Hangry: 5 Simple Steps to Balance Your Hormones and Restore Your Joy

by Sarah Fragoso, Brooke Kalanick

A customizable plan to heal your hormones, restore your joy, reset your metabolism and kick start fat loss in just four weeks with five simple steps.

HANGRY will offer women with conditions such as low thyroid, PCOS, perimenopause, autoimmunity or even those with "normal" lab work yet they know they should be feeling better, a diet, exercise and lifestyle program that will take them from feeling stressed out, cranky, hungry, frustrated, overweight - and really freaking tired to healthy, happy and at home in their body again. Women will feel and look their best, slow down aging, decrease inflammation and remember who they are with this one of a kind plan customizable for ANY hormonal issue. Powerhouse authors Sarah Fragoso and Dr. Brooke Kalanick give women a 5-step customizable plan to heal their hormones, restore their joy, reset their metabolism, and kick start fat loss in just 4 weeks.

Genres: Health, Self Help, Nonfiction, Adult, Nutrition, Food, Medical

400 pages, Hardcover

First published June 4, 2019

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book promises a lot and does not deliver. First, the introduction spends (wastes) a lot of time telling the reader what they are going to tell the reader instead of just getting on with it. But what the hell, books are thicker that way and the publisher can charge more for it.

Second, the "diet" portion is extremely vague. Advice ranges from eat a pound of vegetables to specifying 4-6 bites of certain vegetables. Yeah, that's not confusing at all. What's wrong with using an actual unit of measurement? Such as "have about 1/2 cup of fill-in-the-blank"? Also, they advocate for buying organic produce and recommend wild game or organic meat. Who can afford that? I certainly can't.

Third, they spend a lot of time recommending supplements and do not provide a single bit of scientific documentation or even one peer reviewed source for any of the recommendations. "Based on our research" doesn't cut it with me, because that research could very well be junk science or first person testimonials which are notoriously unreliable. Giving the authors the benefit of the doubt - they may very well be experts, but if that's the case PROVE IT. I'm not taking this questionable advice without being able to verify it with a reliable source.

Fourth, the exercise recommendations are unrealistic. Oh hey, you, dear reader, are overwhelmed? Just go walk for 60 minutes 5 days per week and also squeeze in 3 strength workouts, why don't you? Besides that, most of the recommended exercises just aren't happening for me, someone with a degenerative spinal disc condition.

The book claims NOT to be one-size-fits-all, but that's exactly what it is. It is another not-very-good diet book which will now be placed in the dumpster. Just about everyone would be better off making a visit to their doctor, asking for a complete blood panel to accurate judge hormone levels (instead of using the handy quiz about how you "feel" to inaccurately diagnose abnormally high or low hormone levels). After a visit to the doctor, find a nutritionist who knows his/her ass from a hole in the ground. Then, find a reputable trainer and get a truly customized exercise program that's actually going to fit into your schedule and get results instead of the "just do this" approach these authors advocate.

It's not the worst diet and exercise book I've ever read, but it's close. One star.

Note: I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Well, they got what they asked for.

[Jess Means · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hangry – is a book that will help it’s readers understand what their hormones are doing within their body. It highlights knowledge before offering any “fixes” to apply. Most readers will settle in with this book and walk away feeling empowered and having gained more knowledge in the process.

This book will be a perfect guide for someone who has no knowledge of what their body has the power to do for them. Sarah and Brooke focus heavily on building a foundation of knowledge for their readers. The first 1/3 of the book is dedicated to that — it’s heavily focused on giving the reader knowledge and a working understanding of what women’s hormones do, what supplements may help support them, and how to key down exercise and up proper nutrition to support them.

I personally have a hard time with this style of approach only because my time is limited. When I sit down to read a book like this, I expect a faster paced approach to get to the meat of what they are trying to teach me. I wanted this book to tell me the “what” of the fix ahead of the “why” so I could fully invest in the program they were pitching. Because they worked the other way with their approach, they slowly began to lose my interest and eventually my focus.

