Eat Like a Girl: 100+ Delicious Recipes to Balance Hormones, Boost Energy, and Burn Fat

by Mindy Pelz

Discover how to harness the power of food to support your body’s natural rhythms, empowering you to heal and thrive in this cookbook based on the revolutionary international bestseller, Fast Like a Girl. Do you struggle with hormonal imbalances or feel like your diet is out of sync with your body’s needs? Do you find it difficult to manage your energy levels throughout the month? Many women experience these challenges, often without understanding why. This book will show you how to use food as a powerful tool to support your body’s natural rhythms and guide you to a healthier, more balanced life. Thousands of women worldwide have embraced the fasting lifestyle introduced in Dr. Mindy Pelz’s revolutionary worldwide bestseller, Fast Like a Girl, and celebrated the return of regular menstrual cycles, improved fertility, and weight loss that had previously seemed impossible. In Eat Like a Girl, Dr. Mindy teaches how to use food to enhance these benefits. With over 100 recipes for both plant-based and omnivore diets, she shows you how to eat for your hormones and use food to support your fasting lifestyle, while enjoying delicious recipes that reflect the latest nutritional science, Quick and easy “fasted snacks” to sustain you while fasting Nourishing choices to break your fast and stabilize blood sugar Meals designed to support hormonal production and balance Recipes that keep blood sugar levels steady and support a healthy gut Dr. Mindy writes, “You deserve to live in a body you love—a healthy, happy, vibrant body that lives congruently with your hormonal wisdom.” Eat Like a Girl is more than a cookbook—it’s a manifesto for living in tune with your body.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Cookbooks, Self Help, Food, Cooking, Nutrition

352 pages, Hardcover

Published October 22, 2024

Reviews

[Teres · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never heard anyone (my own doctor included) who explains female hormones and their effects so simply and succinctly. I would gift this to every young woman to save her a lifetime of battling her own body.

[Antigone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr. Mindy Pelz is an advocate of women's health and has developed a system (of course) which is predicated on intermittent fasting. She's written five books on the subject, all of which encourage a "re-set" of metabolism through fasting and the introduction of foods designed to streamline the digestive process; delivering vitamins, minerals, and acids in more efficient and productive ways. I'm not really interested in any of this, and bought the book merely for what it might provide by way of new information on women's digestive health.

The first twenty pages are solid science; they take us through the hormones we want and how to encourage their appearance. The next twenty introduce intermittent fasting as a practice - and there's a bit more science to be had at the Pelz-system's periphery. The following forty are all about fasting cycles, and the rest are recipes. There's not a lot new here unless, I suppose, you're willing to double-down on the system and turn it into a way of life. (It is geared, primarily, toward those under fifty. There's another book entirely devoted to those in the throes of menopause.)

About those recipes, though. She hired professional chefs, and these are highly nutritional offerings. The pictures look lovely. The directions look easy enough. But if you can afford half of the ingredients listed here...well, I guess your next issue is going to be where on earth to get them. Farmer's market, to be sure, and perhaps some specialty grocery stores. (Coconut sugar? Lacinato kale? Vegan kimchi?) There will be several stops along the way to preparing just about everything Pelz presents.

It's all sturdy and well-crafted, including the actual book. Somewhat out of my interest, though.

[chloe yoder · Rating 3 out of 5]

The nutrition world is full of opposite opinions- it requires a lot of discernment to read these books for me. I appreciate that this one focuses on natural food, finding what works for your body, doesn’t encourage supplements, and emphasizes slowing down. I think it’s a bit too much “# rules to fix ____” where there’s a list of steps to get a certain result. Some of her rules are also not as timely or cheap as she presents them. Overall gave me good things to research and balance with other experts.

