As we get older, our bodies change. Suddenly, we’re battling belly fat, our metabolism seems to have ground to a halt, and navigating nutrition feels like a minefield of conflicting advice. Do we cut carbs? Boost protein? What on earth is a microbiome and why should we care?

In this episode of The Midlife Shift, host Alex Brooks talks to accredited practicing dietitian Geraldine Georgeou for a sanity-saving guide to food and health after 50. Geraldine demystifies the science and cuts through the diet-culture noise to deliver practical, powerful advice on how to eat for lasting vitality. Discover why your gut is your second brain, how hormonal changes impact your body shape, and what you really need to look for in a blood test.

This is an essential guide to help you build a nutritional framework that supports your health as you age.

Find Geraldine Georgeou here

• Website: Designer Diets
• Book: The Australian Healthy Skin Diet

Citro is here to help

• A CITRO GUIDE: Mastering menopause
• How to end the junk food battle once and for all
• Maintain brain health with the MIND diet
• Mediterranean diet 101: healthy eating for healthy ageing
• Control your blood pressure with the DASH diet
• The truth about protein: how much you really need for healthy ageing
• 5 reasons we remain in the dark about perimenopause
• Good ways to rejuvenate your gut health (yep, including a poo transplant)
• Gut instinct: how to prevent age-related digestive issues like heartburn
• Activate your inner ally: get your gut microbiome to blossom

AFTER WATCHING, PLEASE FILL OUT OUR SURVEY

Your responses will help shape upcoming episodes of The Midlife Shift with Alex Brooks. Access the survey here.

Please reach out if you need anything [email protected]

How do you fund your life when the paycheques stop? For many of us, the world of superannuation and retirement planning is filled with confusing terms that make us want to ignore it completely. But what if you could make it simple?

In this episode of The Midlife Shift, host Alex Brooks talks to money expert Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon and retirement commentator Kaye Fallick for a frank and practical guide to funding your future. They explore why women are often behind the eight ball and reveal why you should think of your super as "free money" to pay more attention to it. Discover the crucial interplay between the government Age Pension and your own super savings, and why the standard retirement budget might not apply if you still have a mortgage.

This is an essential guide to help you get your financial ducks in a row for a comfortable and empowered retirement.

Find Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon here

• Website: Nicole's Smart Money
• Instagram: @nicolepedmckmoney

Find Kaye Fallick here

• Website: Staying Connected
• Instagram: @connected_retirement

Citro is here to help

• How much super is enough? Spoiler: no magic number exists
• I’m not panicking about a global recession (but I am reviewing my super strategy)
• How to make sure you avoid the new 15% super tax
• Putting extra money into super just got even more attractive
• Super theft: check your super, check your password is unique
• 5 game-changing super moves to make in the lead up to retirement
• The case for and against setting up a self-managed super fund
• Nicole’s super boosters: 7 ways to swell your super fund in a single financial year
• Understand the ‘4% rule’ and why you must drawdown your super

AFTER WATCHING, PLEASE FILL OUT OUR SURVEY

Your responses will help shape upcoming episodes of The Midlife Shift with Alex Brooks. Access the survey here.

Please reach out if you need anything [email protected]

What do you get when you sit down with an Australian screen legend Denise Drysdale who has worked with everyone from Ernie Sigley to Hugh Grant? You get hilarious stories about work husbands, candid conversations about ageing and some surprisingly frank advice on planning for the next chapter.

In this episode of The Midlife Shift, host Alex Brooks talks to the one and only Denise ‘Ding Dong’ Drysdale about her incredible six decades in entertainment. Denise shares intimate memories of her 35-year partnership with her beloved “work husband” Ernie Sigley and the heartbreak of watching him develop Alzheimer's later in life.

Denise opens up about why she believes health span is more important than lifespan and offers a powerful argument for why everyone should have the right to choose their own end-of-life journey.

Expect unfiltered thoughts on everything from body confidence to the importance of wills and why she’s already sorted her prepaid funeral. Denise gets real about her own health battles, including a detached retina and trigeminal neuralgia, and shares her secrets for navigating the third act of life with humour and resilience. Oh, and if you listen to the end, you’ll find out her secret to perfect roast potatoes and why she thinks it’s never too late to get a fashion deal.

Find Denise here

• Website

Citro is here to help

• How to exercise through menopause and beyond
• Could delaying menopause help us live longer?
• Dementia and cognitive decline 101
• How to nurture social connections to feel like you truly belong
• 7 top legal tips to make your will watertight
• How to make a free will online

AFTER WATCHING, PLEASE FILL OUT OUR SURVEY

Your responses will help shape upcoming episodes of The Midlife Shift with Alex Brooks. Access the survey here.

Please reach out if you need anything [email protected]

What happens when two of Australia’s funniest women sit down for an unfiltered chat about midlife, friendship and money? Lots of talking over each other but also big reveals about menopause, the ADHD brain and, well, sharing toothbrushes. 

In this episode of The Midlife Shift, host Alex Brooks talks to two sassy women, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here host Julia Morris and The Project host Kate Langbroek about everything from surviving teenage kids, health tips (both have dealt with cancer diagnoses in their families), the importance of managing money and the myths around superannuation. 

