The PCOS Workbook: Your Guide to Complete Physical and Emotional Health [Paperback]

Angela Grassi (Author), Stephanie Mattei (Author), Leah Troiano (Editor), Christine Davis (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2009

The doctor said I'm insulin resistant. What does that mean? Will I ever be able to have a baby? I hate my body. Will it ever change? I try to lose the weight, but I m hungry all the time. Why can t I just stop eating sugary, fattening foods? I don t have diabetes? Why do I have to watch my sugar intake? Why do I have hair growing everywhere and will it ever get better? I am so depressed and moody. Is this related to my PCOS? If any of these statements sound familiar, this workbook can help you! The PCOS Workbook, a practical and comprehensive guide, helps you understand not just the physiology of PCOS, but what you can do about it. Step-by-step guidelines, questionnaires and exercises will help you learn skills and empower you to make positive changes in your life that might not get rid of PCOS, but will help you live with it harmoniously: Lose weight, take control over your eating and improve your health Understand your medical treatment Improve your fertility Manage the stress in your life Be mindful with your eating and in life Challenge body image myths and insecurities Overcome obstacles to becoming more physically active Cope with the challenges of infertility ...and get closer to living the life you want to live!

Editorial Reviews

Review

I finished your PCOS workbook tonight - and wanted to applaud you for what you are doing and congratulate you for a thoughtful book. My youth was lost to PCOS - best in your ambition to preserve those special years of the girls now being diagnosed. --Tanya Alison Sears

The PCOS Workbook is an amazing tool to partner with any patient with PCOS. My patients have really appreciated learning more about the role of stress and management of PCOS. I am so pleased an RD has published a PCOS guidebook based on evidence based research and reality. --Judy Simon MS,RD,CD,CHES

This is a FANTASTIC book for women with PCOS! Not only is there great info but the questionaires really got me to think about my health in a different way. Instead of just reading info on PCOS on what I should do, this book helped me to put it into practice. Definately get this book if you have PCOS! --Kate McDonald

About the Author

Angela Grassi, MS, RD, LDN is the author of The Dietitian s Guide to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. As a registered and licensed dietitian, she provides nutrition counseling by phone or in-person to women with PCOS and individuals who struggle with Eating Disorders. In 2000, she won the award for excellence in graduate research from The American Dietetic Association. Having PCOS herself, Angela has been dedicated to the advocacy, education, and research of the syndrome. She provides lectures to dietitians, other health care professionals and women with PCOS across the country. Angela resides in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband and son. For more information about nutrition for PCOS or to sign up for her free PCOS Nutrition Tips newsletter, visit PCOSnutrition.com. Stephanie Mattei, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist who co-founded the Center for Acceptance and Change in Bala Cynwyd, PA. She has been intensively trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and teaches as adjunct faculty in the doctoral program at La Salle University in Philadelphia. She has a particular interest in working with women who struggle with Eating Disorders, PCOS, Borderline Personality Disorder, self-harm behaviors and relationship distress. Stephanie has written chapters in The Dietitian's Guide to PCOS and Psychotherapists Revealed: Therapists Speak About Self-Disclosure in Psychotherapy. Stephanie lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia with her husband and two daughters. For more information about her practice, visit centerforaccetpanceandchange.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 172 pages
• Publisher: Luca Publishing; 1st edition (June 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615217842
• ISBN-13: 978-0615217840
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 11 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Angela Grassi, MS, RD, LDN is a nationally known nutrition and health expert on PCOS. Angela's warmth and charisma have made her the go-to nutritionist for women with PCOS as she provides nutrition consultations in person, phone or online to women around the world. Having PCOS herself, Angela knows how frustrating living with this condition can be. She has dedicated her career to be on the leading-edge of helping women with PCOS improve their health and their lives through nutrition.

Angela co-authored The PCOS Workbook: Your Guide to Complete Physical and Emotional Health to help women with PCOS take control over this frustrating and complex condition. Angela's 2007 book, The Dietitian's Guide to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome was written to educate dietitians and other health care professionals on the medical nutrition therapy guidelines for PCOS throughout the lifecycle. She is a frequent contributor to PCOS Magazine and national media outlets.

An accomplished speaker, Angela is a frequent lecturer at numerous conferences and meetings for professionals and consumers, including: polycystic ovary association meetings, the American Dietetic Association's Food, Nutrition, Conference and Expo, state and national dietetic association conferences and provides national training programs for dietitians working with individuals with eating disorders and PCOS.