[January · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eat Like a Girl: 100+ Delicious Recipes to Balance Hormones, Boost Energy, and Burn Fat by Dr. Mindy Pelz (2024)
xvii+330-page Kindle Ebook

Genre: Health, Women's Nutrition, Intermittent Fasting, Reducing Diets, Cookbook

Featuring: Author's Bibliography, Publisher's Links, Full-Color Photos, Table of Contents, Letter From Author, Introduction, Hormones, Lifestyle, Foods That Support Great Liver Health, Fasting, Menstrual Cycle, Resetter Collaborative Facebook Group, Recipes, Vegetarian or Omnivore, Meal Plans, Pantry List, Conclusion, Appendixes, Resources, EndNotes, Bibliography, Index, Recipe Index, Related Interest, Author's Bibliography with Covers & Blurbs, Publisher's Audio Library App Link

Rating as a movie: PG

Books and Authors mentioned: Fast Like a Girl: A Woman's Guide to Using the Healing Power of Fasting to Burn Fat, Boost Energy, and Balance Hormones by Dr. Mindy Pelz, Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, The Power of the Crone: Myths and Stories of the Wise Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, The Glucose Goddess Method: The 4-Week Guide to Cutting Cravings, Getting Your Energy Back, and Feeling Amazing by Jessie Inchauspé

Memorable Quotes: Food is complicated. Let’s simplify it! The Foundational Five are your guiding lights back to a regulated body. If you ever lose your way with your health, come back and revisit the Five. They will always help you find harmony with your body. If you are getting lost trying to navigate new weight-loss trends or conflicting nutrition opinions, come home to these Five. They are a beautiful lens through which to see food. Plus, they fit both plant-based and omnivore diets. They even work with trendy diets like keto and carnivore. Struggling to get off one of the new weight-loss drugs? These Five can give you a solid footing so you can effortlessly find metabolic balance without relying on exogenous medications. That’s the power of the Foundational Five!

Blood sugar matters, calories don’t.

Many experts will tell you that these chemicals are the root cause of skyrocketing obesity rates.

How do you decide what foods you are going to eat? I’m guessing most would say, “It depends on what I am in the mood for,” and by this, we usually mean what tastes good to us. Pacifying our taste buds is all too often the deciding factor when it comes to our food choices. Enter your microbiome. Did you know that your gut bugs can change your taste buds? These smart little microbes all have different food preferences. Knowing how to feed the good microbes and starve out the bad ones will not only change your cravings but also your overall health.

There is so much cultural shame around the fat that lives on our bodies, but fat seriously needs a rebrand. It’s simply the storage closet for excess glucose, toxins, and hormones. Yet when we look in the mirror, we villainize fat. We don’t see it as a lifesaving mechanism. Once you start eating foods that don’t cause high spikes of glucose, your body will stop storing fat.

If you are actively on an oral birth control pill or have spent years on this medication, I highly recommend that you supplement your diet with the following vitamins and minerals, as research shows that these key nutrients are depleted with the use of oral contraceptives.
Folic acid
Vitamins B2, B6, B12
Vitamin C
Vitamin E
Magnesium
Selenium
Zinc

One message I got about food as a child was that if you are having a bad day, eating something yummy will make it all better. It became a strategy for momentarily taking me out of pain. If I didn’t like the emotions I was experiencing, I ate. It wasn’t until I dedicated my career to understanding the neurochemical system of the body that I realized I used food to give me a dopamine hit.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🍇🍉🥦🍳🥗🍛🍣☕️

My thoughts: 🔖Page 91 of 330 [Chapter] 10 The 30-Day Fasting Reset - Another book I'm going to have to spend a month with. I enjoyed Fast Like A Girl and so far I think this book is better.
🔖105 [Chapter] 11 Fasted Snacks - I'm done with the book, now I just need to read the recipes.

This book is fantastic. I even joined the Facebook group while reading. I loved that everything was broken down and explained in scientific and layman's terms. I was thrilled that most recipes have a photo, and separating them by cycle is brilliant. I'm excited to get started with this one many of the recipes look inviting. I think this book is even better than Fast Like A Girl.

Recommend to others: Yes. This is a great book if you want to eat healthier and heal your body, no matter what stage of reproduction you're in.

[Echo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here are a lot of inspiring reasons to try new recipes and eat like your life depends on it. I don’t like to cook, but I’m looking forward to finding some new food combinations that support my well being. I’d also recommend reading Fast Like a Girl. It goes into more depth about how food is used in our bodies and how we can quickly change how we feel, for the better. This book is the perfect companion book. I found Fasting for my health easy, but found the question about what to eat afterwards puzzling. This will help a lot.

[Shannon]

I borrowed it on Libby and definitely ran out of time and need to borrow it again.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Mindy shares tips on fasting and what to eat and when. A couple of recipes I'll try are the black-eyed pea crunch salad with crunchy chickpeas and the herb salad with dressing made of MCT oil, lemon and salt and pepper.

