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Julie Duffy Dillon (00:00)

Hey there, welcome to episode 423 of the Find Your Food Voice podcast. Today we are talking about midlife body changes. Let’s get to it.

Hey there, dear voice finder. I am Julie Duffy Dillon, registered dietitian and your host. I’m excited to share with you this week’s episode. Today is a letter episode. And if you’re new to the podcast, letter episodes are letters written from listeners just like you who write a letter addressed to food. And in the letter, they unpack all of the complicated bits and me and a guest, well, we sift through it.

And today’s expert is Dr. Jen Salib-Huber, who is a dietitian and naturopathic doctor. she helps me sort through the conversation about midlife body changes. this is an important conversation. I think so many of us can connect to it. And of course me, I turned 50 this year. So this is something that I’m definitely thinking a lot about and I have for a while. I hope this episode helps you no matter where you are, no matter what season of life you’re in.

and that you can help the person coming on behind you. That’s one of the things we talk about is how community is such a big part of helping during life transitions. So this episode’s letter is a very special archived letter, and I want you to know that you can also submit a letter. I would love to read it. You can get to the instructions on how to get to the letter. Over on my website at julieduffydillon.com.

Before we hear this episode’s letter, I wanna share with you a little bit about my book, Find Your Food Voice. It’s the same name as the podcast, of course, and Find Your Food Voice is the book if you have a complicated history with food and you have tried so hard to just enjoy eating again. And just like this podcast, every chapter of the Find Your Food Voice book includes listener letters.

And so I think if you like letter episodes because you like hearing the actual letter and what people are experiencing, you are going to love this book too. So you can get to it at julieduffydillon.com or anywhere books are sold. All right, let’s go ahead and listen to this episode’s letter.

Julie Duffy Dillon (02:11)

Dear food, we have had a complicated relationship. This was always destined for us based on my family history. My grandmother was a dancer, desperate to be thin, and so she constantly bullied and criticized my mother and aunts about their weight. In response to this, my mother vowed never to mention diets to me. The first time I even heard the word diet, she got suddenly serious and told me to ignore it. In fact, she never really talked about you.

I didn’t do a lot of learning to cook or eating adventurously or balancing my meals. I learned a lot about comfort eating, especially when my parents broke up. But I do have some wonderful memories of family meals, making salads with my sisters or sitting around a big Sunday roast. I caught the theater bug early and my first serious attempts at restricting you were in my teen years, trying to get thin so I could look good on stage or get cast in the roles I wanted in our community theater.

I wanted an eating disorder. I wanted to be like some of my mom’s students, the girls who passed out in the bathroom. I felt out of control and wanted to be diagnosably sick so I could therefore be treated and fixed.

In my 20s, my relationship with you looked more like binging than restricting and believing that this was a serious problem. I joined a food-related 12-step program. I grew a lot spiritually and finally felt at peace with you, but realized now that it was basically dieting with a side of spiritual baggage. I’m still confused about whether my binging was a problem and whether that program and some of its food rules was a good choice for me.

I moved to a different country to go to grad school and found I couldn’t keep up with the demands of the program with such massive life changes. I now know it was completely normal that I gained back all the weight I lost plus more. I’m no longer restricting you and feel more balanced. I’m still gaining weight, which is frustrating mostly because I can’t afford to buy clothes that fit. I feel frumpy and I miss being stylish. As my body ages, I feel myself slowing down.

and I’m a little sad that I will probably never be thin again, but I’m beginning to be ready to face what is next in a relationship as friends and not enemies. Sincerely, Aging from Australia. All right, listener, that was our episode’s letter.

I want to share with you a little bit about Jen Salib Huber. She is a Canadian registered dietitian, naturopathic doctor, and intuitive eating counselor on a mission to help women manage menopause without diets and food rules. She supports women through the physical and emotional shifts of perimenopause and menopause using a health at every size approach, intuitive eating, and practical nutrition. Jen hosts the Midlife Feast podcast and community and is the author of the upcoming book, Eat to Thrive During Menopause.

and it’s out October 21st of 2025. I’m excited for you to hear my interview with Dr. Jen Salib Huber in just a minute after a very quick sponsor break.

Julie Duffy Dillon (05:24)

Hey Jen, how are you doing?

Jenn (05:25)

Hi Julie, I’m doing well, how are you?

Julie Duffy Dillon (05:28)

I’m good. I’m so glad that we had a chance to talk and did you get a chance to read the letter yet?

Jenn (05:34)

It’s a really beautiful letter. I felt like it was like the story I think is relatable, but it was also unique. Like I was really interested in in her story.

Julie Duffy Dillon (05:36)

It is.

