Rediscovering Joy and Midlife Nutrition: Embrace Your Personal Food Journey with Reena Bach

Are you feeling a sense of disconnection or identity crisis as you navigate the transformative waters of midlife? You’re not alone! Join host Heather Carey in this enlightening episode of Real Food Stories, where she welcomes leadership consultant and executive coach Reena Bach to explore the profound journey of reconnecting with joy during midlife and midlife nutrition. Together, they dive deep into the challenges women face as their roles evolve, particularly when children grow up and bodies undergo significant changes. With a focus on midlife nutrition, Reena shares invaluable insights on how to cultivate a positive mindset and surround yourself with supportive individuals who uplift you.

This episode emphasizes the importance of self-kindness, embracing the unknown, and allowing creativity and joy to flourish in everyday moments. Heather and Reena encourage listeners to shift their focus from relentless productivity to appreciating the small joys that life offers, all while navigating the complexities of midlife nutrition. They highlight practical strategies for managing fear and uncertainty, including journaling and mindfulness practices, to help women find fulfillment during this transformative stage of life.

As a culinary nutritionist, Heather understands the significance of healthy lifestyle choices in midlife, and this episode is filled with nutrition advice tailored specifically for women 40+. Discover how to embrace midlife body positivity and the seven pillars of abundance that can empower your journey. With discussions on menopause health, perimenopause nutrition, and the importance of mindful eating practices, this episode is a treasure trove of knowledge for anyone seeking to navigate midlife with grace and joy.

Whether you’re curious about the mediterranean diet insights, food beliefs and culture, or simply looking for inspiration to reignite your passion for cooking, Heather and Reena’s conversation will resonate deeply. They explore the intersections of food and lifestyle choices, sustainable eating, and the emotional aspects of our relationships with food, all while empowering women to embrace their personal food journeys.

So, if you’re ready to take small steps towards rediscovering your passions and purpose, tune in to this episode of Real Food Stories. Let’s embark on this journey of self-discovery together, embracing the joys of midlife and nourishing our bodies with love and intention. Remember, it’s never too late to reconnect with the vibrant, joyful you!

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Transcript:

Speaker #0
Well, hello, everybody, and welcome back. And if you are just tuning in with me for the very first time, it’s so nice to meet you. And I’m really glad you’re here with me today. I am your host, Heather Carey, nutritionist, chef, mom, and a woman who has been around the block with food. I want to open up about real food in relation to health, weight, and our bodies so you can make peace with what you eat. Hi, Reena. Welcome to the show. So today I am happy to have Reena Bach with me because she is going to talk to us about reconnecting to our joy in midlife and the secrets behind how to do that. But first, let me tell you a little bit about Reena. Reena has over 30 years of experience, both as a leader and a leadership development consultant, executive coach, and facilitator. Her mission is to raise the frequency of joy in her clients in both their professional and personal lives because she believes happy people have a greater positive impact in and for the world. And they enjoy themselves along the way, elevating their organizations and their communities. So you say that you feel called to help those who feel lost in their searching or in transition and trying to figure things out. or they’re numbing and want to feel engaged with their work. And even they might even feel disconnected and wanting a deeper sense of joy and fulfillment in work and in life. So welcome to midlife. My parents’ generation called that a midlife crisis. And maybe that’s what it still is. This feeling of this is it, you know, is this it? Or that nagging feeling that time is ticking, life is finite, and we haven’t done everything that we want. Does this sound right to you, that we women get into midlife and sort of have this crushing feeling sometimes of, this is all that my life is about?

Speaker #1
I think that’s definitely a possibility. And I think, you know, what’s interesting, Heather, is I have people in my life who… are just a little bit older than I am, maybe just a couple of years. And I feel like my life is expanding and growing. And to listen to their narrative around and how they talk to themselves and other people, well, I’m just getting old, or I’m forgetful, I forget things now, and it’s just, I’m getting old. So I listen very carefully to what they tell themselves because they’re sharing it with me. And I wonder, gosh, if they’re sharing it with me, how much of that dialogue is going on inside their head every single day? And so they train themselves to think that they’re old and that this is it with their lives. There are some people like that. And as much as I try and have those conversations with people to say, gosh, you know, you’re not old. But if they’re not open to a different story, then that’s the path that they’re on. But there are other people. I just had a long conversation this morning, Heather, with a client of mine. We worked initially together 20 plus years ago. She was 51 years old when we started working together. And she ended up changing careers based on the work that we had done together. But to hear her now, Heather, she’s 75 and she is happier than she’s ever been, but she’s just taking these next few weeks before the end of the year to get an additional certification. And she’s a wellness coach. And so if you juxtapose those different positions and the thought process, and what’s possible and really believing that life can be what you want it to be versus being resigned to this is the way life is and I’m just going to ride it out. Those are two different ends of the spectrum. And so I really think that it starts with the outlook that you have. And so much of that also, Heather, has to do with the people who you’re surrounding yourself with. Has that been your experience as well?

Speaker #0
I think so. For me and for the people I work with as a nutritionist, I see a lot of women in midlife and a lot of their identity has been as a mother, right? So now their kids are grown and flown and, you know, and so there’s, that is gone and their bodies are also changing a lot. Women are gaining weight women are well let me let me reword that women are just going through a big transition physically, not all women, but a lot of women, and we’re losing our estrogen and everything. So, you know, I mean, it’s just inevitable. But that a younger body, being a mom, a busy mom, those things have been like their happiness and their joy. And I think there’s a sense of loss with just getting a little older as a woman. And you realizing that you’re not going to get these things back. And so, you know, especially for women who are just like stay at home moms, I mean, they’re like, what am I doing now for the rest of my life, which might seem like just a cavernous, like, you know, period of time. Does that make sense? I know you work with a lot of corporate women and who are in the corporate world who are busy, who are working, you know, but I think it’s not that much different. I mean, you could be You could be a midlife mom and also be working in, you know, in a full-time job and just feeling like I’ve been doing this job for the last 25 years. Like, is this it? Like, is this really making me happy?

Speaker #1
Absolutely. I, I think that there are a couple of things that you pulled out of there, Heather, is that it’s the, the busy mom being active. Okay. Now the kids are grown and flown. Love that phrase. And. So with the physical changes, but there’s also facing who am I now? So I think that the phrase midlife crisis for our conversation, we might want to consider it’s an identity crisis. And because as moms, I did this too. I wrapped up my identity in my kids. Yes, I working with clients too, but it all comes down to what are our values where time is a finite resource. And yet we continue to place infinite demands on it. So we have invested our time as mothers and making that a main focus in the experience that we want to create and provide for our children and also working moms too, right? Balancing, doing that balancing act. But when the kids are now grown and flown, who am I now? And I find this, and I went through my own identity crisis, I will say. relative to corporate women as well, they get to a point of success in their careers. This is my experience when they say, is this all there is? So they’re really looking deeper within to say, who am I now? Where am I headed? What do I want to create? And that can bring up a lot of fear because same thing with the mom kind of standing at the precipice and saying, Ooh, what’s next? Who am I? And so, um, I think having someone like you, Heather, walk by their side to help them through those physical changes, right? Because those cannot be understated, right? The body changes. We’re not the same body. And if we’ve carried our own children, we’re definitely not the same body. And so there’s the hormonal shifts that we go through. But they’re also… you know, the other things that may come with this beautiful wisdom, the wisdom of the body. And so listening to our bodies is huge and honoring the stage at which we’re in, in this point of our lives, but also being kind to ourselves to say, we may not have it all figured out and allowing ourselves to be in the question, who am I now? And the where to from here, What do I want to create? And so. In my experience, even allowing ourselves to ask those questions, giving ourselves the freedom and permission to be in the, I don’t know, and I’m not sure where I’m going. But also allowing yourself to believe that this is going to work out and I’m going to make this next chapter of my life amazing. So for the corporate women, it could be, what do I want to go do now? I, with a number of my clients. I, it’s interesting because they’ve, they’ve leaned on relationships, romantic partnerships, husbands, let’s say, and maybe that those relationships have run their course. And so now they’re looking at, okay, is it time to make that change? There’s a whole lot under that. that shift, that change that would have to take place on many levels. It’s not a decision to take lightly, but maybe the risk of staying on course and in that relationship is too great to their own well-being on all levels, physically, emotionally, psychologically, financially, right? Depends. So looking at that type of shift, or it could be, gosh, I’ve always wanted to go start a non-profit, it. I’ve wanted to volunteer more time. Or you know what? I’m at a point in my life when I want to bump up my impact in an organization. I’ve been managing, let’s say, this division, but maybe I want to go run an organization or get on some boards and have a bigger legacy impact. So it really varies on what that looks like. But I think going back to the midlife crisis, really, for me, I would say it’s more of an identity crisis. And that’s a calling in my, in my verbiage is a calling of the soul to say, okay, where do you want to go now? What do you want to do to have that deeper meaning and fulfillment? And so, oh, I forget the author’s name, but not letting the music die within you when you go.

Speaker #0
Yeah, that’s nicely said. I mean, I think that you just answered that very well. And I think you mentioned what you did mention right at the beginning was fear, you know, that that I think women get stuck in fear. I mean, and I and I know I mean, I know this personally and I know this just from other women and people I’ve talked to that, you know, the possibility. I mean, you you mentioned a couple of possibilities, right, in your career and everything. But possibilities can feel. overwhelming because there’s a billion possibilities and they can feel really scary. And then you can definitely land in the, I don’t know yet, you know, I don’t know yet, but that can then also bring up some fear of what if I never know? What if I, what if I, what if I just don’t know? And I just sit here and like ruminate in this, in this space. So what would you, what would you say would be, what’s the first step, you know, to it. find more joy in midlife when you are dealing with your career and your bodies and, you know, all of it? What would, what would be the first step that you would do to work with a individual client?

Speaker #1
Well, one of the key things is Heather is not beating yourself up for where you’re at and, and for not having it all figured out. Our, in our society, our culture that we live in, And. We have this need for control. And from my perspective, it’s really a way to manage the fear of the unknown. And so I think being kind to yourself in your inner dialogue and how you show up and care for yourself. So from a person who’s on the other side of menopause, right, managing that and honoring your body and not being mad at yourself for going through these changes. But so that inner critic, we call it. So see if you can turn down the volume on her so that she’s not ruling your life and your choices and limiting what those might be. And for some of us, Heather, that takes a lifetime to build that muscle of being kind to ourselves. If we were, it. Some of us had to relearn that from, or just learn it, period. So there’s that. And so allowing yourself the freedom to be in the unknown. William Bridges is an author, consultant, and I go back to his transition model. And he applied it to organizations, and it also applies internally, it applies to individuals. The first stage is, is there’s a change and the change may be external to ourselves, right? Something happens. We, we get divorced, we get a new job, we move, whatever that is. And then there’s that kind of the neutral zone, which is the in-between of not knowing. And so in that neutral zone, we, we often want to jump to get to the other end of it and have it all figured out. That’s In his words and in my own experiences, that’s the juice in life because it gives us that time period. If we can allow ourselves to bathe in that unknown and the fear and all of the emotions that may come up like fear, anxiety, stress, even look. So looking forward or looking backward, it could be guilt or regrets. you allowing ourselves to stay in the muck of that, but also out of that neutral zone comes our creativity. And so if we can not want to hurry up and get to the other side to have it dialed in. And then the other side is, yes, so it’s a new beginning. So we have endings, that neutral zone, and the new beginning. And so oftentimes we look at the external change and we just want to get to the other side. But this is the internal transition that allows us on an emotional, psychological, even physical level for us to really create a new beginning. And so I would encourage people to get permission to stay in the neutral zone. Stay in the question, stay in the neutral zone and be kind to yourself, particularly the inner critic for not having it all figured out. And, um, I mean, other, other things would be to get a journal. Of course, journaling is just so therapeutic on many levels, but something that you will read and no one else will and have honest conversations with yourself. And gosh, if, if I could rate wave a magic wand, what would my life look like? What did I used to love doing when I was a kid? that I no longer do. One of my clients, he was an engineer at a big global company. And we had these conversations and he realized that he missed photography. And so he started picking up photography. He started putting it out online just to share with people. Well, he had so many requests that people want to buy his work. And it’s not his main gig, but it feeds his soul. And so those are two questions. If I could live a life that I want to live starting now, fresh slate. And I actually call this an etch-a-sketch. If you let yourself kind of start over, what would life look like? And what did I used to love doing as a kid or even in teens that I no longer do? And then take it. That first inspired step or the next inspired step. We, our minds want to go to my mind to a project plan. Okay. Okay. Yep. I’m going to, I’m going to do some painting. I’m going to set up a studio and this and that already are, are, are left brain is, is halfway down the court or the ball field when our right brain is saying, well, hold on there, hold on there. So. Finding that balance between the left and the right brain. So that creativity and the space to look at possibilities. And then the right brain comes in to solve or the left brain comes in to solve and get the plan going and move. So I think from a broader perspective, Heather, it’s allowing ourselves to stay in our heart space. call it your heart space, your right brain, before we engage our minds to… problem solve and get it done. And so that’s that neutral zone, allowing ourselves to bathe and bask in the unknown, because we’re going to, if we don’t let our left brain shut down and move and set up the project plan, our right brain might come up with some other things, some other possibilities that we never allowed ourselves to think about. We might find inspiration in conversation. in nature, in journaling that we weren’t able to access because we were always go, go, go as a, as a mom or a corporate leader.

