Most of us can still remember the diet ads from our youth. We can't remember why we walked into the kitchen, but we can remember the jingle.

My guest this week is Lu Chekowsky, an Emmy Award winning creative director who spent her career inside the industry, spending time at MTV and Facebook, all while quietly struggling with her own body. Her memoir, Don't Buy What I'm Selling, traces the origin of how those messages shaped her, and how she found her way back out.

We talk about the ads that shaped Gen X, what really happens in the room when a campaign gets built, and why Lu says we are outnumbered. She means that as a kindness.

If you have ever wondered why the food noise is so loud, and why diet culture is everwhere, this one will explain a lot.

Learn more about Lu and where to buy her book at https://www.lchekowsky.com/

Related episodes:

• Menopause and Body Image: How to Accept Your Changing Body with Alli Spotts-De-Lazzer
• Why You Don't Trust Yourself Around Food (and How to Rebuild It) with Fiona Sutherland
• Day 1: How to Un-Diet in Midlife and Menopause

Need help un-dieting your way out from diet culture? 

1. Book a 20-minute Midlife & Strategy Session Call: https://p.bttr.to/3DQX9SF
2. Exlore the Feaster community and find food freedom and body confidence: https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/themidlifefeastcommunity

What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now!  Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.

Welcome to a new season of The Midlife Feast! I'm kicking off this season by naming the mindset that might be making things harder: treating your body, midlife, and menopause like an ongoing project to manage. 

I walk through what that costs, how it shows up in real life, and how we can shift from obsessive optimization to a steadier partnership with our bodies, including:
• the core question that changes everything: what if your body wasn’t a project to solve?
• the moving finish line and why “enough” never arrives
• the audit mode where meals and movement become performance metrics
• how tracking, wearables, and nonstop data can disrupt body attunement
• the betrayal narrative  and my own reminder that these thoughts can show up even after years of intuitive eating
• shifting from project manager to partner and the questions that create ease
 
Related Episodes

• The One Thing Menopause Dietitians Want You to Know About Nutrition with Laura Clark, RD
• Why You Don't Trust Yourself Around Food (and How to Rebuild It) with Fiona Sutherland
• How to Appreciate Your Changing Menopause Body with Dr. Charlotte Ord

Want more support?

• Free Un-Diet Your Mindset Guide→ https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/undietyourmindset
• Join my Group Coaching Community free for 7 days → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/7daytrial
• Book a no-strings connection call (virtual coffee with me) → https://p.bttr.to/3DQX9SF

And if you've loved today's conversation and found it helpful, please share it with a friend who needs to hear this and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. 

What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now!  Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.

Welcome to Day 5, the final episode of the Midlife & Menopause Un-Dieting Mini-Series!

Over the last four days, we've explored four pillars that can help you build a more trusting, flexible relationship with food: understanding, self-compassion, attunement, and gentle nutrition.

But what happens when you put them all together?

In this episode, we're looking at the fear that stops many people from letting go of food rules: If I stop dieting, does that mean I stop caring about my health?

The answer is no!

You'll learn how to use nutrition knowledge without turning it into another set of rules, and how to care for your health without making food a full-time job.

Because the alternative to dieting isn't giving up. It's finding a way of eating that actually works for real life.

Free support to get you started:

• Un-Diet Your Mindset → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/undietyourmindset
• Food Guilt Decoder → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/FoodGuiltDecoder

Want more support?

• Try the Midlife Feast Community free for 7 days → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/7daytrial
• Book a no-strings connection call (virtual coffee with me) → https://p.bttr.to/3DQX9SF

Related episodes:

• Day 1 → https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/19715276
• Day 2 → https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/19720938
• Day 3 →https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/19721372
• Day 4 →https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/19728345

What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now!  Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.

Welcome back to Day 4 of my Midlife and Menopause Un-Dieting series. Yesterday I asked you to sit with one question: what do I want?  It's sometimes easier to outsource "what should I eat?" than to honestly ask what you want. Today we add the other half: what do I need? And that's where gentle nutrition comes in.

Un-dieting doesn't mean throwing nutrition out the window. It means bringing it in as information, not another set of rules. The trap is that diet culture has made weight loss a proxy for everything, and I firmly believe that your health should not become a full-time job!

