Embrace the Power of Movement and Healthy Eating in Midlife

Do you struggle with exercise, physical activity, and healthy eating?

You’re not alone. Society has fed you narratives, and you’ve sometimes unknowingly taken on these stories as if they were your own, shaping your perceptions of movement and food. For midlife women, these narratives can be particularly limiting. It's time to rewrite these stories and embrace the joy and benefits of moving our bodies.

Challenging Old Movement Narratives

The number one reason women our age say they don’t like exercise is that they don’t want to sweat. But sweat is a sign of effort, strength, and vitality. You should embrace it, especially as you age. Being strong and fit is an identity worth portraying, and fit people show up sweaty and in their workout clothes!

Think back to a time before Title IX and what society told us about women exercising and being ‘healthy’ - which was all about being attractive and appealing:

- They’d build bulky muscles.

- It was terrible for their constitution.

- Women shouldn't exercise during pregnancy.

- Women are the ‘weaker sex.’

- Sweating is unattractive

- Women should eat like a bird

Even some recent media narratives about female athletes continue to perpetuate these outdated stories about women and fitness, and thankfully, that outdated and biased mentality is starting to change. For years, women were told not to lift weights and to focus exclusively on looking cute in leotards while doing cardio. Pioneers like Jack LaLanne emphasized muscle fitness for women. Still, many early fitness programs  - while terrific at getting women moving - focused solely on cardio and light exercises rather than strength training.

Challenging Old Food Narratives

At the same time, women often encounter outdated or restrictive narratives about healthy eating that can hinder their progress toward achieving their goals. Some of these narratives include:

• "Carbs are bad": The misconception that all carbohydrates are unhealthy can lead women to avoid nutrient-rich foods like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

• "Fat makes you fat": This outdated belief discourages the consumption of healthy fats, such as those found in avocados, nuts, and olive oil, which are essential for overall health.

• "Eat less to lose weight": The idea that drastically reducing calorie intake is the key to weight loss can lead to malnutrition and a slowed metabolism, ultimately making weight management more difficult.

• "Healthy eating is expensive": The perception that nutritious foods are always costly can prevent women from making healthier choices, even though many affordable options are available.

• "It's too late to change": The belief that changing what you eat in midlife won't significantly impact health can discourage women from adopting healthier eating habits.

• "Healthy eating is about deprivation": Associating healthy eating with restrictive diets can make it seem unappealing and unsustainable, leading to cycles of dieting and bingeing.

• "You need to detox": The idea that the body needs special detox diets or cleanses to be healthy can lead to extreme and unnecessary dietary practices.

Challenging these narratives with evidence-based information and promoting a balanced, enjoyable approach to healthy eating can help you make positive changes without feeling restricted or discouraged.

Redefining Your Narratives

Instead of dreading exercise and feeling overwhelmed about establishing a high-quality, nutrient-rich eating pattern to supply the fuel your body needs to move more, reset your mindset to prioritize the joy of movement. 

Your body has been through a lot and has taken you far. Movement is not something to dread; it’s something to embrace with excitement and anticipation! It’s powerful—being strong boosts confidence at any age. In middle age, it helps us become visible and vibrant. Healthful eating does not have to be overwhelming if you focus on the basics and block out the noise that villainizes certain foods or food groups.

You can age with strength instead of frailty, health instead of disease, and independence instead of dependence. You can do everything you envision with just a little effort. 

Remember, you are in training to live a strong and healthy life full of vitality, using your body to help you create a life where you flourish.

Healthy Eating & Moving are Best Friends

Alongside movement, healthy eating plays a crucial role in our well-being. Many women underestimate the amount of calories they consume and overestimate the amount of exercise they do. 

Moving your body more and building healthful eating patterns are essential for maintaining or losing weight while supporting your energy level and fitness as you age. Together, these two habits form a synergistic foundation that promotes vitality and longevity during this pivotal stage of life.  This knowledge empowers you to take control of your health and well-being.

Consider these questions:

• Are you eating enough food to sustain more physical activity and exercise? If you’re tired and lack energy to fuel your workouts, you might not be eating enough. 

• Are you consuming enough protein?

• Is your plate balanced?

• How is your food mindset? 

• Are you incorporating the 'Macros of Movement' throughout the week? Find a balanced mix of physical activity, stability/functional training, strength training, and cardio (moderate and vigorous). Avoid limiting your routine to just cardio or daily walks. Instead, add strength training and functional exercises to your regimen.

• Is your current movement pattern an intense cardio session 3-4 days a week for 30-45 minutes, followed by passive activities like working in front of a screen or reading? 

Making minor adjustments to your routine, like increasing physical activity and ensuring sufficient protein intake, can prevent gradual weight gain and help you stay physically strong and fit as you age and into your later years.

Practical Steps to Get Started

• Find Joy in Movement: Choose activities that you enjoy. Whether dancing, hiking, swimming, or yoga, find what makes you happy and keep moving.

• Strength Training: Incorporate strength training into your routine. It boosts metabolism, strengthens bones, and enhances muscle mass. It's particularly beneficial for midlife women as it can help counteract the natural loss of muscle mass that occurs with age, improving overall strength and mobility.

• Intentional Eating: Pay attention to what you eat. Opt for nutrient-dense foods that nourish your body and support your fitness goals. This balanced approach to eating will provide you with the necessary nutrients and support your fitness journey, reassuring you that you're on the right path.

• Stay Consistent: Move a regular part of your life. Consistency is critical to reaping the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

• Build a Support System: Surround yourself with supportive friends and family who encourage your fitness journey.

Rewriting your relationship with exercise and healthy eating is essential for thriving in midlife. Embrace the power of movement and the benefits of a balanced eating pattern. You have the strength to age with vitality, confidence, and independence. Celebrate your body and the incredible things it can do. Normalize being strong at any size, and don’t shy away from sweating—even if it means showing up to appointments or lunch meetups in exercise gear. 

Rumblings Media has tools and resources to help guide you wherever you are on your health and wellness journey so you can thrive! 

Don’t know where to begin or wonder where you need to focus on adjusting your patterns? Join us in an upcoming online or in-person class to jump-start your plan!

We’re here to help—and to remind you that it is never too late to begin or review where you’re at. 

Start today, step into the identity of a strong, fit, and balanced-eating midlife woman, and flourish!

Expert or Quack? Recognizing the real health, nutrition, exercise, and wellness experts

There is a proliferation of ‘experts’ on social media who claim to have a magic or singular approach for dieting, weight loss, quick fitness gains, and overall health. It’s challenging to tell the difference between an expert and someone only interested in selling something. How do you know what works and what is just the latest fad? 

Everyone loves the idea of a fast solution for losing weight and getting healthy. Unfortunately, there is no magic pill, and the promise of a quick fix can be the very thing that prevents you from achieving your long-term health goals. Even if you are cautious, it isn’t easy to differentiate the true experts from someone trying to sell you a product or quick-fix solution that doesn’t work and can even be dangerous for your health.

Below are tips to help you weed out the “wellness” imposters from your social media feed. 

Do their credentials align with the subject? Many high-profile, highly credentialed individuals give health advice beyond their training. Just because you eat and move your body does not make you an expert on nutrition and exercise.

Anyone can share their personal story of what has worked for them, but they cannot and should not be prescribing the same approach as the answer for everyone. And they should not be counseling others without proper education to customize personalized approaches for each individual.

For example, personal trainers can talk about healthier foods and the importance of eating a healthy and balanced diet. Yet, in Minnesota (and many other states), personal trainers cannot give you a nutrition plan. That is outside their credentials or educational background. They absolutely should not be selling or recommending specific micronutrients and supplements.  

Is there evidence of practice scope creep? Do your research to understand the credentials individuals have and determine what their scope of practice is with that credential. For example, a health coach is an individual who has typically received a coaching certificate for completing ~32 to ~75  hours of training. That is equivalent to less than one to two college courses. A health coach is trained to take you through a process of asking questions and helping you determine what you should do next to change or move towards your goals. They are NOT educated to give you specific or personalized health advice with only a coaching certificate without additional education. Sometimes degreed professionals also have coaching certificates to expand their scope of practice.

Another example is someone promoting themselves as a ‘Dr.’, but their degree is in another field, such as a doctor of chiropractic degree or a Ph.D. in philosophy. That degree alone may not give them the expertise to give dietary or weight loss plans, prescribe supplements, or exercise programs outside of treating the injury. 

Do they showcase scientific literacy? If they speak in absolutes, probably not.

