2.5 stars
I’ve been reading/listening to a lot of menopause books so I’m getting better at sorting the wheat from the chaff. I liked how the first part of the book set the stage, describing how menopause is a hormonal medical condition that should be taken more seriously. But then it switched to almost insulting levels of dietary advice to avoid gaining too much weight. That’s where it lost me— it was a big gap between making valid medical points to then immediately condescending to advise people how to purchase in bulk to afford a low carb diet.

After asking so many questions the last few years and finding myself in solid denial, I knew I needed to do some research on my own. The Great Menopause Myth is just an excellent tool for anyone with questions. I love how the chapters are broken down and content is easy to find. Knowing that this stage encompasses some time, this will be a resource I keep handy for reference. Thanks for developing a one-stop-shop for women to seek expert answers to all their questions related to menopause and the havoc is creates on the woman’s body!!
I received a complimentary book from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are solely my own, freely given.

Reading this, it was like a lighbulb going off. "So that explains it! So that's what's happening!" I didn't have a traditional transition to menopause because I had a tumor on my fallopian tube and after it was removed I never had a period again. My doctor never talks about it, but I am definitely going back to my next wellness check with suggestions and a plan for a full conversation. I highly recommend this book to everyone, even men, because menopause will affect everyone. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

I really wanted this to finally be the menopause book I could follow and understand. Sadly, it wasn’t. This book is more like a medical textbook and while I can see it contains comprehensive and no doubt helpful information, I couldn’t get through it.

This book seemed to form a good starting guide for those women who are heading into the menopause. It gave plenty of information that I wish I had known before especially as I progressed though the perimenopause and may not have put up with as much before consulting the GP.
The book covered the biology of women's hormones and the changed that occur with their loss. For some people this section might have been a bit too technical but I found informative.
I liked the discussion about HRT and also the inclusion of what herbals you could not take alongside them. The only downside to this was the HRT referenced were clearly American and as such much of that is not licensed here.
To complete the rounded approach, exercise was mentioned. Though, trying to fit in three sessions of resistance along with one cardio each week is a tall task for those women who are still at work full time, have a home to run and family commitments.
Overall this is a good reference guide and great starting point for the menopausal discussion.

In the very first chapter I could tell I was on the cusp of some major, highly important learning - something that could help safeguard my future health, as I was made aware that menopause wasn’t just hot flashes and brain fog, but rather a hormone profile that promotes vulnerability to chronic diseases.

The second chapter is a deep dive into hormones, followed by a recce into the role of female hormones beyond fertility band reproduction. Chapter 4 urges us to take action before menopause occurs.

Part 2 tantalisingly promises to share strategies to optimise our metabolic health. This sets us up with optimal nutrition - helpfully guiding us on how much of each macro nutrient to consume each day. Next we are treated to a crash course in gut health and microbiome. Lifestyle considerations are also featured, including good sleep hygiene. Finally, but crucially, hormone therapy is discussed in great detail and from a very practical stance. The final 2 chapters help us to advocate for our selves by providing a comprehensive guide to hormone therapies typically available.

This is an amazing, eye opening read, essential reading in my opinion.

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy.

I would love a whole conversation on this on YouTube, whether it's in a part series or just one hour of demystifying some of the things women have been told about menopause and in reading this book, I wanted to know how best to prepare given that I am well beyond my thirties and almost into my forties and just learning about diet, exercise, hormones and also how many other factors like stress can affect us, made this such a great read.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

The Great Menopause Myth is a current day guide for women who are in or beginning menopause. It's basically an A-Z informative course to understanding what could be happening during menopause.

Quite a bit of this book reads like a text book or medical journal and while there were interesting points, some went over my head. There are some text boxes which neatly sum up key points.

Using one example, the use of HRT as being necessary for a multitude of reasons, may not be a viable option for everyone. Doctors will not necessarily prescribe this just because you request the hormones. In fact, many of the tests recommended in this book are not so easy to get referrals for unless you are willing to pay for private health care.

