The Book Review: 'I'm So Effing Tired'
'I'm So Effing Tired' - A proven plan to beat burnout, boost your energy and reclaim your life
‘I’m So Effing Tired’ by Dr Amy Shah is an empowering approach to reversing symptoms that women face on a daily basis, at any age during their life. Written after Amy had a terrible car accident, it highlights the real importance of sleep, energy levels and how to effectively improve them.
It is easy to understand and highly recommended if you’re trying to better understand hormone and gut health, and how they affect your energy levels and your overall wellbeing. Amy explains how they all effect each other and by finding the right balance, you can find your way back to having more energy. The book is loaded with scientific and medical evidence and detailed useful concepts, such as coriatol imbalance and its effects.
The analogy of energy being money in the bank that can be spent on a daily basis and things we could prevent spending it on is particularly useful to understand the theories in the book. From deciding what to wear in the morning to what to have for breakfast, these are all activities that eat into our energy bank account.
The book is heavily based around the WTF Plan (Why The eFf am I tired) and how to apply it to your life, even by making some minor changes. It also talks about Intermittent Fasting (IF), a method of eating where you allow food within a fixed time period in the day, and Amy's approach to doing what is best for you. She talks about the benefits of IF on your gut, hormones and energy levels, including advice on foods to eat, recipes and exercises, such as eating a more plant-based diet and swapping HIIT for a nature walk. An easy recipe from the book that you could enjoy as a high fibre breakfast are Dr Shah’s banana oatmeal muffins. :
Banana Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients needed:
- 275g plain Greek yogurt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tbs honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ripe banana
- 275g rolled oats
- 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- Pinch of fine salt
- A handful walnuts
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180/200 Celsius. Line muffin cases with paper cases
- Combine yogurt, eggs, honey, vanilla extract, bananas, oats baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add liquids in first if using a blender to ensure oats do not form at the bottom and not mix correctly.
- Add walnuts and combine.
- Divide into muffin cups.
- Bake for 15 minutes, ensuring cooked all the way through
- Serve warm or let cool
The book does become repetitive at times, however this does reinforce the key messages from Dr Shah, referring back to some of the scientific terms that were harder to follow.
Overall, ’I’m So Effing Tired’ contains easy to implement ideas that can be easily integrated into your life. Just by making small changes it can have a real impact on overall gut and hormone health that directly improves energy levels.