Review of The Paleo Approach Cookbook by Sarah Balantyne, PhD

I purchased the Paleo Approach a little over a year ago at Costco. It was one of the many Paleo cookbooks they have availalbe.  Dr. Ballantyne received her PhD in Medical Biohysics when she was 26 years old.  She was "morbidly obese and extremely unhealthy" by her own description in the preface.  She suffered from metabolic syndrome as well as various immune and autoimmune disorders.  She decided to heal her body through healthful food choices.

Despite purchasing the book over a year ago, I hadn't touched it except for reading the first 100 pages.  The recipes don't begin until page 102.  Part 1 of the book (those 100 pages) provides a very good background to the grain free diet, details about different types of grain free diets that address various issues, and the research base for those decisions.  Part 1 also includes tips on stocking the pantry, meal planning, eating this way on a budget, and many other topics.  This is a wealth of very good information about getting started on a Paleo diet.  However, that's where the wonderful-ness of this book stopped.  The very first recipe that a reader turns to in the breakfast section is homemade sausage.  Really? Who has time for that.  You need special equipment and where in the world am I going to get pork casings to make the sausage?  I'm curious and tempted, but not with the schedule I have now.  I actually did attempt to ask around and see if I could find casings at a local butcher shop.  It wasn't easy.  So, if some of the most challenging recipes in the book are in the front, no wonder I put it back on the shelf!

 I also found the pages overwhelming.  They are filled with information, but is it too much?  On the right, she includes nutrition facts.  The rest of the page has the instructions for the recipe.  Even if the recipe was simple, (there are some easy recipes in the book), they all look intimidating because the page is just covered in little words and letters.  Many recipes include ingredients I don't have in my kitchen (and I have been a Paleo/grain free cook for about seven years).

Okay, I made three dishes: the Breakfast Muffins, Shrimp Balls, Portabello Mushroom Cap Burgers, and the Lamb Biryani.  So, I have proved that the book is usable and there are some "do-able" recipes in the book. 

This recipe I will never make again.  This is, I think, one of the most difficult recipes in the book.  If I make it, I will make it my own way, with my own shortcuts.  For these muffins, the recipe required making your own pumpkin or sweet potato flour.  This meant, baking the pumpkin or sweet potato, dehydrating it for about 24 hours, then using the food processor to turn it into flour.  I gave up at the last stage.  It was taking FOREVER.  There I was for half an hour and all I had was about 1 TBS of flour.  No patience for that.  So I just stopped at the stage that I had food processed it to the point that it was in tiny pieces, but not flour.  That's what I will continue to do if I ever make this again.  The muffins were good and filling.  The other thing I wasn't too crazy about with these muffins, is that they were not as protein packed as other muffins I make with the almond flour.  But they were good, nonetheless. 

The next few recipes were the "easy" recipes.  I was not going to do a repeat of the muffins! I needed to give it a fair try, but that was enough.  Next, search the book for things that don't require lots of prep and cook fast.  These were fabulous!!  I do love Chinese dim sum and thought that I might not be able to eat "Paleo" and eat dim sum.  This recipe requires uncooked shrimp and 5 other easy to get ingredients.  It all goes in the food processor, and you make little balls, put them on your cookie sheet on parchment paper and you are done! You have these fantastic little shrimp balls to add to your lunch, top a salad, use as an appetizer, etc.  Yes, yes yes!

Here's the list of ingredients and a photo of the page in the recipe book.  Not bad. I also made the guacamole burgers.  I added the carrot fries of course.  This was also just your basic burger (no I didn't grind my own meat!).  The idea was great, I had thought of this before, but had never tried it.  This is something simple that can be incorporated into any Paleo diet.  The Portabello mushrooms made great "buns" for the burger.  I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but borrowed the idea.  I roasted the Portabello mushrooms in the oven rather than grilling them.  The recipe for the burger was pretty basic, I think I added some additional spices - and well the guac, yeah, no recipe needed for that!

Finally, I made the lamb biryani.  I am a huge fan of Indian food.  This was fairly "easy" if you consider your typical Mexican guisado and rice.  It required prepping cauliflower rice in the food processor, cutting onion, ginger, and garlic (I use all fresh), I already had shredded carrots in the fridge from the muffins I posted about above.  I had all the Indian spices in my pantry already - curry, turmeric, coconut cream (I didn't make my own - purchased at whole foods).  The meat is sauteed like when you make guisado, but with Indian spices.  It was quite delicious.  The rice is sauteed as well with the Indian spices.  The only thing I had to purchase that I didn't already have or had not used before was the red palm oil.

