Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography

In this series, LAVA talks to the authors of the latest publications on the swimming, biking, and running circuit. Heard about an interesting autobiography or a new training program? You’ll find a sneak peak here. So while you’re relaxing after your long run, read this before you run to the bookstore. (Click here to read an excerpt.)

Serious athletes are among the most likely to try new diets that promise better performance and a leaner physique. Triathletes especially seem willing to try anything: carbo-loading, fancy sugars, and colorful nutritional supplements.

But what if the secret to optimum health is found not in what’s new, but what’s old? That’s what the authors of the just-released Paleo Cookbook—full of recipes high in lean protein, fruits and vegetables—believe with every fiber of their (ultra-lean) beings.

The cookbook is a collaboration between Dr. Loren Cordain (author of The Paleo Diet, and co-author of The Paleo Diet for Athletes with triathlon coach Joe Friel) and Nell Stephenson, an Ironman athlete and nutritional consultant. When Cordain’s editor saw how popular The Paleo Diet had become, he suggested an accompanying cookbook. Cordain and his wife Lorrie immediately started working on the book with Stephenson, who describes it as a how-to program for people interested in following the diet, but who weren’t sure how to implement the principles.

“When I was invited to participate in the book it was kind of a no-brainer. There are a lot of books out there that talk about the paleo diet, but Dr. Cordain is the paleo diet,” she said.

The book only took a month to bring to fruition. As soon as she was invited along on the project, Stephenson began making a spreadsheet of every single recipe she could think of. Dr. Cordain, meanwhile, worked on the outline and the introductions to each chapter. After these basics were in place, Stephenson and Lorrie Cordain wrote and tested the selected recipes.

“Once we had the structure of the book I could figure out what recipes belonged in what chapter, while keeping it varied, colorful, and interesting. It turned out to be a really smooth collaboration,” Stephenson said.

Dr. Cordain said his wife was the perfect person to help with recipe development. “Other than me and the few hunter-gatherers on the planet, Lorrie and I have been doing this longer than anyone,” he said; the Cordain family has been eating this way since the 90s.

Other than a short introduction to the diet, Dr. Cordain said that the cookbook is largely for people who want the Cliff notes: what they should buy and eat. The science is there, but it’s secondary to the how-to element. “It’s about how can we duplicate the nutritional characteristics of the Stone Age diet with foods we can get from Safeway,” he said. “It’s not like we’re asking people to eat brains and marrow or anything,” he said.

Each chapter focuses either on a specific meal or ingredient; there’s a chapter on meal planning, and a section for athletes as well (see excerpt), for whom the authors believe the diet specifically benefits. They say the diet is high in branch-chain amino acids—found to stimulate muscle synthesis after a workout—and tends to optimize immune function. “Meat is very high in zinc, which is hard to absorb from grains,” Dr. Cordain said.

Many of their arguments for following the diet come from personal experience. Stephenson, for example has been racing Ironman for nine years, and has followed the paleo way of eating for five.

“As athletes, we’re so used to having so much information,” she said. “This is really a far simpler approach.” She said her recovery and sleep is phenomenal, that she’s never sick, and that her racing performance keeps getting better.

In addition to how the diet has changed their own lives, Cordain believes that time will tell: “We’re just getting to the bottom line of why this thing works so well. When you’re restored to the diet to which you’re genetically adapted, it seems to be a panacea. If we had designed a diet that didn’t work, that raised your cholesterol, made you feel awful and that you couldn’t stick to, it would’ve died its natural death like all other diets. But reason it hasn’t, is because it works.”

Click here to read an excerpt from Chapter 14 (for athletes), and here for a recipe for Grueler Chicken from The Paleo Cookbook.