The Hormone Fix: The natural way to balance your hormones, burn fat and alleviate the symptoms of the perimenopause, the menopause and beyond

by Anna Cabeca

For women approaching or in menopause, a revolutionary diet and holistic lifestyle program for easier weight loss, better sleep, diminished hot flashes, a clearer head, and a rejuvenated sex drive.

As women approach the age at which they stop having their monthly period, many start to experience the physical and emotional indignities of hormonal fluctuation and an ensuing "metabolic stall." The result: hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, weight gain, memory loss or brain fog, irritability, and discomfort during sex. Many women are resigned to accept these changes now and for years to come; some even agree to be unnecessarily medicated for their symptoms. But Dr. Anna Cabeca's research and experience with thousands of her patients shows that there is a unique diet combination and non-pharmaceutical lifestyle interventions that can dramatically alleviate these symptoms--forever!

Pairing the hallmarks of ketogenic eating (very low carb, high fat) with foods and lifestyle changes that bring the body's pH to an alkaline level (and lower cortisol production), The Hormone Fix offers women everywhere an easy-to-follow, easy-on-the-body program to help thrive through menopause and beyond. It includes recipes, meal plans, stress-reduction advice, testimonials from real women, and a 10-day quick start guide to help women trim down, get off of meds, get fit, tap into unexpected energy levels, enhance intimacy levels and completely revitalize their lives.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Food, Self Help, Diets, Nutrition, Audiobook

400 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2019

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some very good information. I especially appreciated the part about eating a lot of veggies to make sure your body is alkaline. Can't go wrong with veggies. I enjoyed reading the research she shared about intermittent fasting, which seems like a no-brainer. Don't eat all night--you'll feel better and be healthier and maybe even fight cancer and weight gain. It also seems pretty easy to implement, and it will not lead to disordered eating (as restrictive diets can).

Speaking of restrictive diets, I disagree with keto approach for a lot of reasons, and I think eating in a balanced, non-keto way works better for me mentally and physically. I avoid most sugar and caffeine. Every meal consists of a good quality protein, healthy fats, veggies, and a small serving of an unrefined starchy carb, like beans, potatoes, squash, or sweet potatoes. I don't eat carbs alone, and I eat regularly. I learned this from Dr. Schwarzbein and a variety of other professionals.

Her information about why we need to move, sleep, reduce stress, and enjoy life if we want to achieve hormonal balance is easy to understand and compelling. I especially enjoyed the chapter on oxytocin. Some people, like me, need to be persuaded to sleep a lot/do less/relax/ enjoy life. I'm working on it!

I also found it helpful that she said balance/health only 25% diet. If you have a wonderful diet, but you are angry and stressed and don't sleep, you will still have many many problems. Since my diet is pretty good, I enjoyed reading the lifestyle changes I could make to have an easier transition into the next phase of my life.

I am tired of reading books that are trying to sell my very expensive protein powders, detoxifying elixers, and green superfood powders for making smoothies. I like to eat real food--at every meal. I don't want to replace any meals with green drinks. I was annoyed at the selling of the products, but I can overlook that because of the good information found within the pages.

My doctor recommended this book to me, and as she said, "This will reinforce the ideas behind what you are already doing. You eat in a very hormone-balancing way. This book will help you understand why you should keep eating this way. And why you need to work on your stress, sleep, and fun!" In a nutshell, the building blocks of our hormones all come from the same precursor. If we use up all the building blocks to make stress hormones, we won't have any blocks left to build the reproductive or thyroid (or other important) hormones.

[Amy Bruestle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book through a giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

This book was awesome! Packed full of knowledge and information that ordinary people can easily understand and put to use! Great read! Looking forward to trying some of the recipes is the back of the book as well!

[Dawn W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly life changing!

I found this book through the free program "Breeze Through Menopause" on https://breeze.dranna.com/ Dr. Cabeca's site. I am 52, went through menopause at 43, have bad arthritis, bursitis and was recently diagnosed with hyper-mobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS).

At first I was very skeptical. I followed the program as outlined in her book and on her website, managed to get into Ketosis but not reach Alkalinity as outlined in her book. So I bought some Mighty Maca, some Keto Green and her testing strips and started the 10 days for a second run.

Wow! What a difference! At the end of the 21 days, I was down 3 inches, 1.6 lbs. and finally alkaline! I have reduced my acid reflux meds to once every other day. I take my anti-inflammatory meds for bursitis, hyper-mobility Ehlers-Danlos and arthritis 3 times a week instead of daily. I slept! I was able to do yoga and belly dance the last week for the first time in 2 years. My hot flashes are gone and I feel mentally clear. I am getting more energy and feeling better than doing traditional keto approach.