Yes,

yeah, you know the thing that I’m thinking about with this letter that I, it is very unique, but I wonder how many people can relate to it because the concept of being like leery of diets or just like thinking of diets is a bad thing. ⁓ I think of like generationally is kind of new, right? And so for this mother of the letter writer to like,

Jenn (06:05)

Yeah.

Julie Duffy Dillon (06:09)

like, no, I’m going to stop the cycle. It’s interesting to hear from someone who has gone through that side of it. I don’t know. That’s something that I was thinking about. like, don’t think I’ve seen a letter like this before, where the diet culture stuff was in their family and someone tried to stop it.

Jenn (06:29)

And that was kind of my first impression was just that it was really layered because, you know, starting with my mom was had been, or my grandmother had been on a diet. And so my mom didn’t want to expose us, me to diet culture. You know, I think that assuming that this person is, you know, in midlife. So at some point of like forties, fifties or sixties, that definitely would not have been the most common experience because, you know, I, I talk to people in midlife every day and

Julie Duffy Dillon (06:33)

Yes. Yeah.

Right.

Jenn (06:58)

99 % of the time the stories start with my mother was always on a diet. And so, you know, this person’s mother was really kind of ahead of the curve. And yet, diet culture still found its way into this person’s story.

Julie Duffy Dillon (07:03)

Yeah, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Right. know, something that I just realized is this letter writer doesn’t mention if their mom was ever on a diet. Like, I know the mom was criticized for their food choices and their weight, but maybe they were just yielded. But yeah, I have a feeling that this experience of a mom saying no to dieting, we’re going to see it more, right? Like, it’s because it’s become so much more available, like this experience of like rejecting diets. But

Jenn (07:24)

Yeah.

Julie Duffy Dillon (07:41)

The thing that I, I don’t know why, I’m thinking about one-on-one work that I’ve had over the years. Like I had people in my office who, many people in their family had an eating disorder and a parent would try so hard to not pass it on and their child would still get one. And they would feel so horrible about it. And like this letter, it kind of shows in a sense, I mean, there’s some things I probably would have done differently, but like,

this mom did everything that they knew how to do and her child still struggled. And it’s like, that happens sometimes, right? know, like sometimes we, the world we live in is still pretty messed up with this relationship with food. And then the whole genetic side of things, like sometimes it still happens, but yeah.

Jenn (08:16)

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, and

I really believe that most parents are making, as a parent, say this, ⁓ that we’re making the best decisions that we can with the information at the time, that we have at the time, right? And sometimes though, not talking about the thing, you know, like when we think about like how, you know, sex education was taught in the like, know, so like, just don’t talk about it and teenagers won’t have sex. So it’s like, if we don’t talk about diet culture and we don’t talk about it as something that is out there.

Julie Duffy Dillon (08:40)

Yeah.

Yes. Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Jenn (08:58)

Like unless you live in a wuggle, you can’t. Maybe that’s something, you know, just to think about that, like maybe that is an important conversation to have, even if you’re, especially if you’re trying so hard to keep that culture.

Julie Duffy Dillon (08:58)

Uh-huh.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. I can remember a long time ago, I was kind of earlier on as a dietitian and I often referred to my early years in my intuitive eating work as like, I was like an anti-diet zealot. Like I was just so anti-diet that I was, it was like a religion to me. And I was supervising someone who’s ⁓ become a good friend and has been on the podcast, but I’ll just keep their name out of it. But they, ⁓

Jenn (09:26)

I’m

Julie Duffy Dillon (09:38)

were telling me about discussing some diet stuff with clients that were like adolescents and stuff. And I was like, ⁓ that’s interesting that you’re talking about it. And she was like, everyone’s talking about it. Like why not we talk about it too so then we can help them have information and to arm them. And I thought about that when I was reading this letter, it’s like, yeah, like that’s something that maybe we all can take from this is like, kind of like with sex ed, like giving people information and giving them like what you want them to know is,

something that can really help prevent things if possible, but not always, I don’t know. Yeah, what do you think about, this person talked about, as they were getting into the theater bug and like being on stage and ⁓ probably connecting to some genetic kind of tendencies to also wanting to pursue thinness ⁓ and then having this kind of like ⁓ binging experience.

But the thing in particular that I’m interested to hear your thoughts on are like the program, the 12 step program to stop binging, I’m assuming. What are your thoughts on that?

Jenn (10:43)

Yeah.

I mean, I think that I have thoughts on the program and then I have like compassionate thoughts towards the people who seek this as a solution because so much, know, binging is still framed as a problem that can be fixed with avoiding food, right? Like it’s, you know, people are usually still looking for food-based solutions to fix their binging problem. And so,

Julie Duffy Dillon (10:55)

Yes, of course.

Uh-huh.

