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The Hormone Healing Cookbook

80+ Recipes to Balance Hormones and Treat Fatigue, Brain Fog, Insomnia, and More

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Paperback
$24.00 US
7.4"W x 9.13"H x 0.64"D   | 25 oz | 20 per carton
On sale Jun 06, 2023 | 240 Pages | 9780593235812
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Discover cutting-edge dietary solutions to hormone imbalances with 80 recipes to help reverse hormonal weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, and more, from the integrative physician and New York Times bestselling author of The Adrenal Reset Diet.

Much of our everyday well-being is contingent on our hormones. As hormones change from lifestyle, diseases, and aging, so too does quality of life. The top five symptoms of hormone imbalance include weight gain, fatigue, hot flashes, brain fog, and insomnia. Thankfully, the right foods can help regulate and heal your hormones. With eighty recipes, photos, and dietary solutions geared towards alleviating these symptoms along with boosting your metabolism, The Hormone Healing Cookbook will help you choose the best foods for you, returning your body to a state of balance. 

Learn which foods to incorporate into your diet to fight:
  • Insomnia: Mushrooms, walnuts, and black rice 
  • Brain fog: Oats, blueberries, leafy greens, and basil 
  • Fatigue: Beets, ginger, pumpkin, and navy beans 
  • Hot flashes: Broccoli, soy, figs, and flax 
  • Weight gain: Potatoes, yogurt, fish, and onion  

Dr. Christianson will help you tailor the best meal plan for your body and hormone levels so that you can start feeling better in just a few weeks.
“Dr. Alan Christianson has created a breakthrough plan proving that simple, natural foods will reverse troublesome hormone symptoms and enhance brain function. These recipes are not only delicious and packed with essential healing nutrients, but they will also appeal to your family and friends. I highly recommend this must-addition to any natural cookbook collection.”—Steven Masley, MD, FAHA, FACN, CNS, bestselling author of The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up

“If you are looking for a natural, food-based approach to begin addressing hormonal symptoms, Dr. Alan Christianson has a new cookbook just for you. Over the years, I’ve trusted Dr. Christianson to share the best-quality evidence in a way that can improve health.”—Sara Gottfried, MD, four-time New York Times bestselling author of The Hormone Cure

“Countless people struggle with hormonal symptoms like weight gain, fatigue, hot flashes, insomnia, and brain fog. Dr. Alan Christianson has a brand-new set of safe solutions in the form of tasty recipes.”—Izabella Wentz, PharmD, FASCP, New York Times bestselling author of Hashimoto’s Protocol

“Your hormones are literally made and controlled by the foods that you eat. Not only can food be medicine, but it also can be used to help specific hormonal symptoms. The Hormone Healing Cookbook will show you how to use delicious recipes to help you unlock better health.”—Shawn Stevenson, bestselling author of Eat Smarter and Sleep Smarter

“This cookbook shares clear science about how phytonutrients in foods improve the body’s hormone regulation.”—JJ Virgin, CNS, CHFS, celebrity nutrition and fitness expert, and New York Times bestselling author of The Virgin Diet and The Sugar Impact Diet

“Hormones have a huge impact on our energy, mood, weight, brain function, and sleep. Are you using food to influence those key hormones? You should be! This is an indispensable practical cookbook packed full of simple strategies to positively impact your hormones.”—Ari Whitten, MS, bestselling author of The Ultimate Guide to Red Light Therapy and Eat for Energy

The Hormone Healing Cookbook is a great resource for anyone who would like some more healthy recipes or would like to improve their weight or energy levels. Dr. Christianson shares exciting science about how foods and hormones are interconnected.”—Dr. Trevor Cates, bestselling author of Natural Beauty Reset and Clean Skin from Within

“As a doctor who focuses on hormones and the endocrine system, I’m thrilled to have The Hormone Healing Cookbook as a healthy resource. Dr. Christianson has done an amazing job explaining those common, annoying symptoms while providing phytonutrient-rich recipes to help.”—Carrie Jones, ND, FABNE, MPH, head of medical education at Rupa Health

