See Ya Later, Ovulator!: Mastering Menopause with Nutrition, Hormones, and Self-Advocacy

by Esther Blum

See ya later, Ovulator! delivers the great news that, yes, you can master your menopause with nutrition, hormones, gut health, and self-advocacy. Esther Blum, an Integrative Dietitian and Menopause Expert, guides you through menopause with her empowering and strategic roadmap. Esther reveals the practice tools she uses with her own clients to help you balance your hormones, fix your gut, and feel confident in your body again. You’ll discover the importance In easy-to-understand language, Esther will provide you with the tools you’ll need to eliminate hot flashes, insomnia, vaginal dryness, uncomfortable bloating, and more. It’s time to make menopause your b*tch and Esther is here to show you how to do it right! Packed with cutting-edge research and the answers to all your questions, this informative and enlightening book is your key to moving through menopause with confidence, agency, and direction!

Genres: Nonfiction, Health

248 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 28, 2023

About the author

(From http://www.livinggorgeous.com/about/)

Hi. I’m Esther Blum. I’m a wife, mother to a wonderful boy (age 6), friend, avid reader, networker, photographer, humorist, hunter-gatherer, clinical and holistic dietitian with 20+ years of experience, and author of Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous, Secrets of Gorgeous, The Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous Project, and Cavewomen Don’t Get Fat.

But first and foremost, I am the reality Barbie. And like you, I have struggled with figuring out what to eat and what works best for my body. As a teenager, I had a nasty junk food habit of diet Coke and Snickers bars which left me feeling tired and irritable in the afternoons. I also developed a wicked case of acne and went through years of antibiotics and ultimately Accutane to try and clear it up. And then, there were the college years of becoming a red meat vegetarian, when I became horribly anemic. My favorite decade was the fat-free 80’s (remember those?), followed by the high-carb running years and then the eat-a-bowl-of-cereal-at-4am-after-nursing-your-newborn-all night times. You get my drift.

I am no different than you, but what set my life back on track was literally returning to my roots through Paleo eating. After struggling with post-partum insomnia in my thirties, I decided to apply the principles I used on my clients to help get my energy and my body back on track. Since then, I have helped restore balance in my life, broken free from cravings, gained back appetite control, and have maintained my weight without killing myself at the gym.

The solution to my problems became the Paleo Chic protocol, and it has worked gloriously well on my clients.
esther-book-signing-pic-250

Now, I enjoy:
Plenty of healthy foods
Consistent energy throughout the day, even if I have not slept well the night before
Mental clarity
Balanced moods
Feeling great inside my body
Spending quality family time with my boys and a life filled with gratitude
My mission is to improve the health of those around me and across the globe, and to create changes at a public health level. Using my own life experiences, as well as those of my clients, friends, and family, I have created an online program to help re-shape how we think about food when it comes to our bodies.

I’m a nutritionist, but I don’t treat symptoms; instead I like to clear out food allergies, metabolic clutter, and a defeatist mindset. My mission here at Living Gorgeous is to help people like you become the best version of yourself that you can be. It’s about doing a little detective work to find out what roadblocks are standing in your way and keeping you from achieving your health and fitness goals. It means being happy with your body, amping up your sex drive, empowered by your choices, and feeling good about your life.

So join me in this journey and see what your life can become. An authentic, balanced, deeply satisfying life awaits you.

Live Gorgeously,
Esther

Reviews

[Patty Betts · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books about menopause! I just love Esther!! Welcome Second Spring! I’m looking forward to this next season of my life…

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Out of desperation, I've been reading as many books on the Transition as I can get my hands on -- this one gets too caught up in being cute, and I got frustrated, as evident in my review tone. Some readers who get bogged down by the specifics of endocrinology may love Blum's Hey-Girlfriend kind of approachability (jokes about having been a "pastitute" and a "bagel babe" due to over-eating carbs in her 20s, for me = giant eye-roll). I like to nerd-out on the specifics of how hormones really run our bodies. I used to have a sense of humour. But that was before basic human functions like sleeping, eating and thinking somehow became impossible due to an overnight hormone implosion.

As with a lot of these Transition books, there is a painful over-emphasis on weight loss, body image and advice to avoid carbs at all costs, as though our changing bodies are a kind of tragedy. I get that it's not ideal to get fatter if you've spent your life convinced being thin is a superpower, but I wish the emphasis was on how to stay strong, not on how to "burn fat". Blum specializes in nutrition, so you know what's coming: protein protein protein. Weirdly, Blum completely avoids discussing the potential hormonal pitfalls of dairy and its associations with inflammation; additives like nitrates (she mentions eating animal protein often, but doesn't delve into the risks;) and shockingly, not one single word on histamine-containing foods and their interaction with estrogen. The idea that the intestinal tract is the second brain seems to be presented like a big reveal, but we started reading about the microbiome a decade ago. The section on phytoestrogens also seemed dated.

If you've experienced the distress of severe hormone fluctuations, you're familiar with the desperation to feel well, and the priority to get enough sleep so that you can feel human, get through your day doing the things that are important to you, and remember the things that you need to. Trying to avoid life-threatening risks that you may have become more vulnerable t0, (cancer, osteoporosis and dementia) are a much higher priority than eating protein so you can "burn fat", I think.

So! I think this is a great first dip of your toe into reading on the Transition, if you haven't read much about it yet, and are feeling scared and are most freaked out about gaining weight; but I think there are much better books out there with more current, properly-referenced information.

I would recommend
(1) The Upgrade by Dr. Louann Brizendine (neurological focus)
(2) Hormone Repair Manual by Lara Briden, ND (naturopathic approach -- so not always evidence-based but an excellent guide on symptoms and supplements)
and maybe, depending on your current drive to dismantle the patriarchy while reviewing the real evidence on whether HRT or supplements work,
(3) Menopause Manifesto by Dr. Jen Gunter (western medicine approach)

Wishing you well in your health journey.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

What to expect

This book has a catchy title but don't let that fool you. There is a lot of good information in this book that all of us women entering into our middle age years need to know there is a lot in here that I wasn't aware of that I need to look forward to, and things that I need to prepare for. Be it mentally oriented physically. The author has a lot of good information in here regarding how to handle your menopause timeline, how to eat healthier so that you're not hit with the worst of the symptoms, what type of holistic therapies are available, as well as what type of Herbal Remedies might assist you. As always anytime you're looking at medical advice you have to speak with your doctor of course but I think that this book gives you and me a good Baseline of where even to start regarding questions that you could or even should ask your doctor. As such I think that this book is an extremely important one to get and to read and even if you are not of the female persuasion you might want to read this so that you are aware of what your mother's sisters and daughters are going through.

[Pearl · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not every day that I get to chance upon a book like "See ya later, Ovulator!: Mastering Menopause with Nutrition, Hormones, and Self-Advocacy". This is a gem for all the women all over the world because the main topic here is important. It addresses female metabolic issues that are rarely discussed these days. We have been more into women empowerment and all that but sometimes we forget the issue when it comes to menstruation and menopausal which in any way, affects women. Through this self-help book I learned how to manage this issue when the time comes. Everything that was taught here are based on personal experience from the sources . It was well-written and well-explained and I love the author's approach. It was very helpful and you can't always find them in google. I have always believed that when women go through this period and transition, everything will change but I learned through this material that if something changes, it is certainly for the better.

[Nicole Stern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book now

You could spend thousands of dollars consulting with a Functional MD and nutritionist and doing all of the things. . . Or you could read this book and literally get the secret to balancing your hormones for a fraction of the time and money it would take you with the former. Read this now and get started ASAP changing your life!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on women’s health - especially if you are getting or going thru this life change. Highly recommend for women who are experiencing peri menopause or want to be prepared.

[Jill sohan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent information I appreciate her opinions, her research and what's best for each individual as we navigate through our menopause journey.

[Heather Tyree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every woman should read this book. I suffered from perimenopause symptoms for the last decade and wish I read this book a year ago.

[Cameron Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you are in your forties, read this.

[Cicely · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going through menopause has been a real struggle, and this book armed me with info when I went to my doctor to discuss HRT. Blume kept it simple and interesting. Highly recommend!

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Gave me a lot to think about and questions to ask my dr at my next visit.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty decent book. I am hesitant to try supplements though, as there’s not enough information on long term effects, however if it will help I might try them.

[Miqelle DeMeis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic resource for peri and menopausal people and the people who love them. Ms. Blum does come from a Functional Medicine background, so it is not traditional medical advice or lack thereof.

The one complaint I have is that there are other symptoms not discussed, such as tingling/numbness. It would be nice if Ms. Blum addressed other symptoms and by doing so normalized them.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Snippet from my review: "This book is a great resource for any women, whether you're going through menopause right now or you're approaching the age when it's going to start. The takeaway here is that us women need to seek out knowledge about women's health BEFORE going to our doctors so that we can ask better questions of our healthcare providers and find doctors that will work with us."

Read my full review here: https://cookscrapcraft.blogspot.com/2...

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the nutrition, health, beauty, and supplements tips, the frank acknowledgment that many things about perimenopause/menopause suck, and the numerous reminders to love our amazing bodies. A lot of the hormone talk was complicated & went right over my head.