PCOS Is My Power: Your Guide to Understanding PCOS, Fixing Your Hormones, and Resetting Your Health

Dietician and fertility specialist Ruth debuts with an encouraging guide to managing symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome, an endocrine disorder that causes infertility, irregular periods, weight gain, and other issues. Drawing on her personal experience with PCOS, she explains how the chronic condition can be managed through lifestyle and dietary changes, writing that “a diagnosis wasn’t the end of my life.” Stress, hormones, genetics, and inflammation are the four main factors that influence PCOS symptoms, Ruth notes, laying out steps for mitigating the impacts of each. Increased stress, for example, causes spikes in hormone levels, which for women with PCOS can lead to missed periods, weight gain, and facial hair. Ruth encourages readers to take mental and physical stress seriously and prioritize minimizing it, suggesting that exercise and quality sleep are key to doing so. Nutrition can also make a significant difference. Explaining that there are “no good or bad foods,” she recommends a balanced diet of fiber, carbs, fats, and protein and offers “pro tips,” like eating vegetables and protein before carbs, which research shows can reduce blood sugar spikes and PCOS symptoms. Rounding things out are easy-to-follow weekly meal plans, extensive grocery lists, and delicious-sounding recipes, like portobello baked eggs and salmon burgers with tangy slaw. For readers with PCOS, Ruth’s friendly tone and accessible advice chart a hopeful path forward. (Jan.)