ROAR: How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life

This is the best book I have ever read about female physiology and how it couples with being an athlete. As soon as it arrived, I dug in and didn't stop. I feel like for the fist time I actually understand what is happening with my body during training, rest and the always fun, monthly cycle. It's easy to read, simple and not overdone with scientific jargon. It carefully and clearly takes apart allot of training and diet myths. My favorite parts were reading the stories of some top female competitors and how even just small tweaks can make a big difference. And not just with stories, but with scientific evidence and real life female athletes using that information for their own success. No two women are the same and what works best for each of us can be unique but this book captures all of that and then some. No matter where you are in your athletic pursuits, this is a killer book to have in your arsenal. Especially younger female athletes. Get the right information and establish good, health habits young. I am 38 so I am having to unlearn allot of bad habits, poor information and basically training like a small man. Worth every penny!

Women of Fitness! You must buy this book. It is highly beneficial no matter where you are in your fitness journey. The comprehensive data, exercises, nutrition information and female specific health and wellness data is not only powerful but also relevant and easy to follow. The book is designed clearly and motivationally for anyone looking to learn, grow and improve their physical and mental knowledge of female fitness.

In general, I really liked this book. I love that her tagline is "women are not small men." I've always been really frustrated that as a petite woman, I'm given prescriptions that are designed for large men. And even when it comes to workouts, diet, and nutrition - they're usually based on studies conducted on a predominantly male group of test subjects. Also, I know my body and mind feels different at different times of my menstrual period, but it's so hard to but a finger on it. And as I get older, it feels more and more significant. Stacey Sims nails it in this book, especially for someone like me that works out a lot or is always training for a big race. It also made so much sense now why the paleo and keto diet did not work for me, and actually worsened my training. And while I used to shame myself for eating carbs, I'm now back on the healthier ones without having to feel guilt. And I feel great doing it! It also made sense why I've been prone to joint injuries given the shape of my hips / legs. I remember this one time this guy 'corrected' my form, and I really didn't feel right about it. I tried to take what he said, but developed injuries running awkwardly. I don't think he took my wide hips into consideration to be honest, and I think that reading this book, I'm even more careful about what kind of advice I receive especially from men. The reason though I docked one star is because I feel like the book was written with too much of even one type of woman in mind. The one that gets hot easily, dehydrated easily, has migraines and stomach issues. This reminds me of my friend, and some other women. But as someone with estrogen dominance or hormonal imbalances, this isn't me. I'm always cold, I'm always hungry, and my blood sugar takes dives. And I know many other women like me as well, but I don't feel like women like me were touched on in the book. I do feel like the book tended to skew towards either women that were pregnant (I don't plan to have kids) or to women that are pre-menopause (I'm not there yet). So in some instances it was really difficult to relate to. Also, a lot of the examples provided were of women that were training hardcore as being a professional athlete is their full-time job. And so their nutrition is also a full-time job. This was also difficult to relate to. What I hate about fitness and nutrition books is that they make it sound like you can workout and cook all day long, which isn't true for many of us. Otherwise, I did feel like the book brought some insights to working with the body. I just wasn't sure if it was exactly my body, and wish there was a separate chapter for that. All that said, I have recommended this book countless times because I think that there isn't enough awareness out there about how different women are from men. It's a great read and has definitely made me more cautious about my cortisol levels, diet, and what workouts might look like in my luteal phase.

This book is excellent, I had been doing fasting and KETO and while I was losing weight I was not feeling well. I was struggling during my workout and feeling exhausted during recovery. I also started missing my period which I thought was because I was premenopausal. I had full bloodwork done and all came back normal, I am not premenopausal yet. I couldn't understand why I was missing my period and always feeling so tired. After listening to this in audiobook format I stopped fasting and started eating clean. What a difference! I also started using the OSMO products. The pre-workout hydration tastes NASTY but it works. The during and post aren't delicious but I've noticed A HUGE difference in my strength and endurance during heavy workouts. After seeing such positive results I bought the paperback to figure out my diet. I'm now trying to adjust the way I eat. I'm not good at figuring out grams so I wish that advise was a bit more user friendly, like just tell me what to eat each day, lol. I know I'll figure it out it's just more time consuming but I appreciate how much better I understand my body. I had always wondered why popular hydration drinks made my stomach feel so strange. The chapter about the gut bacteria makes total sense and I’m no longer using artificial sweeteners which makes me feel so much better. It has been so eye opening for me to understand that we are not men. Our bodies are different and require different nutrition. We don't have to just settle, we can work at our full potential if we fuel our body properly. Lastly, I was also amazed at how brave she was to talk openly about the negative side effects of birth control. I know she is most likely to receive criticism for that but I'm glad she is willing to speak the truth to help women. I wish more doctors and healthcare professionals were willing to speak up, anyone can see the harmful effects but it gets so political people hardly want to mess with that. All in all this is an excellent resource for anyone wishing to stay fit and nurture their body. I highly recommend it and I will continue to use it to maximize my fitness potential.

