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A review by lancakes
The Pcos Plan: Prevent and Reverse Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Through Diet and Fasting by Jason Fung, Nadia Brito Pateguana
This was... bad :)
Let's start from the beginning: the foreward has a photo of the author in a bikini for... no reason lol. She talks in the foreword about developing PCOS without having an obese BMI and having rapid weight gain, but the description below the bikini pic does not provide info about whether the photo was taken before PCOS and weight gain, at the author's heaviest, or after her subsequent weight loss. It is completely unnecessary.
Moving on: chapter 1.
The title is "The Diabetes of Bearded Women" LMAO ROAST ME.
This book is a primer on PCOS. That means people who are just seeking or receiving a diagnosis are looking for information. You could be a little more tactful. A little gentler lmao. I know, from reading the chapter, that the chapter pulls its title from the title of a seminal historic study published about PCOS. But hey, the chapter could have been called "The History of PCOS".
Further to my point about this book being a resource for people with PCOS who are seeking more info, I think the focus of this book on fertility should have been better advertised in the cover synopsis or even the book's subtitle. This naturopath opens the book with her reputation for getting women with PCOS pregnant. As someone with PCOS who is not looking to get pregnant, I could use 95% less anecdotes centring fertility. As an egregious aside: the author displays an incredibly callous attitude towards one of her clients who, upon treating her PCOS, suffers period pain. The author basically says this client is childish for complaining about period pain when so many women with PCOS are desperate to get pregnant. I hope this lady is a good liar and was able to fake compassion with her client in the moment. YIKES.
I found the science, as far as I could understand it, to be illuminating. It's been a hot minute since I studied nutrition, and I'm not really sure if I ever did grasp the molecular breakdowns in uni. A lot of self-evident graphics that didn't seem necessary, but maybe a different kind of visual learner is helped by their inclusion.
Somewhere around two thirds into the book the naturopath mentions the books written by the doctor that's listed as a co-author on this book. As far as I can tell, that is the extent of the doctor's contribution to this manuscript. As someone who is a little hesitant about naturopathy (consider it a healthy skepticism), a medical doctor co-author is the reason I bothered reading this book. But he doesn't seem to have written or verified any of the manuscript. There's literally just a sentence where the naturopath says 'reading this guy's 3 books will give you lots of good info'. K.
I take umbrage with the author describing the diet as "low-carb" - she explains her rationale for doing so, but I think any diet that aims to keep the body in ketosis should be described as a ketogenic diet.
Finally, the recipes look fucking disgusting. To give credit: it's cool that the recipes are for one person, since most women are attempting this dietary change alone and it's easier to double a recipe than halve it. It's also very supportive to include meal plan examples including shopping lists. But the actual food sounds bad lol.
After reading this book I'm left with a clearer understanding of the biological functions at play in my body which, ultimately, is one of the things I'm hoping to learn from my research into PCOS. However, this book has also left me with some Bad Feelings that I need to sort through. And, given this has been a pretty rough time of extensive medical testing, dealing with medical professionals, and confronting the emotional and physical realities of my sick body, I would have preferred a book that didn't kick me in the teeth and give me a lot of weird extraneous shit to sift through.
Let's start from the beginning: the foreward has a photo of the author in a bikini for... no reason lol. She talks in the foreword about developing PCOS without having an obese BMI and having rapid weight gain, but the description below the bikini pic does not provide info about whether the photo was taken before PCOS and weight gain, at the author's heaviest, or after her subsequent weight loss. It is completely unnecessary.
Moving on: chapter 1.
The title is "The Diabetes of Bearded Women" LMAO ROAST ME.
This book is a primer on PCOS. That means people who are just seeking or receiving a diagnosis are looking for information. You could be a little more tactful. A little gentler lmao. I know, from reading the chapter, that the chapter pulls its title from the title of a seminal historic study published about PCOS. But hey, the chapter could have been called "The History of PCOS".
Further to my point about this book being a resource for people with PCOS who are seeking more info, I think the focus of this book on fertility should have been better advertised in the cover synopsis or even the book's subtitle. This naturopath opens the book with her reputation for getting women with PCOS pregnant. As someone with PCOS who is not looking to get pregnant, I could use 95% less anecdotes centring fertility. As an egregious aside: the author displays an incredibly callous attitude towards one of her clients who, upon treating her PCOS, suffers period pain. The author basically says this client is childish for complaining about period pain when so many women with PCOS are desperate to get pregnant. I hope this lady is a good liar and was able to fake compassion with her client in the moment. YIKES.
I found the science, as far as I could understand it, to be illuminating. It's been a hot minute since I studied nutrition, and I'm not really sure if I ever did grasp the molecular breakdowns in uni. A lot of self-evident graphics that didn't seem necessary, but maybe a different kind of visual learner is helped by their inclusion.
Somewhere around two thirds into the book the naturopath mentions the books written by the doctor that's listed as a co-author on this book. As far as I can tell, that is the extent of the doctor's contribution to this manuscript. As someone who is a little hesitant about naturopathy (consider it a healthy skepticism), a medical doctor co-author is the reason I bothered reading this book. But he doesn't seem to have written or verified any of the manuscript. There's literally just a sentence where the naturopath says 'reading this guy's 3 books will give you lots of good info'. K.
I take umbrage with the author describing the diet as "low-carb" - she explains her rationale for doing so, but I think any diet that aims to keep the body in ketosis should be described as a ketogenic diet.
Finally, the recipes look fucking disgusting. To give credit: it's cool that the recipes are for one person, since most women are attempting this dietary change alone and it's easier to double a recipe than halve it. It's also very supportive to include meal plan examples including shopping lists. But the actual food sounds bad lol.
After reading this book I'm left with a clearer understanding of the biological functions at play in my body which, ultimately, is one of the things I'm hoping to learn from my research into PCOS. However, this book has also left me with some Bad Feelings that I need to sort through. And, given this has been a pretty rough time of extensive medical testing, dealing with medical professionals, and confronting the emotional and physical realities of my sick body, I would have preferred a book that didn't kick me in the teeth and give me a lot of weird extraneous shit to sift through.