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The Hormone Diet

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With hormonal imbalance, the risk of conditions associated with aging - cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis or heart disease - is magnified. If our hormones are in balance, we have the potential to age gracefully and remain youthful.

The complete fat-loss and preventative health guide for men and women has finally arrived. What's the secret? It's in your hormones!

In The Hormone Diet, Natasha Turner lays out a fool-proof plan to balance your life, one hormone at a time. But it is more than just a diet book. Along with advice for weight loss, Turner provides recommendations for an anti-inflammatory detox, nutritional supplements, exercise, sleep, stress management, toxin-free skin care and natural hormone replacement, along with a personalized diet plan - all incorporated into a complete 3-step wellness program focused on the essentials of hormonal balance for lasting health and fat loss.

507 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2009

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443 people want to read

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Natasha Turner

15 books5 followers

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
Profile Image for Alicia.
216 reviews11 followers
September 23, 2020
You can just skip this book and read about hormones on Wikipedia, it's faster and more interesting. The book provides some information, but most of it is the standard eat healthy, exercise and make sure you get enough sleep. Which is great, but you don't need so many pages to say it.
Profile Image for Julia.
1,316 reviews28 followers
October 21, 2012
Written by a Naturopathic Doctor, this book is such an excellent resource for learning about the hormones in our body and what happens when they are out of balance. I found it extremely fascinating and helpful to get the background and explanations on which hormones will pack on weight and which ones will help to lose weight and the things we can do to have optimal health.

I personally followed this plan to lose weight under the guidance of my own Naturopathic Doctor, starting with a liver cleanse. It does work - I won't say how much weight I lost, but it was significant. What I like about this plan is that it is not a "diet" per se, but can be described more as a life style change that I want to continue to maintain my weight and health.

She outlines 3 steps to better health and goes in depth for each one. Step #1 - Renew & Revitalize: this deals with the importance of quality sleep, detoxing the liver, and strategies for stress management. Step #2 - Replenish your Body and Balance your Hormones: this deals with nutrition and eating habits, hormonal supplements where needed. Step #3 - Restore Strength, Vigour and Radiance: this deals with sex and sweat, Strength, stamina & stretching, skin care.

I will admit I did get bogged down a bit at some of the scientific explanations and it sounded too much like a text book at times. But overall, I am treating this like my health Bible. It makes so much sense. I really wish our medical doctors would get on board with some of these ideas. For example, my guess is, is that if I went to my medical doctor and said I want to lose weight, she would probably prescribe an appetite suppressant. To be fair, she'd probably tell me to follow Canada's food guide as well. My point is, I don't need a prescription - I need some coaching as to what the long term plan should be and it is going to take hard work and committment.
Profile Image for Dianna.
610 reviews26 followers
February 1, 2024
A lot of girls I respect and consume their content on Youtube talked that weight gain stems from a disregulated system aka hormonal imbalance created by binge eating/emotional eating to fill a void that's hard to fill.

So, naturally I wanted to learn more and after a good search on Reddit, this book came the most up.

I liked it from the first chapted, easy to read, using the right words from the start.

The book is super comprehensive, it has advice on nutrition, on how to rest, what exercises you should do, it includes a what to eat in a week, a detox recipe, examples of exercises to do.

Really enjoyed it. Was it helpful? We'll see.
Profile Image for jayme.
13 reviews
February 13, 2018
This is one of the few health-related books that I would read again. Lots of applicable information, including meal and supplement suggestions to improve hormone balance. I loved the chapter on sleep!
Profile Image for Anna S..
131 reviews28 followers
December 6, 2014
Basically just flipping through like a magazine-reading.
Don't like the type of diet which gives a strict deadline, meal plan, and selling products. I read this several types of diet, like Body Ecology, GAPS, all have very strict initial start, eliminating carbs and all, basically mainly ditching solid food; which I am not quite fond of.
I can't use whey protein since it's dairy based. I don't know about under 1% lactose in whey protein but hows all the pregnant cows hormones (despite being grass-fed or not)? I don't eat soy and other goitre but she is. Instead of buying whole food she spend hour and hour reading processed-food labels. And the quiz is confusing.

Nice to know about waist-hip-ratio though. It needs to be under 0.8 to be considered healthy, despite the weigh on scale. I heard she has another book that more of the theory, I think I am going to prefer that.

Basically diet which main focus is loosing weight isn't recommended.
Be healthy instead!

