The Female Factor: The Whole-Body Health Bible for Women

by Hazel Wallace

The Number One Bestseller

A DEEP DIVE INTO WOMEN'S HEALTH

** Is heart disease a 'male' disease?
** Are certain vitamin and mineral requirements particularly important at certain points of women's lives?
** Can I stay active during pregnancy?
** Why are women more likely to experience stress-related conditions?
** How does sleep affect my overall health?
** What can I eat to ease my menopausal transition?

The male body has always been the default body in clinical medicine, making the assumption that women are just smaller versions of men. This could not be more wrong.

This bold, comprehensive guide to understanding women's health shakes up the narrative for women of all ages. The Female Factor provides methods to protect and maximise your health in positive, affirming steps.

Spanning nutrition, movement, mood, sleep and 50 balanced and delicious recipes, this is a blueprint to understanding and aligning your wellbeing, your hormones and your body, both in the short-term and long-term, filled with practical and insightful information to harness throughout the course of your life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Feminism, Science, Nutrition, Self Help, Education

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 17, 2023

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entry level book - good for those who are seeking information for the first time. If you are well read on the female health topics you will find it disappointing. The book is very basic and lacks detail.

[Mara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aesthetically pleasing but a disappointing lack of detail/elaboration. Could’ve been an email.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If it wasn't for the pre-marketing, I would have given it 5 stars! My expectations were not met from the marketing of the book, however it is a wonderful easy read with an overview of women's health. It also points out a lot of missing research in the area of women's health.
There are 50 recipes at the back that look like they will be fun to try out.
I had been expecting more detail in the areas. Especially in nutrition. I can use the references at the back for to look for the more detail I was expecting.
Having read the Kindle edition, I do hope to purchase a couple of physical copies when in England next week, for my daughter and a couple of friends who will have missed the marketing!

[Nixx · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high expectations for this book. Given that the author states she has PCOS I was hoping for more than a very basic overview of what it was. Approx 50% of the book is recipes rather than focusing on female health, I feel the author missed the opportunity to create a fantastic book here.

[Summer Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whilst the parts of the book that were educational were very well written, easy to understand and I definitely took information on board, I was hoping for deeper knowledge and understand and it seemed a little surface level.

I would recommend someone that doesn’t understand the basics, but not to someone that is well clued up in health and wellness already

[Bella Boersma · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good and had some new/useful info but on the whole I would have preferred a lot more information and less chat/opinion. A large proportion of the book is just recipes which I think could have been subbed for more information related to women’s health. Felt a bit wishy washy to read without loads of tangible useful info

[Gabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I utterly enjoyed the research done behind this book: comprehensive and insightful data to all readers. When it comes to practical tips from Hazel, I was rather disappointed. Telling me how much caffeine one should consume is just not what I was looking for. In overall, I think it is a good book for readers who have less or no knowledge in health and wellness.

[Fran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super disappointing because this is such a basic overview that contains not really much on my opinion than we cover at medical school! I like the recipes but that’s about it. This book could do with focusing on certain chapters a bit more, and having a in depth experience.

[Amanda Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book highlighting the unique health challenges that women face, along with some interesting information about the bias that women go through in the healthcare system. An excellent read for women at any stage in their life.

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

basic knowledge book, but i’ve enjoyed it anyway as it has freshened up my memory.

the sweet potato feta muffins are to die for so if you try one recipe from the book, try that one! they taste like a quiche, but are even better.

[Holly Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe even a 2.5. Great there’s more books with a female focus, however this is mostly a basic intro rather than real detail. As a kindle reader, was also very disappointed to find half way through it books a recipe book.

[Emily Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily my new favourite book!

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be recommending this book to every single woman in my life !!!

[Karoli Lust · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that there are more books about women’s health as I actually just read the “Invisible women” book - it had similarities regarding the health factor and ofc chapters about Endometriosis. I think there are alot of women out there who still haven’t heard about this disease and think that how they are suffering is still very normal because after visiting 9 doctors the 10th doctor tells them exactly the same that it’s just part of being a woman.
So it’s great to see that awareness is being raised.

An easy read, and it was a surprise how many great vegetarian recipes she added to the book (100% going to test these out, as we are already implementing more vegetarian food in our household, this is going to help us further)

P.S the book is hard covered and looks really cute as a design element in your home.

[Meana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recomiendo si quieres nociones básicas de salud, pero el libro se queda muy superficial en la mayoría de temas. Un poco más de profundidad habría sido de gran ayuda. A veces el libro está enfocado de una manera muy "instagrammable", es precioso y tiene ilustraciones preciosas, aunque entiendo que esto facilita el acceso a la información para un público más visual, podría haberse indagado más en los temas de salud que nos conciernen a todas. La mitad del libro es un recetario y entiendo que mucha gente quiere ideas de recetas y saber qué comer para tener mejor salud, sin embargo no es como se vendió el libro originalmente. Se supone que es una biblia sobre la salud femenina, pero se queda flojo y hay un gran énfasis a las recetas.

