Stop Wasting Fresh Produce: Tips for Cooking in Midlife. In episode 106, Amanda and Chef Shannon discuss practical strategies for managing excess produce and reducing food waste, especially for smaller households. 

"It's ok to play in the kitchen!"

The kids are gone. You eat at different times from your spouse or partner. Heck, you don't even eat the same foods anymore! 
How can you reduce food waste and still create healthy, delicious meals that align with your health goals in midlife?

Chef Shannon and Amanda explore the importance of inventory management, kitchen organization, and creative cooking techniques to minimize food waste. The conversation emphasizes intuitive eating, the significance of having essential pantry items, and the joy of experimenting in the kitchen. 

Listeners are encouraged to embrace culinary creativity and consider joining Amanda and Shannon's upcoming Culinary Gentle Nutrition Course to enhance their cooking skills.

Takeaways from the show:

- Maximizing produce is essential for small households.
- Taking inventory helps prevent food waste.
- Protein essentials should always be stocked in the pantry.
- Creative storage solutions can extend the life of food.
- How to transform leftovers into new meals.
- Mindful cooking balances what you want to eat with what your body needs (intuitive eating)
- It's okay to make mistakes while learning to cook. Experimentation in the kitchen fosters creativity.

Don't miss the visual special effects! Watch the episode on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/_woKjLAcKSQ

Get on the waitlist for the Culinary Gentle Nutrition course, coming out in October 2025! 

https://alpinenutrition.kit.com/culinary_course

Download my 5 Favorite Foods for Women + Recipes from Chef Shannon

https://alpinenutrition.kit.com/19a5e26ba7

Get additional blog posts and resources for intuitive eating during menopause on my website www.alpinenutrition.org

Be you go, subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share the episode with a friend!

"The chickeniest chicken you'll ever eat."

In this episode of Savor Food and Body, Chef Shannon shares her experiences at local farmers' markets in Seattle, discussing the vibrant seasonal produce available and the joy of cooking with fresh ingredients. 

The conversation highlights the importance of community, sustainability, and the sensory experience of food, encouraging listeners to adopt a seasonal eating approach and support local farmers.

Bonus! Chef Shannon shares her favorite recipe ideas for seasonal ingredients like fresh fruit, sugar snap peas, a quick-pickled vegetables.

Click here to get my Top 5 Favorite Foods for Women with recipes from Chef Shannon

Get on the waitlist for our online Gentle Nutrition Culinary Course


Takeaways from the episode

• Farmers' markets provide a sense of community and connection.
• Seasonal produce enhances the joy of cooking and eating.
• Cooking with fresh ingredients can be simple and rewarding.
• Savoring food is about the experience, not just nutrition.
• Supporting local farmers contributes to the local economy.
• Intuitive eating aligns with seasonal food availability.
• Fresh ingredients can inspire creativity in the kitchen.
• Community relationships at markets enrich the food experience.
• Celebrating what's in season enhances flavor and enjoyment.
• Simple cooking techniques can elevate fresh produce.

Chapters

00:00 Exploring Local Farmers Markets
04:30 Celebrating Seasonal Ingredients
09:21 Cooking with Fresh Produce
13:56 Savoring the Experience of Food
18:29 Practical Tips for Home Cooking

Get additional blog posts and resources for intuitive eating during menopause on my website www.alpinenutrition.org

Be you go, subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share the episode with a friend!

There's only one 1New Year resolution you need to make to improve your health and wellbeing in 2024. Undiet your life.

Undieting is an unraveling of all the food rules, beauty standards, and weight-centered health ideals you've been taught by diet culture.

Dr. Michelle May returns to the podcast for a discussion on why January is the perfect time to ditch your old dieting and weight loss behaviors and instead pour all your energy into intuitive eating, mindful eating, and undieting.

If you've been skeptical of the anti-diet movement, but you want to let go of rigid food rules, this conversation is for you.

Listen to why Michelle and I help our clients shift to an undieting mindset instead of anti-dieting.

You'll learn why you're not a failure for giving up on your January diet plan on Super Bowl Sunday and never got "back on track" no matter how hard you tried.

Plus Michelle shares 3 stages of transformation you must walk through to create a healthy, sustainable relationship with food and improve your health in 2024.

Dr. Michelle May, CEO and author of Am I Hungry is a former family physician and a recovered yo-yo dieter. She is the founder of Am I Hungry? Mindful Eating Programs and Training, and the author of the Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat book series. These resources help individuals resolve mindless and emotional eating and senseless yo-yo dieting to live the vibrant life they crave.

Hear more about Michelle's background as a family physician turned mindful eating educator and advocate on episode 66 of the Savor Food and Body Podcast - How to tell if you're mindful eating or dieting?

Since many of my listeners struggle with their eating, I’m excited to tell you about a life-changing online weekend retreat coming up soon! 

Food Freedom Retreat: For Successful Women Who Stress Eat 

During this fun, live, interactive 2-day event, you’ll learn: 

• Why do women who succeed in other areas of their life still struggle with food?
• The 6 surprising keys to break free from your eat-repent-repeat cycle.
• How to stop obsessing about food and trust your body's wisdom. 

It will be facilitated by my friend and colleague, mindful eating expert, Dr. Michelle May who was a recent guest on the podcast. 

I love Michelle’s down-to-earth, engaging, and impactful teaching style and I think you will too! 

One more thing! Michelle is giving my listeners $100 off with promo code MAYBULLAT. 

You can check it out and register at https://amihungry.com/foodfreedomretreat - and remember to use the promo code!

Get additional blog posts and resources for intuitive eating during menopause on my website www.alpinenutrition.org

Be you go, subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share the episode with a friend!

Hopefully, for you, the holidays are a time for connections, happiness, and joy. However, they can also be a challenging time if your family, friends, or social gatherings trigger emotions stress, and anxiety around food and your body.

It's okay to set boundaries with family members who don't support your intuitive eating journey and desire to undiet your life.

Undieting is a process of letting go of food rules and rigid exercise routines. This process can trickle into other areas of your life like work, friendships, and intimate relationships - especially if they create extra stress around food and body image.

How can you reclaim happiness and joy this holiday season and still practice intuitive eating? By setting a couple of boundaries (or more).

It's okay to decline traditional holiday gatherings if trigger anxiety and stress. Find joy in making new traditions - maybe with different friends or family members. 

It's also okay to search for holiday happiness and joy even in challenging, unhappy circumstances. 

Let's dig into the definition of happiness and joy more deeply.

 According to my guest on this week's episode of the Savor Food and Body Podcast, happiness is a binary construct. You're either happy or you're not. Joy, on the other hand, is an embodied experience. It's a physical sensation you feel in your body.

In our conversation about happiness and joy you'll hear:

• Dr. Sethi describes the difference between Joy and happiness, and how she's experienced both in her life.
• Why the wellness world’s definition of resilience isn't helpful in times of stress and what you can do instead.
• Why finding joy is critical for marginalized communities as a path to
• healing from oppression.
• How does healing trauma and finding joy affect your genes and heal your ancestral body story?

Dr. Sethi leaves you with a few tools described in her book that you can use to activate your vagus nerve of the nervous system and help cultivate Joy.

Get additional blog posts and resources for intuitive eating during menopause on my website www.alpinenutrition.org

Be you go, subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share the episode with a friend!

The holiday season is a busy time of year. There are plenty of ways to distract you from taking care of yourself. 

Here are 3 ways to use mindful eating during the holidays to stay attuned to your physical and emotional needs. 

• Eating enough consistently is the foundation of mindful eating
• Mindful eating encourages you to lead with satisfaction when choosing meals and snacks
• Slow down to enjoy the flavors of the season

As wonderful as this time of year is, it’s not uncommon to get to December 24 feeling physically and emotionally spent. Use the following mindful eating practices to help make this a season of joy for you and everyone around you.

This episode is sponsored by The Midlife Feast Community hosted by Dr. Jenn Salib Huber, @menopause.nutritionist
Get resources, recipes, and a community of women to support your journey through midlife - without dieting.
Click here to learn more and subscribe!

Get additional blog posts and resources for intuitive eating during menopause on my website www.alpinenutrition.org

Be you go, subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share the episode with a friend!

If the fear of holiday weight gain stresses you out, here are 4 tips to help you undiet your holidays and savor more of what matters most – delicious food shared with friends and family.

If you’re stuck with good-food, bad-food ping-pong thoughts, let’s shake up your holiday mindset this year. Instead, lean into savoring the season without food shame, and guilt. Here’s how.

In this episode, we'll at what the science says about the average amount of weight people gain during the holidays (it's not as much as you think!)

I offer you 4 tips to help you avoid the fear and stress of holiday weight gain including:

Tip 1: Practice gentle nutrition basics and compassionate curiosity. 

Tip 2: Practice balanced nutrition with as many meals and snacks as possible.

Tip 3: Add variety to meals and snacks without thinking too hard.

Tip 4: Move your body in ways you enjoy for 15-20 minutes a few times during the week.

There’s no guarantee these tips will keep you from gaining weight during the holidays. But if you practice them consistently, they will get you off the weight loss, weight gain roller coaster for good.

Get additional blog posts and resources for intuitive eating during menopause on my website www.alpinenutrition.org

Be you go, subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share the episode with a friend!

Every woman over 40 wants to know the best diet - without actually dieting.

This is the “messy middle” between not dieting for intentional weight loss and practicing intuitive eating with intention.

If you’ve ditched diets but don’t know how to get started with intuitive eating, or you wonder if intuitive eating is the best diet for women over 40 (i.e. will intuitive eating help you lose weight). This post is for you!

As a woman in your 40s or 50s, you’ve spent your adult life influenced by messages about the best diet for women to lose weight.

From puberty, you were taught the size and shape of your body mastered. Since then, you tried all the weight loss plans, programs, and apps. Your weight has shifted up and down more times than you can remember. You’re tired. You’re frustrated that your same weight loss tricks don’t work like they used to. Now what?

Listen to hear how you can get yourself out of the messy middle by applying an expansive vs. contractive mindset.

Join the Midlife Feast Community: https://bit.ly/MidlifeFeastAffiliate
For additional resources in a support community of women over 40 just like you.

Get additional blog posts and resources for intuitive eating during menopause on my website www.alpinenutrition.org

Be you go, subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share the episode with a friend!

Why do you exercise, or not? If you're a woman over 40 who struggles with motivation to exercise, this episode is for you.  

If you've been focusing on exercise to lose weight, but you're not getting the results you want, it's time to shift your priorities. Learn how to shift your mindset from "shoulding" to wanting to move your body in ways that promote your physical and mental health. 

Steph Gaudreau, CISSN, NASM-CPT (she/her/hers) helps athletic women over 40 fuel themselves better, get stronger, increase their energy, and perform better in the gym. She’s a sports nutritionist and lifting coach.

Steph shares how being teased for her body size in high school encouraged her to become an under-fed athlete and what she did to recover.

It's no secret that strength training in our 40s and 50s can improve the quality of life in our 70s and 80s. Steph explains why women over 40 need to pay more attention to building strength as we get older and how can we do this without falling into the dumpster fire of diet culture.

We talk about ways to cut through the diet culture sports nutrition noise so you can know how to fuel an active lifestyle and create a more expansive life. 

In her best-selling book, The Core 4, Steph details a four-pillar approach to getting stronger, embracing your body, and owning your power. Steph has a degree in biology – human physiology. She is a Certified Sports Nutritionist from the International Society for Sports Nutrition (CISSN), a Certified Personal Trainer (National Academy of Sports Medicine), and a Menopause Coaching Specialist (Girls Gone Strong).

Her podcast, Fuel Your Strength, started in 2015 and has 4+ million downloads. She’s an international speaker and has been featured in Outside, SELF, and ESPN Radio. 

Get additional blog posts and resources for intuitive eating during menopause on my website www.alpinenutrition.org

Be you go, subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share the episode with a friend!

What would you do if you realized the business and life you had created for yourself and your family was built on diet culture fraud?

 After significant soul searching my guest completely changed her professional identity to heal her relationship with food and her body.

Deanna Schober co-founded Built Daily and co-hosted the 5-star rated Fitness & Sushi podcast alongside her husband, Tony. Together, they have helped thousands of women break the yo-yo diet cycle, get their health on track, and achieve their naturally healthiest weight by healing their relationships with food, their bodies, exercise, and their minds.

Listen to Deanna's story about how she unraveled her relationship with food. 

Why she made the difficult decision to ditch her career built on diet culture?

What it was like to transition (personally and professionally) from being a weight-loss/wellness coach to an anti-diet, intuitive eating coach.

You can hear more of our conversation in my interview with Deanna on the Fitness and Sushi Podcast

Learn more about Deanna and Tony's work on their website Built Daily

Get additional blog posts and resources for intuitive eating during menopause on my website www.alpinenutrition.org

Be you go, subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share the episode with a friend!

As a woman in midlife, you know how busy and demanding life can be. Between careers, family, and social commitments, it’s easy to overlook the importance of brain health after 40. But let’s pause for a second and consider this: a healthy brain is key to your overall well-being – and helping you tackle that growing to-do list.

Here are 7 essential strategies to help you nurture your brain health after 40, and boost your cognitive vitality.

• How to beat brain fog with exercise
• How certain foods can affect brain health after 40
• Why giving your brain a workout is essential for mental clarity
• How to get better sleep to improve cognitive function
• Why deep breathing helps you stress less and increase brain vitality
• Why it's important to create meaningful connections after 40
• How to be proactive with your physical and mental health check-ups

Brain health after 40 doesn’t have to be complicated or diet-y. Your brain deserves your attention and care as you embrace your 40s and beyond. By incorporating these 7 strategies into your daily life, including intuitive eating, gentle nutrition, and considerations for perimenopause and menopause, you can nurture your cognitive vitality, keep your mind sharp, and boost your overall well-being. 

It’s never too late to prioritize brain health, and the benefits are long-lasting. Empower yourself with knowledge and healthy habits to ensure a vibrant brain at every stage of life. You’ve got this!

Sign up for Savor Group Counseling Program: https://alpinenutrition.ck.page/savorgroupcoaching

Get additional blog posts and resources for intuitive eating during menopause on my website www.alpinenutrition.org

Be you go, subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share the episode with a friend!