There are so many interesting ideas on how to manage that period in a woman's life, much information, so at the very least you might be able to generate some questions for your health care provider.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

As someone who has been thrust into perimenopause, this book has great timing. I appreciated reading about different types of hormone therapies and what can be done naturally to help in this phase.

The Great Menopause Myth is a new guide to managing a woman’s transition through menopause written by two American functional health practitioners/nutritionists who run a website which offers a remote treatment service. I’m nearing that stage of life myself, and having been out of routine primary care for nearly a decade, and seen HRT yo-yo in and out of favour over the 36 years since I started medical school, I was curious to read what the current recommendations were. I found this book to be detailed, comprehensively researched, and well written, but very biased towards a very particular kind of treatment and anti the conventional medical & pharmaceutical establishment.

Beginning in Part 1 with a very detailed overview of female reproductive physiology, which I suspect would be a bit much for most lay readers (but was a nice refresher for me), they describe all of the terrifying consequences of oestrogen deficiency and make their main case - that other hormone deficiencies like diabetes and hypothyroidism are considered diseases and treated with lifelong replacement therapy, so why shouldn’t ovarian failure be managed the same? This point is hammered over and over and got a bit tedious. Part 2 discusses recommended lifestyle modifications, with a big focus on nutrition. I mostly agree with their advice although many would baulk at their insistence that animal protein is the key component of a healthy diet. Similarly, the exercise regime they suggest (resistance training three times a week plus cardio - I do actually do this but it takes a lot of time) and their advice to give up alcohol completely would be unpalatable to many readers.

Part 3 discusses all the available treatments, hormonal and non, including conventional and herbal preparations, supplements and alternative therapies. The brands are all American and many of the treatments would not necessarily be available in other countries.
The final part includes the appendices, and this is where the book fell over for me. They casually suggest a plethora of blood tests required for monitoring health as often as four times a year, which would cost literally thousands of dollars, if not tens of thousands on an annual basis, and require hours of time to interpret and discuss, even supposing you could find a specialist willing and able to request them. There’s no way a GP would have the time, and neither would or should they be funded by public health budgets. It all seems conveniently designed to drive readers towards their website…

The best part of the book for me was the analysis of the different research trials and explanation of how HRT has swung from the fountain of youth panacea of the 70s, to the health promoting necessity of the 90s, to the cancer & clot causing poison of the 2000s, and back to being recommended as a good option for most women with symptoms (the general medical consensus) and a necessity for long-term health (the authors’ position.) I’m not opposed to taking HRT when the time comes, and feel this book gave me some useful pointers as to what to ask for and what to avoid, but someone looking for a practical guide to managing the menopause may wish to find something more accessible, especially if they don’t have a background in healthcare.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto for the ARC. The Great Menopause Myth is published on September 10th.

What worked -
*non-HRT suggestions provided (if with judgment)

What didn’t -
*not remotely vegan friendly
*the authors really push HRT - and make it seem like the only reason not to is when one medically cannot - not everyone wants HRT
*not everyone who menstruates and goes through perimenopause is a woman

This wasn’t one of the better books I’ve read on the topic of menopause and if you’re not interested in hormonal therapy, this isn’t a book I’d recommend.



Thank you to Fair Winds Press and NetGalley for the PDF

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Fair Winds for this ARC.

This guide about the menopause is very comprehensive but goes sometimes into too much clinical detail that the average reader does not need to know and as a consequence, comes over as dry as my vagina.

It is almost impossible to read this book like a novel, as it will create information overload. It's best to dip in and out, go back for individual chapters as needed and make notes.

For a woman in her fifties, like myself, all this makes important but worrying reading. I had no idea that the loss of estradiol can lead to such far-reaching health problems throughout the body.

Much is made of "debunking menopause myths", but to be honest, this is not the first book telling us about the helpful properties of HRT. Thankfully, non-hormonal solutions are also covered, as are supplements and diet.