[Robyn Dunning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an empowering and educational read for women! Exploring nutrition, mood, movement and sleep in relation to our cycles. Dr Wallace highlights how much of a mans world we still live in, and how we are not “small men” therefore, need more research in women’s health. Had some shocking revelations, but am encouraged that things a slowly changing for better. And the second half of the book is full of delicious and easy looking recipes. Highly recommend 🤤

[Sriyah Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this book and found it knowledgeable and fascinating about women's health especially discusses certain (and common) health conditions women go through and provides advice/recommendations for them. Bonus is that it contains nutritional recipes for meals such as breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Easy read and highly recommended!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it - easy to read. However I felt like it wasn’t detailed enough for me - probably because I didn’t start a with zero knowledge on the different topics.
A great read for beginners on how to improve several aspects of female health.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone who wants to understand the female body, I felt seen and cannot express how grateful I am to Dr Wallace for putting this together.

[Georgiana Rowley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been following Hazel for 8+ years and find her podcast so interesting so thought I’d give her book a go. I did enjoy it but I found some parts too simplified and others too scientific (that I would tune out). I also found it a bit shorter than I was expecting, but not sure if that’s down to Kindle saying 30% but it was all appendix. However a great read to ease in and start a journey of learning about female conditions and nutrition.

[Harriet Beaty · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit disappointed. I wanted an in-depth insight into female health. What I got was a glazed over version, and although I agree she cannot give medical advice, to end every paragraph with ‘this may not apply to all women, or seek medical intervention before trying’ isn’t helpful.

In all, it’s probably not Dr Wallace’s fault - there isn’t enough research out there for her to comment on. And I’m looking forward to trying the recipes (even though I wasn’t aware this was a food book).

[Caro Harper · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is disappointingly light touch and lacking on detail. The premise is good but the info provided is very much already available if you follow social media accounts based on decent info about health.

[Pamela Gallagher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basic and part memoir which was weird
Recipes look good
Disappointed glad I borrowed it from library

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn’t keep up with how much it jumped around 😅

[Yasmin Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having seen a lot of negative reviews and comments on the excessive recipes ect but I have to disagree. There is a large section roughly two thirds of the way through dedicated to recipes yes, but I also think they complement her points perfectly. She is explaining why and how diet can help a lot of issues throughout and if she didn't give examples it would be a half a**ed job of you ask me. Her examples and food inspiration display how simple meals and snacks can be following the ingredients and supplements she is suggesting.

Anyway I thoroughly enjoyed it and if the recipes aren't for you scroll past them, the book itself was super insightful and helpful as a PCOS girlie. Highly recommend!

[Chloe Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, particularly if you're new to this subject. It covers hormonal changes across a women's cycle and throughout our lives and how this can impact on mood, exercise, sleep, nutrition etc.
I do feel like it would have been an easier read if it was split into cycle, puberty, pregnancy, and menopause rather than covering bits on each in every chapter. This would have made it easier to dip on and out of the book at different points in your life rather than having to flick through every chapter.
Covered lots of information, but all at a basic level. For me there wasn't very much new information, apart from a few statistics. Still an important read for any female though.

[Kirsten Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Hazel for gathering so many stats and facts/figures which I appreciate are difficult to find for women.

A lot of this content I already knew but it’s great to be reminded of and explained further in terms that are both engaging and easy to understand. It was also interesting to have access to her balanced views on topics I don’t know much about, such as HRT.

I hope Hazel is able to continue her writing and research as “after all, if it’s a factor which can improve sleep quality, then I argue this is a public health issue.”

[Terri · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very pretty coffee table type of book. The illustrations are beautiful. The charts too, but lacking in detail. I thought it was very superficial. The author skimmed over big subjects in a paragraph or two. It didn't seem to respect its subject matter. I didn't like the use of words like fart and fuck. It seemed disrespectful of what women go through. What she referred to as chapters were just a few paragraphs. Not much substance to it at all. If you are interested in the topics here, "It's Probably Your Hormones" by Dr Mary Ryan is a much better book.

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to like it as there's barely any literature out there focussing on women's health in specific, but I really would have expected more from it. More detail, more variety, more advice. Just more. It was all very basic overview which did not really give me more information than a simple google search or NHS website information. Some nice recipes, but that wasn't really my main reason for going for this book in the first place.
I definitely did learn more about the hormones in the body though, but nothing to improve my work with women, as I would have expected.

[Sarah Riyani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and liked that all of the references are available at the end if I want to have a deeper dive myself. Everything is well explained and I think this book would be suitable for a layman as the scientific terms are well explained. The author doesn't go into deep detail on the science, but I think this is intentional as it's designed for any woman with no medical knowledge to understand and not as a medical textbook