As new research comes out, science is constantly evolving, and so should recommendations. Experts in their field will describe the nuances that come with any recommendation. 

For example, a registered dietitian nutritionist will never speak in absolutes about one diet being the only diet for weight loss. Nutrition and exercise programs should be personalized to an individual’s health history, activity level, and goals. 

Remember, it’s easy for someone to cherry-pick scientific articles and quickly cite references or research that substantiates their recommendations. Experts consider the totality of the research. True experts will evolve their thinking on a particular topic as the research progresses. 

Are their recommendations black and white? Absolute statements should be a red flag. If we’ve learned anything over the years, people are individuals, and their health needs are individualized. Experts provide nuanced recommendations and caveats based on individual situations and goals, not absolutes generalized to everyone. They are most likely to use caveats such as ‘it depends,’ ‘in some situations,’ and ‘for these circumstances’ rather than words like ‘must’ and ‘should.’

Your background, culture, traditions, desires, likes, and dislikes should play into any recommendations. No expert will tell you that you should eliminate certain foods or that only specific exercises done in a certain way or frequency will improve your health. 

Do their statements recognize individual differences? Take note if anyone is trying to give recommendations without knowing your health history, habits, and personal goals. This black-and-white thinking gets followers—vegan versus the carnivores, powerlifting versus functional training—but it confuses everyone and serves no one. And, if you are older and have chronic conditions or other health issues, it can be dangerous. 

Do they have established real-world experience? When you work with people, you learn a lot about how to help people change their behavior to improve their health in realistic ways and without injury. Sometimes what is happening in the real world is ahead of science. 

Seasoned health practitioners with an evidenced-based practice will always incorporate their hands-on experience, the weight of peer-reviewed literature, and the needs of the individual, along with client/patient preferences, in their recommendations. 

Will they profit from their recommendation? Experts are often spokespeople for products. They can say they only work with companies they trust and use their products personally. That is probably true, but consumers are savvy. These relationships create distrust. We’re not saying that this alone should make you question credibility, but pay attention to it. 

Assess whether someone is science-based. Look at the information they are presenting and their credentials. 

Is it more anecdotal promising a quick fix, or is it based on recent media hype?

You can learn from others' experiences, but they may not be the right people to advise you.

Science follows a hierarchy. Anecdotes, observational studies, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), systematic reviews, and meta-analyses of RCTs. Science-based experts look at the entire body of literature before making recommendations for an individual. Major organizations, like the American Heart Association, create position stands by weighing all the evidence.  When you understand the research, you realize recommendations need to be tailored to the individual. 

Lastly, true experts in a specific field will readily display their education and certification credentials, discuss their specialties and experience, and help with referrals to an expert in areas where they’re not qualified. 

It can be challenging to distill an expert from a good marketer. Take your time, review their recommendations, listen to your gut, and use these tips to help you decide if their advice is right for you.

Ditch Fad Diets: Become a Conscious and Intentional Eater in Midlife

Have you ever finished a meal so quickly that you don’t remember the taste or consumed popcorn while watching a movie, and suddenly the bowl is empty? Most midlife women can relate to mindless eating at some point. 

Your emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and environment influence what and how much you eat.   Add to the fact that the extreme diet culture penetrating society today (positively or negatively) influences your food beliefs, and how you comply with those beliefs may impact how you feel about yourself.

Whether it’s vegan, paleo, keto, Whole 30, flexitarian, or even “nondiet” diet beliefs, the ideology of ONE WAY of eating versus another can leave you feeling in control one day and frustrated the next, or on the “team” today and kicked out of the club tomorrow. Diet culture promotes the idea that there is one right way to eat, and you must follow strict food rules to be a part of the team. 

It’s time to be done with diets and restrictive thinking! Over our 50-plus years, we have not seen friends or family sustain weight loss or positive health outcomes by complying with one particular fad diet over another. Plus, diets foster a loss of joy in eating and rigid black-and-white thinking around food. We wrote about it here. Yet, we continue to witness new fad diets hit the landscape every year, and the divisive culture followers promote is not helping anyone improve their health and flourish. 

You’ve told us midlife weight gain is one of your biggest challenges, yet you don’t want to jump on another fad plan only to be disappointed again. So what do you do? 