Nevertheless, this is very thought-provoking and I will have to rethink my own attitude to HRT, coming from a family with breast cancer present (mother and grandmother).

As a side note, this is an American book so any mention of FDA approval or insurance coverage will not apply to other countries.

As someone who cannot do HRT, I found that this book was not really geared towards me. Yes, there are some pieces of information for folks who are note interested in hormone therapies, but it felt like this book was pushing for it more than anything. For example, the section where it talks about the fact that most people can do HRT. I have sought medical advice from multiple specialists, and yet this book seemed to be pushing to say that my specialists were not to be trusted. I get that they don't explicitly say it, but it's part of the subtext.

Because of this, I was not able to draw as much value from the book as I would have wanted and feel like, again, I'm not the right demographic for what the authors are speaking to. And that is a shame, as anything that can help women to understand menopause as well as the options available to them, is a good book to refer to.

That's not to say that there isn't some value here. There is a section on the various symptoms of menopause that can help someone understand that what they are experiencing is not necessarily cause for alarm but rather part of the change. It also includes some information on herbal remedies, although most are touched on only lightly and at the very end.

All in all, not the book for someone who is looking to really work through menopause without hormone intervention. Or maybe I'm too harsh a critic.

Thank you NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Fair Winds for this eCopy to review

In this comprehensive guide, Johnson and Claps dispel decades of misinformation surrounding menopause. More than just the end of fertility, menopause is a critical time when a woman’s health can veer off course. The hormonal shifts impact everything from body composition to immune function, and they increase the risk of chronic conditions like cancer, diabetes, dementia, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
The Good:
Research-Based: The authors draw on the latest research in aging, women’s health, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
Empowering: The book encourages women to take control of their health during menopause.
Holistic Approach: It covers nutrition, exercise, sleep hygiene, and often-overlooked systems like thyroid health and gut health.
The Not-So-Good:
Inconsistencies: Some parts of the guide lack cohesion.
Treatment Options: The book discusses HRT but doesn’t delve deeply into the nuances of different approaches.

Overall, “The Great Menopause Myth” serves as an essential resource for women navigating midlife hormonal changes. While it has its flaws, it provides actionable steps for optimising menopause care.

I was so looking forward to reviewing this, but I will have to wait until I can get my own copy to read. After several attempts and following the instructions, I wasn't able to download this to read to my PC, and unfortunately it didn't have a kindle version, which would have worked on my device.

As a woman approaching menopause, I am thankful for the information provided in this book. The Great Menopause Myth, written by Kristin Johnson and Maria Claps provides readers with the knowledge to tackle menopause symptoms with confidence. They lay out the current misinformation about menopause and address the use of hormonal and non-hormonal menopause therapies. I will refer back to this book often, and especially before visiting my doctor to discuss strategies to minimize menopausal symptoms.

"Menopasue might be having it's moment but you're the star"
This is a book that should exist in every household as it concerns women's health but men should be aware too.

This was an extremely comprehensive look at the biology and impact of the menopause transition. While some of the details feel very clinical, I believe this book does a good job of describing how the biological changes are experienced by the individual. I walked away from the book feeling more informed and prepared for future conversations with my provider.

I highly recommend this read for women preparing for and in the middle of this transition.

I found this book really interesting and it had lots of good information on the menopause.
It provided advice on diet, exercise and HRT which gave me plenty of information to think about and try to implement going forward,
It was well presented and a positive book which I would recommend.
Thanks to Netgalley, Kristin Johnson, Maria Claps and Quarto Publishing Group -Fair Winds, for an advance copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

First of all, this is an outstandingly presented and structured book.
The prose and the argument are persuasive and accessible, critical and thought-provoking.
As for the answer if I, as a reader, accept all the debunking claims and the arguments in this book is a big ‘no’.
I am glad it exists, opens and adds to the discussions and offers great tips and insights and I appreciate its life-affirming quality.
5/5 for the presentation
2/5 for the debunking