So we come back to the question of this series: what would taking care of myself look like if I didn't require my body to get smaller in return? That widens the lens.  That's what I love about gentle nutrition: instead of asking what to cut out, you get to ask what you can add. 

Your practice for today: ask what do I want, then add what do I need, and see what happens when you let both into the conversation.

Tomorrow is Day 5, where we bring all four pillars together so food and eating  feel easier. Because menopause is hard enough. Food shouldn't be!

Free support to get you started:

• Un-Diet Your Mindset → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/undietyourmindset
• Food Guilt Decoder → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/FoodGuiltDecoder

Want more support?

• Try the Midlife Feast Community free for 7 days → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/7daytrial
• Book a no-strings connection call (virtual coffee with me) → https://p.bttr.to/3DQX9SF

Related episodes:

• Day 1 → https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/19715276
• Day 2 → https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/19720938
• Day 3 →https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/19721372

What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now!  Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.

Welcome to day 3 of the Midlife & Menopause Un-Dieting Series. If you’ve spent years following food rules, tracking what you eat, or being told you can’t trust yourself around food, “just listen to your body” can feel like a foreign language.

In today’s episode, we’re talking about attunement - what it actually means, why your hunger and satisfaction cues may feel hard to hear, and how to start reconnecting with them.

I also share a very real-life reminder that capability and capacity are not the same thing, plus a simple 10-second practice to try before your next meal.

Free support to get you started:

• Un-Diet Your Mindset → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/undietyourmindset
• Food Guilt Decoder → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/FoodGuiltDecoder

Want more support?

• Try the Midlife Feast Community free for 7 days → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/7daytrial
• Book a no-strings connection call (virtual coffee with me) → https://p.bttr.to/3DQX9SF

Related episodes:

• Day 1 — How to Un-Diet in Midlife and Menopause → https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/19715276
• Day 2 → https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/19720938

What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now!  Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.

Welcome back to Day 2 of my Midlife and Menopause Un-Dieting series. Yesterday we talked about the diet cycle - the plan, the tracking, the promise that this time you'll have more discipline… until life gets lifey and it all falls apart. Today I want to gently blow up the story we tell ourselves next: that we failed because we don't have enough willpower.

Here's what I hear all the time: "I know what to do, I just don't do it." And I get it! You do know that protein matters and that eating nothing all day leaves you eating crackers out of the box at 9pm. The problem was never that you don't care enough. The real question is: what are you actually asking yourself to do?

In this episode I redefine self-compassion (hint: it's not about being nice to yourself), unpack why all-or-nothing thinking keeps the cycle spinning, and remind you that health does not require perfect eating. 

Tomorrow: attunement, and how to listen to your body without turning intuitive eating into another set of rules.

Free support to get you started:

• Un-Diet Your Mindset → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/undietyourmindset
• Food Guilt Decoder → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/FoodGuiltDecoder

Want more support?

• Try the Midlife Feast Community free for 7 days → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/7daytrial
• Book a no-strings connection call (virtual coffee with me) → https://p.bttr.to/3DQX9SF

Related episodes:

• Day 1 — How to Un-Diet in Midlife and Menopause → https://themidlifefeast.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/19715276-day-1-how-to-un-diet-in-midlife-and-menopause

What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now!  Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.

Half a million downloads. I'm still a little speechless! To celebrate, I'm doing a five-day un-dieting mini-series, and Day 1 starts with the one question I want you to carry into every episode: What would taking care of myself look like if I didn't require my body to get smaller in return?

In this short episode I explain why un-dieting isn't the same as "not dieting." Un-dieting is unlearning, letting go of the default programming that says your body has to shrink in exchange for eating a vegetable, moving your body, or adding more protein to your plate. I walk you through the diet cycle I see so many of us stuck in, why it stops working, and how even "weight-neutral" goals can quietly pull you right back in.

No download or signup required, just a few minutes  a day for the next 5 days.

Free support to get you started:

• Un-Diet Your Mindset → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/undietyourmindset
• Food Guilt Decoder → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/FoodGuiltDecoder

If you need some support:

• Try the Midlife Feast Community free for 7 days → https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/7daytrial
• Book a no-strings connection call (virtual coffee with me) → https://p.bttr.to/3DQX9SF

What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now!  Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.

This is the 200th episode and the season finale, and I'm closing out the season by defending the most controversial breakfast on the internet: oatmeal.