You know what Japanese say: If you believe everything you read, you better not read at all. :)


Profile Image for elizabeth sawyer.
641 reviews13 followers
January 27, 2014
Wow. This book is FULL of information. Takes you probably at least a 1/3 of way before you will get into the intty gritty of their "diet" that is much more a program to follow to get your body back into hormonal balance. Can see using this book in conjunction with a doctor/naturopath's advice more more effectively since the self-diagnosis part of their book is overwhelming and confusing a bit. Really like the fact they show it isn't just about eating that working on sleep, stress, etc is a huge part of getting your body into balance as well. Really interesting and informative even if you aren't going to follow their "diet" exactly.
338 reviews17 followers
June 29, 2012
My doctor recommended this to me to help balance me out and it has been incredibly helpful. I'm just on the first phase (get my sleep problems taken care of) and will be for a while due to my history. Still, I've learned a lot and feel that this will be really helpful as I work toward having more overall health.

***
I read this for a second time to learn about more effective sleep and supplementation. The sleep tips really work! I'm sleeping so much better now.
Profile Image for Julie L.
215 reviews3 followers
February 25, 2022
This book has great information, but, being published in 2009 the info on diet especially is very dated.

She advocates for dairy (and even lower fat dairy! 😮) and whey protein, when dairy is known to be an inflammatory food. Ditto for grains. And she advocates soy. And lean meats like poultry.

While some of her other info is good, you'd be well advised to get anti-inflammatory diet info from somewhere else, like Sarah Ballantyne, Mark Hyman or Terry Wahl.
Profile Image for Natalay Maria.
31 reviews2 followers
January 31, 2014
This is a really excellent book because it is informative and still easy to read. Most of these types of books are either too technical or ridiculously simple and uninformative. I picked up some really good tips.
Profile Image for Sarah.
13 reviews
October 4, 2015
Tons of information in this book, and very enjoyable to read, I renewed it from the library twice, and now I think I just have to buy it, definitely something I will reference quite often.
Profile Image for Charlie.
67 reviews1 follower
October 28, 2020
Self help/diet genre. Focusing on stress reduction and diet. A mixture of good, sound, science-based advice (references from respected medical journals) and some quackery, offering quick fixes to rid the body of “toxins”, and some rather ridiculous advice/recommendations for “cleansing” and exercise. Extensive recommendations for diet supplements/herbal remedies (three chapters’ worth).

Very clearly written.
Profile Image for Hayley Shaver.
628 reviews26 followers
November 28, 2023
I really love this book, although I haven't cut out dairy. It sure makes you think about what you put into your body. The recipes are delicious. I feel much better since I have been 16:8 intermittent fasting and doing a lot of these protocols. Highly recommended if you are not whey intolerant (a lot of the recipes and protocols call for whey protein).
Profile Image for Lauren Hopkins.
21 reviews35 followers
January 4, 2025
A lot of great information but a bit repetitive at times. I also noticed a lot of overlapping symptoms between different (low vs high) hormone imbalances making it hard to differentiate exact issue. Great resource book with very thorough supplement information. Recipes look great, will definitely try some!
Profile Image for Donna Alward.
Author 286 books693 followers
October 6, 2017
I've had this on my TBR for a while and wish I'd read it sooner. A great breakdown of the hormones in our bodies, what happens when they're out of balance, and how to reset to feel better and be healthier. Bonus: really great recipes in the back.
26 reviews
June 26, 2021
3/4 of this is just peddling of unproven supplements. The rest is standard hormone reference material.
Profile Image for Gillian.
332 reviews4 followers
August 3, 2022
Good information in here but it’s probably more for beginners who don’t know much about nutrition.
23 reviews
January 18, 2023
Overwhelming amount of information but helps identify the causes of weight gain. Hopefully the strategies recommended will work
Profile Image for Cari Sly.
65 reviews
January 20, 2023
Has a lot of useful information, even if I'm not able to apply it all in one go, definitely got me to look inward at my own physical and mental well-being.
Profile Image for Christine Rice.
Author 18 books46 followers
November 5, 2012
I am completely impressed with The Hormone Diet. It is professionally written and the writing has personality. It is written by an ND – a Naturopathic Doctor. In the acknowledgements, the author says a MD – medical doctor – reviewed the book to offer their suggestions and opinions. Additionally, it is full of research, and it is structured in a way that is pleasing to read (the chapters are broken up with lots of subheadings and sections, and several diagrams and charts). It is a long book (480 pages), but the last 21% (about 100 pages) is the index, so it is not as overwhelming as it seems!

This book is perfect for anyone who feels they have a slow metabolism, is overweight (especially with abdominal fat), has medical problems, or generally doesn’t feel good (low energy, depression, stressed, etc.). This book’s main focus is on losing fat, speeding up metabolism, decreasing appetite, and abolishing cravings. It encourages a healthy eating lifestyle that is mostly lean meats, as many vegetables as you want, low-fat dairy, legumes, and whole grains. The carbs that are okay in the book are potato, quinoa, brown rice, chia, Kashi GoLean cereal, oatmeal, and rye bread, but only one serving per day is recommended, which is about half a cup. Being a low-carber, I simply leave out the legumes and whole grains. But I didn’t mind that it was included in the book, because I understand that not everyone has a carb addiction.