Start with conscious, intentional eating to develop an awareness of the relationship between what and how much you eat and your body, feelings, mind, and interconnectedness. 

It’s assumed we only eat in response to hunger, which we all know isn’t accurate. Our social (who we surround ourselves with) and physical environment (food accessibility, price, and portion size) influence our behaviors including what and how much we eat. 

That’s why developing mindful or intuitive eating principles can help you ditch diets, control how much you eat, and find joy in food, traditions, and culture again.  

Mindful eating refers to being fully present and paying attention to the food you eat, the experience, and your environment with minimal distractions. Jon Kabat- Zinn is considered the founder of mindfulness, which includes mindful eating. Mindful eating (i.e., paying attention to our food on purpose, moment by moment, without judgment) is an approach to food where you focus on the taste, smell, sound, and feelings of what you’re eating when you’re eating it. 

It sounds like common sense, but our lives are full of distractions (television, computers, phones, etc.), which we often use when we’re eating and these distractions can cause us to eat too fast, too much, and without pleasure. 

Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is a philosophy and lifestyle behavior, not a trademarked diet program or strictly defined principles. Common practices include:

• Eliminate eating distractions, such as the TV, phone, or computer.

• Eat while sitting down versus standing in the kitchen.

• Be curious about where your food comes from, who made it, and how it was prepared.

• Be grateful and offer thanks before meals. 

• Take small bites, chew intentionally, and slow down when you eat.

• Savor the food's smell, taste, and texture. Engage all your senses.

• Pay close attention to how hungry or full your body feels. What cues is it giving you to start, slow down, or stop eating?

• Eat without judgment such as thinking about a particular food being good or bad. When black and white thinking persists, acknowledge your feelings.

• Notice internal and external cues that affect how much you eat. 

• Acknowledge how you feel after a meal or snack.

Mindfulness is intended to cultivate a nonreactive attitude to your feelings towards food and eating, which can help break cycles of over and under-eating. Our eating culture doesn’t promote these principles, so being conscious, intentional, and mindful can help you slow down, eat less, appreciate healthful foods that nourish your body, and find joy in food again. 

Intuitive Eating

Intuitive eating, on the other hand, is a specific philosophy aiming to free people from the confines of damaging beliefs around food (and often themselves), with the goal of establishing judgment-free eating.  Developed by registered dietitians Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole, intuitive eating involves ten core principles which include:

• Reject the diet mentality

• Honor your hunger

• Make peace with food

• Challenge the food police

• Discover the satiation factor

• Feel your fullness

• Cope with your emotions with kindness

• Respect your body

• Movement—feel the difference

• Honor your health—gentle nutrition

Intuitive eating is a pattern of eating that focuses on positive psychological and physical well-being first. The focus is to reconnect with your inner hunger and fullness cues, understand external influences such as mood, social, and food availability, disconnect from strict dieting food rules and unrealistic expectations, and love your body regardless of size or shape. There are no good or bad foods, just food. 

You’ll notice neither of these approaches focuses on the health of the food first. They both promote paying attention to physiological signs of hunger and fullness to control eating, how your body feels, enjoying your food, and eating without judgment. It is easier said than done, so we strongly recommend checking out the resources below if you’re struggling with eating mindfully or intuitively.  We believe it’s hard to focus on what to eat to live well and flourish unless you can first eat in a way that brings you joy, fills you up, and frees you from the black-and-white diet culture. 

Midlife Zest

However, we do believe in choosing foods and beverages that optimize your health and eating them in a way that maximizes your well-being. What eating pattern do we recommend?

Our recommendations vary based on you, your history, and your goals. Eating to maximize your health when you’re in a state of good health is different than eating when you’re in a state of sickness or dis-ease, and your goal is to restore health; therefore, our recommendations change accordingly.

Recommended Resources:

Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, and Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, FAND

The Intuitive Eating Workbook by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, and Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, FAND

Mindful Eating: A Guide For Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food by Jan Chozen Bays, MD

The Body is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor

14 Ways to Find Joy in Your Diet

In 2012, my husband and I (Rebecca) challenged ourselves to go 100% vegan for one month. To be honest, when I committed, I didn’t eat a lot of meat. Dave, on the other hand, enjoyed meat, eggs, and dairy foods. As you can imagine, his vegan eating pattern lasted less than two weeks. Mine lasted over seven years.  However, I have to admit I was never comfortable calling myself vegan. I preferred to say I mainly ate plants, vegetarian with no dairy, or 90% vegan. 

