I’m not going to lie to you about my age. I am 46 years young. I love to read and cook. I have read a lot and cooked from lots of books in my life. BUT, never have I witnessed such controversy about a ‘recipe’ book than what there has been about Bubba Yum Yum – The Paleo Way for New Mums, Babies and Toddlers.
Perhaps I am getting skeptical with my age, but whenever there is a media frenzy that creates hysteria, I usually think to myself, someone or some group or company etc stands to lose something – money, credibility or both. So I did what I normally do when the media goes nuts on a topic – I did my own research. I bought the book and quite honestly did not put it down. I read it and took in the stunning photography – from front to back in one sitting. And I have re-read it and used the recipes too.
I should say right up front, my family does not follow the paleo way (although we’re considering it), I do not know Charlotte Carr (although after reading this book, I really admire her and would love to meet her), I do not know Pete Evans (although I do follow him on Facebook) and I am not affiliated with this book at all. So this review is my honest account of my research of the book.
Where to start? OK, let’s start with the end in mind, in case you don’t have time to read my whole review.
Bubba Yum Yum – The Paleo Way, is much more than a recipe book about a baby formula. It’s a mother’s (Charlotte Carr) memoir about how she managed her son’s illness, and restored him to health, through making him nourishing real foods.
The real bonus is a collection of wonderful recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner that I personally believe can be used regardless of the age of your children.
If you want a stunning book with simple, nourishing, real food recipes, grab yourself a copy of this book.
Now where to from here? How about this paragraph from Charlotte (I am hoping she doesn’t mind me sharing it with you):
“The focus of this book is on real food. No packets or indecipherable numbers – it’s all about food as nature intended it. I’d much rather my little ones were putting fresh, vibrant, mineral-rich foods into their bodies as opposed to lifeless and toxic packaged, plain and empty food.”
As a mum, I SO relate to this. It just makes sense. Here’s what else I can tell you about this book:
1. It’s Educational
There’s information about preparing for the week, so you have a better chance of eating healthy during the week. There are details about taking care of your body before you try to conceive, for both her and him. I It covers which fruits and vegetables are most sprayed with pesticides, more about health once you are pregnant, and info about feeding infants and toddlers including introducing solids.
Most of this information about health is provided by Helen Padarin, qualified naturopath, nutritionist and herbalist. Nothing in here should create a frenzy in the media, but rather should be congratulated for helping people conceive healthy babies – especially given we are in a climate where infertility is on the increase and the rate of childhood chronic illness is on the rise.
2. Tonics and Elixir Recipes
To me, these section of the book struck a real chord. I have always been a natural remedy kind of person and have always created my own concoctions to deal with my children’s chest coughs, ear infections and more. I take great pride in this because both my children have never needed antibiotics and my eldest is now 9 years old. I know their guts are in good shape which means they can quickly fight off most illnesses.
There’s recipes here to help with cradle cap, colic, coughs, sore throats and cough syrup. Recipes using real ingredients, herbs and spices that we would normally have in our cupboard. Recipes grandparents and great grandparents would have used. One of the things I have loved about making my own concoctions is that I have been able to soothe my children in the middle of the night when a pharmacy is not open. These recipes will help you with that. Again nothing in here that warrants the hysteria whizzed up by the media.
3. Recipes for babies 6 – 12 months
There is no denying, these formative months of a baby are so important to a child’s health. All the recipes in this section are designed to enhance your baby’s health by taking good care of their gut. There is so much research at the moment that strongly links the health of our gut flora to our overall health. It is said that something like 80% of our immunity comes from the health of our gut. There is also lots of research linking our gut health to our overall mood, and even to depression, ADHD and more.
All in all the recipes in here make total sense for any parent who wants to give their baby the best chance at growing strong – and the reality is, what parent doesn’t want to do that? Yes, in this section, there is the recipe the media said was being proposed as a baby formula replacement. The recipe is actually called Happy Tummy Brew and the book recommends this recipe be used for one drink per day. The recipe is based on one formulated by “world renowned nutritional biochemist Dr Mary Enig – a recipe that has been shared around the world millions of times over.” I didn’t read that in any of the media reports, did you?
4. Recipes for 12 months+
There are so many great recipes in here that I will be using for my own family. Including some incredible yummy looking treats and desserts. Hysteria-worthy because of how awesome the recipes are!
5. It’s beautifully photographed, designed and written.
Clearly a lot of love has gone into making this book, which shows in every part of how it looks visually, and the care that shines through the written words.
What about Pete Evans?
Yes, Pete does feature in this book, but only on a couple of pages. The reality is that Pete really helped Charlotte bring her memoir to life. He had been following Charlotte’s Bubba Yum Yum instagram feed and really loved what she was doing for her child. Her methodology of feeding her bub nourishing real foods followed the paleo way, but she was doing this before The Paleo Way became the big dietary theory it is today.
The other reality is that the paleo dietary theory has been around for way longer than the time Pete Evans has brought The Paleo Way into the limelight. How do I know this? Because when I studied to become a health coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) 4 years ago, paleo was one of over 100 dietary theories we learnt about. Pete also studied at IIN the term previous to me. The paleo dietary theory obviously struck a chord, and he has gone on to make it his way of life. The fact Pete already had such a public profile from being a great chef and on national TV has helped him bring this dietary theory into the public domain so the world really knows about it, rather than just those who study nutrition or those who have turned to it after suffering ill-health.
Is the book worthy of all the media frenzy, and the personal attacks that have been made on Charlotte, Helen & Peter?
I would give that a resounding NO. You could actually say it’s like any parenting book that’s been written – Period!
This book, like many others has been borne from passionate people wanting to share knowledge that can help us have a generation of healthier children. Is this style of parenting and feeding for every parent? Probably not, but neither is controlled crying, attachment parenting and other parenting help techniques written about in books.
This book is worthy of media acknowledgement for being a guide to helping parents try another way of giving their children strong health.
I would recommend this book to all parents, especially those willing to consider some of the most current – and yet simultaneously old-fashioned – advice about eating, food preparation, and nutrition.
Congratulations to Charlotte Carr, Helen Padarin and Pete Evans for a brilliant book.