interviews, and Book Reviews may be found here.
- An excerpt from the book can be reached by clicking on this image:
- Finally, here is the jacket to the US edition:
via this link:
Hi Paul, I stumbled upon your site tonight and have been reading for hours. Hoping you are the answer I need. I am 5’6″ I am 54. Measurement are 43 36 43. I have been consistently weighing between 187 and 193 for the past 6 years! I have muscle with this horrible layer of fat around my middle! I have tried low carb diets, and low fat diets, just eating what I want diets, and my weight will NOT budge. I look good at 140 lbs. with my body type. I have very broad shoulders. . I am to the point where I have considered surgery, or suicide! The weight is ruining my social life. I won’t go out on dates because, I hate trying to fit into clothes, and I don’t have confidence with this stomach on me. I am hypothyroid. Which I take ARMOR Thyroid. Which has been able to stabilize me at this weight. But I want to lose this weight and wear a swimsuit.
This year is my 5th year being breast cancer free. I so want to celebrate by wearing some pretty clothes this summer. I am going to purchase your book. When I get paid on the 1st. I pray this is the answer. I can’t take another year of being miserably overweight. Any suggestions to start me off, before the book arrives. Btw for the past 2 weeks, I have had no bread, low carbs, and mostly protein, from chicken, with the skin, 3 eggs per day, fresh veggies in salad including spinach. My only weakness is my coffee with hazelnut creamer, that I make at home. Sorry this is so long.
Hi Mary,
Try eating according to our food plate; try some of the recipes on our site.
You want a balanced, nourishing diet. Don’t restrict yourself to mostly protein. You want to focus on health first, if you improve health the weight will come off. Focus on being well nourished. Get used to cooking and eating our supplemental foods including bone broth and liver.
Best, Paul
Mary,
Also, look to eat within the first thirty minutes of waking(protein heavy meal such as eggs). It can make a world of difference in losing and not losing weight.
Dear Mary, I went on a no-grain/sugar diet to shift stubborn stomach fat. At some point it stopped working, and only when I started to understand and address my estrogen-dominance (through diet and environmental factors) did the rest of my fat come off and health improve the last step.
Helen, but women are SUPPOSED to be estrogen dominant, aren’t they?
Not in my view, not in this way… Estrogen Dominance – an imbalance in estrogen / progesterone – is much written about. An ancestral style diet has been really important to me and I wish I’d known of it decades ago. I also wish I’d known about estrogen dominance decades ago. Legumes can be estrogenic as can non organic meat/dairy in North America (hormones permitted in cattle industry, unlike in Europe). I particularly like Dr Platt’s bio-identical hormones book and Dr Eckhart’s womhoo.com information. Waiting for my PHD book to arrive…..
As far as I know, meat and dairy receives only growth hormones, not estrogen. Is this incorrect?
Hi Paul & Shou,
I am interested in purchasing your book as I would like to learn more about your reason behind not eating legumes and wheat. However, for the last 2 years I’ve not eaten dairy or red meat and fowl. I do eat fish, eggs and butter, though I do eat meat on holidays as a treat. That said, I do not want to go back to eating meat daily. I would consider the beef broth soups but I’m wondering if this and fatty fish would be enough. I am lucky to be surrounded by farms that raise grass fed and finished beef, lamb, and pastured raised pork and chicken so I get great eggs and would consider possibly oxtail and bones for soup broth, plus possibly a bit of meat occasionally for on holidays. But my big source of protein has been beans, and I wonder if pre soaked, and pressured cooked would it be okay to consume some once or twice a week. If so, which would be best? The reason for my existing diet is that I have osteoarthritist in my fingers and calcification in most joints – shoulders, knee etc. but no pain throughout only in my hands. I began taking magnesium citrate 300mg 2X daily and cut back on calcium as a 9 month plan. I also take five drops of Nascent iodine in water 4 times a week, and D3. B 12, and 500mg of Niacin daily. Plus I cook everything with extra virgin coconut oil and only use evoo on salads. I eat a ton of veggies and avocado almost daily. I’m most curious if your diet would truly help my arthritis further. Can you elaborate a bit more for me? Thanks!
Hi Jeanette,
We have lacto-ovo vegetarians eating our diet, so it’s not necessary to eat meat. Eating fish makes it easy. If you’ll eat bone broth too, then there’s no major barrier to good health.
Soaked and thoroughly cooked beans are not that bad, but not as good a protein source as fish/cheese/eggs.
Osteoarthritis often indicates malnourishment. I would add vitamin K2, maybe silicon and boron, to your supplements. You might be low in selenium given your avoidance of animal foods, which makes the iodine risky. I do not know what iodine dose that translates to, but it sounds large.
I think it is likely our diet would help your arthritis. There are many factors that influence arthritis but nutrition and food toxins are both important, and our diet optimizes those.
