Lenise Brothers, Sleep is a Key Pillar of a Healthy Lifestyle

She qualified after an intensive 3-year programme at the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London, England, including over 200 clinical hours seeing clients in the student clinic. I am also a member of the British Association of Nutritional Therapists (BANT), a regulatory body that oversees nutritional therapists in the UK.She has always had a life long interest in food – eating it, cooking it and sharing it. She slowly started to make the connection between what she was eating and how she was feeling, and used diet and lifestyle changes to improve her anxiety, depression and irritable bowel syndrome.  She believes in the power of food; food as medicine. She also believes that food is something to be enjoyed and celebrated, not feared.

RB:  Who is Le’Nise and when and how did her entrepreneurial journey begin?  LB:  Hello! I’m Le’Nise Brothers, a Canadian – Brit, living in West London with my husband and very active 4 year old son. I worked in advertising and media in London for over 15 years until I decided to retrain while I was on maternity leave. I’m now a qualified nutritional therapist & health coach, specialising in working with women with hormonal issues such as PMS, PCOS, heavy & painful periods, post-natal depression & depletion and perimenopause / menopause.

Entrepreneurialism is in my blood – both my parents started their own companies, my brother has his own photography business and my grandparents have their own mattress and furniture company. I grew up with entrepreneurialism around me – the good, the bad and the ugly and always knew that I would have my own company one day.

My cultural background is quite varied – both of my parents are mixed race. My father is Canadian and my mother is Bahamian. I grew up in Toronto  and lived in London since 2002.

 

RB:  You are a nutrition and well being coach, this is a very busy industry, how do you remain competitive? 

LB:  I am focused on delivering to the needs of my clients – women, primarily over 30, who feel like they’re being ruled by their hormones & sugar cravings and want to get to grips with hormonal issues such as heavy & painful periods, PMS, PCOS, endometriosis, post-natal depletion and perimenopause.

It’s easy to get distracted in this space and try to be everything to everyone, however I’ve found that by having a very targeted audience and a targeted message, I can cut through and reach women who in indeed of my help.

 

RB:  Describe to use your typical client and exactly why does she come to you?

LB: Women, primarily over 30, who feel like they’re being ruled by their hormones & sugar cravings and want to get to grips with hormonal issues such as heavy & painful periods, PMS, PCOS, endometriosis, post-natal depletion and perimenopause.  She comes to me because she wants to get back in control of her body, understand her hormones and have normal periods.

 

RB: You are a hormonal specialist. Would you say women are educated about their hormones and the huge role it plays in their daily lives?

LB:  I see such varied knowledge. Generally speaking, many women tend to begin to educate themselves about their periods and menstrual cycles when they are either ready to conceive  or decide to come off synthetic birth control.

I also see a lot of misconceptions. The biggest misconception I see is women believing that period pain and PMS are normal and something that just need to deal with. My mission is to help women understand that it is possible to have a pain-free period with no PMS and dare I say, actually enjoy their menstrual cycle.

 

RB: From your experience, what is the biggest health challenge facing women today?  

LB:  Advocating for themselves and standing their own ground. The most high profile example of this is Serena Williams, where she had to argue with her doctors to get the right treatment when she started experiencing blood clots after she gave birth.

You know your own body best, so if you feel as though something is wrong, then fight your corner until you get the help you need and deserve.

RB: You have a five day sleep challenge on your website, how did that come about?

LB:  Sleep is one of the pillars of a healthy lifestyle, but something that many of us skimp on.

Sleep deprivation can lead to so many issues, including cognitive decline, weight gain, hormone imbalances, slow or poor healing and excessive hunger. I originally wanted to challenge myself to improve my own sleep habits, and the more research I did, the more obvious it became that this is a large issue that I wanted to help others address.

It’s been incredibly rewarding helping others get better sleep and I’m going to be doing more projects around sleep. Watch this space!

 

RB: As an entrepreneur and mother how do you maintain a healthy lifestyle, balance your diet, etc?

LB:  Planning and organisation are key, as well as setting boundaries.

I do a lot of meal prepping on the weekend to ensure that I always have meals in the fridge or freezer for dinner and quick things I can throw together for lunch for myself and for my son’s packed lunch. I also practice yoga every day. This helps keep me calm and channel any anxieties I have about my business.  I stop work when I pick my son up from school so I can spend some focused time with him before he goes to bed. This means that I often do things in the evening, but I’ve accepted that’s what I need to do and generally aim to close my laptop by 9:30pm.

I’m not perfect, so I take things day-by-day and give myself a lot of grace. Each day is an opportunity to start again.

 

RB:  What words of encouragement do you have for women looking to break into the health coaching industry?

LB:  Do it! There are so many people who want to know more about their health and how to improve it. I find that people are now more open to these messages than they were even 5 years ago. The key is to know who you want to work with and tailoring your message to those people.