Women, Food, And Hormones: A 4-Week Plan to Achieve Hormonal Balance, Lose Weight, and Feel Like Yourself Again

by Sara Gottfried

New York Times  best-selling author Dr. Sara Gottfried shares a new, female-friendly Keto diet that addresses women’s unique hormonal needs, so readers can shed pounds and maintain the loss more easily.

Most diet plans were created by men for men, but women’s bodies don’t work the same way. Popular programs can actually make it harder for women to lose weight, because they can wreak havoc on a woman’s complex and delicate hormonal system.  New York Times  best-selling author Dr. Sara Gottfried has spent her career demystifying hormones and helping patients improve their health more broadly with personalized medicine. In  Women, Food, and Hormones, Dr. Gottfried presents a groundbreaking new plan that helps women balance their hormones so they can lose excess weight and feel better. Featuring hormonal detoxification combined with a ketogenic diet that is tailor-made for women, coupled with an intermittent fasting protocol and over 50 delicious and filling recipes, this book shares a fat-burning solution that gets results. 

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

336 pages, Hardcover

Published September 21, 2021

About the author

Sara Gottfried, MD  is the  New York Times  bestselling author of The Hormone Cure  (Simon & Schuster, 2013) and  The Hormone Reset Diet (HarperOne, 2015).  After graduating from Harvard Medical School and MIT, Dr. Gottfried completed her residency at the University of California at San Francisco. She is a board-certified gynecologist who teaches natural hormone balancing in her novel online programs so that women can lose weight, detoxify, and slow down aging. Dr. Gottfried lives in Berkeley, CA with her husband and two daughters.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

So helpful and insightful and a great complement to reading that I have done on gut health as well. But, it ends disappointingly. After all the chapters on understanding and tracking protein, fat and carbs not a single recipe provided also provides the protein, fat and carb breakdown for that recipe. The recipes and associated meal plan was the whole premise and promise of the book - yet there’s one short page of meal plan and based on her recommendations it looks as though just doing day one of that plan would far exceed the protein, fat and carb allowances she has just spent an entire book pushing you to stick
to. Insightful advice but if you are doing to promote a meal plan / set of recipes surely it makes sense and is the right thing to do to connect the dots? If you do the meal plan using her recipes you have no way of knowing whether you are in the guidelines or not - at least not without a lot more research and calculations on your own. Case in point - just one of the smoothies she suggests with a scoop of protein powder could cover off 30-40% of daily protein allowance AND all your carbs… but then there are two more meals in the day? Similarly she makes a big point about intermittent fasting (to which I ascribe) but yet there is no meal plan that demonstrates how to make that work - you get the end of This book which is supposed to be the Big Payoff of “The Gottfried Plan” and the recipes are slapdash, some come from “readers” or are submitted (so apparently not tested or soundly nutritionally based - just sound like they taste good?) and the grand reveal of a four week meal plan is actually just ONE week with absolutely no nutritional or macro (protein / fat / carb) info whatsoever. Felt like she just got tired and gave up at the end. Read Jeanette Hyde’s books on healthy gut for great recipes and guidance that supports what Gottfried suggests but are proper researched.

[Zee Monodee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt a bit let down by this book... It should have been titled 'Keto for Women' more than having anything to actually do with hormones. I suffer from estrogen dominance which led to a receptor-positive breast cancer, and thus, my focus is always on how to balance hormones naturally and what to do/not to do. I find it hard that a book that is supposed to deal with women's hormones doesn't address the fact that some foods, like nuts and especially almonds, are extremely laden with phytoestrogens, which people with estrogen dominance might do better to steer from.
The book is also a lot 'I devised this protocol and I'll get to it soon...' and this keeps on and on, until you get to the actual protocol...and it's more 'measure your ketones and blood sugar and keep to this or that level', and that's basically it... Almost 60% of the book was 'I will tell you all about it...', then at 81%, you've had a ton of recipes, and the Notes already start there (and the Notes weren't further reading, either)
Just, it felt really misleading regarding the title. This is a book about keto for women and how to optimize your already Keto diet to lose weight. Not really anything to do with how to use food as women to balance your hormones

[Elaine - Small Farm Big Life · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not my favorite book my Sara Gottfried. The first couple of chapters repeat a lot of the same things over and over. They seem to be fluff instead of just getting to the diet and protocol. Once I did get to the diet it seems like a regular keto diet to me.