Looking forward to trying more of her supplements and gaining control of my health. Don't hesitate to read this book and try her recommendations!

I did not get this book for free nor am I affiliated with her company or products.

[Leigh Loveday · Rating 1 out of 5]

I need to warn women that this Hormone fix/Keto green plan may work for some, maybe even for many, but it is dangerous for me and probably many others. First of all, I am a super healthy and active woman, age 68. I walk 5 miles a day and have for over 20 years. I take no meds, am a good weight and have never been overweight. My curse is hot flashes, so I decided to adopt Keto green for hot flashes and for brain health. Dr. Cabeca was featured on the Alzheimer’s Science of Prevention, along with David Perlmutter and many other celebrity doctors. I saw the series and fell for the hype.

Anyway, I went all in on Keto green, and adhered totally for almost three months. My hot flashes disappeared for two months, then started coming back some, but never like they were. I lost 5 pounds which I didn’t need to lose, but that was ok. My glucose was lowered for a few weeks, then it started creeping higher. Often it was 100 at fasting, which wasn’t good. I was sleeping better. So I was pretty pleased, but it was a very restrictive diet and I knew I couldn’t sustain it for long.

Last week I decided I should check on my cholesterol, so did a test and got the results a few days ago. I was totally blindsided and am still in shock. My total cholesterol went up 100 points, from 219 to 321. I almost had a heart attack just seeing that number. My LDL went from 125 to 212, my triglycerides from 125 to 137. Needless to say, Keto Green is gone forever. I immediately added back in to my diet oatmeal, beans, sweet potatoes, fruit, tomatoes, squash, etc.

If this Keto green works for you, that’s great. Good luck, but please be aware and please check your numbers after a month or two to be sure you’re not like me. I just hope I can get myself back to normal, and I guess hot flashes be damned. By the way, the Mighty Maca Plus makes my hot flashes so much worse, so be careful. It works great for most people apparently. None of her products worked for me, to be honest.

[Brandie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is interesting but I felt like it was an infomercial to market the product she sells.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've never had any exposure to low carb eating or lifestyle medicine, then this is a good starting point for you. If you have, this was mostly just rehashing what many other authors have already published, with the snappy name "Keto-green" applied to make it seem novel, and plenty of opportunities to purchase products from the author. As a board certified Ob/Gyn myself, I was very interested to see how gynecologists are incorporating naturopathic and functional medicine into their allopathic practice, and for that reason, this book was a worthwhile read, but as a practitioner, it left me wanting more. It's also focused on women who partner with men and I think sexual health applies to everyone. I think there are people out there for whom this information will be incredibly helpful and I hope those people find their way to this book. Check out her podcast as well. I myself was most captivated by her harrowing story of loss and recovery which brought me to tears. If Dr. Cabeca writes a book about how she rebuilt her life by traveling the world with her family and learning about ancient healing practices, I would read that in a hot second.

[Carol Bakker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anna Cabeca was a winsome guest on an intermittent fasting podcast, telling compelling stories of healing and weight loss. [My favorite was about her own widowed father, who when 79 was told to be thankful for his long life and prepare to die. Dr. Anna took over his health care and diet; within a month he was playing tennis and revitalized. He lived to 93.] Her particular place on the Keto train is moving the body to a more alkaline state by eating lots of green and cruciferous vegetables and taking supplements.

Listening to her book gave me some ideas to tweak my diet and was another nudge to ease up on dairy and to add more probiotic food into my life. That said, I don't get thrilled with [ __]-day detox diets or 21 days of menus.

[Patty Betts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Dr. Anna Cabeca!! She is a grand advocate for the woman - the WHOLE WOMAN, which WE NEED! Again, it all starts with gut health, nutrients, lifestyle then add in those bio-identicals when the time comes...The way she writes empowers me and mentally strengthens me to go into this new season of my life with gratitude. Thank you, thank you Dr. Anna Cabeca! I definitely recommend this book to all women in peri-menopause or menopause!!! She is my favorite advocate and educator for women's sexual health!!

[AnnMarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated her emphasis of alkalinity to balance hormones with incorporating Ketogenic recipes. The reminders to incorporate movement regularly & stress management can’t be overlooked as less important to overall better health & a more balanced body. As other reviewers mentioned, the text read like an infomercial for endorsed products the deeper I got into it. I was reading the book for more information, not product placement, which dropped my review to 3 stars.