Expect some insights on hurtling towards midlife, cancel culture and some eyebrow-raising confessions (yes, involving toothbrushes and… eyebrows). Kate and Julia also share thoughts on ADHD, menopause and the late diagnosis wave as well as what matters more: health or wealth? Oh, and if you listen to the end, you’ll discover why Julia refuses to wear shapewear and Kate is into sun gazing and dancing in the rain.   

Find Julia here

• Instagram: @ladyjuliamorris
• Book: Julia Morris makes it easy

Find Kate here

• Instagram: @katelangbroek
• Book: Ciao Bella!
• Podcast: The Buck Up with Kate Langbroek and Nath Valvo

Citro is here to help

• How to exercise through menopause and beyond
• Could delaying menopause help us live longer?
• Dementia and cognitive decline 101
• Your secret weapon against frailty: muscle power
• How to nurture social connections to feel like you truly belong
• Hello muscles: 10 benefits of strength training

AFTER WATCHING, PLEASE FILL OUT OUR SURVEY

Your responses will help shape upcoming episodes of The Midlife Shift with Alex Brooks. Access the survey here.

Please reach out if you need anything [email protected]

What's the real science behind ageing, longevity and keeping your skin looking good for longer? 

In Alex's eye-opening interview with board-certified dermatologist Dr Natasha Cook you'll learn the science behind the right supplements and nutrition to live better for longer - as well as what your bottom reveals about your true skin age 😳. 

From understanding epigenetics and cellular senescence to debunking anti-ageing myths, Dr Cook unpacks the truth about what works to improve your healthspan so your biological age differs from your ‘time on planet’ years. 

Learn how time-restricted eating, antioxidants, and lifestyle changes can help you age gracefully without wasting money on overpriced supplements or trendy skincare fads. 

Dr Cook then dives into the power of epigenetics, explaining how 80% of your ageing is controllable through daily choices like diet, exercise, and sun protection... plus, we talk spermicine, snail's mucus and the importance of flossing.

Watch the episode here

Click here for the video transcript

Find Dr Cook here

• dr:NC Skincare
• Instagram
• Skin Laser Longevity Clinic

Citro is here to help

• A CITRO GUIDE: 10 lifestyle swaps for longevity
• 10 surprising habits that could be ageing you prematurely
• Delaying menopause to increase longevity
• Is it too late to start botox when you're already over 50?
• 5 ways lasers and dermatologists can reverse skin ageing
• 4 pillars for optimal skin health as we get older

Further reading on the issues we touched on in this episode

• ‍Epigenetics: A new bridge between nutrition and health
• Why your face ages and what you can do
• "Turkey neck" surgery (platysmaplasty)
• Does cellular senescence hold secrets for healthier ageing?
• Can intermittent fasting improve health?
• Collagen supplements: The secret to perfect skin, or marketing hype?
• 4 benefits of olive oil for the face
• Spermidine and skin health

Please fill out our survey to let us know what you think. 🙏

From The Biggest Loser to 12 week body transformations, Michelle Bridges has been transforming and helping people become healthier versions of themselves for decades. 

Michelle Bridges started teaching fitness classes at the age of 14, hit our TV screens on The Biggest Loser in her 30s and had her first child at the age of 45. 

She’s always been a hard worker, but acknowledges how difficult it is for women to fit everything in. Growing up as the youngest daughter of a single mum in an era where kids weren’t allowed to get in the way of work, she knew from the start that she wanted to raise her son Axel differently. So she’s worked doubly hard to be a present parent; being there for school pick ups, sporting events and even coaching Axel’s soccer league at one point (lucky kids!).

Watch the episode here

Click here for the video transcript

Michelle says she was flippant about her fertility and feels blessed to have been able to get pregnant at 44, an age when she was likely experiencing perimenopause. The trainer says she knew remarkably little about perimenopause and menopause, until she began diagnosing her own symptoms after she experienced brain fog and problems sleeping. 

She talks to The Midlife Shift about what midlife wellness really means to her, including the importance of protein, strength training and dealing with different perimenopause symptoms. Michelle also explains how she manages diet, nutrition and supplements – including a rundown on those she takes herself – before diving into the money lessons she wishes she’d learned earlier. 

Michelle explains how her upbringing geared her towards financial independence – she now contributes to a self-managed superannuation scheme. She  shares her hopes for retirement income and how she'll spend it all on physio and fitness to stay as well as she can for as long as she can.

Find Michelle here

• Michelle Bridges 12WBT
• Books by Michelle Bridges
• ’We Have a Situation’ podcast

Citro is here to help

• Mastering menopause - a Citro guide
• Could delaying menopause help women live longer?
• How to exercise during menopause and beyond
• Hello muscles: 10 benefits of strength training

Further reading

• Menopause and cholesterol
• Vitamin D and perimenopause
• Menopause and protein
• Vitamin B6 toxicity
• Creatine for women’s health
• Debunking the myths about HRT/MHT

Please fill out our survey to let us know what you think. 🙏