I give this book a 2 out of 5 stars simply because the approach they took to educate their readers didn’t work for me. I couldn’t bump it to a 3 because it would be authentic to do so. I really had to force myself to flip through the pages of this book. I’m sure not all readers will feel this way and I am positive some aspects of this book will be revolutionary for someone. It simply wasn’t revolutionary for me.

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hangry: 5 Simple Steps to Balance Your Hormones and Restore Your Joy by Sarah Fragoso and Brooke Kalanick is an extremely informative, well-organized, easy to follow and understand reference for those with hormone issues. There is a lot of useful information in this book and I left my copy on an end-table so that I could access it easily. I know I'll get a lot of use out of this book! Two thumbs up!

My copy of this book was obtained from a Goodreads giveaway and I am grateful for the opportunity to read & review it!

[Elizabeth Lapp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not a fan of the constant, "Let me tell you about what I am about to tell you..." mantra. I think the authors tried to speak in a realistic, girl-friendly, tone; however, I was not a fan. I could have done without being told I will be a "Happy Babe" every five minutes. I do think the book had some good information, but the presentation was not for me.

[Tonya]

Hangry is an in depth explanation of hormones and how they work so that women can really understand that fixing symptoms is more complicated than just changing one thing.

Explanations in Hangry include why women get stressed, so tired, hangry and just plain miserable. I would recommend Hangry to someone who has the time and energy to really invest in learning about a woman's body...and how to work toward healing and recovery. Authors Fragoso and Kalanick make every effort to go beyond saying watch the processed foods and sugars, to provide guidelines on eating in ways that allow for hormonal balance. I highly recommend this book to start reading on how factors like our diet, exercise, stress, environment impact us and what we can do to lose weight, balance our symptoms and live a life we enjoy. It is a great overview of our bodies and provides a realistic eating and exercise plan along with other helpful tools to get our bodies back in harmony.

[Laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love that this book addresses how hormones effect health and weight etc. I just think hormones are such a big deal and most people ignore them.

That being said- I feel like this is a LOT. They specifically mention opting out of overwhelm, but I find the whole plan to be enormously overwhelming!

Specifically the diet is supposed to be super chill, but to me it’s very restrictive. Maybe it seems really relaxed if you’ve been hardcore paleo.

I think that’s another issue I had with it. I’m just not really hangry. I’d like to get my hormones working optimally and I have some extra weight I’d like to lose, but I’m not really experiencing most of the symptoms described in the book. So I guess I’m just not motivated to give up grains.

The other thing is kind of minor but I don’t love the constant use of a derogatory term to describe those of us whose hormones need tweaking. I think the authors think it’s fun and down to earth, but to me it’s just crass and I hated hearing it over and over again.

[Lpelkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as a free advanced reader's copy and it could not have fallen into my lap at a more perfect time. This book is everything I have needed this winter as I struggled with my thyroid and other hormones. With all of the research I have done, the info in this book wasn't new but it was presented in a comprehensive and easy to understand manner and more importantly, the reset plan that the book describes is easy to implement into my life. I can't wait to get started on the plan and see if it helps me to feel better and possibly lose some weight.

On second read, I love this book even more. I am now ready to start the program and will start the Reset tomorrow. I can't wait.

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. Lots of information. I already follow a diet and exercise program so I didn't try their 4 week reset, but will be trying some of the recipes.
I won Hangry from a Goodreads giveaway.

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting at time but I was listening to the book so it was hard to follow at times. It read like a blog at times but it had some good general knowledge. There were a few things that were unique and I liked but because I was listening to it, I wasn’t able to do some of the exercises. I think if I had the physical book, I would have enjoyed the reading better. Hoping to get the physical copy and apply a few of the activities described. The Glucose tolerance activity sounded interesting.

[jenna williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

five stars cause it sounds great but i haven’t put anything in to practice to see if anything in this book actually works for me lol

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an early copy from Edelweiss.

I look forward to recommending this book to patrons who may need some extra help getting motivated to improve their health and hormonal balance. I know how hard it is to deal with changes in health and in eating habits. I felt the authors addressed these problems comprehensively, with strong yet flexible options to make change for the right reasons - to be healthy as opposed to society's pressure to be thin and beautiful. I will definitely refer to this book as a resource, especially for the weight-bearing exercises.

