Sarah Ballantyne, PhD, earned her doctorate degree in medical biophysics from the University of Western Ontario at age 26. She spent the next four years doing research on innate immunity, inflammation, critical care medicine, gene therapy, and epithelial cell biology at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and at the University of Arizona before becoming a stay-at-home mom, a decision motivated largely by her poor health at the time. After her second daughter was born, Dr. Ballantyne began to experiment with the Paleo lifestyle. It had an amazing effect on her health, contributing to her 120-pound weight loss. Over time, she healed herself of a laundry list of physical complaints, including irritable bowel syndrome, acid reflux, migraines, anxiety, asthma, allergies, psoriasis, and the autoimmune skin condition lichen planus. Inspired by her success, Dr. Ballantyne created the popular and award-winning health blog www.ThePaleoMom.com and became co-host of a top-rated syndicated podcast, The Paleo View. Together, her passion for providing straightforward explanations of the science behind her diet and lifestyle recommendations for managing autoimmune disease and her conviction that healing your body does not have to come at the expense of enjoying food form the foundation of her books, The Paleo Approach and The Paleo Approach Cookbook.