[Lydia Lobb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every woman should read this book! So much information we need to know to heal and thrive! (The audio edition is great too!) The recipes are mostly not the kinds of things I would eat/ ingredients I would use though, and seem to contradict what is said in the book sometimes. So I don't recommend the recipe section, but the rest of the book is SO helpful!

[Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting more practical recipes for everyday. I also found that it focused on vegan and vegetarian recipes which isn’t what I was looking for.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a woman in my mid-20s and just starting to recognize some mild nastiness that happens during my luteal phase - mostly fatigue and mood swings. A friend of mine recommended this book to me.

Obviously I haven't tried all the advice in this book so I cannot say whether it all works or not. I'm sure YMMV as every woman's body is different, and Dr. Pelz is quick to point this out herself. She clearly knows what she is talking about and cites her sources. I personally found the information and focus on working with my female body very gratifying.

The call to remove all non-organic food, gluten, and most dairy, is probably not really feasible in this economy, whether Dr. Pelz and all the other health nuts in the world are right about pesticides and additives or not. That being said, I saved a good chunk of the recipes and I am looking forward to trying them, maybe with a few substitutions.

I think there is a lot of useful information in here. Even though I might not commit to the kind of grocery shopping overhaul Dr. Pelz advises, I am interested in starting small, picking up the intermittent fasting schedule, focusing on specific foods and nutrients during specific phases of my cycle, and seeing how I feel after that.

[Whitney Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it’s so important for women to know about their bodies. I just finished reading this so I can’t say whether the 30 day reset / plans work, but just reading about the different hormones and how our bodies work was so informational & interesting. At quick glance, I love that it provides recipes, but I don’t know where I’d get half the ingredients honestly. That’s why I rated it a 4. They’re in depth & I fully understand each ingredient has a purpose, but some of them they sound like should be easy access & I’ve never of them. I wish they were easier access recipes or other suggestions for your typical grocery story or providing a reliable website. I’ll probably end up trying this out however I can & seeing how it feels, especially since having to take so many meds after a hip surgery. So we’ll see how that goes. But overall, I definitely feel like a learned a lot.

[Paula Street · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve flicked through this book a couple of times in the past couple of months, but it’s all a bit much for me to focus on at the moment. I was hoping for a simple overview of how food affects hormones in perimenopause and a new set of recipes that are easy to try, but in reality there is too much detail for me to absorb at the moment, and many of the recipes included don’t appeal to me, or include ingredients that are not so easy to get hold of, or incorporate into our favourite family recipes. I’ll keep hold of the book for now, and maybe try out the recipes that do appeal to me over the next few months. Meanwhile, I’ll focus on the simple tiny habits of not eating after 8pm, eating a wider variety of plants and eating less ultra-processed foodstuffs.

[erin iocco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this in-depth look at how female hormones work with all our bodily systems. I was fascinated by everything and took pages of notes. I appreciate the recipes and meal plans in the second half of the book so I can instantly add some of these practices into my routine without much thought.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful and interesting. Now to put my newfound knowledge to the test!

[Nicole Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mindy has me feeling better than I have in years. Easy and delicious recipes that give me energy and introduce me to new ingredients.

[Lynae Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I more skimmed it than read it, but looking forward to trying some recipes. The one soup recipe I’ve tried so far was good.

[Olivia S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars. This book permanently changed my understanding of my cycle, my eating habits, and my life. It is best approached as a textbook to be studied and annotated. Get copy for every menstruating person you know.

[Lexi Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the overview something to think about adding to the personal library.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a follow up to her book about fasting. I did not read that one. This book was about how to reintroduce food into your system. No way fasting is for me, but somehow I stumbled into this.

[ATjessicamarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal. So empowering and educational for us women. Can’t wait to try the recipes

[Alexa H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Educational, concise content for learning about supporting your hormones with proper diet. Recipes are pretty boujee and I’m unlikely to make them so I wish there were different, simpler ones. That being said, there are lists of recommended foods so you can just eat the staples on your own planned menu.