[Sallie Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book made me so sad. It wastes time telling you what it’s going to tell you. As someone who has had strong hormone imbalances, I found this book relatable and easy to “like” the authors as women - however it just doesn’t deliver. I also hate using language for shock value. Literally attention seeking behaviors in a book. Talk about disappointing.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional book! I highly recommend it to anyone. Easy to understand and implement suggestions on how to stop the roller coaster ride with food and your body. After this book, I read THE PLANT PARADOX, which is a wonderful compliment to HANGRY.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Hangry", Sarah Fragoso and Brook Kalanick's, ND, MS, book unites a total approach to restore and align hormonal balance. This is done in conjunction with a total approach to health and internal harmony.
This guidebook is based around the Paleo/Med. nutrition plan. Of course, no health plan can exclude the proper exercise regimen. The authors pay respect to more than cardio exhaustion plan! As we lose muscle we must rebuild it and make provisions to burn calories and align hormones long after the exercise is gone.
This mind, body, and soul approach to restoring the bodies balance is terrific advise, directed to the female population! Well done!!!

[R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book as a Goodreads giveaway. Hangry was full of fantastic information which seemed to cover many conditions preventing people from feeling their best. There are so many books covering what one should eat and how they should exercise. I was thrilled to read that the one diet is not always appropriate for everyone. It is important to understand your own body chemistry and the authors have done an excellent job outlining how to figure that out. I will keep this book forever!

[Regina Chari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the information in this book helpful, although not ground breaking. It focuses on hormonal imbalances and stress which is helpful for so many women.

I tried to like the authors and enjoy learning from them, but if I am honest, I didn't. Their writing style made it difficult to get through the book.

The publisher provided an ARC through Netgalley. I have voluntarily decided to read and review, giving my personal opinions and thoughts

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book through Goodreads. Very interesting and informative. Easy and practical advice for fast results.

[Donna Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rewarding and fabulous feelings after pushing harder to get that balanced feeling of accomplishment.

[Meg]

Nope

[Lafourche Parish Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picture this ladies: it’s 3:00 in the afternoon, and you’ve hit that afternoon slump. You’re mentally and physically exhausted, overwhelmed, and stressed. You haven’t been sleeping well and you’ve been carb-loading like an Olympic gold medalist. If you drink coffee now, you’re bound to be up all night, thus perpetuating the cycle of exhaustion, sugar and caffeine intake, then crashing back to exhaustion again. You’ve tried every diet and exercise fad there is, only to discover there is no quick fix for all your problems. You’ve convinced yourself that your lack of self-control is the root of your problems. If this sounds like you, you may want to check out Sarah Fragoso and Brooke Kalanick’s new book Hangry: 5 Simple Steps to Balance Your Hormones and Restore Your Joy.

Hormones play an extremely vital part of our bodies’ functions. You can think of hormones as the messengers for bodily functions. If your hormones are unbalanced, other parts of your bodily functions could be affected. Hormone imbalance may cause you to suffer from anxiety, depression, obesity, fatigue, and a bevy of other unsavory conditions that get in the way of your day to day life. Navigating through medical jargon is difficult. Thankfully, Sarah Fragoso and Brooke Kalanick breaks everything down in an easy to understand format. Hangry is broken down into 2.5 parts. Part 1 explains why you may feel the way you do, which parts/functions in your body are affected by hormone imbalance, and that despite how you may feel, you aren’t the only one suffering in silence. Part 1 also offers suggestions on how to go from a hangry swamp monster to a happy woman, with five pillars for success, mainly focusing on customizable self-care. Part 2 of Hangry walks you through a four week reset that focuses on targeting what works for you and how to stick with the reset, offering tips for success. The last part of the book includes an exercise template with detailed photos and instructions that may help you with building up strength and endurance as well as recipes for clean eating.