The Hormone Healing Cookbook is a great resource for anyone who would like some more healthy recipes or would like to improve their weight or energy levels.”—Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, founder of the Institute for Muscle-Centric Medicine
© Byron Medina
Alan Christianson, NMD, author of the New York Times bestselling book The Adrenal Reset Diet and The Metabolism Reset Diet, is a naturopathic medical doctor who specializes in natural endocrinology with a focus on thyroid disorders. He founded Integrative Health, a physician group dedicated to helping people with thyroid disease and weight-loss resistance regain their health. He has been named a Top Doctor in Phoenix magazine and has appeared on national TV shows and in numerous print media. Dr. Christianson lives in Phoenix with his wife and their two children. View titles by Dr. Alan Christianson
Why a Cookbook?


I believe that good health is an essential ingredient in a good life. I believe that the key to one’s best health is a lifestyle based on deliberate habits supported by solid evidence. That includes a diet with a variety of minimally processed foods in reasonable amounts. But that’s not the end of the story. You can tailor that diet to further meet your specific needs, and I’m honored to show you how in The Hormone Healing Cookbook.

My first book to reach a wider audience contained the idea that foods could be timed in a way to reset the body’s stress response. It included meal plans and recipes to provide practical applications. I was excited to share the idea. It seemed to me to be a big idea, a revolutionary one. I’ve always enjoyed healthful cooking, and it seemed like an afterthought to plug in some of my favorite recipes.

My readers’ feedback surprised me. They did find the program to be helpful, and they shared inspiring results. I was elated but also pleasantly surprised to learn that the recipes were a big part of their success.

I started sharing more recipes online, along with publishing two more books. Still, readers asked for a cookbook.

Well, I’ve finally delivered! And while there’s no way to deny that this book is all about the easy, delicious recipes, they are all in service to one idea: that specific foods can reverse a hormone imbalance and your symptoms can illuminate which foods to focus on. Daily cooking is more than a way to feed yourself. It is the center of a healthy and happy life.

The better your life is, the fewer preventable issues emerge, and the better you can deal with the unpreventable ones.

From our surveys and from the questions you’ve sent, your top concerns are weight loss, more energy, better mental function, easier menopause, and improved sleep. Some of these have been covered in my other books; others have not. The common thread is that these are all hormonal symptoms.

Let me expand on the word hormone so we can be sure we’re talking about the same thing.

In the medical world, hormones are chemicals that regulate the body’s systems. The most relevant ones include hormones from the thyroid, the adrenal glands, and the ovaries or testicles. When people outside medical circles talk about hormones, they usually mean estrogen-related symptoms like PMS, menopause, or fertility. When this cookbook talks about hormones, it means all of the above. There is so much research showing that food can help hormone regulation, and I’m excited to share it with you in a practical form.

There are three ways to make use of these recipes. First, this cookbook is organized around top hormonal symptoms. If you’re struggling mainly with one of these symptoms— weight gain, fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, or hot flashes—follow one of the 14-Day Menu Plans to get relief (starting on page 70). Second, you can use these as recipes for the programs in other books. Some need a little modification, which I have provided. Third is to just skip around and have fun. Find a recipe that sounds good, give it a try, and repeat. They are all tasty, easy, and healthy.



Why Symptoms?

I organized this cookbook around symptoms because they are what matter most.

All too often the medical world focuses on everything but symptoms, when the whole point is to help you feel better. Doctors often focus on laboratory results over symptoms because symptoms are out of their control. They can’t assign numbers to them, and symptoms can get worse even if doctors prescribe the “right” treatment.

Lab findings are part of the doctors’ sphere of control. Symptoms are not. When patients talk about symptoms, they are the ones in control. When the focus is on labs, the doctor can decide whether the treatment worked or not. Did the lab results get better? Then case closed.

But there is no victory unless your symptoms improve. You don’t really care if your labs are better if you don’t feel better. Symptoms are more than different forms of discomfort. They can determine the quality of your life. They are also the best way for you to know what is happening inside your body. If they persist, you know there is still an underlying problem that has been missed.

The fewer of them you have and the milder they are, the better your life is. As an endocrinologist, I focus on the hormones behind the symptoms. Is the culprit estrogen, cortisol, or T3 from the thyroid? There is a place for this approach, but it has its limits. The typical scenario is that doctors will rule out the most severe diseases and then proclaim that nothing else is wrong. They are often not trained to think about hormones. Symptoms are the first sign of a hormone imbalance. Disease is the second sign.

The body adjusts its hormone levels to stay in balance. Hormones govern the rate and the timing of our core chemical reactions. When reactions occur too slowly, we feel tired, gain weight, and can’t think clearly. When the timing of daily reactions is disrupted, we can’t sleep well. Timing also applies to how well we move through life’s stages like perimenopause and menopause. If the events within these major transitions are not smoothly orchestrated, normal symptoms of the transition are worse.

There is a balancing act between doing what you can to improve your own health and seeking medical care when appropriate. The only simple answer to this dilemma is to have a good working relationship with a health care professional. Even when you have a good relationship, there are times when you need to decide whether to focus on self-care or further diagnosis. Consider a second opinion if your symptoms are severe, new, or changing, or if you feel your symptoms aren’t being taken seriously. If your symptoms are stable and well explained, but you’re still not feeling your best, you can now take matters into your own kitchen. Cooking is powerful. I say this because I’ve seen food help tens of thousands of people over the course of more than twenty-five years of patient care. This cookbook draws on my experience and the medical literature to select specific foods to help these top hormonal symptoms.

But food is just the starting place. For the recipes to work, they must become part of your daily life. If food is to be an effective solution, it must be easy to find and work with. Most of all, the meals must taste good. Some people might be able to force themselves to eat things they don’t like or skip their favorite foods for longer than others, but no one can do it long term. The right food can help, but only if it is part of a good recipe and a lifestyle that works for you. It can help even more when the recipe is tailored to your specific symptoms. Every recipe in this cookbook was created to help you feel better. The ingredients were chosen because of their specific effects. And, if you’ll forgive me for saying so myself, they are good!

I think we can agree that good food is fresh, flavorful, balanced, properly cooked, and lovingly prepared. Good food is satisfying, nourishing, and good for you. It leaves you feeling alive and eager to take on life’s challenges. If you don’t already love to cook, this cookbook might change that. Making meal plans and shopping lists can be the hardest part, and I’ve done that for you! When it involves less struggle, cooking can be a form of meditation.

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About

Discover cutting-edge dietary solutions to hormone imbalances with 80 recipes to help reverse hormonal weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, and more, from the integrative physician and New York Times bestselling author of The Adrenal Reset Diet.

Much of our everyday well-being is contingent on our hormones. As hormones change from lifestyle, diseases, and aging, so too does quality of life. The top five symptoms of hormone imbalance include weight gain, fatigue, hot flashes, brain fog, and insomnia. Thankfully, the right foods can help regulate and heal your hormones. With eighty recipes, photos, and dietary solutions geared towards alleviating these symptoms along with boosting your metabolism, The Hormone Healing Cookbook will help you choose the best foods for you, returning your body to a state of balance. 

Learn which foods to incorporate into your diet to fight:
  • Insomnia: Mushrooms, walnuts, and black rice 
  • Brain fog: Oats, blueberries, leafy greens, and basil 
  • Fatigue: Beets, ginger, pumpkin, and navy beans 
  • Hot flashes: Broccoli, soy, figs, and flax 
  • Weight gain: Potatoes, yogurt, fish, and onion  

Dr. Christianson will help you tailor the best meal plan for your body and hormone levels so that you can start feeling better in just a few weeks.

Praise

“Dr. Alan Christianson has created a breakthrough plan proving that simple, natural foods will reverse troublesome hormone symptoms and enhance brain function. These recipes are not only delicious and packed with essential healing nutrients, but they will also appeal to your family and friends. I highly recommend this must-addition to any natural cookbook collection.”—Steven Masley, MD, FAHA, FACN, CNS, bestselling author of The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up

“If you are looking for a natural, food-based approach to begin addressing hormonal symptoms, Dr. Alan Christianson has a new cookbook just for you. Over the years, I’ve trusted Dr. Christianson to share the best-quality evidence in a way that can improve health.”—Sara Gottfried, MD, four-time New York Times bestselling author of The Hormone Cure