Best, Paul
Hi Jeanette,
It might be worth experimenting for several weeks without any beans at all, as well, of course , as no grains, not even a drop.
As someone who discovered accidentally fifteen years ago that grains were the cause of my hand pain, I observed that people can learn a lot from such experiments and save themselves some time and pain.
Thank you Ellen!
I plan to cut out both beans and grains for a while to see how my body responds though it will be difficult to do since I grew up eating rice and beans together and I’ve spent the last 2 years learning to eat beans without rice and now it seems I have it all wrong! Lol but I’ll give it a go, stopping this arthritis from taking over my hands and body is a must for me! I’m curious about Quinoa, is it too considered a grain? Or is it a seed? Oh and I meant to ask if instead of taro can I eat yuca/cassava? I noticed it mention as part of diet for some Amazon tribe.
Thx again for your response.
Hi Paul,
Wow thank you for responding so quickly!
I do eat kale almost daily but will look into adding K2 plus the other supplements you suggested. I included a link showing the suggested use of the particular iodine I’m taking just for reference. Unlike their suggestion which is a gradual cyclical progression of drops eventually reaching 12 or more a day, I have not gone over 5 drops and only take it 4 times a week in fear of doing more harm than good. I will definitely look into taking some Selenium, any suggestion on dose? Also, I miss cheese terribly but found that my post nasal drip returns when I eat dairy. 🙁 Glad to hear I might do fine simply adding the beef broth and fatty fish.
http://thyroidnascentiodine.com/suggested_use.htm
Thanks again,
Jeanette
PS. I’m torn between the ebook or hard cover. Has anyone been disappointed with the ebook version?
Jeanette said “…but found that my post nasal drip returns when I eat dairy”.
I wonder why that is?
I think i have the same problem, tho i have never been able to eliminate all dairy for long enough to fully test.
Darrin,
I wonder too, maybe Paul can address that.
Dairy is a common food sensitivity, it’s usually pasteurized casein protein that is improperly digested.
I certainly wish I can go back to eating cheese every now and then without that one reaction. Maybe after cutting wheat and sugar out of my diet my body will produce less mucus and/or simply react differently to dairy. A girl can hope!
It took my husband years, no make that decades, to accept that all dairy, even top notch raw from pastured cows, gave him post nasal drip. He can have as much ghee as he wants with no problem. If he has been “good”, he can get away with small amounts of cheese or ice cream every once in a great while. Even then he may sometimes have a mild response .
Hi Ellen,
I know it’s hard to give up dairy, so kudos to your husband! I do allow myself some butter and once or twice a month I eat Parmesan with no problem. But if I have soft cheeses, milk or ice cream I can sure count on another bout of nasal drip that night too! I do make ghee and enjoy it as well for cooking along with coconut oil and duck fat but I’m super glad I can have real Irish butter ever so often too! 🙂
Hi Jeanette,
Since 1 drop = 400 mcg, I might go for 2 drops every day, instead of 5 drops 4 days per week. It would be a similar amount but more steady is better where the thyroid is concerned.
The ebook is very nice. There was a problem with the early versions but it’s been fixed.
Paul,
I’ll try the 2 drops per day x7. Honestly, I got the 4 days on 3 off from an Edgar Casey reading on iodine I read . 🙂 Interestingly he included knox gelatin/collagen in his healings for arthritist. I’m looking forward to trying our your beef bone broth soups as they sound a lot tastier!
I ordered the ebook, love the direct links!
THX!
Oops! Please disregard my questions about yuca and quinoa. I found the answer in the book under the healthful plant food ratings.
This book is FANTASTIC!
Jeanette
Hi, is there a version of the Perfect Health Diet in Spanish? If so, where can I purchase it? Thanks!
Hi Susan,
Sorry, there’s no Spanish translation of the book yet. We do have a Spanish food plate: http://perfecthealthdiet.com/phd-food-plate-translated/
Paul, are you familiar with Polymyalgia Rheumatica, and do you think the Perfect Health Diet would help alleviate some of the pain associated with this illness?
Hi Jackie,
I’m not familiar with that disease specifically, but I believe PHD improves almost every condition. Even when the underlying condition is unfixable, as in genetic disorders, the body can often cope with it much better when other things are right.
Just bought your book! We are excited to start taking our health back. We are hoping that your eating plan will help with my worsening psoriasis, but just eating healthy (and tastily if that is a a word) is well worth what it takes.
Thanks for your work!
Thanks TL!
Hello~
I bought your paperback about a year ago. Your new hardback looks different. How different is it? I’m wondering if it is significantly updated.
Thank you.
