The 30 Minute Expert Series - The Hormone Cure in 30 Minutes: The Expert Guide to Dr. Sara Gottfrieds Critically Acclaimed Book

INTRODUCTION

At a Glance

The Hormone Cure: Reclaim Balance, Sleep, Sex Drive and Vitality Naturally with the Gottfried Protocol, by Sara Gottfried, MD, is intended for adult women of all ages. It addresses the unique problems that afflict women as a result of hormonal imbalance (not enough of one, too much of another). While many Western doctors treat certain symptoms with antidepressants, antianxiety medications, or both, Gottfried calls for a different approach: Dont just treat (or mask) symptoms; rather, create a chemical balance in the body.

At the beginning of the book are several questionnaires to help the reader determine which chapters address her specific issues. The answers to these questions combine scientific data, written in laypersons terms, with The Gottfried Protocol, which is the authors own treatment plan, designed specifically to address hormonal imbalance. The book contains many case studies, based on Gottfrieds patients and the course of treatment she prescribed.

This review begins with a brief presentation of the book and its author. Youll learn about the inspiration for The Hormone Cure, and youll also meet Sara Gottfried and learn a few things about her life and work.

Next comes a short digest of readers responses to the bookthe good and the not so good, from professional reviewers as well as from bloggers and other interested readers.

The next two sections of the review offer a synopsis of Gottfrieds book and a detailed discussion of its key concepts. Youll find not only examples of the key concepts in practice but also ideas for applying them to your own life and experience.

Finally, the main points of this review are briefly restated, in a way that may well leave you eager to get your own copy of the book and see for yourself what the buzz is all about. Also included is a list of important terms used in The Hormone Cure and recommendations for further reading.

Understanding
The Hormone Cure

ABOUT THE BOOK

Sara Gottfrieds first book is partially based on her own experience with health and stress issues; mostly, however, she refers to patients she has treated over the years by correcting their hormonal imbalances with changes in diet and lifestyle, plus supplements and medications. There are dozens of hormones in the human body, and any hormone thats in either short supply or overabundant levels can cause illness and unexplained symptoms. During some stages in a womans life, she may have too much estrogen, for example, or at other times, not enough, resulting in elevated levels of the male hormone testosterone, which triggers the appearance of facial hair, weight gain, marked changes in mood, decreased libido, and more. Targeting hormones is becoming more widespread in the medical community, and several other books about the topic are available in print and as e-books (see Recommended Reading). However, Gottfrieds approach of explaining what each hormone does and how they all interact is unique and highly educational.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Sara Gottfried studied bioengineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a graduate of Harvard Medical School. She did her residency at the University of California, San Francisco, where she trained for her career as a board-certified OB/GYN. She is also a wife, mother, nationally recognized yoga instructor, author, and founder and medical director of the Gottfried Institute in Berkeley, California. She has researched the endocrine system and the way that womens bodies react to hormonal imbalances, including some female maladies commonly tossed off as depression, overeating, stress, or even just getting old. She has developed insights and groundbreaking theories about how these maladies can be treated and corrected by examining hormonal imbalances and addressing the issues on a molecular level rather than masking the symptoms with antidepressants and sleep medications.

Inspired by the longevity and robust health enjoyed by her greatgrandmother, Mud (an abbreviated form of the German word Mutter, meaning mother), Gottfried has modified her gynecology practice to include integrative medicine. Sometimes called functional medicine or holistic health, integrative medicine looks at the body as a whole rather than at the separate organs or systems, and strives to optimize the bodys moment-to-moment processes and functions before disease develops. Dr. Sara also leads online workshops for women, promoting natural hormone balance. She has combined Western medicine with Eastern remedies and practices, such as yoga, Ayurveda (Indian medicine), and Chinese medicine, producing positive results. Her method, The Gottfried Protocol, is a three-step, evidence-based process for balancing hormones naturally and rapidly over a period of a few months or even weeks.

Gottfried has been featured on 20/20, Fox News, and The Ricki Lake Show, in O, Natural Health, Cosmopolitan, Metropolitan Home, Glamour, Womens World, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Huffington Post. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two daughters.

CRITICAL RECEPTION

The Upside

People are talkinga lotabout The Hormone Cure. Physicians, psychologists, nutritionists, talk-show hosts, and other health and wellness authors are lining up to sing the praises of Gottfried and her new book. In the Huffington Post, Dr. Nalini Chilkov says, With the experience of many decades of private practice treating thousands of patients and a depth and breadth of knowledge uncommon in todays health care, [Gottfried] offers us real solutions that transform womens lives by getting their hormones back on track. Alexandra Jamieson, the woman behind the documentary Super Size Me and author of The Great American Detox Diet, says on her popular Delicious Vitality blog, Dr. Gottfried has a new book that debunks those hormone myths and helps women rebalance their energy. Jamieson goes on to call The Hormone Cure astounding.... [Gottfried] really blends together some incredible things... I highly recommend The Hormone Cure. Katherine Cowles, in a review for Publishers Weekly, calls The Hormone Cure, scientifically advanced yet deeply humane, and predicts readers will be cheered by [Gottfrieds] appealing sense of humor and disarming candor. And likely, many of them will also be stirred by Gottfrieds sympathetic understanding to stay the course. And EveryDiet.org offers the following praise:

The Hormone Cure provides detailed information about a variety of hormonal imbalances; [the] approach is customized to suit the individual, offers drug-free options for dealing with hormonal imbalances, encourages consumption of organic and seasonal foods, provides recommendations for labs that offer home testing of hormones, [and] explains scientific concepts in a way that is easy to understand.

The Downside

The staff at EveryDiet.org had a few observations to make on the con side as well:

[The Hormone Cure] only provides a very basic meal plan with no recipes, [the] sample meal plan is very low in calories and well below the generally accepted healthy intake, organic foods can be more expensive, some women will require more specific guidance to effectively overcome their hormonal disorders, [and it is] not suitable for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Alizah Salario, writing for Spirituality and Health magazine, observes: Gottfried leaves a few crucial questions unanswered, like when symptoms such as fatigue and weight loss should be looked into as indications of a more severe condition. Karen Springen, reviewing for Booklist Online, says, Some of [Gottfrieds] advice may seem too hard to live by. In addition, reader reviews have pointed out that even though Gottfried tries to make the scientific concepts behind her ideas understandable to the layperson, many mainstream readers still find them too challenging. The author of HealthierJane.blogspot.com noted: