You Can Have A Better Period

by Le'Nise Brothers

A practical guide to understanding your cycle and balancing your hormones with nutrition, lifestyle changes and yoga for calmer, less painful periods. Written by Le’Nise Brothers, a nutritional therapist, yoga teacher and popular women’s health coach, You Can Have A Better Period is a straight-talking resource to help women understand their menstrual cycles and finally get answers to questions such as: “why am I so moody right before my period?”, “are periods supposed to be so painful?”, “why is my period so heavy?”, “is it normal to get headaches right before my period?” and more. Le'Nise takes us through each phase of our cycle, including clear and practical nutrition and lifestyle changes. The book explains which supplements work and the key stress management habits we can implement to bring long-lasting and sustainable changes to our hormones and menstrual health. In Western society, we have accepted a cultural narrative that periods are supposed to be painful, emotional and messy. This book is a practical guide that helps women change the way they look at their period and menstrual cycle to finally harness the power of the fifth vital sign.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Self Help, Womens, Lifestyle

340 pages, Paperback

Published March 8, 2022

About the author

Le’Nise Brothers is a yoga teacher and registered nutritionist, mBANT, mCNHC, specialising in women’s health, hormones and the menstrual cycle. She is also the host of the Period Story podcast, which aims to break taboos around menstrual health and hormones.

Le’Nise has helped hundreds of women improve their menstrual and hormone health through her private practice and group programmes, talks and workshops for the likes of Stylist, Channel 4, Ebay and TikTok and her Instagram page.

Her first book You Can Have A Better Period will be released on 8th March 2022.

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in 2019 I read a book very similar to You Can Have A Better Period called Period Power: Harness Your Hormones and Get Your Cycle Working For You and wrote a long critical review of it. It's fair to say that in 2019 I was less receptive to its advice as I was trapped in the hell of academia and couldn't work from home. (WFH has truly been a game-changer for coping with my horrible periods.) However, my main issue with Period Power: Harness Your Hormones and Get Your Cycle Working For You was the dietary advice. I was truly gobsmacked by the suggestion to try an 'autoimmune paleo protocol' for at least three weeks, eating practically nothing - no grains, dairy, sugar, alcohol, nuts, seeds, or nightshade vegetables!! I'm a vegetarian and if I tried that would simply starve. Absolute nonsense advice, even for people that don't have a problem with disordered eating. Thus when I saw You Can Have A Better Period on the library shelf, I first flicked through it to check there would be no such suggestions and was delighted to find that Brothers advocates a totally different approach. As a result, I found her book much more useful.

Like Period Power: Harness Your Hormones and Get Your Cycle Working For You, You Can Have A Better Period divides the menstrual cycle into four seasons (menstruation = winter, ovulation = summer, etc) and describes what's happening biologically at each stage. A reminder of this was quite useful, although the detail got a bit much at times. There are so many hormones. Refreshingly, the book doesn't assume that trying to get pregnant is relevant for all readers. Instead, the focus is on reducing the negative effects of your menstrual cycle on daily life. Brothers sets expectations of what your body ought to be doing at each stage of the cycle and when to consult a doctor. She offers recommendations around exercise, stress reduction, and supplements, as well as diet.

It's the food side of things that I found most constructive, though. Brothers is adamant that gut health is crucial to improving your periods and spends a lot of time on specific nutrients. What makes this so much more palatable than healthy eating advice in Period Power: Harness Your Hormones and Get Your Cycle Working For You and elsewhere is that Brothers recommends adding foods to your diet rather than excluding them. A simple difference, but it's extraordinary how transformative it was for me. Being told to give up gluten, dairy, and/or sugar to help my periods sends me into despair. It's difficult enough to eat proper meals as it is! Instead, Brothers suggests eating fruit with not instead of your sweets/chocolate. Similarly, add another vegetable to what you're already having for lunch or dinner, rather than substituting for something. Honestly I am very stupid about food, so this was ground-breaking to me. I tried it immediately, so ate much more fruit and veg than usual today. That's much more of an impact than just about any other healthy eating advice has had on me - even that given by actual dieticians.