[Melanie Rightmyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some very useful information and suggestions for women that are approaching a certain stage in life, for that reason I will keep a copy on my shelves. The reason I only gave the book 3 stars is because much of the book feels like an infomercial, the author is promoting her products and that turned me off a bit, but overall the book is still informative.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Some of the keto information was good, but redundant for me as I've read so many other books on keto.
Pet peeve--the recipes section included ingredients you're not supposed to eat!!

Simple, sort of disappointing.

[Ew Lake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought the author’s medical credentials are good, I couldn’t help feeling I was succumbing to hype. There were a few great takeaways, and a couple recipes I’ll try, but no overhaul.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some useful bits of information, seems thorough, but I haven’t done much other research to compare. Didn’t sell me enough to take on a cleanse or the diet/menu plan. Some consistent advice for menopause, there’s no stopping it, you can deal with it, here are some dietary changes that have helped others.

[Stef · Rating 5 out of 5]

Packed with information. Good to know I had already started to bee aware of what I was using and how it could affect me

[Sugarpuss O'Shea · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book contains a lot of useful information, I knocked off 1 star for the way Dr. Cabeca continually dropped products and another star for not including nutritional info for her recipes. After all, keto is about counting carbs, and without this information, that part of the book is useless.

[Farhana Faruq · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I'm tired of diet books. I was hoping this would be more, but it's not. Someone discovers a diet (which they call a 'lifestyle' to make you and me feel better) and they obviously start feeling better following said diet (because do anything better than the crap we're already doing will work) and then they publish a book!

I did like that the author is an actual doctor, but then she also sells her own supplements and insists she wrote this book because she cares about you and me (and I doubt it).

This is a keto diet..but not any keto diet.. a GREEN keto diet. So you eat more veggies and whatnot (she mentioned potatoes and beans at one point) - do we still stay in ketosis than? Who knows. The idea is you follow a keto diet, but to stay healthier you need your body to be more alkaline so you add the greens!

Lots of supplements listed (usually the same in every diet book). Stay away from non organic, and all external and any internal products that harm your health (tap water, shampoos, carpets, everything). Exercise is good (surprise, surprise) and keep your stress level in check (so meditate and if you've been through some trauma - get help for that).

Overall the book (directed towards females - mostly in the menopause stage of life) is average at best, if you don't usually read health/diet books.

Few things that didn't make sense though: the author mentions that the difference between this diet and others is that this one doesn't villainize foods yet you need to cut out carbs (most of them). As well, part of the plan includes intermittent fasting, a 13-15 hour fast. Those that have studied intermittent fasting have mentioned women don't do well on a fasting window that long. Twelve hours should be the max otherwise you can mess up your hormones (so much for "hormonal fix"). And then there is the 10 day detox you start with. I hate when people advocate a detox. Unless you're really messed up, your body does a fine job of detoxing. And the author has sold this as "you lose one pound each day!" At a rate that high, it's water and muscle... muscle.. why do you want anyone to lose muscle!?!

This is a 7 hour audio book. If you listen to it please keep in mind what I've mentioned above or at least research it a little more before jumping into it.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not big on forced recipe diets or detox diets, especially ones that require purchasing specific products. Most of the recommendations in the book line up with information I have read from other authors.
Yes, the book often seems like an advisement for her products. I do like her approach to keto so am willing to give the 10 day detox a try. We shall see.
I do like that it is specific to women dealing with various stages of menopause rather than the “general population”. Overall the book contains reasonable information and suggestions.
Update: I did the 10 day detox and lost a few pounds. I didn’t have any great changes in how I felt. I discovered that I really don’t enjoy smoothies. I won’t continue to purchase her products.

[Kristen M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Features Keto-Green concepts. I would have liked photos of recipes, but then it would have been more of a cookbook. The information she shares is not necessarily ground-breaking or new, it is just reformatted. She does have branded supplements that she recommends - but that she developed, which I think is a strike. She has another one coming out about Keto-Green more in depth in September and I look forward to that one.

[Kowanda Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has good ideas for nutrition and keeping your body alkaline. I plan to try a few of her recipes but many require unusual ingredients. I'm also not a huge fan of taking lots of supplements, which the author pushes (many are from her website). Even so, my take aways of new knowledge make the book worthwhile.

[Eve Apple · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean, it's a diet book, and like all other modern diet books, the general gyst is eat more vegetables and all your problems will be solved. The twist here is that this time you're aiming for ALKALINE vegetables. 😒 Oh yeah, and also, here's one magic ingredient that is so obscure you'll have to special order it from the internet but I promise, it'll change your life.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought she had some helpful ideas (mainly to eat more vegetables!). Of course when I go online she seems to be selling a number of supplements, which always makes me wonder about the advice.