Speaker #0
Really great points. You know, I think, just as you’re saying the painting thing, because I have recently started taking some painting classes, but I, I understand this, you know, rather than like looking at it, just like step by step, you know, just go buy some paints and some paintbrushes. I’m already out in like, I can go out into like left field. Like, well, what if I want to maybe sell my paintings? And I’m already like 10, 20 steps ahead. wait, that I can’t do that. How do I even do that for you know, and then it like, it’s, it can unravel, right? So these like, and then you can go into some overwhelm. Now, I, I have just taken it step by step. But I but I am guilty of doing that of like, you know, thinking like, yeah, I really love to do fill in the blank. And then it just gets, it just snowballs and gets out of control. And like, forget it, I’m not going to do that. because it just feels like too much. But I think that… Just sitting with that, right, practicing that we have to be in a little bit of discomfort allows the space to come up with some ideas and to ruminate on things and to think, is that really what I want to do? But I know that many of us, I mean, we want quick gratification, right? When I see women who want to, they come in and they have weight to lose and they want to lose it right now. You know, there’s no… slow and steady process sometimes. I mean, we go through this and then many people realize it’s a process, right? It’s progress, not perfection. It might be a slower process than the anticipation that they anticipated. But I think a lot of people do have a need for this quick gratification. I mean, we live in a world of quick gratification, right? With our phones and social media and everything. So. practicing just that, what did you call it? The, the neutral zone.

Speaker #1
Oh yeah. William Bridget. And it’s, it’s allowing ourselves to, not race to have it all figured out and, um, ruminate and to use cooking terms, cause I’m a chef, you’re a chef, um, marinate.

Speaker #0
Marinate. Yes. Yes. Just let it sit. So you,

Speaker #1
so that’s interesting. So you, you, you caught yourself though with the painting, right? You caught yourself and you said, hold on, let me just go get some brushes and some canvases and allow some playtime. I’ll throw that in. Right. And you light up, right. Cause I can see you right now. It’s like you light up when you think about allowing yourself just to play. Right. And, and so like kids do. younger kids before they get kind of indoctrinated, I’ll say, is they just do it for the sake of doing it and for fun. And there’s no, gosh, how am I going to make money doing my paintings, your paintings? How am I going to turn this into a business and make this and essentially justify something that your heart might want to do? And turning it into a business. And because otherwise, Ooh, how would I do something that I might really enjoy doing, but not make it, you know, turning it into a business to make money or, um, and I’ve had this conversation with my mom. She she’s in her mid eighties and amazing. She was a school teacher, elementary school teacher, super creative. And A number of years ago, I’ll say 10 years ago, she would make what these purses and they were called crazy purses. And she they were beautiful cloth purses, colorful, fun. And she would wear them to different out and whatever. She went to a medical appointment and one of the nurses said, can I buy one of those from you? So my mom made four of them for her and her girlfriends. And I said, you know, Mom. This is my left brain kicking. And mom, you could turn this into a business. She was wise enough to say it wouldn’t be fun. Then I would just be doing it to do it and not for the joy of it.

