When Nicole Conville first walked into my clinic, she looked defeated. At 53, she’d always prided herself on eating well. She cooked most meals from scratch, rarely ate fast food and made time for a daily walk. Yet, despite doing everything she’d always believed was “healthy“, she had gradually gained weight around her middle, her energy had disappeared and she no longer recognised the woman staring back at her in the mirror.
“I felt like my body had turned against me,” she told me. “Every new weight-loss method felt like a punishment, and nothing seemed to work.” It’s a conversation I’ve had countless times over the past decade. As a nutritionist specialising in women’s health for over 15 years, I’ve analysed more than 1,000 food diaries from women over 40.
Some came to me because they wanted to lose weight, others were struggling with hot flushes, poor sleep or brain fog, while many simply wanted to understand why their bodies suddenly seemed to be playing by a completely different set of rules. After years of reading food diary after food diary, I realised something that surprised even me.
Shorts
The overwhelming majority of these women weren’t eating badly. In fact, most were eating diets that looked exceptionally healthy on paper. Their shopping trolleys were full of salad leaves, vegetables, fruit, low-fat yoghurt, wholegrain bread and herbal teas. They’d spent years following the healthy eating advice we’d all grown up with.