From the title of this book I didn't realize it was going to be just about moving to a low carb diet. If you are new to keto and trying to get started this book might be worth a read for you. If you are looking for information on hormones and aren't interested in going low carb this book isn't for you.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love books on nutrition and hormones, so I always geek out on one's that combine the two. I love that Sara backs up her ideas with science and explains it to the reader, even if it is in a simplified form. Her personal struggles with these issues gives her an emotional connection and fire that makes the book enjoyable to read.

I was quite excited when she acknowledged how traditional keto does not work well for most women. I have personally found this to be true and I dislike how most advocates for it tend to blame failure of it improving health to user error. Sure, it may account for some, but many people's body do not react well to it. I found that it personally increased my a1c and decreased my,thyroid hormones. Sara goes over the negative affects,that commonly plague women on keto and indeed, thyroid issues is a common one. Studies of keto have, by and large, been done,on males, whose bodies function much differently than females. I love her emphasis on natural detox to help combat the release of toxins,when the body,is in ketosis.

My issue comes in when she explains her protocol. It is 20-25 g of net carbs and a 2:1 ketogenic ratio....so keto. I have read a number of keto books with that exact range. So I feel like she talks about how important more carbs are for women and their hormones and then gives pretty normal keto recommendations. That was honestly q letdown. She does have the reader slowly add back carbs after a month to find their ketosis limit (the most carbs they can eat while still staying in ketosis) and,does belief the stricter protocol should not be used long term for women, though it can,be used qgain and again at various times when the body,needs an extra boost.

Now, I realize everyone is different, however, I don't feel like she covers the scope of how different women can be. I have insulin resistance and around 50 g net carbs per day and intermittent fasting of 14:10- 16:8, seem to be at my best. For some of us, a plunge plunge going that low is not ideal, especially for,those who have experienced negative health effects from keto. Thus, I'm a fan of her maintenance program, but not the extra strict first month. Again, it may work for some, but there are many exceptions.

The,constant tracking of macros is extremely tedious and nonintuitive. She mentions there being some contraindications and I would be remiss if I failed to mention that eating disorders would definitely be one of them. This plan does not include intuitive eating at all but requires exact tracking and logging with requirements of staying in certain percentages and ratios and then constant tests to check that the reader is still in ketosis. She is not moderate at all and does not advocate having off days or the occasional treat. Therefore, I found it to not be,very maintainable or intuitive.

Many of the recipes sound decent, but there are no pictures, so there is virtually no chance I would actually get around to making them.

Overall, it was an interesting book. I didn't learn anything new, as I have already researched the topic a lot, but I was excited to see the topics combined in one book that was aimed especially for women. I really like the author, there was just many parts of her plan that I found to personally be unrealistic or unusable for me.

[Andrea Perez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was not a fan of this at all. She makes it sound like she’s found this amazing discovery… it’s keto. She talks down on the Keto diet so much at first, saying the Gottfried diet is so much better for women and hormones. The Gottfried diet is Keto with a few tweaks. This book was a waste, I really wish I would have read reviews before buying. But I saw the title and got excited.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I thought. Much too complicated.

[Lara Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really appreciated all of the information about hormones and food in the beginning chapters of the book. The diet with counting macros and all of that doesn’t interest me but I did like looking through the recipes at the end.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was just a plug for her to sell things. It also included some very sketchy conclusions and assumptions. It was also just basically a book about Keto branded for women. Bad book.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my goodness I get SO many social media & algorithm ads about "eat right for your hormones" and "take the hormone quz!$" etc. and I was just like I NEED A BOOK ABOUT WHAT'S GONG ON.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. A lot of overlap with what my dietician advises me. Last half of the book is recipes

[Federica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is easy to read and contains a lot of useful informations and recipes.
I've found the whole concept of hormonal balance very interesting even though the first part of the book is a bit ripetitive.
I haven't tried the recipes and the diet, because I am a bit confused. The author says Keto diet is not good for certain women, especially if they have liver problems (which is my case) but the protocol which she suggested looks very much like a keto diet to me.
Nonetheless it is a very good book if you want to know more about hormon imbalance and try keto.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Puneet Kaur · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's my first book by Sarah Gottfried, and I had high expectations of what I’ll learn by reading it. I have to say I was a little disappointed at first, but I did take away lots of knowledge to apply in my daily life as I started to write what I remembered after finishing this book.

