Embrace Midlife Healthy Eating: A Spring Reset for Nourishing Your Body and Soul

Are you ready to embrace the vibrant energy of spring and transform your relationship with food? In this enlightening episode of Real Food Stories, host Heather Carey, a culinary nutritionist with a passion for empowering women, shares her insights on midlife healthy eating—a crucial topic for women navigating the complexities of midlife and menopause health. Heather invites you to join her on a journey that celebrates the beauty of seasonal midlife healthy eating, encouraging you to nourish your body with fresh, vibrant foods that align with the rhythms of nature.

As the winter chill fades, spring offers the perfect opportunity for a healthy eating reset. Heather emphasizes that her upcoming program is not about restrictive diets or weight loss myths; instead, it’s a supportive initiative designed to help you reconnect with your culinary creativity and make joyful, mindful eating choices. Drawing from her personal food journey, Heather recounts her own struggles with New Year’s resolutions and how she discovered that spring is the ideal time for personal growth and health changes.

Throughout the episode, listeners will gain valuable nutrition advice and healthy eating tips tailored for women over 40. Heather discusses the significance of plant-based meals and how incorporating seasonal ingredients can enhance your energy levels and overall well-being. Discover the seven pillars of abundance that can guide you toward a more balanced and nourishing lifestyle, while also addressing the unique challenges of midlife nutrition and hormonal changes.

Heather’s warmth and empathy shine through as she shares personal food stories and family food traditions that have shaped her approach to cooking and wellness. She encourages listeners to break free from diet culture and embrace a sustainable, joyful eating philosophy. With practical cooking techniques and meal planning tips, you’ll feel empowered to create nourishing meals that support your health and body positivity.

As the episode concludes, Heather provides details about her spring reset program, which includes meal plans, delicious recipes, and a supportive community of like-minded women. This is your invitation to join her on a transformative journey toward healthier eating and living, where you can cultivate emotional resilience and overcome food confusion once and for all. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to empower your menopause and nourish your body with real food!

