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12 Gifts For The Health Conscious Foodie paleo diet christmas present ideas kitchen cooking gadgets wish list-min

12 Gifts For The Health Conscious Foodie

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Whilst you can follow a healthy Paleo Diet with little more than a chopping board and a few pans, there are some great kitchen gadget and tools that surely any foodie would love in their kitchen.

Here’s my list. What’s on yours?

1. Dehydrator

I've had good results making jerky and kale chips in my oven, but I would love to try a dehydrator

2. Vitamix Blender

The Rolls Royce of blenders, able to grind nuts into nut butters and even cook soup. I want one!

paleo diet network christmas gift present wish list-min

3. A Good Set Of Knives

I really miss a good knife set, but have yet to find a good brand available in Australia (without needing a small mortgage). Any recommendations gratefully received!

4. Pressure Cooker

I've seen so many recipes that use a pressure cooker to make exceptionally tender meat – and I’d love to try it out for myself.

5. An Old School Mincer/ Meat Grinder

Even though I have a good butcher, I’d love to be able to make my own minced/ ground meat

6. A Big Slow Cooker/ Crockpot

I didn't realise how much I’d love this method of cooking, when I bought my small slow cooker. I wish I’d bough a much bigger one, as whenever I cook I always like to make enough for lots of future meals at the same time.

7. A Heavy Hardwood Chopping Board

A good chopping board last for years and is so much more hygienic than those nasty plastic chopping boards.

8. Mandoline Slicer

A great way to cut up vegetables evenly

9. Meat Thermometer

The best way to cook a perfect roast is using science after all!

10. Sausage Stuffer

Once I have my meat grinder, I’d love to make my own Paleo Sausages.

11. Water Filter

I have a Brita water filter jug in the fridge – but what I’d really like is a water filter on my tap, to ensure all the water is filtered before it leaves the tap.

12. Salad Spinner

This would be great for summer and making sure the kale is dried properly before making kale chips.

Do you have any of these items? How do you find using them?

What would be on your Paleo diet kitchen wish list?

12 Gifts For The Health Conscious Foodie paleo diet christmas present ideas kitchen cooking gadgets wish list-min

My paleo book shelf reading list favourite books authors primal diet health nutrition-min

My Paleo Inspired Book Shelf

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I love reading, in fact, reading is how I found out about Paleo almost two years ago.  I’ve now amassed quite a big collection of Paleo Books.  And my Amazon wishlist is just as long again!  I learn so much on blogs and podcasts – but there is something about having a book in your hands that can't be beaten.

My paleo inspired bookshelf

So, these are the books in my collection : –

  1. The Calcium Factor, Barefoot & Reich.  I'm really want to learn more about calcium, but find this book a bit heavy going – I will get through it though!
  2. Nourishing Traditions, Fallon.  This is a wonderful book, although she uses fermented grains most of the nutritional elements are sound.
  3. Dietary Healing, Alexander.  An interesting read that sums up by telling us to eat wholegrains and legumes.  Well, I do like to read lots of different opinions.  Even if they are wrong.
  4. The Complete Book of Raw Food, Rodwell.  I went through a brief raw food stage on my way to Paleo.  There are some good recipes in here that I still incorporate.
  5. Taking the Medicine, Burch.  A really interesting book that made me question the faith and trust we place in our Doctors
  6. Our Troubles With Food, Halliday.  This is a completely different take on nutrition.  Written by a social historian it looks at how society got to where we are today with food.
  7. The Cure, Brantley.  This was one of the first books I read, and whilst it's not Paleo, I still found it really inspirational.
  8. The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer, Whisett.  I got this before I'd understood about chronic cardio.  This book was refreshing as it was mainly about the mental aspect to endurance activities, which I think could be applied to all aspects of life
  9. The Primal Blueprint, Sisson.  This was another early purchase.  I love this book and this is one of my top choices to lend out to friends who are curious about Paleo
  10. The Primal Blueprint Cookbook, Sisson & Meier.  I was given this book at PrimalCon 2011 and it has some great recipes in it!
  11. The Inflammation Syndrome, Challem.  Another topic I'd heard a lot about and wanted to explore in more depth.
  12. Primal Body, Primal Mind, Gedgaudas.  I bought this book at the AHS from Nora herself.  I'm reading it at the moment ready for the Australian conference in November
  13. Sweet Poison, Gillespie.  Another top book, This is a great introduction to insulin and is presented in a really easy to understand fashion.  Another top book to lend out!
  14. The Paleo Diet, Cordain.  Loren Cordain, what else to say!  Definitely a favourite.
  15. Why We Get Fat, Taubes.  I've only just got this book and am desperate to read it.  But I'm really distracted by the “deckled” edge – why can't it just have nice normal pages?
  16. The Diet Delusion, Taubes.  This was my first introduction to Taubes.
  17. Natural Health & Weight Loss, Groves.  An interesting read that starts to go in a Paleo direction.  But then no.  It has a HFLC agenda, but rules out grains only on a carbohydrate basis.
  18. Enzyme Nutrition, Howell.  I was reading a lot about digestion and what happens to enzymes, so thought a bit more reading was in order.
  19. The Vitamin D Cure, Dowd & Stafford.  Particularly since I've moved from the UK to Australia, I've become really interested in Vitamin D.  Should I supplement?  Should I wear sun screen?  I read everything I can on the topic.
  20. Your Body’s Many Cries For Water, Batmanghelidj.  I had high hopes for this book!  However, I found it almost all observational with little evidence to back up the incredible claims.
  21. The Paleo Diet For Athletes, Cordain & Friel.  This book has been particularly useful in the marathon training effort of my housemate.
  22. Born To Run, McDougall.  After having a barefoot running lesson with Barefoot Ted at PrimalCon, this book (along with my first pair of VFF's) was a must buy!
  23. The Metabolic Plan, Cherniske.  This was the first nutrition/ health book I happened to pick up.  It sparked my interest in nutrition and eventually led me to Paleo.
  24. The Vitamin D Revolution, Khalsa.  See, I'm very interested in Vitamin D.
  25. The PH Miracle, Young & Young.  PH is mentioned quite frequently, so I got this book to delve into the topic further.
  26. The Magnesium Miracle, Dean.  I read so much in the Paleo world about Magnesium I thought it would be helpful to learn more.  I've not got very far yet, I'll have to make more effort with this one.
  27. Complete Nutrition, Sharon.  I found this a great introduction into macro & micro nutrients.  Even if it does have some very non-Paleo information in it.
  28. [On Loan!] The Paleo Solution, Wolf.  I love this book!  I always lend this one out too.  I've actually just ordered a second copy as it's such a good overview and more and more friends are asking what this Paleo thing is all about.

I've also just ordered

  • Lights Out, Wiley.  I'm fascinated by sleep and think it's possibly as important as nutrition to get right.  I've heard lots of good things about this book and can't wait to get my hands on it!
  • Exuberant Animal, Forencich.  This was another recommendation that I'm looking forward to reading.
  • Wheat Belly, Davis.  I've read lots of reports about this book and I have it on pre-order.  I'm eagerly awaiting it's release.
  • Food and Western Disease by Lindeberg is at the top of my wishlist – I just wish the price would go down!

How does my book collection compare to yours?  I'd love to know which books I'm missing out on.  I'm really interested in Leptin at the moment, so let me know if you have any good recommendations!