If you're a woman over 50 (or on your way there), taking care of your health becomes even more critical as you age. Nutrition is crucial in supporting your well-being and ensuring you thrive during this exciting phase of life. Here I share five realistic nutrition tips that can positively impact your health in the second half of your life.

How To Be A “Mindful” Eater

In the last post, I addressed “mindless” habits and activities and the common behavior of eating mindlessly.

Today is referring to mindful habits – specifically mindful eating.

Mindful is an adjective, the opposite of mindless.

Mindful is where one is aware, almost hyper-aware, conscious of, alive, sensible, and alert.

Many of us have our “mindless” habits and activities.

We get up and go through our morning routine.

The routine we follow in the shower.

Mindless is an adjective with several definitions, but in this case, it refers to a repetitive task that is often mechanical, automatic, routine, or robotic. It takes little consciousness to do it.

Do you ever feel like you let yourself down?

We all let ourselves down occasionally or often, depending on what we are trying to do (or not) to reach a goal or make a change.

I remember when I was a kid and learned what happens when we ASSUME.

It was a game in which someone had me work from the end of the word with “me” and then discovered the “U” and what makes us both when we ASSUME.

Assumptions are not usually a good thing – and it highlights poor communication.

What are things you continue to assume, and can you change that?

The energy source for the human body is calories. It is how we measure the energy we burn as humans, the energy we consume from food, and the energy we utilize to function (heart to beat, respiration, and other essential body functions).

But lets consider the quality calories, and revisit those energy vampires.

We talked about energy this week in our Health Not Hype group coaching.

Where it comes from and how we lose it. Although there are many answers to this question, and many are hard truths, such as the foods we eat, hydration level, sleep, and exercise, many of the answers can only be individually observed and noted.

Let go of the halo...

Have you heard of the health halo effect?

The health halo is this belief that a food, product (such as a type of supplement), or brand is superior in healthfulness based on a single claim (or perception).

Is this harmful? It depends.

Yesterday, while conversing with a client about life and what they want in contrast to what they have, my client was 'shoulding' themselves in every other sentence. I didn't say anything at first, as we all do this occasionally; however, the shoulds were intense and almost shaming.

Break the Rules

For a lot of our life, we have rules.

Some for our benefit and safety.

Then there are inaccurate rules we’ve heard our whole life.

There are rules you may need to realize you are hearing.

What are the rules you are living by that are not serving you?

How easy is it to care for ourselves, smile, laugh, and greet each day with HELLO when we love our lives? We eat better, play harder, sleep well, and enjoy more.

Everything seems to flow on our best days, and on the days it doesn't flow, everything goes off the rails. Living off the rails is the norm for some, and the "living in flow" days are the exception.

What is Well-being?

We assume that people know what it means when discussing “well-being.” 

But do we know what it means?  

Well-being is multifaceted, meaning there are several areas (or sectors) where we can address our well-being. 

With Valentine’s Day next week, I thought it appropriate to mention love.

I recognize that not everyone celebrates Valentine's Day, and that's okay as I am not thinking about romantic love, or love of family or friends, or even love of your fur babies.

I am thinking about YOU and ask that you reflect on the love affair you have with yourself.

Now, you may wonder what a love affair with yourself is and how you know if you are in one.

How long have you cared for others?

How long have you put yourself last? Or at least after the rest of the family, work, and friends?

How long have you forsaken your health?

Sure, you may have tried “every diet known to man.”

Or been dieting “as long as you can remember.”

Where has that gotten you?

We can help you with this next chapter of life.