Great read for every female athlete. I do not compete in triathlons, or any long distance races of any kind. I do consider myself an athlete though, as I always played sports growing up and still at 33 I enjoy lifting weights, hike, backpack, and do Backcountry hunting, which is an extreme endurance sport in it's own right. I think every woman will take away at least one thing they can apply to their life and training. I personally found several as I have always gone by what the fitness industry recommends. After reading this I now why working out in heat or the week leading up to my cycle sucks and feels so hard, I know why I actually gained fat while intermittent fasting and doing fasted morning cardio, I know why I out hike my husband at high altitude, and why the Paleo diet felt great for a few months, then felt like crap (I knew I needed more carbs), plus much more. Those who gave a poor rating for the book not being great for people over 50 or experiencing menopause are silly. The book doesn't claim to be written for that audience only, plus the book covers some information on menopause. And the negative reviews about the birth control are inaccurate as well. The author recommended speaking to your doctor before making any changes and she does acknowledge some women need birth control for various health problems. I thought it was well written, everything is well explained, and it's very eye opening. I'm now no longer skipping breakfast and eat within 30 minutes of waking up, I've added more protein to my diet, I now do heavy lifting during my low hormone phase, and lighter weight, high rep functional training during my high phase and I'm seeing and feeling results. I think all women concerned about their health and anyone who even regularly exercise should read this. Even men who train women should read it.

I may not have the self-discipline to follow every recommendation in this author’s book, but by incorporating her suggested diet and exercise routines, I’ve seen a significant improvement in my life. I feel healthier and see myself in a new light. There’s something truly valuable about reading a book by a woman who not only understands the subject but also lives it herself. The book addresses various stages of life, including younger women, middle-aged women, and those approaching or going through menopause. I highly recommend purchasing it—it’s worth every penny.

This book is great for women athletes of all ages. I am late 30s middle back of the pack triathalete ultra runner and suffering from extreme tiredness, foggy thinking, weight gain snd hormonal disturbances past few years. After reading this, I have tweaked my diet as discussed in the book. Last 3 weeks my energy level and mental clarity much improved ! Basically I am eating more calories, earlier in the day,and increased my protein intake a bit. Especially before and after training. Bam! I am awake all afternoon, not always trolling my kitchen cupboard in late afternoon snacks and even my husband noticed a huge difference in mood and energy. I also dropped a few lbs. My training sessions haven't seemed as hard. I am looking forward to seeing results as more months go by. What I like is the author breaks down how women are not just small men and our bodies react differently to stress of life, training,hormones and food. Most diets, nutritional advice and training recommendations are based on data gathered from Male populations. Not relevant to us gals!. This book isn't so much of a diet as a guide for the female athlete in regards to making the most of our bodies by using nutritional strategies that are for females to reach athletic goals.

This book has a lot of great advice and good points for women like me. That is, after menopause: • we don't deal with heat as well • we need less carbohydrates because we're more sensitive to blood sugar swings • we use protein less efficiently so need to eat more than when we were younger • we need better quality protein (more bioavailable) also because we're less efficient • we need high-intensity power exercise, not aerobics and endurance, because it is what maintains lean body mass against the loss as our hormones dwindle Sims talks about a vegan triathlete client getting too much fructose and the steps she took to move her to higher protein and lower carbs. The interesting thing in this part of the book is that she gets her client off fructose and keeps her consuming vegan protein -- BCAAs or "whole protein". Does she mean soy? Because that's not recommended even by her for its low leucine content. Plant-based protein doesn't jibe with recommending better quality and more protein as we age. But then, I ran across more oddness as I read. Sims seems to be recommending a diet based on the results of the standard diet. That is, she starts with what we're all used to and pares away what she feels is harmful. This is the usual way people approach diet. But it's not the best way. Approaching diet this way means in essence you agree with the status quo until proven otherwise. Instead, let's start at nothing and add on what we know is necessary. Exogenous amino acids and fatty acids are necessary for life. Exogenous carbohydrates are explicitly NOT necessary. There may be certain benefits to adding in carbohydrates that are worth the bad effects, but that's not her argument. Sims isn't willing to go that extra step with her recommendation to reduce carbs. That is, she details why carbohydrates are bad news, but then claims carbohydrates are still necessary. She argues they are because our brains require carbohydrates to function (our liver makes all required, which Sims even mentions), that "fat burns in a carb flame" (this is a slogan not evidence), and that the Karen Hardy paper from 2015 tells us our big brains evolved to need them (this paper has some critical problems). Sims seems to have unquestioningly embraced the research by Karen Hardy "The Importance of Dietary Carbohydrate in Human Evolution" published in the Quarterly Review of Biology in 2015. Hardy's thesis has been shown lacking by critics: • The evidence for humans cooking food goes back only about 100,000 years, whereas our brains began to enlarge, needing more fuel (fat) two million years ago (many plant foods need to be cooked for us to use them safely and gain enough nutrition) • Brain and placental tissue can get all the glucose they need from the liver (even Hardy's previous research showed this) • Amylase developed later in human evolution than the period when our brains grew (amylase starts to digest starchy foods before it reaches our stomachs) • Endurance runners today have proven that persistence hunters (the theory that humans hunted successfully because we could outlast a faster animal) can function very well on fat as fuel rather than glucose.