I can answer that one Gail. YES. Significantly updated. The edition you have (and which I also own) is 270 pages (admittedly in a different format) and the new hardcover is 428 pages. Not only that, but the paperback had 605 footnotes whereas the new hardcover has over 1,100 references! Many from 2011 & 2012. The new edition has been bolstered with many many anecdotes from writers and respondents to their blog and email and other, which makes it a much more readable book.
Additionally, the footnotes do *not* take up space in the new 428 pages, because they are all online instead. Initially I was disappointed at this, because looking at original sources is important to me, however after reading the new book with iPad or laptop nearby I realized how brilliant this is and now I much prefer it. Why, you ask? Because now I can click on the links in every reference and go directly to the PubMed article abstract immediately with no googling or anything. Much more convenient that way.
Highly recommend the new edition. The supplement (vitamins, minerals, etc.) chapter is revised with later research, as are many many other chapters. The first paperback was amazing, this new edition says most of the same things, but is much improved to boot.
Great! Thanks for your reply.
Brad, you were referring to the Dec. 2012 *Kindle* edition, right?
No, I was referring to the “new hardcover edition” that is, this one: http://amzn.to/1dgoaw7 which is dated December 2012 as well.
When I read your “click on the links”, I assumed that you were talking about an electronic version of the book.
Hi Paul,
I wonder if there is a German translation in the making. Otherwise I am going to buy the English one. Thank you
I’m sorry, there’s no German edition in the making.
You can buy the English version and use google translate for almost every language.
Dear Dr. Jaminet:
I just heard about you and your book Perfect Health Diet and I wonder if your recommendations on the different foods to eat and to avoid would be appropriate for people who has hereditary medical conditions such as kidney disease (Fibro Muscular Dysplasia), asthma, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
I must admit that your recommendation of eating white rice instead of brown rice and white potatoes instead of sweet potatoes seems to contradict the normal recommendations.
How do you feel your recommendations are some what at odds with the U.S. Govt ‘Choose My Plate’ program?
Regards,
Duane
Hi Duane,
I think our diet is generally good for any medical condition including genetic disorders, as being well nourished will usually help the body cope with problems. Sometimes significant dietary tweaks, like ketogenic dieting, are called for in genetic disorders. I’m not familiar with Fibro Muscular Dysplasia, but we’ve had a number of people with asthma and IBS do well.
The reasons behind our approach are provided in the book. The opposition to white rice and white potatoes is ill-founded. The US Govt food plate is just a slight tweak of what people naturally eat when the cheapest foods are wheat, corn, and soy. In this case cheap isn’t best.
Dear Dr Jaminet
Your diet considers white rice as a ‘safe starch’ but isn’t rice a refined carbohydrate when eating a steady diet increases a persons blood sugar?
Regards,
Duane
You might like this post about it: http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2011/10/how-to-minimize-hyperglycemic-toxicity/
Hi Paul!
I have just finished reading your book, and I’m looking forward to starting PHD after struggling with ~6 months low carb paleo (and on/off the low carb yo-yo diet wagon for years before that). Adding carbs sounds a bit scary, as I tend to bloat, but I’m willing to give it a shot. Your book made it really clear as to ‘what’ to eat; but I am confused as to ‘how much’. As an obese person who struggles with overeating, I am unsure as to what I should be aiming for. I was wondering what is the best way people have found to track calories etc. is, and what is the recommended macronutrient amounts for an obese mostly sedentary female? Thanks so much.
Hi Andy,
Some people track calories on sites like cronometer or fitday or nutritiondata, but I think that is mainly valuable as an educational exercise (learning about foods) and not easy to maintain.
I prefer to train people in proportions and amounts. Proportions — try in your mind dividing your plate until four equal quadrants containing (1) meat/fish/egg, (2) sugary starch like potato, (3) sugary in-ground vegetables (beet, carrot), fruits, berries, and (4) low-calorie vegetables (mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, onions, celery, asparagus, kimchi, etc). Then flavor things with a sauce combining fat (eg butter, sour cream, coconut milk), acid (vinegar, pickle juice, etc). Use less fat if you’re trying to lose weight. Eat enough to avoid any significant hunger while fasting 16 hours per day.
If you have bloating, you will need to remodel your gut flora. Eat fermented foods, get extra bone broth and liver, and build up slowly with the foods that cause bloating (eg starches). You need to eat some to develop the appropriate gut flora, but not too much until the bloating goes down.
Hi Paul,
I’m a female, 35 years old, 5’4″ and 150 lbs. I weighed 160 lbs when I started eating a primal/paleo style diet about 1.5 years ago. I lost 15 lbs within the first six months, but since then I have been stuck on a plateau and have recently even started gaining a little. I exercise 3-4 times per week (mainly weight lifting and yoga/pilates), so I don’t understand what could be causing this plateau/weight gain. I have a small frame and plenty of extra body fat, plus high blood pressure that (after running every test imaginable) my doctors feel is weight-related, so I don’t think I’m at a healthy weight right now. I’m incredibly frustrated, and unsure of what I can do to start losing weight again.
Do you (or any of your readers) have any suggestions about what I should try? I would really appreciate it.
Thanks so much!
Hi Meagan,
I think you should try the steps described in our book. They will all help, and there are too many to list in a comment. Important ones for weight loss are (1) a nutrient dense diet, (2) eating a balanced diet in the right proportions, (3) adequate carbs (less is not better), (4) intermittent fasting, (5) circadian rhythm therapies including exercise, sleep, light exposure, (6) avoiding fructose, (7) avoiding omega-6 fats, (8) eating fermented foods, (9) eating bone and joint broth soups, (10) eating liver, and other things but these will get you started.
I have just finished reading (AUS edition) of PHD… and love it I have been reading a lot re Paleo diet but considered it a bit too restrictive. My partner (56) was recently diagnosed with MS (just before new year), and went on gluten, dairy and sugar free diet at the same time as LDN. Two months later he was told it was not MS – but don’t know what it is. He also was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a couple of years ago and has genetic NAFLD, along with a knee needing replacing – so you can see he has quite a few ailments. He has all the usual FMS symptoms – extreme fatigue, extreme pain – the body takes a hit at a different spot every few days, brain fog etc and muscle wasting and does not get a lot of sleep. After he was told he did not have MS he went back to his usual diet – not bad but including wheat and sugar. He has since had a couple of further attacks – brain flits I call them – where he gets immediate disorientation and spin out followed by extreme fatigue. In the first two months of this year he lost approx 8kg – he is not overweight, illness and stress. He recently suffered Diverticulitis (yes something new to add) which set him back a couple of weeks and he lost even more weight – probably about 15kg total now. He needs to add weight and muscle back on. We are both going to change our eating habits (this is not a diet but a change to the way you eat to regain health ) but I am concerned he needs to add weight not lose any more weight. What portion of protein to carbs do you recommend. He is currently on numerous supplements – nearly all of which you suggest. He is not a big greens eater (allergic to lettuce – his lips and mouth swell) and I was thinking of adding a greens powder supplement drink to the daily diet. After he was advised he had MS he had an ultrasound on his neck veins and blood test for CPN – not positive. Any advice you could provide with starting and moving forward with the change to eating the PHD way would be appreciated. Thank you.
Hi Sue,
I think he should adopt all the recommendations in our book, including diet and lifestyle. FYI, our “diet” is not primarily about weight loss, but optimizing health, so it is designed for cases like your partner’s.
Because he has many signs of gut dysbiosis/infection, I would suggest the following tweak to our diet: minimize supplementation except for vitamin D, vitamin C, and a low dose of iodine, but focus on getting nutrient dense foods — 1/4 lb beef or lamb liver per week, 1/4 lb duck/goose/chicken liver, shellfish, joint and bone broth soups, potatoes, vegetables, other organ meats, egg yolks. Use coconut milk and vinegar or lemon/lime juice to flavor foods.
The reason for reducing supplements is that they can nourish gut microbes as well as his body. Generally speaking, food does better at promoting growth of beneficial flora than supplements, so it’s best to get nutrition from food in gut infections.
Your doctors can help by giving him a broad-based stool test like the Metametrix Microbial Ecology profile. In the US this can be ordered without a doctor from directlabs.com and other vendors.
If he’s allergic to lettuce, I’d be cautious about giving him a greens powder supplement. Try whole foods but find ones he doesn’t react to.
Eating liver is quite important as vitamin A is critical for gut immunity.
Please keep me posted on his progress.
Best, Paul
I just ordered from one of your links above…..will it be your newer version??
Yes.
Hi Paul & Shou-Ching,
I love your book and I am trying to adjust my eating habits according to your recommendations.
However, I am 160 cm and 43 kg and I am not sure if I should follow your recommended percentages for macronutrients split if your calculation is based on 2400 calorie diet (I should be eating 1400 cals according to this web: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm).
Is it ok to simply follow the 15% protein, 25% carbs, 60% fats split with any amount of total calories?
What about vitamin recommendations? If an “average” person should supplement 200mg magnesium should I do the same or less?
Thank you
Petra
Hi Petra,
I would say that 30-40% carbs 15% protein and 45-55% fat would work well for you. But experiment to find what feels best.
You can reduce the supplement doses in half, for the most part.
Hello, Paul and Shou-Ching. Is there going to be a Kindle edition of the book?
Thank you.
Hi CN,
Yes! The Kindle edition is out in the rest of the world but it is unavailable in the UK currently because a UK edition will be coming out in the fall.