Speaker #0
That’s a great story. I love that. Yeah. I mean, the amount of times that I personally have said, I mean, everything has the potential to be a moneymaker or a business. And if I could just sit with the hobby and do it for the sake of fun.

Speaker #1
You light up. I can see your face, like I said, and you light up when you talk about doing it just for the sake of fun.

Speaker #0
Yeah. Which feels a little like a guilty pleasure.

Speaker #1
Yeah. Right?

Speaker #0
Like I’m not surprised. I should be producing something from it. I should be making money off of it. I should, something should come out of it. I shouldn’t just sit and paint or. you know, your mom making those bags just because it’s fun. And so that’s another question that I have. That feeling of… Like we can just do this with no strings attached.

Speaker #1
Yeah, I think that doing it with no strings attached, and you brought up such a great point, Heather, and that is the guilt. Because the guilt is what’s going to drive us into saying, I need to turn this into a business. And once the left brain starts turning in to kind of micromanage it, that actually shuts down that creative. And it shuts down the joy of actually just doing it. Ironically, if we were to give ourselves permission to be able to do more of the things and sprinkle in, it doesn’t have to be all of what we do because we live in a world where we, yes, we have to pay the mortgage or whatever else. But if we can sprinkle in those things that bring us joy and just for the sake of it, then. It will actually feed our souls so that we show up as better people and more effective in the work that we do as our vocation. And for those of us, and I am so blessed, I have to say, I feel so blessed and I’m so fortunate and grateful because I am able to combine my joy and things that bring me joy. Helping women, helping men to recapture their own joy and be able to do it as my vocation. I feel so blessed. So if you can’t make the full transition, sprinkle it in without the guilt or the joy. That’s the inner critic that’s going to come in. And if you can, eventually combine the two, and then you’re really going to sail.

Speaker #0
Yeah, that definitely. take some thought and work, but yeah, not feeling like my time is spent being productive, doing something, you know, I think a lot of women feel like that too, is that just a play, you know, feels like, am I not worth it? Am I, you know, am I not deserving of it? You know, that, that goes a little deeper, but I heard you mentioned before, and I know that because we’ve talked about this, that you do do something. Warjoy and that you are also a chef, right? A trained chef. So I just wanted to not gloss over that and tell me a little bit about that, how you became a chef along with being a coach.

Speaker #1
Yeah. And I also love wine too. So I’ve studied wine, executive sommelier, but well, my grandmother was a chef and she passed away when I was very young, but I used to love to cook as a kid. And when I was working in New York teaching investment classes at an investment bank, so very left brain, I was an engineer, undergrad. I actually wanted to go to chef school out of high school, but I kind of got guidance to go be an engineer, which I didn’t even know what one was. So I was a software developer. And. One thing led to another. I ended up on Wall Street. And so then I decided, you know, this life doesn’t really fit me. I love New York City. And so I checked into going to the French Culinary Institute. It’s now the International Culinary Institute in Soho. And a girlfriend of mine and I, I got the literature, shared it with her. And then I decided to move to Colorado. And she went on to, she was working full time at an investment bank. And she went on to go to the French Culinary Institute. We stayed in touch as friends. And 9-11 happened. And so I waited five days because I said, oh, Karen works in Midtown. She might have lost some friends in 9-11. I’ll give her some time. So I ended up calling one night. A woman answered. I said, hi, is Karen there? Long pause. And she said, who is this? And I said, well, this is her friend, Raina. We work together at Salomon Brothers in New York. Long pause. And she said, Karen’s missing. So Karen was the type of person who would walk into a room and light up the room. And she was just. excellent at everything she did.

