Keto: A Woman's Guide and Cookbook: The Groundbreaking Program for Effective Fat-Burning, Weight Loss & Hormonal Balance

Keto: A Woman's Guide and Cookbook is a tutorial aimed especially at women who want to utilize  a low/no carbohydrate diet for health and weight loss by Tasha Metcalf. Due out 14th Jan 2020 from Quarto on their Fair Winds Press imprint, it's 272 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

This book is certainly very well organized. The first  15% of the page content covers the introduction, definitions and concepts involved in a keto. The author covers macronutrients, different metabolic pathways and some layman accessible biochemistry, along with advantages and disadvantages of various diets. The author discusses some of the side effects of ketosis and benefits of getting through the initial adjustment period.

The second section covers some of the differences of female metabolism and hormonal cycles as they relate to diet and exercise. These chapters (and indeed the whole book) are layman accessible, scientifically accurate, free of outrageous claims, and reasonable. I must admit though, when reading, this book is so theory dense that I often felt overwhelmed. I think that most readers will get probably get more from the book by 'buffet' style reading (finding specific information and taking careful notes) than by 'novel' style reading from cover to cover and trying to compile and assimilate all the information in one read-through.

The last 60% of the content is given over to implementation of a low carb diet, realistic expectations, the phases of ketosis, fat-adaptation, etc along with a bank of well curated recipes which are keto-friendly. The book is very well photographed and the composition is pleasant and easy to read. The recipes themselves are clear and easy to follow. Each recipe has a header with cooking times and a short description of the recipe. The ingredients (given in American and metric measures) are listed in a sidebar, along with yields and serving sizes. Step by step directions are followed by nutrient information. Most of the ingredients will be easy to source at any well stocked grocery, but some of the more specialized 'keto-specific' nut butters and low carb flours, milks, etc might be more difficult to find and necessitate specialty grocers or health food stores. Some, but by no means all, of the recipes are vegan friendly. The photography is exceptional and very nearly every recipe is attractively presented.

This is a comprehensive book, and it's very information dense.  Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes