What feeling are you trying not to feel (by eating the chips or sweets)?

"We don't eat for emotional reasons, we eat because we don't want to feel our emotions." - Dr. Anita Johnston

Anita Johnston, Ph.D., is a depth psychologist, storyteller, and author of Eating in the Light of the Moon: How Women Can Transform Their Relationships with Food Through Myth, Metaphor,
and Storytelling.

A pioneer in the field, Anita has been working with women and eating difficulties for over thirty-five years.

In our conversation, you'll hear...

• What makes the relationships with food and body so difficult for women in midlife
• How feminine energy is connected to intuition and instinct
• How focusing on weight can distract women from honoring their true hungers (physical and soul or emotional)
• How food habits and sexual desire are related
• Examples of how metaphors can help you decode your relationship with food and body.
• Finally, we wrap up with 3 ways to start understanding your relationship with food and your body on a deeper level in midlife. 

Get show notes and resources at www.alpinenutrition.org/blog

Do you have an unhealthy relationship with food? Take the quiz to find out!

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode. Don't forget to rate, review, and share! This helps other women in midlife find the show too!

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!

It's not like you were putting it off on purpose...but you know...taking time out of your day, worried about your weight (and being weighed), getting your blood drawn, maybe a pelvic exam...can't imagine why you were putting it off. 

If you're like many women in midlife who feel fine (not great, but fine), going to the doctor's office can feel overwhelming.

You think, "what should I ask about? What if my blood sugar is too high? What if my cholesterol has gone through the roof (COVID cookies and ice cream)? Maybe I need my hormones tested, the hot flashes are driving me crazy!"

Maryann Jacobsen, MS, RD, is a family nutrition expert and author who has studied developmental nutrition for over 20 years.

She loves digging into the research on perimenopause and wants women in midlife to feel empowered when they walk into their annual physicals. 

Maryann is the author of the forthcoming book Midlife Strong. She’s written for WebMD, Huffington Post, Parents.com, Today’s Dietitian, The New York Times, and has been featured on Good Morning America.

This episode will give you all the tools you need to confidently make and walk into your next annual exam with your primary care provider. 

Topics include...

• Describe what biomarkers (aka lab tests) are and why they're necessary for health in midlife
• Which biomarkers are essential for women in midlife and what tests to ask for at your annual physical
• How hormone fluctuations in midlife affect biomarkers
• Finally, Maryann shares her top 3 nutrition suggestions for healthy biomarkers in perimenopause and menopause.

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode. Don't forget to rate, review, and share! This kindness helps other women in midlife find the show too!

Get show notes at www.alpinenutrition.org/blog

Subscribe to the Savor Food and Body Community to get weekly emails with insights, strategies, and the occasional recipe. You can also download 6 Strategies to undiet your life after 40

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!

Nina Manolson is a Body-Peace® coach who helps women end the war with food and body and finally feel at home in their body—as it is. She is known for her deeply feminist, anti-diet, body-peace approach.

Nina brings her 30 years of experience as a therapist, Nationally Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach, Body-Trust® Guide, and Psychology of Eating Teacher to her work helping women create a respectful and trusting relationship with their food and body.

• What kinds of relationships most women have with their bodies, and what are the root causes that create these relationships?
• What are the biggest barriers women in midlife face when it comes to wanting to change their relationship with their bodies?
• How exploring body image and Body Peace is different for a woman who's in perimenopause and menopause vs a woman who's in their 20s and 30s. 
• What Body-Peace is, why you need it, and how it helps heal your relationship with food and body? 
• Finally, Nina shares a powerful first step for women in midlife to take to start healing their relationship with food and body.

Download the 6 Strategies to undiet your life and Thrive in midlife and subscribe to the Savor Food and Body Community to get weekly emails with insights, strategies, and the occasional recipe. 

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!

You've probably heard how important exercise is as you enter midlife...to maintain flexibility, decrease muscle loss, support healthy blood sugar, reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer, and support strong bones for years to come.

But how do you get started when you struggle to find the time, motivation, and joy in moving your body as you did in your 20s?

Ivy Baron is a certified personal trainer with a Master's in social work. As the owner of Requisite Pilates, Ivy invites her students to practice pilates (or any form of movement) without judgment and feel like they want to move rather than feel like they have to move. 

If you've tried following the no pain, no gain philosophy of exercise in the past, only to get sore, burned out, and discouraged, then Ivy is here to help you redefine your relationship with exercise and movement. 