In 2000, Angela won the award for excellence in graduate research from The American Dietetic Association. Angela graduated magna cum laude in dietetics from Michigan State University and received her master's degree summa cum lade, in nutrition from Northern Illinois University. Her previous work experience includes working as an inpatient and outpatient nutritionist at the renowned Renfew Center, an eating disorder treatment facility, for 5 years before starting her own nutrition consulting business. Angela founded the PCOS Nutrition Center in response to the unique needs of women with PCOS.

Angela is a professional member of Resolve, The Androgen Excess PCOS Society, The American Dietetic Association, The Polycystic Ovary Association, and the following dietetic practice groups: Nutrition Entrepreneur, Women's Health, Weight Management and Sports, Cardiovascular and Wellness Nutrition (SCAN). She also serves as an adjunct professor at West Chester University.

Angela enjoys tennis, swimming, walking, photography, and travel. She resides with her husband and two sons in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best PCOS book I've purchased, October 29, 2009

By 

bonnaroo chick (CT) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The PCOS Workbook: Your Guide to Complete Physical and Emotional Health (Paperback)

This is the 5th book on PCOS I've purchased on Amazon.com since being diagnosed in May 2009, and it's the first one I felt compelled to review. It is absolutely the best purchase I've made regarding my health. The workbook format is so much more useful for keeping track of my specific levels, what to ask my endocrinologist, and documenting my progress. I love the worksheet for documenting lab results - so useful! For someone who does not come from a clinical background, all this information can be really overwhelming. The author explains everything in detail, but still makes it easy to comprehend. The other books I've read made me more anxious after reading them, while this one made me feel empowered. I love it and have now ordered her other book as well, can't wait for it to arrive.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for working though PCOS!, December 4, 2009

By 

Linda Harvey (Manhattan, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The PCOS Workbook: Your Guide to Complete Physical and Emotional Health (Paperback)

No two women with PCOS have the same experience with the syndrome. However,there is one universal truth about PCOS that all women facing it share - it will affect their nutrition, ability to control stress, fertility, body image, and emotions. Enter Angela Grassi and Stephanie Mattei. Grassi, who previously wrote "The Dietician's Guide to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome" partnered with Stephanie Mattei to write "The PCOS Workbook" to help women explore and "challenge specific difficulties" of living with PCOS. One of the greatest pieces of information in the early pages of "The PCOS Workbook" is the simple entry entitled "How to Use The PCOS Workbook." In these few short pages, Grassi and Mattei outline what you will be experiencing in the book, chapter by chapter. The first chapter, "Connecting the Dots: Understanding Polycystic Ovary Syndrome" is followed by chapters focused on nutrition, stress, the issue of body image, mindful eating, coping with infertility, and finally the management of PCOS to prevent further medical complications. This book is a treasure-trove of information. Here's what's truly great about this book: Throughout each chapter, Grassi and Mattei have developed questions and lists relevant to each topic, with areas for you to write what is relevant to your PCOS experience. This is a WORKbook in every sense of the word. For example, you turn to page 101, in the Body Image and PCOS chapter, and you're asked to actually challenge your own myths about body image. The authors ask you to think about your environment, what you consider to be "truth" and "rules," and how you might self-blame. Then you're asked to think about what you were thinking about body image as you were going through the process of answering the previous questions. This book gets down to the nitty-gritty and helps you work through it all. "The PCOS Workbook" asks you to truly analyze your eating and exercise outines
and patterns, while at the same time providing more-than-enough detailed information about everything you will need to know about the disorder to be well-armed
when talking with your healthcare professionals. The charts Grassi and Mattei use help break the information down into easy-to swallow (no pun intended) bites
of PCOS knowledge. "The PCOS Workbook" is a resource I would recommend to any woman who wants to learn as much as possible about the syndrome, and about
themselves through the process. But be prepared, the Workbook will ask you to dig deep. In the back of the book a glossary is provided, as well as forms to
help you track your lab results, a food journal, online resources, a suggested PCOS food list, and even sample menus. The only addition to this book that would make it an even better resource would be more illustrations. As a publisher, I know that artwork, photos, etc., are pleasing to the eye and provide our reading
eyes a break occasionally. Grassi and Mattei have provided a thorough resource I think all women with PCOS should read.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book for PCOS!, September 6, 2009

By 

Jamie Webster - See all my reviews

This review is from: The PCOS Workbook: Your Guide to Complete Physical and Emotional Health (Paperback)

I've read several books on PCOS. This one I felt is the most helpful for someone with PCOS. Not only does it offer information about the disorder that a regular person can understand, but the written exercises helped challenge my thinking and helped me take control over my PCOS. I lost 5 pounds in the first month I started reading and feel that my exercise and eating habits are finally on track.