I also appreciated Brothers' non-proscriptive tone. She suggests trying whichever of her suggestions that appeal most, to see what works for you. Her writing style is very readable, chatty, and sympathetic as well as information-dense. There is very little woo, an extensive bibliography, and a scattering of recipes. Clearly there isn't a magic secret to fix bad periods; they get better when you're in generally good health, well-nourished, taking exercise, getting sufficient sleep, and not stressed. I am certainly more receptive to hearing this in 2023 than 2019, but also think that You Can Have A Better Period is genuinely a better book than Period Power: Harness Your Hormones and Get Your Cycle Working For You. Merely by suggesting adding more fruit & veg to the meals I already eat, it blew my mind. If I can actually apply this suggestion in a lasting way, I will have good reason to be grateful to Le'Nise Brothers.

[Fontana Arnaud · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a well-written, informative book! I loved this sooooo much more than the "In the Flow" book I read last year. A lot of the information was the same, but this book was able to communicate it significantly better.
Anyone who menstruates should read this book! Lots of helpful tips.

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book because the title. My mom as always touted period tips such as regular ginger tea consumption and increased intake of dark green vegetables such as spinach. For that reason I have no doubts there are ways to ease monthly suffering. It also can’t hurt to get some more advice, especially with how shoddy US sex ed is.

I really liked that the author shared the experiences of multiple women. I really liked how the book included dietary changes that can be implemented as well as yoga poses for pain relief. "You Can Have a Better Period" was more extensive than I expected. Readers have the option to jump around the book to troubleshoot or learn about specific aspects of the menstrual cycle, however I chose to read from start to finish in order. Something I didn't expect to be present in this book is a list of symptoms that could be indicators of possible conditions. The only con is that parts of the book are quite boring and read like a textbook, which is inevitable when hormones and their functions are being discussed.

I think this book would be great to keep on one's shelf. Almost feels like I have an instruction manual. I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and Watkins Publishing for the ARC.

[Abby Richter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a breath of fresh air amongst all the grifty hormone health advice out there. This did a pretty good job of steering clear from diet culture and I did not pick up on any fat phobia. Way to go Le'Nise, thanks so much for your knowledge and care for this topic!

[Kenni D · Rating 5 out of 5]

- Technically still reading this but that's because this book is large and is filled with a lot of information that I tend to go back and reread and even jump to certain sections to read depending on where I am in my menstrual cycle! Was reading this as an ebook but will be buying the physical copy so I can have it on my shelf and be able to grab and refer to it!

- A very educational book that I feel like makes it easy to understand about your cycle, hormones, etc. I really like that Le'Nise Brothers writes in an encouraging way and is very positive. I feel like she's a doctor who is not judgmental or trying to just sell products. I also enjoy the science behind hormones and what our bodies are going through and how we can help it without the pill.

- Love the emphasis on natural remedies and a healthier lifestyle

[Claudia Vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great resource. Approachable, easy-to-follow, even when discussing hormones. I appreciated the time, care and knowledge shared. As someone that has PCOS and prefers to approach things holistically, this is incredibly helpful!

[January · Rating 5 out of 5]

You Can Have a Better Period
a Practical Guide to Calmer and Less Painful Periods by Le'Nise Brothers
340-page Paperback

Genre: Nonfiction, Anatomy & Physiology, Menstrual Cycle, Women - Health and Hygiene

Featuring: Tons of Tables, Changing Expectations, Painful Periods Aren't The Norm, Cultural and Religious Influences, Four Phases of the Menstrual Cycle as Seasons, Hormones and Neurotransmitters, BMI Myth, Endometriosis, Fibroids, Adenomyosis, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Healthism (vocabulary not advocating), Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (HA), Oestrogen, Hormonal Contraception, Progesterone, Post-Pill Amenorrhea, Stress, Eating To Support Menstrual Health, Thyroid - Hypothyroidism and Hyperthyroidism, Your Nervous System, Other Reading, Overhydration and Underhydration, The Meanings Behind The Color of Blood, Oestradiol, Dysmenorrhea, Normal & Not Normal Symptoms, Vitamins & Minerals, Recipes, Exercise & Movement, Breathing Exercises, Fibrocystic Breasts, Cyclical Mastalgia, Xenoestrogens, Detoxification, UK, Painful Periods, N-Acetylcysteine, Ovarian Cysts, Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), Premenstrual Anxiety, Premenstrual Depression, Trackers, Resources, Notes, Index