In this episode, you'll hear...

• Ivy share how she got started promoting movement for joy rather than body size control.
• What common themes she's seen with women in midlife when it comes to movement.  
• Why there can be a dissonance between feeling 20 in your mind, but your body sometimes feels like it's 80.
• Why there's so much shame and judgment based on what you’ve internalized about your aging body and how those messages can immobilize you. 
• How Ivy approaches movement, specifically Pilates differently and how she defines "enoughness" when it comes to movement and exercise.
• Finally, Ivy offers 3 tips to help women in midlife who want to get back into moving their bodies but don't know where to start in a non-judgmental, curious way. 

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode. Don't forget to rate, review, and share! This kindness helps other women in midlife find the show too!

Get show notes at www.alpinenutrition.org/blog

Subscribe to the Savor Food and Body Community to get weekly emails with insights, strategies, and the occasional recipe. You can also download 6 Strategies to undiet your life after 40

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!

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode. Don't forget to rate, review, and share! This kindness helps other women in midlife find the show too!

Get show notes at www.alpinenutrition.org/blog

Subscribe to the Savor Food and Body Community to get weekly emails with insights, strategies, and the occasional recipe. You can also download 6 Strategies to undiet your life after 40

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 do you actually want or truly need for Mother's Day? A bouquet of flowers. Some chocolate. Artwork from your kid. A romantic thank you card from your spouse. Flowers or vegetable starts for your garden. Breakfast in bed. Brunch. Ten minutes of peace and quiet.

Or...the gift that keeps on giving, learning how to prioritize yourself ahead of everything else on your to-do list. 

This episode's guest Dr. Lisa Folden says it best, "if you're not taking care of yourself, you won't be able to take care of all the things (and people) that matter most to you."

• Dr. Lisa's story about why she did a 180-degree switch to embrace HAES® both personally and professionally. 
• How she defines wellness and helps busy Moms in midlife redefine wellness from a weight-neutral perspective?
• When it comes to creating more time to care for yourself, meal prepping, and planning are essential. But diet culture has made it so complicated! Dr. Lisa shares the biggest challenges busy women face when trying to meal plan and prep without falling into the diet culture hole. She shares her personal strategies for meal planning that help her family and her client's families eat well every week. 

• We talk about "enoughness" with exercise and what that means to Dr. Lisa as a physical therapist and how she helps clients find their "enoughness" with exercise.
• We end our conversation with 3 tips for busy moms in midlife who want to be more active, get stronger, and have more endurance.

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode. Don't forget to rate, review, and share! This kindness helps other women in midlife find the show too!

Get show notes at www.alpinenutrition.org/blog

Subscribe to the Savor Food and Body Community to get weekly emails with insights, strategies, and the occasional recipe. You can also download 6 Strategies to undiet your life after 40

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 do digestion, sex, and diapers have to do with improving your relationship with food and your body? Three words. Pelvic floor health.

Your pelvic floor sits at the base of your core muscles, your internal organs, and between your hips. In a sense, it's the foundation that your entire body is built upon.

Sherryl DeVries is a pelvic floor physical therapist. As a former professional dancer, and avid yoga and pilates student, Sherryl has a dynamic approach to functional body movement all to help you actively age with vibrancy.

She also believes in mentoring people to lead a physically healthy lifestyle through yoga, weight training, bodywork; or whatever movement makes you and your body sing!

In our conversation, you'll hear...

• Sherryl's definition of active aging for women in midlife - in other words how to have good poops, great sex, and stay out of diapers.
• How pelvic floor physical therapy helps you to connect with your body in a deeper, more mindful way.
• The role trauma plays in not only pelvic floor health but also in your ability to stay connected to your body.
• Finally, Sherryl offers tips and practices that you can do to enhance your pelvic floor health by adding small, mindful movements into your everyday activities like brushing your teeth to help your pelvic floor stay strong and supportive. 

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode. Don't forget to rate, review, and share! This kindness helps other women in midlife find the show too!

Get show notes at www.alpinenutrition.org/blog

Subscribe to the Savor Food and Body Community to get weekly emails with insights, strategies, and the occasional recipe.

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!

I know it's hard to hear. But before you click away from the show, unsubscribe, and tell all your friends how un-relatable the Savor Food and Body Podcast is, hear me out - or rather, hear out my guest Dacy Gillespie, online personal stylist, and owner of Mindful Closet.

