After taking her hormone balance questionnaire I was surprised by some of my symptoms. I expected to have more symptoms of low progesterone, but in actuality the hormones most out of balance for me are High Cortisol, High Estrogen, and Low Thyroid. The low thyroid I've been wondering about for a while now and will be having that checked in the next month. While I haven't made huge changes to my diet I have started to switch to either 1/2 caff or decaff coffee in the morning to support adrenal function; as well as to cut back on wine consumption on the weekends. Not that I was drinking a lot, but instead of two glasses on friday and saturday, I'm limiting my self to 1 or 2 two very small glasses, or none at all. To address the high estrogen I've started taking Estrofactors, and after only 30 days am noticing improvements in my cycle.
Lets just start with my dislikes so I can end with the positives.
1. Being a nutritionist, I would have liked to see a more diet recommendations. However, I'm also glad she didn't include much of that, other than telling the reader to go eat real foods (Paleo-ista style), and to increase real fats. If she had, I think it would have been info overload, and her explanations of the hormones and lifestyle changes would have been lost.
2. Some people may be turned off or intimidated by Dr. Gottfried's Mind/Body practices to help regulate hormones. Depending upon the hormone imbalance someone may need to do yoga, practice diaphragmatic breathing, take up HeartMath, practice forgiveness, chant, try acupuncture or get a massage. Some of these activities (HeartMath/Massage) might be too expensive for certain people. And others might be intimidated to try a yoga class. The main message of these recommendations are to RELAX! This is something I'm trying to work on for myself. Mostly I'm learning to deep breath when I'm feeling stressed, and working on not sweating the small stuff. I would love to take a yoga class even 1x week, but at $17 a class, that adds up quickly. Not to mention that Ryan and I are already paying for a gym membership. I'm not saying these are bad suggestions; actually they are great suggestions. I just know some people may find some of them hard to adopt.
3. It's so comprehensive that some people might get overwhelmed. If that sounds like you, skip any sections (hormone imbalances) that don't apply to you. Only the sections that apply to you, then follow steps 1, 2, and 3 as prescribed. Find one or two things in each step that seem do-able and tackle those. Example: if you have high cortisol, start with step 1. by weaning off caffeine and limiting alcohol (if you drink either). As you develop new habits, maybe you buy yourself a heart rate monitor (amazon for $35-100) and learn a little HeartMath. If it's in your budget, get a massage as frequently as possible.
4. I do wish some of these "sub steps" were categorized by importance. Playing off the previous example, is including 40grams of dark chocolate daily as important as me weaning off caffeine or adding a B vitamin complex? If not, why is it listed first?
What I liked:
1. The Hormone questionnaire. It's very thorough and can really help direct people to their personal imbalances. Instead of starting out with expensive hormone testing, which isn't always accurate, take the questionnaire and see if you can address your imbalances that way. Even if they can't fix it on their own through diet/lifestyle/supplement, it gives them more direction to have a frank conversation with their MD. And then move on to saliva/blood testing.
2. This book is very comprehensive. I'm not sure you could get more information out of a grad school textbook. I never did.
3. I really enjoyed her case studies of patients. I believe these will help people relate their experiences to those of others and give them hope that yes, their health can improve. I would have liked a few more examples of younger patients, most of the stories were of middle aged women to post menopause. I realize that's when most hormone imbalances are occurring, but us younger ladies have issues too.
4. There wasn't an excessive amount of self promotion. Yes it's a self help book, but Sara did a great job of focussing on the reader, not herself.
5. Sara discusses not only the research behind her supplement recommendations, but also gives recommended doses! Also, at the end of the book she provides a chart with each hormone imbalance and the recommended supplements.
6. Nothing conflicts.
Ultimately, if you think you have a hormone imbalance, read this book. If your MD isn't listening to you, or taking your symptoms seriously, read this book then go back to them armed with information. If you just have a general interest in healthy and physiology, read this book.