[Esther · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eat good fat and alkaline veggies. Keep body in ketosis. A couple of decent recipes to try.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh I struggle between 1-2 stars. I listened to this as I am waiting on hard copy from the library. The first third was interesting not too many anecdotes or n=1 so it must work. I will check references when I get hard copy. But the rest of the book became quite preachy. I get that this worked for her and she’s helped millions of women but it’s as if this approach throws the kitchen sink at the issues and so it’s hard to understand what works. As a result I feel like a part of this approach is general eat healthy mindset, part placebo effect, part calorie restriction, and part shame. If you had organic eggs but not broccoli well that is why it’s not working…Also I really hate when authors have their own products but of course they do because that is how they make money. She mentions Maca powder as the miracle green substance and of course she now has a line of it. I could also have done with less personal details on her trauma but maybe it will help others. Finally the biggest thing that gets me is her diet is big on eliminating chemicals and toxins (eg, eat organic, avoid plastic), I get it and if you are rich and can do that go you. And the diet is HUGE on supplements- which I get too as I am a vegetarian. However, supplements are not regulated in the US and choke full of filler etc. they are also made through chemical processes. I have not checked yet and wonder if she has a line of these, but still how can you no recommended reliable supplements. I was looking for more scientific and less anecdotal. But I give it stars because I needed an easy to understand approach to the myriad of hormones and process at play during menopause and she provides that. This was enough to get me started with my research.

[Deborah Weinstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following a chocolate & sugar filled Halloween week, I was not sleeping well, seemed to be exhausted when I woke up and waking up multiple tunes a night, and had gained a few pounds around the middle.

I decided to do Dr. Anna’s 10 day detox included in this book and I am not exaggerating by saying it has completely transformed my life. I have energy consistently throughout the day, wake up feeling great, I’m never craving sugar and I have lost 9 pounds easily.

Her book makes sense, and is an easy read because she adds in her very personal life stories to illustrate.

Super recommend trying it - what do you have to lose?

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked chapter 11 where she talks about ways to boost oxytocin. There was a place where she explained that in some ways we decide if our body produces oxytocin or cortisol based on whether we are kind and compassionate to ourselves or whether we berate ourselves etc... That really spoke to me. And as I have tried to practice more mindful positive habits (based on this and many other books) I believe it is true. In some ways we create or worsen our own misery because of our focus or our attitude. It is amazing to find scientific reasons why. Mostly this book talks about nutrition/diet and that is helpful. But that chapter is a must read.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book to any woman experiencing difficult symptoms (e.g., hot flashes, sleep disruption) related to perimenopause or menopause. Dr. Cabeca de-stigmatizes and de-pathologizes this stage of life. After providing a primer on the endocrine system and hormones, she offers women a simple guide to improved health and self-care. She also explores the link between stress, hormone disruption, and diet, using her own recovery from traumatic loss as an example. Her credentials (board-certified OB/GYN) lend credence to her recommendations.

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started off strong then fizzled. She ask if you have these particular issues like itchy ears but doesn’t explain what that pertains to. The test are ridiculous and I got so tired of the constant sale plugs. If I knew half the book were recipes, I would’ve paid more attention at the end but I had already lost interest. She swears her cream will change your life but she’s not in it to help you she’s in it to make money. The cream is $60 a month and she herself says you need to try it for at least two months to get the benefits. I wish I had money to burn to help my health but oh well.

[Sylvie Rochon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informative, helpful, easy to read instruction for health!

This is a very comprehensive book about how if we want to be healthy and positively affect our homones, we can achieve it by making sure to Alkanize the body, eat a Keto-green diet, and intermittent fast. It has some great questionnaires, lots of tools, recipes, suggestions to help us take control of our health and weight. And it is written in a gentle, compassionate, loving way. I love it, I will be coming back to eat a lot, I'm sure!

[Palmer Kippola · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this superb book, Dr. Anna simplifies the steps back to hormonal harmony! She is the perfect guide for any woman seeking balance because she's been there before -- as a woman, mom, and triple-board certified, integrative OB/GYN. This is keto done the right way, with loads of guidance and delicious recipes. I wholeheartedly recommend this book and Dr. Anna's Julva cream to my friends and health coaching clients.

[Xanthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot started making sense after reading this book. Where it falls down for me though, is that the practical application of the principles were very American centric and not terribly suitable for vegans. This book was better than most pro Keto ones but there just wasn’t much in it for those of us who don’t consume animal products for ethical reasons. A chapter and some alternative options in the recipes would have been good.