So what do I think about this book?  I don't know.  It's really not a good book for a beginner.  I can see someone trying a Paleo diet, purchasing this book and then saying, "Forget it! This is too hard!"  However, there are some really good ideas and recipes in here if you can get past the very intimidating appearance and way too much information on the page with the recipe.  Maybe this isn't a purchase and keep book, rather a check out at the library, borrow ideas and return sort of book. I appreciate Ballantyne's attempt to give lots and lots of nutritional information, but I don't know that the layout was the best - also it probably wasn't a good idea to place two of the most difficult recipes first.  I would recommend the book for someone who has some serious health issues who needs a very restricted Paleo diet.  She discusses FODMAPS and has lots of detail in the recipes about those kinds of restrictions and warnings if it's not a low FODMAP recipe.  If that is you, then this is a great book to purchase because I'm sure cooking is a little more complicated than for those of us who can follow a generally Paleo diet without thinking too much about excluding typical Paleo foods.  The book does say in the subtitle, "A Detailed Guide..." and it certainly lived up to that promise!

This book is available at a discounted price at Costco.  It's also available on Amazon for $20-27. 

Confessions of a Xicana Writing About Paleo Eating

I have to confess that I have felt uneasy the last few weeks about sharing food and cooking on my Facebook and blog.  I feel uneasy about it because I am a social worker and a professor.  I write about and have worked on very serious issues such as the marginalization of Latino boys, promoting equity in schools, concern about the mental health effects of increased standardized tests in schools, state violence, trauma as a result of war, human rights violations, genocide, extreme poverty, etc. etc.  I was reminded of Lorna Dee Cervantes poem, "Poem For the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, An Intelligent Well Read Person, Could Believe in the War Between Races."  In this poem Cervantes describes her desire to be a poet and write about love on rooftops, but she cannot because the bullets of racism are aiming at her children.  Near the end of the poem, she says:

I am a poet
who yearns to dance on rooftops,
to whisper delicate lines about joy
and the blessings of human understanding.
I try. I go to my land, my tower of words and
bolt the door, but the typewriter doesn't fade out
the sounds of blasting and muffled outrage.
My own days bring me slaps on the face.
Every day I am deluged with reminders
that this is not
my land

and this is my land.

I do not believe in the war between races

but in this country
there is war.

This is my reality, and the reality of so many others I know. So, why then, do I bother to write about something that seems so trivial like food and recipes? Today, I attended a panel presentation where one of my colleagues courageously came out about having mental illness.   She stated that she wanted to add to the narratives on mental illness, that often make Asians, Latinxs, African Americans, invisible.  Later, we had a discussion at a table about disability studies and advocacy work, noting that it is primarily a white movement.  Yes, it is, as so many other social movements have been in the past (i.e. the early feminist movement, early LGBTQI movements such as ACT UP, etc.).  So, too, when I look at the Paleo, raw vegan, clean eating, etc. is overwhelmingly and completely white and upper middle class, maybe just middle class, but never immigrant, Latinx, working class, etc.

When I read through my Paleo magazine, which I love, or other food blogs, they are only representations of white folks.  In my current issue of Paleo, there is not one person of color in that magazine.  Yet, I know so many folks - other Latina friends, who have had tremendous success and improved health eating some version of "Paleo" diets, other sisters of all races who have made it a priority to eat well, whether it be a plant based diet or Paleo.  My own father, a Mexican, working class immigrant, loved the Paleo diet and had the best quality of life possible given his health conditions partly because of this diet.  My friend and chiropractor, Mario Gonzalez, promotes a Paleo way of eating with his clients, many of whom are Latinx. Dr. Gonzelez even has a spot on a well followed Spanish radio program where he gives advice around the many health issues facing the Latinx community, promoting changes in what we eat.

There are many of us out there attempting to improve our health for our families, for our communities; so that we can continue la lucha.  I learned the "hard way" the importance of caring for my body, for my health - both mental and physical health.  Burn out and vicarious trauma is very real.  The daily microaggressions in our workplaces take a toll threatening our physical and emotional well being, not to mention all the work we do with others to challenge social injustices in the many ways they are manifested.  I am feeling the need to write about the many things I listed above, and I will, because that satisfies a different drive and hunger.  Meanwhile, I will continue to provide my body and soul and those of my loved ones with the good food that nourishes us and keeps us healthy.  That is my way of loving myself and loving others in a small, tangible, attainable way.