[Kerianne Noel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think if I had to pick just one of her books to recommend, most of us could just get away with reading Fast Like a Girl. Still, there was a lot where she went deeper nutritionally, and I came away feeling as though I had learned something new. I continue to be appreciative of books that consider the different phases of a woman’s cycle when doling out health advice. Even if it was a bit heavy on a certain style of hyper-empowering rhetoric, it felt genuine enough with plenty of substance. The recipes themselves look good and not too out there as far as ingredients go. While there are a few I look forward to trying, I don’t think this is where the book’s main value lies.

[Katie]

Libby Kindle. Fasting isn’t for me, but there are some great recipes in here. I also appreciated her recipes according to your menstrual cycle and feeding your hormones.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is true, I am a skeptically-minded person and I am still glad I gave this a try.

Pelz makes a lot of claims in this book. Some of them are new-to-me, such as how we can support our female hormonal cycle through eating/fasting. Others come with a whiff of the questionable, such as references to “detoxing the liver via coffee enema” and such. Like any health fad book, I think we should all evaluate the information in it critically. I did really appreciate that, unlike other health fad promoters (cough, Gundry), Pelz repeatedly informs readers that they should take what works for them as best they can and that it’s not one-size-fits-all. Indeed.

I do want to dock Pelz here for putting some pointed blame on over-the-counter pain killers, birth control, and antibiotics. She definitely makes them a “bad guy” for your gut and health. No one should be encouraging (subtly or no) discontinuation of important medications. We can agree that antibiotics are over-prescribed, but they are still life-saving. Sometimes we have to put less than ideal things into our bodies to survive and that should be OK too.

My own personal (and definitely not a doctor) take is that eating clean overall makes a huge difference in the way I feel. Whether that’s because my hormones are supported or because I’m just supporting my body better overall, I don’t know. I have experienced irregular cycles for 20 years, even though I have been mostly vegetarian, eating similar foods to the recipes in the book for over half of that time and having been fortunate to have no regular meds. When I started a muscle-building exercise routine last year for the first time in my life, I started caring about how MUCH I was eating daily, intentionally increasing my fuel. Suddenly, my cycles started becoming more regular. Was it because I wasn’t eating enough? Was it because of my lack of physical activity? Was it my weight? It’s hard to say.

Overall, I will take down the foods for the different parts of the cycle and let those help me meal plan a bit more. But the recipes were not super new to me as a vegetarian cook who has been around a bit.

[Sommer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Get your hormone levels tested don't just assume you have a thyroid problem like this book likes to project. Fasting isn't for everybody and sure everybody has a cycle and doesn't run on the 28 day cycle but there was one paragraph about having a different cycle so 🙃

And for the advice eat what you can pronounce and don't eat gluten because it has pesticides used on it. 🤐🤐 What world do you live in where what food you get at the shops is not grown in a way where pesticides aren't used. And also find stuff without antibiotics and don't tell everyone not to have antibiotics because it takes away all the bacteria in your gut please. Lastly some people need or want their birth control thanks

[Jennifer Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, but It was repetitive if you read Fast like a Girl.

[Heydi Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, context, I have read a lot of health books.

This book throws a lot at you that you might have to reread. I really appreciate how clearly, she explains how hormones work and interact with the food you choose to eat. Certainly, the easiest to understand explanations I have read yet.
 
I am certainly trying to implement as much as I can while battling with my husband's many unhealthy habits. When you're married, dinners can be tricky if you want to eat healthy, but your partner wants what he wants. This book has kind of given me the inner power to just say no and eat something healthier. So, thank you Dr. Pelz for that.

Anyhow, I recently had a hysterectomy, long before I should have but no going back now. So, is this book for me? There's a large portion of this book that is about cycles and what to eat when.

I mean I still have my ovaries but don't have a cycle per se. YES! This book is 100% for me. For all you reviewers that said this wasn't for you because you don't have a cycle, I think you might have missed a chapter! There's an entire section on what to do if you don't have a cycle. Basically, do 5 days of intermittent fasting 13-15 hours, 1 day of 24 hour fasting (dinner to dinner), and 1 day of health eating. So, just remember 5-1-1. I usually do Sunday to Monday at my 24 hour, then Tuesday through Saturday as my intermittent and Sunday as my just eating healthy day. I love that you can change it up depending on your circumstance. Does it work? Well, I have been doing it for about a month and I have lost 6 pounds. I have been doing it imperfectly, but it has definitely been working. I have also been implementing some healthier food choices. Not taking foods away but rather making sure I add things like 3 servings of whole grains a day, for me that is A LOT! I am definitely going to continue to progress as it has given me hope back. Hope that I can be me again. My doctor was less than helpful when I started gaining weight and feeling depressed after my surgery healing period even though I was back to my normal activities and then some.

