Being a nutritionist means people tend to make assumptions about how I live. They imagine my fridge is permanently filled with green vegetables, that I never eat dessert and that every meal has been carefully calculated to deliver the perfect combination of protein, fibre and micronutrients, but the reality is rather different.
I’m 52 and I’ve worked in nutrition for more than 15 years, but the longer I’ve spent in this profession, the less interested I’ve become in following rigid health rules. I eat carbohydrates, I don’t fast for 16 hours; I don’t have a cupboard overflowing with supplements and I certainly don’t eat perfectly every day.
That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped caring about my health; quite the opposite. In my fifties, I’m probably more conscious of my long-term health than I’ve ever been, but my priorities have changed. I’m thinking about protecting my muscles and bones, keeping my heart and brain healthy and making sure I have the strength and energy to live the life I want in my seventies and eighties.
What I’ve stopped doing is confusing restriction with health. Midlife women are currently being subjected to an extraordinary number of rules about how we’re supposed to eat. We’re told when to eat, when not to eat, which foods cause inflammation, which foods supposedly “balance” our hormones and which supplements we need simply because we’ve reached a certain age.