The author suggests doing a cleanse/detox diet for two weeks twice a year. I’m not keen on those (I went through the induction phase of Atkins and struggled), because I don’t do well mentally when I deprive myself. But some people will find it helpful to identify food allergies or sensitivities. Turner believes in taking supplements, which I believe in too. No one can gain all the nutrients they need to live an optimal life from the food they eat. For example, omega 3 and 6 are essential nutrients that are not produced by the body and, therefore, must be ingested.

The hormone diet includes an exercise program: workout six days a week – three days of strength training, one to two days of yoga, and one to two days of cardio. The author uses the exercise program she has used for many years, with pictures and charts that have information on how to progress. I get the overall feeling that the author is sharing her professional advice with me, but is very flexible about making the program work for each person, rather than forcing a strict regimen, like some diet books do.

The purpose of the hormone diet is to live a healthy and happy life, so it is a well-rounded book that covers other aspects of health, such as skincare and home environment, such as air pollution, chemical solutions, and materials that have chemicals in them that come in contact with the skin and affect our hormones, which in turn affect our health and body weight. Another thing that makes it so well-rounded is that the author provides many ideas on how to overcome a weight loss plateau.

This book has motivated me to look into my health further. Helping myself lose more weight was my initial reason for buying this book. It has already been very helpful and I feel hopeful that I will be able to lose more weight because of this book. Highly recommended!
Profile Image for Missy LeBlanc Ivey.
611 reviews53 followers
March 10, 2021
I have read this book twice now and have it all highlighted and marked up. When I'm starting to feel bad and unhealthy, this is the go to book to get back on track with my health and feeling good again. The recipes in this book are easy and actually pretty good. You will learn so much about how all the different hormones work together in your body. This is a keeper!
Profile Image for Laura (booksnob).
969 reviews35 followers
December 12, 2012
Earlier this year in January (2012) I suffered from incurable, painful headaches and no pill could cure them or make them feel better. I had a horrible headache every single day in January. I also began to have intense hot flashes and could not sleep at all. I was physically exhausted and miserable because I was in so much pain. I knew my problem was hormonal and so I did what every American does with a computer, I googled it.

What I found was the book The Hormone Diet by Natasha Turner. The Hormone Diet book literally changed my life. Using Turner's book and visiting my OB/Gyn and Neurologist, I learned a lot about what was happening to my body via my unbalanced hormones. Menopause. At age 44.

Turner is a naturopathic doctor and begins her book with a explaining all the hormones inside your body and what happens when they get out of whack. Turner includes a hormone health profile test that looks at your symptoms and determines where your hormones may be unbalanced. Turner then recommends a detox diet to rid your body of toxins and hormone disruptors. The detox diet is recommended for two weeks and I felt so good on it I did it for a whole month. It pretty much helped heal my headaches and I lost 10 pounds that I have been able to keep off the entire year.

The Hormone Diet is not a typical diet book, it is really a prescription for how to live a healthy life. Turner includes recipes, exercise tips and so much more. Since February I have been drinking a smoothie full of healthy fruits and vegetables for breakfast with a scoop of protein powder. I have been ordering and taking the vitamins Turner recommends and have been pretty much stalking her webpage and her Facebook page ever since and I feel better. I consult Turner's book and her recipes on a regular basis. I now wish I lived in Toronto so I could attend her boot camp and workshops and have her as my naturopathic doctor. So since that will never happen, I do the next best thing, I read her books.

My favorite smoothie recipe:
1 cup blueberries
half a frozen banana
2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed
1 cup of plain soy milk
1 scoop of protein powder.

Now, I add a cup of spinach to it as well. I call it, salad in a cup and it's delicious.
Read The Hormone Diet if you want to get healthy and understand your body.
294 reviews8 followers
June 23, 2012
I am impressed with the amount of information this book contains. At first it was a bit overwhelming but once I began to discard the information that did not pertain to me it became more manageable.

The premise is, all of the hormones work in tandem to keep the body working properly; if one hormone is out of balance it can throw a wrench into the entire works and cause problems that may present themselves as an ache or pain of inflammation. The kicker is, that ache or pain of inflammation is an issue but not the underlying problem. On the diet aspect, reducing inflammation is a vital step in allowing the body to lose unwanted fat.

Causes of chronic inflammation: Poor digestive health; an immune system gone awry; poor nutritional habits; lack of exercise; abdominal obesity and insulin resistance; estrogen decline; environmental toxicity; liver toxicity and fatty liver; depression and stress.