Rating as a movie: PG

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🔄♀️

My thoughts: 📖 Page 17 of 320 Chapter 2 Why Your Menstrual Cycle is Your Fifth Vital Sign - I'm definitely not going to be reading this straight through.
📖 29 Chapter 3 What's a Normal Period and Menstrual Cycle? I'm not sure I'm going to make it. This is going to take longer than I expected.
📖 57 Part 2 Phases of The Menstrual Cycle
Page 59 Chapter 4 The Menstrual Phase/Inner Winter - Le'Nise Was on something when she suggested in the introduction that we read this book straight through. It is not a straight-through book this is a chapter-by-chapter like you're taking a class-type book. I am so over her referring to the phases of the cycle by season, I don't know what summer and fall are just say ovulatory and luteal along with it because I'm Not hip on your lingo and I'm gonna be lost anyway but at least I won't have to go back to page 20 to translate.
📖 101 Chapter 5 The Follicular Phase/Inner Spring - This has gotten a lot better. I still don't think it's a straight-through book, these chapters are long and the information is extensive.
📖 137 Chapter 6 The Ovulatory Phase/Inner Summer - I just knew I was going to be breezing through the rest of this book, but there is so much information to absorb. I think we are going over food, movements, and hormones for each phase.
📖 171 Chapter 7 The Luteal Phase/Inner Autumn or WTF I'm PMSing!? - Chapter 6 was the best one so far, the graphics did a great job of explaining everything. I have no intention of eating Pesto Carrot and Sweet Potato Fritters but it was nice to read a recipe instead of a list of foods, vitamins, and minerals. I feel knowledgeable and rested, although I'm going to sleep.

This book was very informative. I plan on putting a lot of the recommendations to good use. My only issue was I disagreed with this being a book you could read straight through, maybe some can but I needed to digest the information chapter by chapter until I got the pattern.

Recommend to others: Yes! Absolutely! I think every menstruating woman should read this book as well as every gynecologist.

[Winnie | Her Digital Coffee · Rating 5 out of 5]

You Can Have a Better Period by Le’Nise Brothers is a practical health guide to having pain-free and calmer periods. Brothers is a registered nutritionist that specializes in women’s health, hormones, and the menstrual cycle. Many of us have dealt with painful, emotional, and heavy periods. Rather than accepting what we’ve considered to be the “norm,” Brothers encourages us to start changing the way we look at our periods.

You Can Have a Better Period offers a ton of scientific information to help us understand each phase of our cycle. Brothers offers advice on nutrition, diagrams, charts, stress management, and more. The information in this book is meant to bring on long-lasting and sustainable changes to our menstrual health.

I am so glad I came across this book. It can be overwhelming at first due to the amount of information that’s presented, but it’s meant to be one that you can refer to again and again. We are slowly but surely starting to openly discuss the topic of menstruation, which has been viewed as taboo for so long. These important discussions greatly benefit those who are looking to understand their cycle and the changes happening within without fear or embarrassment. Thank you to NetGalley and Watkins Publishing for this advanced readers copy (eARC) in exchange for my honest review.

[Britt Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be recommending this book to every girlfriend that will listen! So informative and written for the average reader. Great information on hormone balance, menstrual phases, and even food/supplement recommendations during each phase. The better informed we can be about our bodies, the better we can live! Also great information to share with significant others who really have no idea about this (lol). Great read!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous resource that helps women understand what is happening physically, hormonally, and emotionally throughout our menstrual cycles. I really appreciated all of the tips and suggestions for how to support healthy hormone balance through food and lifestyle choices.

[Aydrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of great info!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A life-changing read for anyone who goes through a menstrual cycle. In a world where mainstream medicine often shuns menstruating bodies, I now feel empowered to learn my body, advocate for my own health, and use food and movement as medicine.

[Anoud]

No rating.
Important for women.

[Emily Badin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal source of info!!

[Janina · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5, sauviel gelernt - wenn jetzt noch meine krämpfe tatsächlich besser werden 100/5 🌟🥰

[Zf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to learn all about the menstrual cycle. Easy to understand medical processes that should be required reading in a health class. Detailed lists of lifestyle ways to improve menstrual health are provided inculing diet, exercise, and sleep habits. The book even contains a thorough list of resources for further reading including recommended products and podcasts. This is a book to gift your girlfriends and daughters.

[Kirsty Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those books I wish I'd read years ago and want all my friends to read! Brilliant book.