Speaker #0
She also was chefing at a five-star restaurant on the weekend. She was a great mom, cyclist, and VP at a bank. So that moment for me, Heather, I took a look at my life and said, wow, my life feels like Groundhog Day. I feel like I’m recirculating the same experience every day. And that’s where I felt numb inside. I felt like I was… kind of flatlined. And so I made some huge changes in my life and ended up, one of them was to go live in Scotland for a little while and travel around Europe, which I did, finish my master’s degree. And then I said, the one thing that I’ve wanted to do for a long time is to go to chef school. And so I went to and lived in New York and went to the French Culinary Institute. That’s where I discovered studying wine as well. And so that experience, Karen touched my life so deeply and so grateful to have known her. And so for me, food has always been a way to connect with the soul. And I mean, you’re a nutritionist, Heather. And so I’m preaching to the choir, right? And so it is. sustenance, it’s connection, it’s relationship, it is beauty. And one of the things that I love about the French culture is, and a French man shared this with me, I said, what is it about the culture, the joie de vivre? And he said, the French have a way of celebrating life’s smaller moments. And even a cappuccino has a beautiful swirl on the top and the attention and it in my experience, art on a plate. And so just the attention and the excellence and going into creating the food and of course the wine and the experience of tasting a wine and taking yourself into the vineyard and the grapes growing in the warm sun and the process to create this beautiful bouquet and experience in a glass. So. That’s a long answer to a short question.

Speaker #1
Well, no, I’m very glad that you shared that because it sounds like you are your own best example of what you do now, right? Is that you were in a career, I mean, maybe got pushed into going into engineering and everything and not exactly what was bringing you joy and happiness, but that, you know, something tragic happened with your friend. to prompt you then to seek out something that you really wanted to do and that you get a lot of joy out of. And that even going further, you know, just, which I think is a great point, is that you can find joy in little moments, right? It doesn’t have to be, what am I going to do with the rest of my life. You know, I mean, it can be. Right. But it can also be just those little tiny moments in everyday living, like the swirl on the cappuccino. You know, it can really that can cultivate joy. Am I right? Am I going in the right direction? Absolutely,

Speaker #0
Heather. And and I think that, you know, going back to and I’ve done some research on the distinction between happiness and joy and you can find different. descriptions out there and definitions. But for me, happiness is really more of a fleeting, temporary thing. And the joy is more of a way of being, a state of existence. It’s an outlook, an experience in and with life. And so it’s really a mindset. I call it a heart set. and looking for what’s right in your world and building that muscle because we are so trained biologically to look for danger and to mitigate the danger and and manage the fear that comes up with all of that so control and versus looking at life with a sense of curiosity and um trust and so So it’s different. And, and so if you’re, if you have that heart set, that mindset, which it takes some rewiring, and that’s what I help my clients do is, um, to cultivate that inner way of being. And so that you are retraining yourself to look for those smaller moments and the cappuccino with the swirl on top or the heart. And I have, I’m looking at my fireplace right now, the mantle, and I have a sign on it that says, believe, believe that life is good and whole and you are worthy and you are whole just as you are. And sometimes that takes a lot of unpacking that I help with my clients to help work at subconscious levels for some of these old tapes, old paradigms, limiting beliefs, so that we can kind of set those aside. They can set them aside to then open up the world to new possibilities and take it one moment at a time. Yes, we can use our left brain to create a plan and do all of that because I think we need both. But… honoring and allowing, giving permission to that heart space, that new mindset, heart, heart, set of looking for what’s right and what’s good in our world. And you’re absolutely right. It could be that the most minute things that show up in our world, but if we’re not, and it comes back to Heather being present in, in the moment, because we, we spend, Eckhart Tolle wrote a great book, The Power of Now, been out for a long, long time. If you, in his book, he said, if you ask, I think it’s a giraffe, you’re in the jungle and you ask a giraffe what time it is. And the giraffe said, what do you mean? What time is it? It’s now. What other time is there? And so if we can allow ourselves to be more present and speaking with a food nutritionist yourself, using food and wine and our senses to help us. move from our head into our bodies, through our senses and really accessing that heart space again. That’s what I love to help people do. And it could be the smallest of things. Like you’re sipping your coffee, you’re not chugging it. You are taking a sip of water and you’re really, you’re present with that sip of water. So it does take some intention and permission to allow you to build the attention to the moment. Now, for me, I don’t know about you, Heather, I love people who do yoga. I’ve tried it. I’ve hurt myself a couple of times. I don’t know how that’s possible, but I did. And for some people, it is meditating. Yes, I do a pause practice daily and going to church, spending time in nature is beautiful. I love that. And so accessing saying. I like to give people a different way to access the present moment and simple things like you’re eating your dish. If you’re out to dinner, what spices are you noticing in there? Going to the supermarket with fresh organic fruits and vegetables, take in the colors and the smells and the shapes. And just so from all of your senses, and then what are you feeling inside? So going back to, yes. life’s smaller moments, everybody has access to them in any given time. And so through the senses, through nature, through just allowing yourself to notice, and it doesn’t have to be full time because we can’t spend all of our time, I’d say, given in the world that we live in. But if you can sprinkle in more of those moments of presence, it’s going to elevate your vibration. vibration, your energy. So that’s one of the ways to help retrain yourself to look for what’s right, look for what’s inspiring and pay attention to what are you noticing? Oh, what are you noticing when you look at this beautiful, majestic tree out in nature as the colors are changing? Where do you feel that in your body? And so it’s kind of an invitation to enjoy all of yourself and everything that you… can experience.

