I've been a little bit obsessed with Lara Briden since I read her book The Period Repair Manual! I thought I knew everything about hormones until I started to follow her work.
With more than two decades of medical knowledge and practise behind her, Lara is getting the vital message out globally that period problems can be fixed without the band-aid solution of synthetic hormones.
Her work is SO important. I personally think her book should be mandatory reading for all girls in school so that they are fully aware of how their bodies and hormones work BEFORE they decide to take pill or other forms of hormonal contraception.
I was thrilled when she agreed to be interviewed for our new Happy Hormones magazine!
Can you please tell us a bit about your work as the “period revolutionary”, and what it entails?
I’m a naturopathic doctor helping women to come off hormonal birth control and have easy, healthy, natural periods. The advantage of natural cycles is that they’re how we make the beneficial estrogen and progesterone which we need for general health, not just for making a baby. Our own natural hormones are far better than the contraceptive drugs in birth control which are sometimes called “hormones,” but are not actually hormones.
How did you get into this line of work?
I first trained as a scientist, so when I came to be a clinician more than 20 years ago, I came at it from the angle that the body is a logical, practical system.
It knows what to do when it’s given the right nutritional support, and that’s also true for periods. Women’s health is not as mysterious or complicated as it’s been made out to be.
Can you let us know about your book, and how it can help older ladies to feel better and cope with changing hormones and periods?
Period Repair Manual is a one-stop shop for everything women need to have better periods, without the use of hormonal birth control. It’s suitable for women of every age and situation but it’s particularly helpful for the “hormonal rollercoaster” of perimenopause, which is the ten years leading up to menopause.
The book provides treatments ideas for common perimenopause symptoms such as mood swings, insomnia and heavy flooding periods.
What are some simple tips women can follow this year to feel and look better?
One of the simplest ways to feel better is to dramatically reduce sugar and alcohol — or even give them up altogether! Sugar is a major driver of insulin resistance, which is a pre-diabetic condition that causes inflammation, weight gain, and heavy periods. And alcohol, even in moderation, is problematic for the hormonal system because it blocks the beneficial effects of progesterone, impairs sleep quality and damages the gut microbiome.
What is a common misconception about perimenopause?
One of the biggest myths about perimenopause is that “estrogen is declining” and can be helped by an estrogen pill or hormone replacement. In actual fact, estrogen is going up and down during our forties and can soar to triple what it was before. That means the best treatment is to reduce estrogen with nutritional strategies such as calcium-d- glucarate and at the same time, to look at natural or body-identical progesterone to relieve mood, sleep disturbance, and heavyperiods.
Find out more about Lara’s book, Period Repair Manual.
See the full interview and more articles in the brand new Happy Hormones magazine!