The first few chapters were repetitive. Most books involving health and nutrition are repetitive, and it's alright. As I read the same concepts repeatedly, I wanted to flip the page and read ahead to the part I haven't read in other books. The Gottfried method summed up is keto for women. Lots of information on what to do and what not to do. I found the Q&As helpful but felt like they were fillers simultaneously.

I wanted to learn more about hormones and their relationship with the female body but the book didn't cover as much as I had hoped. I loved the beginning of the hormones part of the book, but as I read more, I felt like it was a basic explanation. I was expecting to read lots about foods that are best for luteal and follicular phases in-depth and how hormones respond to the food during both, I didn’t get that from this book.
She explained Testosterone so well. I will give three starts for the Hormones part of the book.

I liked how well she explained how to count macros early in the book but didn't like that she shared so little when it came to the food portion of the book.
Someone reading about Hormones and Macros for the very first time could learn a lot from this as it’s simplified to better understand by reading the first time without confusion.

[Claire Nolan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Scary, keto, scary stuff y'all. Here she is saying it's a good thing.... read the research, and then read the research on the research. Basically for the majority of the population it's bad news bears. Men handle is better than women long term but it's not great. I won't go on like I could.
Women we are women, most diet studies are done on men. This book is covered in red flags. Focuses more on women being thin rather than how to be healthy by engaging with their hormones. If you're reading this and want help start w/ "Beyond the pill" or "The fifth vital sign".




How I rate books:
5 Stars= I absolutely loved it, felt very moved. Extraordinary. I rarely give this rating.
4 Stars= Well done
3 Stars= I enjoyed it but wasn't wowed. My most common rating
2 Stars=Meh
1 Stars= The kind of book that I feel shouldn't have been published bc it might discourage some from becoming readers.

[Laney Estel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really gave me a lot of insight as to why I wasn't losing weight on Keto. It provided really extensive research and easy to follow explanation about how to think about hormones during middle aged. I recommend it totally for that reason. However, if you are looking for recipes and are a picky eater, this is not a place to look. While a few gave me some good ideas, it was hard to find something for a semi-vegetarian. The recipe section was smaller than I expected (with the annotations taking up more pages than the recipes). I just felt this book could have had more recipes with more variety. So 3 stars for all the work and research though!

[Suzanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not what I was looking for - another way to do a Keto diet. I did learn a great deal about women and hormones but when it finally came to how to get results it was more than I bargained for - much more. The program is very tedious and you need to be ready with a notebook in hand to measure, weight, track, repeat. The book is full of information and a lot of research to back up what the author is preaching but I was turned off by how long it took to get to the help - promises along the way that it was coming soon.....and then to find out I was in for a boot camp of requirements. I must not be dedicated enough to good health because I pass on this one.

[Guina Guina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm taking a few things away from this book that I think I can use in my cooking to help the ladies in my life stay balanced, but I didn't get as much out of the read as I had hoped. There is a lot of repetition because Gottfried reiterates the same kinds of things for each treatment of a different imbalance. I didn't feel confident skipping things, though, as my knowledge about this topic is quite limited. So I read a lot of the same thing over and over again.

Time to find some other books to compare.

[Amy Eilers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good information about hormones and balanced eating, whole describing issues women in their mid 30’s start to face with hormones etc I felt very validated in my experiences. But in general the book was extremely wordy and repetitive. Lots of parts to skip over.