This book, although not all applying to me, has definitely helped me feel like I am back in control of my life and wellbeing.

[Lynnette · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a guide for how a “girl” should eat based on hormones and health goals. There is a lot of information on the power of food and fasting, in addition to how fake foods, constant dopamine hits, toxins, and more can negatively affect your health. Dr. Pelz provides tips, guidelines, and resources on navigating this world with a 30-day plan and recipes.

There are four parts: Part I: Eating for Your Hormones, Part II: Using Food to Support Your Fasting Lifestyle, Part III: The Fasting Cycle, and Part IV: Recipes.

There are many strategies throughout the book. On page 96, the checklist for accelerated fat burning is a great guide that summarizes Dr. Pelz’s recommendations: follow your hormonal cycle, try longer fasts, eat fiber and good fat with every meal, eat enough protein, avoid liver agitators like alcohol, create an exercise variation plan, walk after large meals, minimize toxin load and obesogen exposure, detox, prioritize sleep, eat during daylight hours, and evaluate stress levels.

Some may be deterred by the choices you have to make in order to personalize the plan and make it work for you. You have to (1) decide a track—omnivore or plant-based; (2) choose the intensity—beginner or advanced determine the length of fasts; (3) choose how to cycle your reset—menstrual versus moon cycle; (4) choose an accountability buddy—friend, Facebook group, health coach, Reset Academy. Also, it is a lot of information to absorb, so you may want to focus on a few concepts initially before diving all in.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so cool! Dr. Pell is super well known for her phenomenon book Eat Like a Girl, and this is the follow-up book for her—which is actually a recipe guide to how to “eat like a girl.”

Here’s what’s up: I didn’t read Eat Like a Girl, but this first 1/3 of this book gives you the cliff notes (highly informative) version…plus it gives recipes. So honestly, I’m fine with just this as my foundation.

There is a ton to learn, and nobody can implement all in one go, but I’m stoked to start to try. I love health, nutrition, and food—and this book has so much wellness knowledge. Dr. Pelz is also very reassuring that: “As you take this information and play with it, be gentle to yourself. Too many of us have conditioned our brains to adapt to the rigidity of new information. We learn to sacrifice, push through, and ignore the signals our bodies give us. We have been taught there is a right way and the wrong way. Today is the day you get to let go of that agenda. It’s time to soften and listen to the wisdom of your hormones are whispering to you. There’s no wrong way, there’s only your way. Be playful with the concepts I’ve laid out for you. If you find yourself overwhelmed with all the information presented here, pick one or two concepts that resonate with you. Get to know these for a while. Be curious about how your body responds to these new ideas. Once you feel comfortable with them, add a few more concepts into your lifestyle. Before you know it, you’ll be living congruently with your feminine body.”

[Michelle George · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fasting portions of this book frustrate me to no end! 🤬
The only time we should be “fasting” is during our unconscious sleeping hours. There are some tips around night time and day time, and exercise that can be beneficial. The term breakfast was coined for just that, to break fast… when she gets on with not eating for up to 3 days for fat loss may be backed from science but doesn’t consider the consequences that come along with that, with all women’s situation.
Trigger warning ‼️ I’m sick of fasting / extremely low calorie deficit being a glorified term for anorexia.
The biases in her voice is wild!
Fast loss should not be a part of eating like a girl.. which is also triggering as a title…
I do like the education in our menstrual cycles, how foods can help support our hormones.
Cut this book in half and it can be very insightful.
I am skeptical overall.
Would highly recommend talking to a physician or dietician before proceeding in any sort of diet or fad from a book that plugs her own content.
Also why does this book have such a long intro like all the recipes on the internet, when all you wanna see is the recipe..
Overall, eat a variety of whole foods, try to meal plan and moderation is key…
Girls eat what you want but understand why you are fueling your body that way.
It’s a good reality check in the products we consume. But keep fasting to blood work tests.