Hello Paul,
I just finished listening to your podcast on paleohacks.com. I have followed the Paleo diet for 6 months and have dropped 25 lbs on my 5’2″ frame. Finally at a healthy 117 lbs. that I have been striving to lose for over 20 years. I am going to order your new book, can’t read it soon enough! I do have one question. Do you believe it is possible to cure Hashimoto’s Disease? I was diagnosed in 1995, and currently take Amour with levothyroxine.
Hi Lisa,
Yes, it is not that hard to cure Hashimoto’s. Of course if you don’t change anything, the problem won’t go away, and that’s what most people do.
Hi,
my skindoctor told me that i have a seborhoic eczema.She told me sun will be good for me.Now after being in the sun the redness in my face exploded.Telling this to my doctor she said its a rosacea then,maybe a mixture of both.
Not to much confidence in doctors now.
Will your diet help?
Is an absence of dairy necessary?
My english is not good enough for reading your book in english, really sad about that.
Frank
Hi Frank,
I have it too. I definitely react to all kind of sugars and flours. Expecially rice is the worst. Not so much problems with potatoes though. So I reckon it is more a problem in the small intestine since potates are rather digested in the colon than in the small intestine. I’ve had numerous tests on candida but all came back negative. So I really don’t know what causes this. Hope Paul will answer this.
Hi Paul,
you convinced me with your website to buy your book.This will be hard work for me (im a german from munich, and even german is an hard language for a bavarian 😆 )but i will see it as an private english course for a real good reason.I hope theres something about rosacea in the book too. I read you have it too ( my doctor told me
this is a lifelong thing), so im even more curious about how you come along with it.
Greetings from Bavaria
Frank
Hi Frank,
I think our diet is good for rosacea. I have been meaning to do some rosacea posts. I find my rosacea has largely tracked infection, thyroid status, and micronutrient status — excesses as well as deficiencies of micronutrients have caused rosacea flares. But if I eat well it seems to fade over a period of months, to the point where people don’t know I have had rosacea.
Hi, I want to buy your book, but would like to have it in electronic format. Is this possible?
Thx
Hi Maria,
Yes, it is in electronic format, but in a few places where the rights have been sold but the local edition is not yet released, electronic versions may be temporarily unavailable. The UK is in this situation currently, the UK edition will come out soon.
I have been following your plan painlessly.
I have a problem and would like your comments.
I go to the dentist regularly. I can’t remember the last time I had a cavity. All of a sudden I am having a lot of sensitivity and gum pain. Do you have any idea? Why all of a sudden this change? I’ve always had great check ups. I am a little worried.
I have been following your plan painlessly.
I have a problem and would like your comments.
I go to the dentist regularly. I can’t remember the last time I had a cavity. All of a sudden I am having a lot of sensitivity and gum pain. Do you have any idea? Why all of a sudden this change? I’ve always had great check ups. I am a little worried.
Any suggestions. I will see my dentist this week. Do you think I am eating too many different foods? Maybe I am not absorbing enough minerals.
Hi Sueski,
I’m not sure, a number of problems can lead to thsoe symptoms, eg vitamin C deficiency or an oral microbiota dysbiosis.
I was about to buy PHD book and found that there will be a new paperback edition in the end of this year. However, the volume of the new edition seems smaller (330 pages) than the current hardback edition (448 pages)
Which edition do you recommend, the current hardback or the new paperback?
Hi Vince,
They are essentially the same book. If the paperback edition is smaller, it will have finer print.
Thank you for the answer. In that case, I’ll just order the current hardback edition.
Hi Paul,
Thanks to both of you for writing such an awesome book! i have a question related to using your diet for the purpose of weight loss as well as good health. I have Hashimoto’s and was recently diagnosed. I am now taking a natural thyroid supplement i got from my naturopathic physician. When you said earlier that Hashimoto’s can be cured, did you mean by following your Perfect Health Diet, and can you please elaborate on that a little bit? Also I am about 30 pounds overweight and it has been nearly impossible for me lose weight, but I am certain it is far better for me to reduce calories from fat rather than carbs or protein. However I wonder while on the diet, approximately how many fat grams should I be eating with this diet daily? I feel like I can keep track and have better success if I have an idea of what I’m supposed to aim for. Thank you so much for all that you do!
Hi Alana, I do think PHD is excellent for Hashimoto’s and greatly improves the likelihood of a cure. The key is to reduce infections and food sensitivities and improve gut health – PHD is good for all three. You need to focus on health first, as inflammation combined with hypothyroidism makes weight loss impossible. For guidance on fat intake see http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2011/02/perfect-health-diet-weight-loss-version/. But I would recommend buying the book and following all the advice in it.
Best, Paul
Thank you, Paul! This is really encouraging! I now have the book.
Best,
Alana
Just finished your book. I enjoyed it, thanks. I’m certain I’ll have it handy for a long time because it’s so much to digest.