[Alfie Numeric · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers Dr. Sara Gottfried's approach to a ketogenic diet and modified it towards women's biology and hormonal shifts. Medical research on the ketogenic diet, where weight loss is due to shifting the body from a glucose-burning body to a fat-burning body were done mainly on men and very little research is done on women and their unique shifts in the production of hormones.

The modified keto diet she developed is only meant to be temporary, as it jumps starts the patient's metabolism by weening away from sugar and carbs, detoxing and balancing hormones for four weeks. I found that it is

It is a simple read and it is important to remember that this is one perspective. She encourages the readers to be their own advocates and monitor themselves. This book is not meant to be a cure-all; it is meant to share information and to encourage discussion around hormones, aging and women health.

[Anastasia Ricketts · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at the library just based off of the title, thinking it would talk about how different foods affect women's hormones and possibly her cycle. It however, actually talks mostly about the Keto diet lol! Like, the whole time. It doesn't mention keto anywhere on the front of the book. I don't do keto, but a lot of my friends do so I kept reading and I have been recommending this book to my keto girlfriends. It's an easier read than it looks since approximately half the book is just recipes.

[Mary Phelps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good content but points are repetitive. The list of resources (like supplements on line if you don't have a store nearby, links and tools could be expanded better. The concepts to cleanse, then "pulse" into Intermittent fasting takes time..
Then to go Keto and then slowly add carbs and cycle through to your tolerance point for your personal carb tolerance instructions are a plus and great motivator to reset your metabolism!
However some of the lab tests are pricey and you definitely need to work with a Functional Medicine practitioner/nutritionist to decifer potential blocks. (I.e., toxins like mycotoxins and heavy metal cleanse) which may be your mandatory precursor. Ask your provider if this is right for you... YET--bottom line. I hope to give it a try after a few lab results. I'm glad she put this out there as women ARE built different than men hormonally. I hope Dr. Gottfried adds a more comprehensive cookbook soon.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great book to gather information, learn about your body (as a woman) and to eat to gain strength in yourself. I truly enjoyed reading this book and gaining such knowledge that gave me new perspectives on food, its affects on our female bodies and how to feed ourselves to gain control and power from within.

Thank you Sara Gottfried, Netgalley and the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for my complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Derrelyn Wagoner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The path to autonomous health!

If you have any inkling you have hypothyroidism, read this book cover to cover. Then read it again! As a nurse and NP student, I have found my path to wellness. Not only for myself, but for those of us as patients who feel "invisible ".... Especially past a certain age.

[Katy Harms · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, really solid, researched information. I’m very interested to try her modified keto diet (specifically to see if it helps balance out hormones). Her advice about upping fiber intake has already been really beneficial for me. I’ve also added in intermittent fasting (14:10 for now).

I’ll update my review after I’ve tried the diet (it’s more of a reset).

[Andreea Pahontu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has helped me understand the connection between food and hormones. It has helped me eat more consciously for my needs. It offers a diet but also a plan for transitioning back to a life without dieting. I won't follow the diet strictly because I don't need to, but I will change what, when, and how I eat daily. It also includes many recipes for inspiration.

[Lory Sakay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some very interesting information but written so horribly that I couldn't get through to the end. May be better as a physical book to skim through and to maybe refer back to a chapter or two that relates to the reader's specific situation. There is definitely a lot of knowledge and research shared by the author that can be extremely beneficial to many.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got several chapters in the skipped around. I was really disappointed in this book. It is more a how to do keto as a woman since that is the diet she is promoting. A lot of the same information was repeated over and over in the first few chapters. I ultimately abandoned it since it wasn't very helpful to me.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Some helpful information.

[Sydney Levi]

This is the first book I’ve read concerning hormone health. Can be a lot to process and sift through, but good and informational. The author is winsome!

[Chris Ruppert-Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of helpful information.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

bought this book as I thought by reading title that it would talk more about women and their hormones ... I obviously didn't read the rest of the title; "4 week plan etc". I don't know a lot about keto dieting but I read it anyway but found myself a little horrified at some of the suggestions, not sure im the target audience (im 21 and the author referred to being 30+ and dealing with hormone decreases and post-baby weight). It provided good information on food and hormones but either way, not my cup of tea