Why was I hesitant to self-identify as a vegan? I’ve always loved all aspects of food — growing, preparing, eating, and experiencing the taste, smell, and textures. I grew up traveling, and part of experiencing and appreciating other cultures always included the food. For example, when I traveled to Canada, I tried poutine, and when in Scotland, haggis. My family trips growing up included visits to local markets and joining local food tours. Now, I design and share similar adventures with my children, such as sampling various types of tacos and agua frescas from local vendors on the streets of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

For me, identifying and following one diet fad or way of eating such as vegan, paleo, Whole 30, Atkins, or gluten-free meant saying no to a valued experience. It also meant feeling like a fraud or diet imposter if I broke from the strict diet philosophy. 

As I’ve moved throughout my career, I’ve seen diets come and go, and the diet feuds only get worse. Individuals with strong food identities constantly fight online about which ideology has more scientific merit, extends life, or best fends off disease. In reality, and rarely mentioned, these ways of eating have far more principles in common (more fruits, vegetables, and fiber and limited ultra-processed foods) than conflicting advice (meat and dairy types and quantity recommendations). As a result of the fighting, many people are confused, fed up, disconnected, and feel like failures because they haven’t been able to comply with one or more of these restrictive eating regimens.

I am not saying that following a specific dietary pattern won’t have personal benefits for individuals. I’ve seen people lose weight, improve blood pressure, reduce blood cholesterol levels, improve blood sugars, and feel better by modifying what and how much they eat. I firmly believe in the health benefits of food — especially fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. I also understand the medical necessity to limit foods for specific allergies or chronic diseases.  

At the same time, I strongly believe in the mental and social benefits of coming around the table to share a meal with family, friends, colleagues, and strangers. Something magical happens when we eat together and fill our souls with nourishing foods. We may be restricting joy in our lives when we are so strongly attached to a certain dietary pattern, believe recommendations are rules that if broken equal failure, or refuse to see the value in other approaches to eating. 

Are your food rules limiting your potential to experience joy from food or eating experiences?

Circle the statements below you practice. 

• I am open to trying new foods even if I am unfamiliar with the ingredients 

• I don’t feel guilty if I stray from my usual way of eating

• I accept invitations to social events even if I know I won’t be able to find foods within my typical eating style

• I don’t preach the benefits of the way I eat to others without them asking

• I try foods from other cultures even if they don’t align with my preferred eating pattern

• I eat and enjoy foods at holidays and family events that are considered family traditions even if they aren’t consistent with my diet rules

• I prioritize eating foods that are high quality and nourishing over foods that strictly comply with a certain diet pattern

• I understand that prescriptive eating patterns are merely a guide for choosing foods for good health, and understand that choosing foods outside of the recommendations will not derail an overall healthy diet

• I look for ways to find commonalities in eating patterns instead of denouncing the value of the food choices other people make 

• I understand that eating for health and well-being includes enjoying food, experiencing culture, and celebrating with family traditions

• I know that a single food or meal will not ruin or break any diet rules

• I don’t avoid eating categories of macronutrients such as carbohydrates or fats

• I realize a healthful eating pattern for me may differ from someone else 

• I understand that what and how much food my body needs may change as I age due to my activity level and body composition, and I am ok with that

Review the list. Did you leave statements uncircled? These may be areas of opportunity for you to modify and discover more joy in eating. 

As I’ve aged, I have to say I am tired of the all-or-nothing approach to eating. I don’t want to restrict the enjoyment out of my life by following a rigid eating pattern. Although I follow a plant-based eating pattern most of the time, I want to be able to dine with friends, travel, and enjoy a good meal without feeling stressed that I am breaking diet rules, if I try something unusual. I don’t want to feel guilty or not a part of a particular tribe as a result of the food choices I make. 

We live in a diet culture. We are experiencing a time of divisiveness where picking teams is more common than styling our lives in ways that bring us joy. As we enter the prime time of our lives, let’s focus on joy and re-design our lives to live fully and authentically. 

Instead of challenging you with yet a new diet for flourishing after 50, I challenge you to loosen the reins and seek joy in the experience of eating well without strict food rules. 

Rumble on!