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a detailed book explaining periods to all women. It is very detailed. I like how it is divided into sections explaining the different phases of your period. Lots of good anecdotes about women suffering from periods.
An interesting read.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an arc.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate marking books as read when I didn’t finish them but I also want to give myself credit for giving it all I could. Le’Nise Brothers clearly knows what she’s talking about and I’d bet she’s a great practitioner for those she works with. I couldn’t get through this book however because of the way the information was delivered (and believe me, I was motivated!). It needed a keen editor to finesse the actual writing which often felt way too casual. A huge help would be having a standard structure for each menstrual phase to make it less repetitive and more predictable and digestible - something like “physiology,” “key symptoms,” “supportive strategies.” These are in there but peppered between general writing and self help style client stories. Even presenting those as “case studies” would help. My ADHD mind just couldn’t absorb this info in the way it was presented, as mostly casual writing that jumped back into something more technical here and there. I wanted to like it and learn from it but it just wasn’t for me!

[Monika Armet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is split into three parts. The first one tackles the expectations around the periods and how mostly, it is something a woman should dread.

The second part explains all phases of our cycle and describes what’s normal and what isn’t. It also offers nutritional advice and exercise we could be doing, so we can be at our best during each phase.

The third part addresses specific conditions which could be making our periods (and lives) worse, such as PMS, endometriosis, PMDD, and PCOS.

What I loved the most in the book were the stories of women and their issues, and how Le’Nise tried to resolve them.

As a long term sufferer of endometriosis, the information in the book was invaluable to me – I must admit that I marked so many pages and I know I will be referring to them in the future.

This book isn’t just for those who menstruate, I feel that everyone should read it.

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, practical and well-written. Although I knew a lot of the information from previous books, I enjoyed how it was collated and presented in You Can Have a Better Period . Funnily enough, it occasionally referenced Wild Power , which I recently finished and did not enjoy - but I just much preferred how this author presented the ideas behind the different stages of our menstrual cycles.

Only downside is the book was rather repetitive, and while it was clear it was designed this way for people tuning into different chapters, it was a bit annoying when reading from start to finish. The author also promotes red meat but is inclusive of other diets, including vegan/vegetarian and gives plenty of different options for foods to include. Overall, I recommend this book as a resource for women.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know you are not meant to judge a book by its cover, but how can this not grab your attention?

Le’Nise’s book is filled with information and the resources to back up the information is included in the book. I would’ve liked more on the topic of histamine and how to deal with that.

The beneficial vegetables and fruits aren’t suitable for everyone. I have written out the list and highlighted the ones I can have (histamine issues). The natural pain relief was helpful too as we don’t always want to be popping pills for 7 days which can have side effects.

What disappointed me about the book is the fact it’s been created with the influencing side of social media GLEAM.

[Kendra Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly informative and well-written. Helped me identify what my potential issues are, gave me safe options I could implement to start feeling better immediately and most importantly helped me identify what I needed to be talking to my doctor about, how to do that, how to get results from my doctor, and what to expect. I feel a sense of profound relief already.

Also, the author provides so many other resources so I can continue to inform myself.

I am thankful for this book and hopeful for some relief very very soon. Thank you, Le’Nise Brothers for writing this book and sharing this information in such an accessible way. I sincerely want to cry at having some possible answers.

[LAILA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely informative and a really good way of looking at out periods. Have learnt a lot from reading it and want to find more resources about this. The only thing that kept making me cringe was the time Le'Nise said 'in my practise', it felt like every few sentences she had to mention her clients and practice.

[Mariko · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a medical book, this was way too woo-woo for me. Basically the book purports that you can eat your way to less painful periods. Sure, food is important and may alleviate symptoms, but it's not going to fix a lot of menstrual issues.

[Sarah Canavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot stop singing this book’s praises to every woman (and some of the men) in my life. It’s totally changed the way I view my relationship to my period and my diet. It’s a great reference book. Highly recommended reading for anyone with a period.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Library coming in clutch with informational reading. one note- the author is from England so had some different context! Overall I recommend it and was pretty helpful in explaining science stuff in a digestible way

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a helpful book! Lots of strategies for taking good care of yourself, including just simply understanding women’s bodies and what they naturally do, so you can sometimes just sit back and let your body do what it should. ❤️

[Marianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a really insightful read!! It focuses a lot on food and nutrients and there’s a lot of actionable advice on the types of food you should be eating for each phase of your cycle. There are also helpful tables, lists, and charts that I will DEFINITELY be referring to in the future

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so useful, lots of information that I wish had been more easily accessible to me at a younger age. We need to talk about periods more, and more in-depth!