Natasha Turner takes you through a 3 step fix that is not to be skimmed over as a pick and choose smorgasbord. She addresses sleep habits, strategies for stress survival, eating habits that disrupt the hormone balance, strength, stamina and stretching. She recommends a 10 day detox (which I did) then introduces foods back into the diet slowly and one at a time to determine if there is a problem with specific foods (inconclusive in my case).

Supplements are mentioned at length but ***be aware of drug interactions*** if you decide to try these (in my case I checked online for interactions and am not permitted to take many of the supplements I would have tried because of the one med I'm on).

Exercise is a given -- even a daily 30 minute walk is very beneficial (3 -10 minute mini walks count!!)

There is information on blood tests and saliva tests concerning hormones. There is a chapter devoted to questions that help determine which hormones may be out of balance for you. This information can be taken to your doctor and used to help with testing for a chronic inflammation issue that may be caused by a hormone imbalance.

Recipes! Yes! The mediterranean diet is combined with glycemic balanced eating in the formation of her recipes. Lots of veggies, fish and chicken, whole grains and low fat cheeses. I tried several of the recipes and was very pleased.

Profile Image for Melissa.
115 reviews12 followers
May 17, 2012
Turner gives a good basic background on endocrine imbalances and even helps the reader pinpoint what hormones their body is producing in excess or not enough of. I found some of her suggestion very helpful and she shed some new light on inflammation in the body, but over all the book wasn't well put together. It could be better formatted for easier understanding and flow. She doesn't make certain things clear, e.g. She clearly states to avoid caffeine yet a chapter or so later she encourages readers to drink green tea, but gives no explanation or connection. l Also, I didn't care for her gentle nudge to pursue the law of attraction as a way to de-stress and to the point of endorsing "The Secret." I will say I would encourage women with PCOS to read this book. It really opens your eyes to see what is happening day to day inside your body. Another GREAT read in the area of hormones and brain chemistry is Dr. Eric Braverman book "The Younger Thinner You." He hits on dopamine, acetylcholine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) an serotonin and how food effects them.
Profile Image for Stephanie Sosa.
1 review
July 25, 2016
This book is great for those who are aware of their hormone imbalance, and would like to take a naturopathic approach to balancing hormones. I went to an endocrinologist, and found that my sex hormones are completely out of whack. I found myself suffering from hormonal acne, stress and weight gain despite my healthy lifestyle. The Hormone Diet, helped put everything into perspective for me. It provides great information about hormones and their functions, supplements necessary to achieve balanced hormones, and a detox plan. I am less interested in the diet and exercise aspect, because I have been following a similar routine the past couple of years. One great thing that the book teaches you, is that dieting and exercise are not the only factors that will keep you healthy.

The book is super lengthy, and should not be read straight through. Not all sections will apply to a single person, but with a clear knowledge of your body's needs, you'd be able to break the book down and apply certain recommendations made to your lifestyle.
Profile Image for Susan Visser.
536 reviews4 followers
September 7, 2011
We all know that hormones in our bodies are incredibly intertwined and complex. Natasha does a fine job of explaining how they work and what happens when they are out of balance.

I wish our medical system was more tied up with the recent research that is being done in the area of hormones and that our doctors treated all parts of us rather than ignoring the impact of hormones.

I will try the detox and a month or two of the diet that is recommended, just to see if it actually works. I have my doubts, but am very willing to give it a try.

I read this book on my kindle and wouldn't recommend that. It was near impossible to read the charts and I'd prefer to read recipes on paper rather than on my kindle. I ordered her second book Super Charged Hormone Diet in printed format and will consult the charts and recipes in that book.
8 reviews2 followers
March 17, 2012
I liked this book b/c it gave me some good steps to help me get my hormones back in balance. I don't know that it is very practical to do her entire "diet" at my stage in life, but I can definitely start making small changes when I feel out of whack. She also lists some recipes in the back of the book that sound pretty good & are easy to make with few ingredients. I also appreciated the test you can take from the book to see what hormones you may be low in & how to get them back to normal. So many things effect your hormones, so I thought this was a very interesting read.
Profile Image for Linda.
113 reviews13 followers
April 26, 2015
One of the most informative books I’ve read on hormonal imbalances and the countless problems that ensue. There are many quizzes to determine which imbalance(s) are likely, and the proper steps to correct the imbalance(s). Most of it does deal with diet, exercise and supplements, but they are catered to the specific issues that need to be corrected. And the author gives a good explanation on the importance of detoxing before attempting to lose weight. Overall, I think the solutions given are manageable and realistic.
Profile Image for Dixie Bowen.
34 reviews
February 10, 2012
I like to check out diet books from the library to look at their recipes, because I figure they're probably lower in fat. I don't usually care to follow the diet, because I think that there's really only way to lose weight and keep it off for me (watching what I eat and exercise). I'm not into crash diets, but I did think that this was educational for me, since I actually did read it and not just look at the recipes.
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