I'm only half joking. Yes, I answer all of your oatmeal questions in this episode. Steel cut versus rolled, how to add protein, cooked versus overnight, and whether it deserves its reputation as a heart-healthy food. But the real conversation is about something bigger. If a humble bowl of oatmeal can make us anxious, then we have some food noise to untangle.

I share why so many of us are overcomplicating food and what information overload does to our confidence. My hope is that you finish this one feeling calmer, more confident, and ready to spend less time thinking about food and more time living your life.

Grab my 5 easy Build-A-Bowl Oatmeal recipes

Related episodes you'll love:

• #105 Dear Diet Culture Diary: What the 80s Taught Us About Food: https://themidlifefeast.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/14680165-105-dear-diet-culture-diary-what-the-80s-taught-us-about-food
• #147 How to Stop the Cycle of "Starting Over" Every Monday: https://themidlifefeast.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/16816700-147-how-to-stop-the-cycle-of-starting-over-every-monday
• #199 Why you Don't Trust Yourself Around Food with Fiona Sutherland: https://themidlifefeast.buzzsprout.com/1851576/episodes/19377509

What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now!  Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.

Whenever I talk about intuitive eating, women tell me the same thing: "I love the idea, but I don't trust myself around food." And when I talk to dietitians who help people shift from a weight-centric to weight-neutral or inclusive practice, they find it hard to communicate the idea of self-trust. If you can relate to either of these,  this conversation is exactly what you need!

This week I'm joined by Fiona Sutherland, an accredited practicing dietitian, author, and mentor from Melbourne, and one of the most thoughtful  and experienced voices in the world of nutrition. Together we explore why self-trust feels so hard in midlife, especially when your body, hunger, and energy seem to be changing overnight.

Fiona and I unpack how years of dieting can chip away at your confidence, why outsourcing your food decisions to a plan feels safer (and what it costs you), and what gently rebuilding trust actually looks like, starting with curiosity instead of control. We also talk about why reaching for support is a sign of courage, and the surprising ingredient Fiona believes most of us are missing in midlife.

If you've ever wondered whether you can trust yourself again, I think you'll leave this one feeling a little more hopeful. Listen now.

Connect with Fiona: Website: https://www.themindfuldietitian.com.au/ Instagram: @the.mindfuldietitian

If this episode resonated with you, come join us inside The Midlife Feast Community. It's where women in midlife come for evidence-based menopause nutrition, intuitive eating support, live coaching, and a community that understands what this season of life is really like. I'd love to welcome you there.
Learn more: The Midlife Feast Community: https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/themidlifefeastcommunity

Related Episodes:

#197 Menopause and Body Image: How to Accept Your Changing Body with Alli Spotts-De-Lazzer, LMFT, CEDS-C

#147 How to Stop the Cycle of "Starting Over" Every Monday 

#154 How to Appreciate Your Changing Menopause Body with Dr. Charlotte Ord 

What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now!  Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.

Is it perimenopause, or are you just finally fed up with the world? Honestly, it might be both.

In this listener Q&A, I'm answering the questions so many of you have been sending me, and they're the kind that probably sound familiar. We start with mood, because so many of us feel more irritable, less patient, and a lot less willing to tolerate things we used to put up with. I'll walk you through what's happening with your hormones and neurotransmitters, and why your reasons for feeling done are still valid even when biology is part of the picture.

From there, I tackle the big one: the belief that decades of dieting have "broken" your metabolism. I talk about what's really driving the lose-it-gain-it cycle, why intermittent fasting leaves so many women feeling awful, and the food guilt that shows up over something as ordinary as two slices of bread.

I also answer a question that pulled at my heart, from a parent who overheard their daughter say she needed to "walk off" her dessert. If you've ever heard your own voice come out of someone you love, this one is for you.

If any of this lands, I'd love to keep the conversation going. You'll find a link in the show notes to send me your questions for the next Q&A, and if you're ready for support:

Book a call

Become a Feaster 

Send me your question for a future Q&A episode! 

Related episodes you'll love:

• #132: Why You Need to Put Capacity, Self-Compassion & Self-Care on the Menu
• #147: Why You Keep Starting Over Every Monday
• #136: Health vs. Weight: Debunking the Biggest Wellness Myth with Val Schonberg, RD

What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now!  Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.