I’ve been following the guidelines for 3 weeks and 2 days. I’m a 6 foot male and was previously 200 pounds. I’ve lost 17 pounds in this short time span, currently at 183. I’m not sure why I’m losing weight so quickly, but I’m never hungry, and I’ve had plenty of starches.
I do have a question. Starting on pg. 399, you provide a sample meal program. However, it doesn’t seem to me there’s even close to 4 fistfuls of safe starches in that program. Maybe I’m missing something… I noticed because I’ve actually found it a bit challenging to get that much in a day.
Also, do you recommend eating bananas earlier in the ripening process? I’ve read that when they get brown spots much of the starch has been converted to sucrose.
Thank you.
Hi Owen,
I’m also not completely certain why some people lose weight so quickly. Of three obese people at the Perfect Health Retreat so far, all three lost at least 16 pounds in the first 30 days, two lost over 20. I believe it has to do with repair to extracellular matrix, enabling excretion of excess fluids.
All of the meals in the meal plan have starches. Day 1, spaghetti and lasagna have rice noodles and shepherd’s pie has potatoes. Day 2 meals are served over rice. Day 3 has potatoes. Day 4 lists sweet potatoes but you can substitute potatoes or white rice. Day 5 has baked potato. Day 6 taro. Day 7 has pizza (starchy crust) or 3 white rice options. Note the lunches have starchess too, fried rice, bibimbap, pho.
I think it’s OK to eat bananas at whatever stage you like them.
OK, great. Thank you.
I did notice the starches there, it just seemed difficult to get four fistfuls in those meals…
Thanks again.
May I ask what the main differences are we can expect in the new edition set to be released this december?
Hi Raf,
It will be in paperback, and it will have some recipes in the Meal Plan section.
Hi Paul,
I am going to purchase your book and start the plan and am really hoping it will help me. I’m 27 and so far, for the past year I’ve had chronic constipation and female sexual dysfunction. In the last two months it has progressed to include tremors, twitches, visual disturbances (light sensitivity, blurriness, heat wave effects and bright spots), feeling like I have rocks in my heels, weakness and cramping in my arms and hands, erratic heart beats, and difficulty concentrating. My ANA count is over 5000 and I’m B12 and vit D deficient but apparently all other vitamin levels are within ‘acceptable’ levels. The MRI & CT scans came back clear.
My neurologist has diagnosed it as migraine and proscribed endep and beta blockers but it’s unlike migraines I’ve had in the past & the drugs aren’t doing anything. I’m going to visit a neurological clinic in Sydney for a second opinion but I’m going to give your diet & lifestyle a go as well. The gastroenterologist and cardiologist have cleared me of anything physically wrong with my colon and heart so I am being referred to a rheumatologist.
Anyway, I’d be interested to hear if you have any advice for these issues on the program. The only meat that I eat is fish. I eat eggs but have a pretty bad reaction to dairy that developed when I was 14 months old so I stay away from dairy.
Brit.
Where can I purchase an epub version of this book please?
Hi Brian,
Scribe has links to purchase ebook versions of the Australian edition here: http://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/title/perfect-health-diet/. If you are located elsewhere you may get the US or UK editions.
Hello Paul,
I would like to know if someone who has been exposed to black mold and is suffering the consequences of its affects to their gut can benefit from your diet.
My 21 year old son has been following a mostly Paleo diet avoiding sugar, gluten, dairy, most starchy vegetables, basically all starches and fruit to starve the fungus in his body now for almost a year and is still not much better. He has some reflux, is usually very constipated, brain fog, frequent headaches and is struggling to figure out what to eat in general. Because of this restrictive diet tends to eat a lot of nuts, quinoa, chicken, some red meat and the non starchy vegetables.
I am wondering if in our zest to starve the fungus we are also starving his body. Eating and cooking has been a real challenge for him since he is away at a university and has had to learn to cook. He has followed the Paleo approach and has significantly reduced the fungus in his body but I think he needs a better nutritional approach.
I am just afraid to recommend he eat white potatoes and white rice if it will feed the fungus. Would you recommend a modified version of your diet for him.
Thanks so much for your response.
Hi Clare,
I believe he would benefit, yes.
I also suffered from fungal infections and PHD was in part designed to be optimal for fighting fungal infections. Since fungi can eat your body — fungi/mold are the main organisms consuming dead bodies — it is not possible to starve them. Instead, you want to nourish your immunity. You are right to suspect that starvation causes fungal infections to worsen. In particular, it’s important to eat starches when you have a fungal infection. Other important nutrients include vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc, copper, iodine.
Best, Paul
Hi Paul,
Is plain yogurt ok I this diet? Also can you explain more on rosacea.