Dacy's mission in life is to help women release the patriarchal standards they've been conforming to for way too long, and uncover their true, authentic personal style and beauty.

In this interview, you'll hear...

• How Dacy went from professional bass player to online stylist and what inspires her to focus on debunking the arbitrary standards of fashion for women in midlife.
• A brief history lesson on where those arbitrary standards came from and how they're reflected in fashion culture today.
• Dacy shares her thoughts on why holding on to clothes that no longer serve you is like holding yourself to a previous life's standard that likely wasn't obtainable, and what you can do to help yourself move towards body acceptance by owning your authentic style.
• How it's rarely about just the clothes, but more about the story behind why you're wearing what you think you should be wearing instead of what you want to be wearing.
• Finally, Dacy offers 2 key strategies to help women in midlife start to develop their own authentic style and step into their authentic beauty - from the inside out.

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode. Don't forget to rate, review, and share! This kindness helps other women in midlife find the show too!

Get show notes at www.alpinenutrition.org/blog

Subscribe to the Savor Food and Body Community to get weekly emails with insights, strategies, and the occasional recipe. You can also download 6 Strategies to undiet your life after 40

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 image comes to mind when you think of a runner?

Try it. Close your eyes and imagine a runner. Did you see a thin, young, sleek, able-bodied person? That's what most of us envision because that's how we commonly see runners in the media - real athletes or stock photos.

But do you have to look like that to be considered a runner? What if you're over 40, haven't been active earlier in life, and decided you'd like to try running? Are you allowed to?

Marci Braithwaite identifies herself on Instagram and in real life as the Fat Athlete. She didn't start running until she was offered weight loss surgery in midlife to fix a back issue.

Fast-forward 13 years, more than a couple of personal training certifications later, a feature in Runner's World Magazine, and Maric is now changing the perception of what a runner's body looks like. 

Listen to our conversation to hear:

• What enoughness means when it comes to exercise in midlife
• The importance of feeling welcome in a fitness group, gym, yoga studio, or running club regardless of your body's size or ability
• The barriers to feeling included in the fitness world if you're in a larger body and how we as a collective culture can work to remove those barriers
• How Marci incorporates the principles of Health At Every Size® and Intuitive Eating in her work with clients
• Finally, how Marci encourages her clients and running group members to redefine health without weight or BMI - including when you visit the doctor's office

Needless to say, Marci didn't get weight loss surgery, she went on to change the world of running instead, one step at a time.

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode. Don't forget to rate, review, and share! This kindness helps other women in midlife find the show too!

Get show notes at www.alpinenutrition.org/blog

Subscribe to the Savor Food and Body Community to get weekly emails with insights, strategies, and the occasional recipe. You can also download 6 Strategies to undiet your life after 40

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!

When's the last time you put on a pair of jeans or pants and didn't cringe at the fit?

Too tight here. Too loose there. High waisted. Low-riders. And why does a large in one brand fit while a large in another brand wouldn't fit your pre-teen daughter?

Clothes shopping, specifically pants shopping, can be a body image landmine - especially in outdoor gear.

Raquel Vélez is the Founder and CEO of Alpine Parrot, an outdoor apparel company that caters to bodies size 14 and above and people of color.

She's on a mission to help women everywhere find joy in the outdoors instead of fussing about their pants chaffing their thighs or showing off their backside when bending under fallen trees or climbing a trail. 

In this interview, you'll hear...

• How and why Raquel decided to make a career pivot from software engineering to clothing design.
• Raquel's explanation of why body neutrality and equality should be more important than body positivity in the clothing industry - especially the outdoor industry.
• The barriers our culture imposes that keep the outdoors from being accessible to all body sizes and what we can do as a collective culture to dismantle those barriers.
• Raquel explains how the clothing industry designs sizes, why fit can feel "off" the larger the size, and how she designs clothes differently at Alpine Parrot.
• Finally, Raquel shares what makes the Alpine Parrot hiking pants unique and joy-promoting no matter how you're feeling about your body at the moment.

If you've been wanting to try hiking or walking around your block but haven't been able to find comfortable pants to wear, this episode will explain why it's the clothes (and industry), not your body that's the problem.

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode. Don't forget to rate, review, and share! This kindness helps other women in midlife find the show too!

Get show notes at www.alpinenutrition.org/blog

Subscribe to the Savor Food and Body Community to get weekly emails with insights, strategies, and the occasional recipe. You can also download 6 Strategies to thrive in midlife without diet culture

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!