“Countless people struggle with hormonal symptoms like weight gain, fatigue, hot flashes, insomnia, and brain fog. Dr. Alan Christianson has a brand-new set of safe solutions in the form of tasty recipes.”—Izabella Wentz, PharmD, FASCP, New York Times bestselling author of Hashimoto’s Protocol

“Your hormones are literally made and controlled by the foods that you eat. Not only can food be medicine, but it also can be used to help specific hormonal symptoms. The Hormone Healing Cookbook will show you how to use delicious recipes to help you unlock better health.”—Shawn Stevenson, bestselling author of Eat Smarter and Sleep Smarter

“This cookbook shares clear science about how phytonutrients in foods improve the body’s hormone regulation.”—JJ Virgin, CNS, CHFS, celebrity nutrition and fitness expert, and New York Times bestselling author of The Virgin Diet and The Sugar Impact Diet

“Hormones have a huge impact on our energy, mood, weight, brain function, and sleep. Are you using food to influence those key hormones? You should be! This is an indispensable practical cookbook packed full of simple strategies to positively impact your hormones.”—Ari Whitten, MS, bestselling author of The Ultimate Guide to Red Light Therapy and Eat for Energy

The Hormone Healing Cookbook is a great resource for anyone who would like some more healthy recipes or would like to improve their weight or energy levels. Dr. Christianson shares exciting science about how foods and hormones are interconnected.”—Dr. Trevor Cates, bestselling author of Natural Beauty Reset and Clean Skin from Within

“As a doctor who focuses on hormones and the endocrine system, I’m thrilled to have The Hormone Healing Cookbook as a healthy resource. Dr. Christianson has done an amazing job explaining those common, annoying symptoms while providing phytonutrient-rich recipes to help.”—Carrie Jones, ND, FABNE, MPH, head of medical education at Rupa Health

The Hormone Healing Cookbook is a great resource for anyone who would like some more healthy recipes or would like to improve their weight or energy levels.”—Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, founder of the Institute for Muscle-Centric Medicine

Author

© Byron Medina
Alan Christianson, NMD, author of the New York Times bestselling book The Adrenal Reset Diet and The Metabolism Reset Diet, is a naturopathic medical doctor who specializes in natural endocrinology with a focus on thyroid disorders. He founded Integrative Health, a physician group dedicated to helping people with thyroid disease and weight-loss resistance regain their health. He has been named a Top Doctor in Phoenix magazine and has appeared on national TV shows and in numerous print media. Dr. Christianson lives in Phoenix with his wife and their two children. View titles by Dr. Alan Christianson

Excerpt

Why a Cookbook?


I believe that good health is an essential ingredient in a good life. I believe that the key to one’s best health is a lifestyle based on deliberate habits supported by solid evidence. That includes a diet with a variety of minimally processed foods in reasonable amounts. But that’s not the end of the story. You can tailor that diet to further meet your specific needs, and I’m honored to show you how in The Hormone Healing Cookbook.

My first book to reach a wider audience contained the idea that foods could be timed in a way to reset the body’s stress response. It included meal plans and recipes to provide practical applications. I was excited to share the idea. It seemed to me to be a big idea, a revolutionary one. I’ve always enjoyed healthful cooking, and it seemed like an afterthought to plug in some of my favorite recipes.

My readers’ feedback surprised me. They did find the program to be helpful, and they shared inspiring results. I was elated but also pleasantly surprised to learn that the recipes were a big part of their success.

I started sharing more recipes online, along with publishing two more books. Still, readers asked for a cookbook.

Well, I’ve finally delivered! And while there’s no way to deny that this book is all about the easy, delicious recipes, they are all in service to one idea: that specific foods can reverse a hormone imbalance and your symptoms can illuminate which foods to focus on. Daily cooking is more than a way to feed yourself. It is the center of a healthy and happy life.

The better your life is, the fewer preventable issues emerge, and the better you can deal with the unpreventable ones.

From our surveys and from the questions you’ve sent, your top concerns are weight loss, more energy, better mental function, easier menopause, and improved sleep. Some of these have been covered in my other books; others have not. The common thread is that these are all hormonal symptoms.

Let me expand on the word hormone so we can be sure we’re talking about the same thing.