I really enjoyed Sarah Fragoso & Brooke Kalanick’s new book. I especially liked the conversation style writing. Other books on the topic of healthy lifestyle changes sometimes come off as rigid, focusing on a quick fix exercise and diet program. Hangry draws focus away from rigid rules and suggests that healthy lifestyles can be achieved by being gentle and kind to ourselves. This book provides a sustainable approach to healthy lifestyle changes that take time and holds the reader accountable for their own happiness and well-being. As with anything, before you attempt a life style change such as those suggested in Hangry: 5 Simple Steps to Balance Your Hormones and Restore Your Joy talk with your health care provider.

[Kitten Kisser · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was attracted to this book because the author appeared to be Paleo & this was about women's hormone health. I have Endometriosis & am middle aged. I follow my own version of a AIP/low FODMAPs diet to manage my symptoms. I am always open to reading more in this area.

The problem with this book is it is too long. It could very easily be half as long. What the book does is repeat itself. The author like to bring up a topic, discuss it a bit, then tell you it will be discussed more in chapter whatever. It is very long winded. They also love to call the reader a Hangry B*tch. So much so in fact, that I thought it was the name of the book. I looked up Hangry B*tch on Goodreads & it didn't come up. What? I look at the book & it's just called Hangry. Huh, how about that? All this repetitiveness & telling me to be kind to myself & how the authors sympathize with me but then call me a Hangry B*tch non stop. I'm just not feeling it.

The sad thing is that there are some very good points in this book. There is also some bad advice. I'm not going to say that you shouldn't read this book, but I do think you should read ALL of Sarah Ballantyne, PhD's books FIRST. Take what you learn from Sarah, then look into the exercises in this book. I'd say they are the most valuable part of this book & maybe some hormonal tips as well. But, if you are like me with Endo, you will probably look up a book on Endo & use advice there. Like what supplements can help. After many years of suffering I have determined for example, that nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, goji berries, etc.) are the equivalent of poison to my body. The more I eat the worst my Endo is. When I cut them & stick with my supplements (vitex, NAC, pycnogenol, reservatrol, magnesium glycinate, zinc, copper, DIM, kelp & Emerita progesterone cream) I reduce my symptoms by an easy 90%. Note: I also cook from scratch & eat whole foods, not packaged crap.

Regarding the exercises in this book that I think are great, a lot of the easier/gentler moves are in 'Gentle Yoga' on DVD by Jane Adams. I love the DVD & find it easier to follow than pictures. The DVD clearly wont cover the more physical weight lifting parts of the exercises, but it's a great starting point.

Whatever you do, do something! Only you can change your health. I wish you the best of luck.

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hangry is an empowering read letting woman get back their mojo by using a personalized diet and exercise plan.

No one wants to be an Hangry B*tch. This book will describe why woman feel tired all the time, have sleep issues, and feel overwhelmed. Spoiler partial answer: we are overwhelmed because we try to do too much for others instead of ourselves.

Hangry gives a comprehensive explanation of how and why hormones, poor eating and either over or under exercising is causing our problems. It gives a solution of five pillars and five habits. The five pillars are:
1. Find and commit to what works for you
2. Opt out of overwhelm
3. Full-engagement living
4. Be your best friend
5. Be who you are
The five habits are:
• 5 walks per week plus 5 minutes of breathing per day
• 4 meals per day
• 3 strength training sessions per week
• 2 liters or more of water per day
• 1 commitment to rest, recovery and real-self care
Each week of the four-week plan works on at least one of the pillars and builds one or more of the habits. The diet incorporates a combination of paleo and Mediterranean diets (lean proteins, avocado-type oils, limited fruits & starchy veggies as carbs, and a required one pound of non-starchy veggies per day). The exercise plan encourages strength training leading up to heavier weights than usually used by women and walking while practicing breathing, meditation and mindfulness.

