Books on Women’s Health – May 2024

There’s a lot of noise in the media right now about the diet and weight-loss culture. I’m not going to claim that I haven’t fallen down that rabbit hole or have wondered whether I should get that “magic shot” that everyone across America (and not just rich celebrities) seems to be getting. I also don’t think that people should be vilified if they do decide to go that route because if it works for them and they have a medical team or doctor helping them, then that’s great!

For me, I have decided to research books that I feel will help me change my mindset regarding my relationship with food. The three books featured below have given me tools to practice intuitive eating, reframe my thinking and nurture my inner child, and also understand how my vagus nerve/nervous system affects digestion and appetite regulation.

The Anti-Diet Workbook by Brandy Minks, RDN

This book is written by Brandy Minks who holds a master’s degree in nutrition and dietetics. She is a registered dietician nutritionist and board-certified nutrition support clinician.

My weight has fluctuated over the years – from gaining the freshman 15 and then losing it, to pregnancy weight-gain and eventually weight-loss and now perimenopause weight gain. People…the struggle is real! I was drawn to this workbook because it is teaching me to respect your body and eat intuitively. I am an emotional eater – I eat when I’m stressed and also when I’m bored watching my favorite television shows. It is taking me years to break these habits and it’s a slow process.

The Anti-Diet Workbook contains:

• Simple strategies to reset your focus toward body acceptance.
• Information on the harms of dieting and the weight-loss industry
• Key principles for intuitive eating
• Space to track your journey from dieter to anti-dieter
• And much more!

If you are looking to build healthy habits for a lifetime, then this book is for you! Click here to view the publisher’s website.

Name, Claim & Reframe Workbook by Andrea Mein Dewitt

If you follow my blog, then you probably remember my book review of “Name, Claim and Reframe: Your Path to a Well-Lived Life” by Andrea Mein Dewitt. Andrea has a master’s in education and is a certified professional coach. As a life & leadership coach, Andrea works with small business owners, working professionals, parents and people who are transitioning from one part of their life to the next.

Her book helped me immensely in 2023, as I had recently quit my corporate job due to burnout and needed to focus on work-life balance, especially since I was dealing with aging parents and a high school teenager.

“Name, Claim & Reframe Workbook” was released on April 30th and takes a deeper dive into self-discovery. In this book you’ll learn new approaches to handling stress, distress and life’s ever-changing journey. Using the prompts and exercises within the workbook helped me process and reflect on my emotions and behavior. This in turn is helping me cope with stress better and I’m learning not to use food for comfort.

If you are looking to live a more authentic life, reclaim control, and tap into your full potential, then this book is for you!

Click here to get more information on the workbook and check out Andrea’s website here for details on her life coaching services!

Upgrade Your Vagus Nerve by Dr. Navaz Habib

To be honest, I didn’t know much about the vagus nerve before I read this book. I had heard the term once before on a podcast, which is why I wanted to read this book so that I could get a deeper understanding. The book is written by Dr. Navaz Habib who is a Doctor of Chiropractic and Functional Medicine Practitioner. In his practice, he empowers his clients to dig deeper and find the answers to what is holding back their health, affecting their energy and productivity.

As someone who has suffered from anxiety and depression in the past, I wanted to understand how the vagus nerve affects your nervous system. There are suggestions and strategies in the book on how to treat with chronic pain, headaches, depression, anxiety, and more.

In this book you’ll learn how to:

• Understand the impact of psychological and physical stressors, such as traumatic incidents and nutritional deficiencies
• Explore the intricate functioning of the vagus nerve and its connection to the parasympathetic nervous system and the microbiome-gut-brain axis
• Learn how to measure vagus nerve function using heart rate variability (HRV) and other devices
• Discover a wide range of strategies to upgrade your heart rate variability/vagus nerve, including non-invasive electrical stimulation, breathwork techniques, nutritional optimization, sound therapy, temperature exposure, circadian biology alignment, and more

For me, I wanted to learn holistic strategies to help with nutrition and mindful eating. If this is something you’d like to explore, check out the publisher’s website here.

The above books can be found wherever books are sold, but I encourage you to check out the author or publisher’s website for more information. Happy reading!

Disclosure: No monetary compensation was received for this post. I received complimentary samples which helped facilitate this review. All images are my own unless otherwise noted. As always, my opinions are 100% my own.