Hi Mary, Yes, plain yogurt is OK. Rosacea — deserves a post, but try extra vitamin A and zinc and be sure to optimize D.
Hi Paul,
I’m interested in learning more about your version of the ketogenic diet. I have the first edition of book but I don’t notice any reference to it there. Does the new edition discuss it? Related to this question, is there a blog article somewhere comparing the first and second editions of the book?
Thanks.
The new edition has a chapter titled, “13: Medium-Chain Fats and Therapeutic Ketogenic Diets” and has ten pages describing Therapeutic Ketogenic Diets.
In addition there are many more pages in the index with references to both ketogenic diets and to ketones.
As for 1st edition vs 2nd edition, you might want to read my prior comment further up in this comments section. You can find it here:
Though I’m sure Paul or others can say more, that prior comment still fairly represents my views.
Thanks very much, Brad.
Paul, I just ordered your new edition through your Amazon link. You might be interested to know that the Amazon widgets are not displaying properly in Chrome on my Mac but they render fine in Firefox.
Sol
I’ve noticed there were several posts above about Rosacea. Dr. Ayers at ‘Cooling Inflammation’ has a number of posts on ‘Paradoxical Inflammation’. He illustrates how certain fungi and bacteria use normally anti-inflammatory products like fish oil and turn it into a pro-inflammatory product. His theory is that bio-films in the gut, resistant colonies of bad flora, keep this chain of events moving. One way to tackle it is to purge the bio-films several times over a number of weeks. It is a great complementary site to this one and Dr. Ayers links to to PH. (it’s how I found out about this great place). I’ve tried to post this several times but it must be getting stuck in your spam filter. I have taken out the link and maybe it will post.
hi sally,
you could try posting the links as separate comments, eg, do some replies to your post & add one link per reply
i have used this ‘workaround’ before to post multiple links, which the spam filter generally blocks
OK, thanks daz. I will remember that for the future.
Hi, I was wondering if I can put butter in my coffee during fasting, or if it has to be MCT or coconut oil? I’ve just bought your book and I’m eager to start!
Thank you!
M
Yes, butter or cream are OK.
Oooh cream as well! That makes me very happy. 🙂 Thanks!
Butter contains MCTs too. Especially, ghee.
Thanks! 🙂
Will your new book that will be released in Dec. 2013 have more current information than the Dec. 2012 version?
Hi Lynn, the science and advice is unchanged, but there is a new recipes chapter with 44 capsule recipes.
What is a capsule recipe?
Hi Paul … Any possibility that you’ll make just the Recipes chapter available online as a PDF or other, so Dec 2012 readers can get that without purchasing an entirely new edition just for that chapter?
(I own both the original paperback 1st ed, as well as your 2nd ed hardcover from Dec 2012.)
What is a capsule recipe? +1
Hi Paul and Shou-Ching,
Great book, really enjoyed reading it!
I have noticed that in spite of the advice given in the book to keep the cooking temperatures low and avoid Maillard reaction for veggies and roasting for startches and meat, your receips section recommends browing meat, caramelizing ognions and roasting meat in the oven. Is that OK if you manage to keep temperatures below 350-400F, or the idea was that these receipes would be done once in a while, so negative effects woukld not matter that much? No risk of HCA and acrylamide formation?
Thank you for your answer.
Mihnea
Hi Mihnea,
Meat only needs to stay below about 360 F to avoid formation of HCAs and other toxins and roasting in the oven at 350 F or less will never get it there. 360 F is also the smoke point for oils so there is generally an easy cue when pan frying (or roasting) that you are too hot. We generally put water in the bottom of roasting pans to prevent them from getting too hot.
Starches need to stay below 240 F to avoid acrylamide formation and we generally cook them in water to prevent that. Although we’ve experimented with it a few times, we generally discourage baking or roasting potatoes.
Vegetables like onions do create some Maillard products when cooked but those are probably not dangerous in modest quantities.
Best, Paul
Paul, thank you so much for taking the time to answer all our questions here!
So for meats it’s even more restrictive than stated in the book if aiming at avoiding HCA formation: 400F in the book vs. 360F as advised here.
Glad to hear about the Maillard products though, they taste too darn good to let go of them!
Paul,
I’ve heard recently about people cooking their potatoes with skin in the slow cooker without adding any liquid or fat. How safe does this roasting method sound to you? The temperature in a slow cooker doesn’t get above 100C, so it must be safe.
Thanks again for your help!
Mihnea
Hi,
I live in Australia and will probably never get to your 30 day PHD retreat (the price is a somewhat above my budget).
Are you going to write a book on 30 days to Weight Loss with PHD?
I like the idea of a day to day menu for 30 days plus fasting times, exercise time and daily supplements being incorporated.
When I have to work it out for myself I worry that I wont get it right and I’ve put on nearly 4kg since starting PHD so I’m evidently not doing it right.