In the medical world, hormones are chemicals that regulate the body’s systems. The most relevant ones include hormones from the thyroid, the adrenal glands, and the ovaries or testicles. When people outside medical circles talk about hormones, they usually mean estrogen-related symptoms like PMS, menopause, or fertility. When this cookbook talks about hormones, it means all of the above. There is so much research showing that food can help hormone regulation, and I’m excited to share it with you in a practical form.

There are three ways to make use of these recipes. First, this cookbook is organized around top hormonal symptoms. If you’re struggling mainly with one of these symptoms— weight gain, fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, or hot flashes—follow one of the 14-Day Menu Plans to get relief (starting on page 70). Second, you can use these as recipes for the programs in other books. Some need a little modification, which I have provided. Third is to just skip around and have fun. Find a recipe that sounds good, give it a try, and repeat. They are all tasty, easy, and healthy.



Why Symptoms?

I organized this cookbook around symptoms because they are what matter most.

All too often the medical world focuses on everything but symptoms, when the whole point is to help you feel better. Doctors often focus on laboratory results over symptoms because symptoms are out of their control. They can’t assign numbers to them, and symptoms can get worse even if doctors prescribe the “right” treatment.

Lab findings are part of the doctors’ sphere of control. Symptoms are not. When patients talk about symptoms, they are the ones in control. When the focus is on labs, the doctor can decide whether the treatment worked or not. Did the lab results get better? Then case closed.

But there is no victory unless your symptoms improve. You don’t really care if your labs are better if you don’t feel better. Symptoms are more than different forms of discomfort. They can determine the quality of your life. They are also the best way for you to know what is happening inside your body. If they persist, you know there is still an underlying problem that has been missed.

The fewer of them you have and the milder they are, the better your life is. As an endocrinologist, I focus on the hormones behind the symptoms. Is the culprit estrogen, cortisol, or T3 from the thyroid? There is a place for this approach, but it has its limits. The typical scenario is that doctors will rule out the most severe diseases and then proclaim that nothing else is wrong. They are often not trained to think about hormones. Symptoms are the first sign of a hormone imbalance. Disease is the second sign.

The body adjusts its hormone levels to stay in balance. Hormones govern the rate and the timing of our core chemical reactions. When reactions occur too slowly, we feel tired, gain weight, and can’t think clearly. When the timing of daily reactions is disrupted, we can’t sleep well. Timing also applies to how well we move through life’s stages like perimenopause and menopause. If the events within these major transitions are not smoothly orchestrated, normal symptoms of the transition are worse.

There is a balancing act between doing what you can to improve your own health and seeking medical care when appropriate. The only simple answer to this dilemma is to have a good working relationship with a health care professional. Even when you have a good relationship, there are times when you need to decide whether to focus on self-care or further diagnosis. Consider a second opinion if your symptoms are severe, new, or changing, or if you feel your symptoms aren’t being taken seriously. If your symptoms are stable and well explained, but you’re still not feeling your best, you can now take matters into your own kitchen. Cooking is powerful. I say this because I’ve seen food help tens of thousands of people over the course of more than twenty-five years of patient care. This cookbook draws on my experience and the medical literature to select specific foods to help these top hormonal symptoms.

But food is just the starting place. For the recipes to work, they must become part of your daily life. If food is to be an effective solution, it must be easy to find and work with. Most of all, the meals must taste good. Some people might be able to force themselves to eat things they don’t like or skip their favorite foods for longer than others, but no one can do it long term. The right food can help, but only if it is part of a good recipe and a lifestyle that works for you. It can help even more when the recipe is tailored to your specific symptoms. Every recipe in this cookbook was created to help you feel better. The ingredients were chosen because of their specific effects. And, if you’ll forgive me for saying so myself, they are good!

I think we can agree that good food is fresh, flavorful, balanced, properly cooked, and lovingly prepared. Good food is satisfying, nourishing, and good for you. It leaves you feeling alive and eager to take on life’s challenges. If you don’t already love to cook, this cookbook might change that. Making meal plans and shopping lists can be the hardest part, and I’ve done that for you! When it involves less struggle, cooking can be a form of meditation.