Speaker #1
So yeah, I agree with that. Noticing, slowing down, getting mild, especially with food, right? We can both certainly relate to that. You know, just even when you’re in your kitchen, just chopping vegetables, just notice how does it feel? How does the knife feel in your hand? How does, you know, taking a breath, slowing down and just getting really mindful, smelling the soup, cooking and all of that. I try to encourage that. And it is a practice, I mean, for sure. So it sounds like you’ve got a lot of tools in your toolbox that you use with your clients. Reina, how can people get in touch with you? How do they work with you?

Speaker #0
Well, that’s a great question. Thank you for asking, Heather. So people can go to my website. It’s reinabach.com. That’s R-E-I-N-A-B-A-C-H.com. And people can set up just an initial strategy session and a 15-minute conversation. And I’m… Pretty quick to say, yes, I can help you or I may not be the right person. I have a broad network of coaches who I work with and where I could pass them along to if it’s not a fit. But it’s just a conversation. I also have on my website, if people will email me directly, I’ll send them a link to three audio podcasts that I’ve created, just very short on some various tips to help them you with their lives. So they’d get a series of three of those. And I think they’re maybe only eight minutes long. So if they want to email me directly, I’d be happy to send the link. And it’s simply Reina, R-E-I-N-A at ReinaBach.com.

Speaker #1
Okay, well, great. And I will go a step further and put all those links in the show notes so people can get those that way and get in touch with you. Reina, thank you so much. I’ve had a great conversation with you today. And really insightful tips and tricks and a lot of things to think about just about cultivating joy, especially when we are entering midlife. A lot to think about.

Speaker #0
A lot to think about. And Heather, thank you so much for the work that you do, because I think that it’s unacknowledged for women and not really paid attention to. the help that you can provide to them to help them through that transition and in midlife. And so I wished I had known you a few years ago, I have to say, because I’m sure you would have helped me kind of manage a number of different things. So thank you for what you do. Oh,

Speaker #1
thank you for saying that. I appreciate it.

Speaker #0
And you’re, because I would love to share this podcast with my social show. How best can people reach out to you to get your help, Heather?

Speaker #1
That’s a great question. I am just my name, heathercary.com. So www.heathercary.com. And then on there, I have links to lots of free resources, my blog, my recipes, my podcast, and my coaching sessions and all that information on there. So that would be great. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Speaker #0
Fantastic. Heather, thank you so much. And may you thrive and all of your listeners absolutely thrive in this next year, 2024.

Speaker #1
Great. Thank you so much, Rita. And as always, if you loved this podcast, please consider gifting me with a five-star review. It is so helpful for me to get the word out on real eating, our real bodies, and… real food stories. Thank you so much and have a great week. Bye for now.