Join us for this enlightening episode of Real Food Stories and take the first step toward embracing a healthier, more vibrant 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. Hello everybody and welcome back to the Real Food Stories podcast. I wanted to start off today by saying that I am starting my spring healthy eating reset for women in midlife this April 2024, April 5th. And as a matter of fact, I am really looking forward to sharing the details with you because Like other diet-y things that might be coming up on your radar right now, we are going into spring. Fair warning that this is the opposite of diet speak. The reset is not a diet. So if you are utterly burned out by trying to lose weight and gain it all back and on and on with the next upcoming random diet, this is not for you. But if you are looking to make you A new start for spring with new inspiration, healthy eating, delicious, nutritious recipes, done-for-you meal plans, and lots and lots of fun bonuses. This is definitely the thing that you would want to consider. So I want to just make that totally clear. So this is a way to get back on track with healthy eating if you feel like that is a goal of yours right now. I wanted to talk about resetting in the spring. Because this is now coming with absolutely no scientific research, but that a reset per se would be better now than at any other time of the year just makes a ton of sense to me. And I’m not sure about you, but I know for a fact that my most major positive life changes have always been in the spring. Obviously, as we can see in nature, spring is such a notable time of transition and growth. There’s more daylight. My energy is better, which is normal because winter is for resting. And things overall feel just a bit more positive when it’s a nice 65 degree sunny day out. Now, in Asian medicine, spring is naturally thought of as a cleansing period. There is a focus on nourishing the liver, in fact. which is our natural detoxifier organ, and eating foods to support us in this way. This would mean more raw and fresh vegetables and fruits, dark leafy greens like spinach or kale, fresh herbs, bitter and sour foods such as lemon, and to break from other things that could be damaging to the liver like alcohol and too much sugar. It’s a really nice way to feel the support of nature and know you are working in harmony rather than fighting against it. But I have my own food stories around dieting and detox, and I wasn’t always like this, waking up from winter and looking forward to a spring reset. I actually had always thought, like so many of us, that January, with its new year and possibilities, was the time for change. But I learned that for me at least, this was an absolutely terrible time. Because way back, before I smartened up about food and before I had any education in nutrition, I had spent years on and off of diets. December was, of course, the all-time worst. Because I gave myself all the permission to take a break, let loose, go overboard for the holidays. I mean, the party drinks, party food, the you only live once attitude, and most important of them all, I will think about this in January as if I was putting my chaotic dieting life into pause mode so I could finally loosen up and just have fun with food. And January would come and it would stop me literally in my tracks. Now, I had to get serious and I was no stranger to reprimanding myself relentlessly. There I would be, New Year, resolutions in hand, which went something like, get on a diet, exercise every day, just something vague nonsense that was so punishing and reprimanding. Plus, all those resolutions were in reaction to something, quote, bad I had done. Anyone can relate to this? How could I have been so weak and so out of willpower? It was not a good time ever. And besides, of course, my birthday is right in the middle of January, and then that would usually just blow it all anyway, and I’d be back to what I was doing celebrating. So my takeaway, as you can see, is that a New Year’s start never worked well for me. And while I’ve learned… so, so much about myself, about diet culture, self-compassion, alcohol, and mindful and mindless eating since then. Now I take the pressure off of myself in January. And if I’m wanting to get some health goals for myself, it starts when the weather is a bit warmer, there’s more light in the day, and my energy is just better. When I first talked about my weight loss story, the one in which I lost 25 pounds and have kept it off, for good, or my story of quitting alcohol almost six years ago, both of these start dates were in the spring, in April. I made a commitment to myself. I put a date on the calendar. I got very, very intentional, made a plan for support, and I executed. Here are a few really important reasons if you are considering a health goal yourself, like losing weight or letting go of drinking, or even something like cooking more healthy foods for yourself. and why the time is now to do it. Now again, earlier I mentioned that I am starting my spring reset this April, and I cannot tell you how excited I am for this. So I want you just to know to click the link in my show notes to learn all about it. I haven’t gone live with this program since 2022, and I’m really looking forward to the community and giving myself that gentle reminder to get back on track. The reset is… focused on food and fun because if you are not having some enjoyment in the kitchen, then healthy eating is incredibly hard. Healthy eating should not be a drag. It should feel creative and playful. Okay, so if you’re considering getting back on track this spring, and I think you should, my first reason why you should start a reset this spring is because it’s such a good time to get out of the food rut that you have been in. Now let’s face it, we are in between seasons right now. We have one foot in winter, one looking longingly into spring. I cook for a living and I even start to run out of inspiration. The best way to get re-inspired is to look to eating seasonally and the spring is one of the best times of year to do that. Spring offers an abundance of fresh seasonal produce such as dark leafy greens, asparagus, strawberries, carrots. Incorporating these seasonal foods into your diet can provide a variety of nutrients and flavors while supporting local farmers at your farmer’s market and just make your food taste interesting and different. My second really good reason for starting a reset this spring is that it gives us the opportunity to turn our attention again on plant-based eating. This does not mean that we are eating only vegetables on the reset. What plant-based means you is that there is an emphasis on eating less saturated fat from animal products. And with the availability of fresh produce, spring is such a great time to incorporate more plant-based meals into your diet. A plant-based way of eating is definitely associated with numerous health benefits, including lower risk of chronic diseases and weight management. It is easier to try and lose weight when we emphasize fruits and vegetables on our plate. My third reason why a reset in spring is such a great idea. Spring is the time of renewal and growth in nature, making it an ideal season for personal growth. and positive change. This aligns well with the idea of a reset, providing a symbolic opportunity to start fresh and embrace new habits or goals. My fourth reason to go on a spring reset this year is the increased energy you will feel in spring. Now with longer days and warmer weather, many people experience a natural increase in energy levels. This can make it easier to adopt new health and wellness practices. We’re not in a state of deep rest anymore. We are out in the sunshine, out in the fresh air. This can help change our exercise routines or make dietary changes. And you may just feel more motivated and invigorated. And finally, a reset in the spring is such a good idea because we are all coming out of hibernation, so to speak. Spring often brings a sense of community and togetherness as people emerge from the winter months and begin to engage in more social activities. Now this can provide valuable support and encouragement as you embark on your reset journey, whether through shared experiences, group activities, or online communities just like the reset. If this is piquing your interest in having your own spring renewal, Let me tell you a little bit more now about the Spring Reset that is geared towards women in midlife. But I promise that your whole family can and will want to participate because all the food is so delicious. My focus, as you know, is women in midlife and the menopause transition. And there are some ingredients which can be especially beneficial for women at this time and season of life, like flax seeds, for example. But anytime you are cooking and eating real nourishing food, that is a win for everyone. So here’s how it works. The Spring Reset is a two-week program that gives you done-for-you meal plans along with beautifully curated recipes that also have pictures because I know you all love seeing the visuals. And a super special bonus the Reset has are shopping lists for everything you need to make the recipes. The best part is a plan of action to take with you so you know exactly what to prep and cook each day so you can feel like a rock star in the kitchen. We don’t want to create any extra work right now. This is a way to streamline and show you how meal planning is put into action. Meal planning and prepping are my two biggest success secrets to healthy eating and losing weight and the reset already has this done for you. No guesswork necessary or wondering how it’s all going to get done. And the reset is not just for newbies and women new to healthy eating. If you’re brand new to healthy eating and cooking, the reset gives a great introduction into what it means to meal plan and finding balance in your meals. It shows you new ingredients and simple, well-stepped out directions to every recipe I have in the reset. But if healthy eating and cooking is something you are more comfortable with, The spring reset will re-inspire you to try new recipes and get out of your chicken and salad rut you may have been in this winter. As I said before, the end of winter and into spring can feel pretty blah as far as cooking, and you’re probably feeling very out of ideas. It’s not quite summer yet. We don’t have all that beautiful summer produce, and you need some motivation to get started again. I totally get it. And that is what the spring reset is exactly for. Cooking needs to be enjoyable. And if the kitchen is not your comfort zone, I get that too. It’s like trying to get on a bike for the first time at age 50, a totally foreign concept. So included in the reset are tons of bonuses like my healthy kitchen guide, which is packed with tips for the best pantry ingredients that you always want to have on hand. The best equipment that you… definitely want to have in your kitchen and the other things that could probably get kicked to the curb. Some equipment that you just don’t need is not necessary. And that includes some foods too. So we talk about crowding out some food so we can add in a whole bunch of fresh, new, healthy items. I have many more bonuses. And another great thing about the reset is that we also meet on Zoom live. two times for Q&A and to talk about relevant topics and just to meet as a community. We’ll talk about things like mindful eating, food confusion, exactly what to eat in this season of our lives, because it can be very, very confusing. Now, I want to emphasize again that the spring reset is not, I repeat, not a diet. I do not believe in diets or detoxes because they are restrictive and do nothing to show you how to eat well and for the long haul. The reset is simply a get. back on track healthy eating plan that allows for creativity in the kitchen and a chance to feel great again after the long winter. If your goal is to lose weight or up your energy or focus on hormones, the reset can certainly get that ball in motion. Now the link again for all the details and to sign up is in my show notes. I will also be having a live Q&A before we start on April 5th. If you have any questions. And there is a link to just reach out to me as well. You could always send me an email. I cannot wait for the reset. I am really excited. I have been testing recipes in my own kitchen just to get things up and running. And I am looking forward to getting back on track myself. So I’m going to be right there with you doing it. And I am really excited. Hope you are too. 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.