Rosalind
Hi Rosalind,
It’s a good idea. I’ll think it over.
Best, Paul
Hi Paul,
I have ordered the audio/MP3 version of your book on Amazon, but have both times received a copy that contains a book on Disc 1 called “The Peaceful Parent”, which covers the entire CD. I am assuming that there is some manufacturing error occurring, or is this actually correct? Disc 2 contains audio for “The Perfect Health Diet” book, but I am not sure that it contains all of the chapters. Can you please verify this for me before I attempt to return the replacement copy I received today to Amazon? Thanks..
Steve
Hi Steve,
I’ve emailed an inquiry about this, I won’t hear back until next week.
Hi Steve,
I’ve emailed you with contact information for Tantor, the audiobook producer, who want to fix the probably directly for you while they simultaneously work on fixing the Amazon issue.
If anyone else had this problem, email me and I’ll put you in touch with Tantor.
Hello from Germany,
I would like to buy the book “The perfect health diet” in german language. Do you know if it will be translated?
A question. I live in Israel, I don’t think I can find quality meats or fish. I can buy organic chicken but that is it. Is it okay to eat regular meat and fish? thanks
I am looking for the first edition of the perfect health diet book. I was very impressed with the extensive research and references in the first book that seem to have been over simplified in the scribner edition. Can someone tell me if I can still purchase that particular edition? If I can recall, it had an image of ice cream as the book’s cover. I no longer can find this edition listed on amazon
Hi Linda ~
I think you’re mistaken about the Scribner edition. See my comment above, for more details:
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/buy-our-book/comment-page-5/#comment-141037
In fact, the new edition has many MANY more references that are more up-to-date than the old ‘ice cream’ edition. (I have both editions.)
You simply need to go to this link here (on this site) to see all the references to the Scribner edition (and they’re much simpler to review, because in most cases you only need to click to go to the actual article referenced–much more convenient that way!):
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/notes/
Cheers
~ Brad
Hi Linda,
The Scribner edition has everything that was in the original edition, and more. References almost doubled.
But, if you want the original edition, many libraries have it. It is no longer for sale.
Where are the online footnotes? I bought the paperback and was very disappointed that all the references were missing!
Hi Eliezer,
They’re here: http://perfecthealthdiet.com/notes/
This link is given at the beginning of every chapter.
Thanks! I’d already read the book so I was diving in and out of the hardcopy rather than reading it in order. Also, Googling PerfectHealthDiet footnotes didn’t turn up a page the first time so I was pretty worried, although now that I’m trying it again it’s right there on the first page. I wonder what went wrong last time I googled it.
Dear Paul Jaminet,
I am 70 year old and I live in India. I have been a social political activist for more than 40 years and I have covered a lot of ground in the Indian context, including health and diet. On my own I reached almost similar conclusion as you and paleo people have. But I have to work out the details for India. I will follow your site and learn from it. Thanks.
Hello, I just discovered this site. I am considering to buy the book but I am a little hesitant, particularly because it is focused of weight loss. I suffer from acne and gut problems; I’m also underweight, it says that this diet normalizes body weight, but what if I want to GAIN weight beypond normalization. Should I eat more than the recommended amount of food or I cannot go beyond the limit without wrecking havoc in my system? Can I tailor what’s in the book easily?
Thank you!
@Pablo,
Don’t hesitate to buy the book. It focuses on health. The weight loss bit in the title was the desire of the publisher (with the belief that weight loss books sell).
Weight normalization is a ‘side effect’ that many people find spontaneously happens.
Thank you, to you too, HM! It makes sense!
Hi Pablo,
Yes, the book discusses how to eat to gain lean mass. It does not discuss methods that are not compatible with health, eg extreme bodybuilding, but it does aim at optimizing athleticism, and a number of athletes have reported improved results on our diet.
In general, if you want to gain weight, eating more food is a prerequisite.
Yes, the book seeks to teach principles and an understanding of how foods nourish us so that you can tailor the diet to your personal needs.
Best, Paul
Thank you for the prompt response!
Drs. Jaminet,
Have the book and am combining what you offer with what I also read on blogs that focus specifically on gut health. I have come to the conclusion we are just skin and bone wrapped around our bacterial overlords 😉 Also, I have come across ‘The American Gut Project’ where for just $99 (cheap) they will analyze a sample and let you know exactly what you have in your gut.
Dear Paul & Shou,
I have the first two editions of your book. Today I noticed that there is an expanded edition of your 1st Scribner edition with 55 recipes, which are not in the December 2012 Scribner edition.
Since I already own your previous editions, I was wondering if these 55 recipes are available by itself.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Hi Reinhard,
Most of them are on this web site. The rest will be in our cookbook. Some were provided by readers in the comments to the recipes page.