This is one of the better diet books I’ve read lately. I like that it doesn’t talk down to its reader. It also combines science and advice I’ve seen in a bunch of other books, which will save the reader from reading all of them and trying to merge them together by herself. Of course, I love quizzes so the quiz to determine potential hormone issues is perfect. Plus it picked out one hormone issue that my doctor had already found to be true through blood tests. Overall, if you are looking to commit to a diet/exercise plan now that it is bikini season, this is a good place to start. 4 stars!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took the full month to read and utilize this book. I have a hormone I'm balance and was simply living with it, because nothing my doctor or I tried was working. In one month I feel amazing! The best parts about this book are that it isnt a one size fits all kind of approach. You get to taylor it to your own needs and lifestyle. It's not a one month and done situation. It shows you how and why to make small gradual changes that become more lifestyle. It's not a diet! It didnt actually take any foods away from me or force me to eat something I might not care for. It simply helped me make smart food choice for the problems my body was presenting. I have seen incredible results and those around me have noticed the difference. I have already begun recommending that others pick it up and give it a chance. My hormones may not be completely healed after one month, but I have made great progress and look forward to continuing.

[Michelle Arredondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for anyone that needs that extra motivation. It not only is motivating in it's advice but it's also informative and to me those are two great tools to a positive and healthy journey for the body and mind. We need to know what is going on in the inside. We need to know what is happening to our hormones. We need to know why we feel how we feel when we get "Hangry" otherwise without that knowledge we can't grasp the very things we need to work on....or how to tweak our daily bad habits for better ones. This book steers you in the right direction. I really enjoyed it. It's easy to read...complex only in it's informative content....a wonderful tool to incorporate into your daily life.

Thanks to the good people of goodreads and to Author Sarah Fragoso for my free copy of this book won via giveaway. I received. I read. I reviewed this book honestly and voluntarily.

[Melissa Arenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

While there are certainly good messages here about how much women have on their plates, how our situation is unique compared to men, and ways that we can generally improve our lifestyle, be prepared for this book to be a mask for selling the authors' own products. It isn't much past the introduction before the first drop comes when they suggest a couple of strategies but also something conveniently that they sell on their own website. From there it's snowballed until I eventually return to the book to the library without finishing it. Either a book is written to help my overall health, or it is written to sell products under the disguise of being in general health care book. This one, unfortunately, falls under the second category.

[Kellie Mast · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this and have this be the book I tell my family and friends about that changed my life. Instead I now just have more questions. I was interested to know the things in the beginning of the book, but then was told I would have wait until later in the book. By the time I got to those slim parts, I forgot what I had been wanting to know. I listened to the audiobook and couldn’t help but feeling impatient after the 2nd chapter. Maybe I should have read a physical copy and it wouldn’t have caused that feeling. I was happy to know that a lot of the program was based around paleo which already is helpful with inflammation so. I have some ideas to further my own investigation into my hormone issues. 2.5

[Shiv · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very thorough and written in a way that's easy to understand and modern. I find it motivational and inspiring with all its tips and tricks that I wasn't expecting it to have, also referred to as a #hangrybitchfix. Although I'm a guy, it this book speaks to me in a pleasant and positive way and I'm sure women will find it very useful too. I plan to implement certain aspects I've learned from this book. I like the different types of workouts, along with the photos of how to do them. I haven't heard of some of these workouts before. I can't wait to try some of these recipes. They are simple yet appealing.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book I’ve needed for all of my adult life and some before that. Finally a professional approach to helping people feel better based on the biochemical signals in their body rather than some fad diet that promises weight loss and then assures that said weight loss will fix everything. By listening to our bodies we get all the information we need to follow logical steps set out by Sarah and Dr. Brooke. I loved them before after listening to their podcast and now I feel like they’re a part of my family as well.

[Vickey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not simple or easy to understand, super overwhelming, conflicting advice and recommendations not backed up with science. I also didn't like the "omg gurl you are a straight up BITCH" writing style. By the time I got to the recipes in the back I didn't want to read anymore, but in my skimming was kind of grossed out by the "keeps well" recommendations like chicken sausage and egg frittata will still be good after fIve days, which is totally against food safety recommendations. None of the recipes are that interesting or creative, basically just "cook some meat and add some vegetables."

[Johnny Wimmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

We recieved "Hangry" from a Goodreads giveaway, and it was well recieved. Although the book was written for women, by women, much of the advice also applies to men. The book is of the self help type, and offers women 5 steps to balance hormones and restore joy. It was very informative and offered good solutions towards a healthier body and mind. Great exercise and diet program for women who seek an understanding of their hormone imbalance. Well recommended!