Jenn (11:17)

you know, reading this, have so much compassion, because I’ve worked with so many people who have done, I’m pretty sure I know what that 12 step program is, you know, and, ⁓ you know, the first time that I came across it was when I had a brick and mortar office, and I had made cookies and brought cookies into my office. And so I just had them kind of there sitting on my desk and somebody came in and they were new. And I was like, ⁓ would you like a cup of tea? Would you like a cookie?

Julie Duffy Dillon (11:25)

same. ⁓

Uh-huh.

Jenn (11:46)

And she said, I can’t because I’m in recovery from this 12 step program. that was the first time I’d ever heard of it. And when I looked it up, it made me realize just how fearful we, how much fear we have about food. So when I think of the fear that this person must’ve felt, the pressure that they felt as a performer on stage, where a certain body type is what is expected that,

Julie Duffy Dillon (12:01)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Jenn (12:15)

any situation that left them feeling out of control with food would have probably felt like it needed a really big solution, right?

Julie Duffy Dillon (12:22)

Yes. Yeah.

Well, yeah. And I think about now this person is in midlife and experiencing body changes that we all get to experience if we’re lucky enough to get old. know, so like, I think about how we are expected as we go through the aging process to cut out food groups. Like, that’s just the expectation. ⁓ It’s horrible, right?

Because I like think about like it didn’t work when someone’s in their 20s or 30s, like why would it work in your 40s, 50s or 60s?

Jenn (12:49)

man.

No, exactly. And the pressure in many ways gets amplified, I think, because for a lot of people, what their body has looked like has been a going concern throughout their life. But then it’s like, you know, the shit hits the fan, the proverbial fan. And it’s like, man, now I’m on this menopause train, this midlife train, and everything out there is telling me that if I don’t get a hold of things now, it’s just going to get worse. And so

Julie Duffy Dillon (12:57)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Jenn (13:25)

I feel like there’s, there was a lot of grief in this letter, know, grief and remorse over, you know, that relationship with food and her body that she had in what was, you know, kind of her dancing years and maybe what she looks back on like those years fondly otherwise. ⁓ But, but yeah, there’s a lot of pressure and I don’t think that we do enough to normalize that body’s change, especially in their life.

Julie Duffy Dillon (13:28)

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yes.

Can we talk more about that grief part that you’re talking about? Because I can think I’m 50 now, but I can remember in my early 40s, experiencing body changes. And I don’t know why I didn’t really appreciate what was ahead. But I mean, it was it felt pretty drastic, like how like, not even just how my body looked, but like how I experienced it energy levels, my eyesight, these different things changing.

Jenn (13:56)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Julie Duffy Dillon (14:19)

And when you said grief, like, yeah, that’s what I remember doing a lot of grief work with my therapist. And I remember feeling like surprise. And I’m like, man, I’m going to make sure that my children know about this, younger people in my life that know that this could be ahead. I don’t know. So it won’t be a shock to their system like it was for me. And yeah, can we talk a little bit about that part? Just like body changes and the grief that comes with it.

Jenn (14:40)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Julie Duffy Dillon (14:48)

I can definitely identify with that.

Jenn (14:50)

I think kind of setting the stage for that is, you know, the discussion that diet culture in the world that we live in has really fed us the line that if we eat right and exercise, we can avoid aging, right? That you can tap into the fountain of youth and avoid all of these things that happen as you get older if you just do these whatever steps. And so we don’t ever normalize that bodies change. We don’t ever normalize that

Julie Duffy Dillon (14:58)

Mm-hmm.

Jenn (15:20)

everybody ages and as part of that aging, your body will change like what you look like, what you see in the mirror. Some of those changes are hormonal, especially the distribution. I call it the redistribution of assets that happens as we go from like a bit more of a pear shape to a bit more of an apple shape. That can come with a lot of fear, but the grief is centered, in my opinion, in believing that our younger selves were better.

Julie Duffy Dillon (15:27)

Yeah.

Love that.

Yes, yeah.

Jenn (15:50)

It’s not just grieving a thing, it’s grieving perceived worth. And the way that I try, the way that I made peace with this is I have kids and my oldest is now 18, my youngest two are 15. And I heard kind of a related story that helped me connect it this way. Somebody was saying that, I can look back at pictures of when my kids were babies.

Julie Duffy Dillon (15:56)

Yes, that was a big part for me. Yep. Yep. Yep.

Jenn (16:18)

and I can get that warm fuzzy feeling and I’m so grateful and I fondly remember those days. But I also remember that it wasn’t perfect. It was hard that there were like sleepless nights and all that kind of stuff. But now that I have these adult children, this person was talking about adult children, I see that the worth is the same. They are no more worthy as babies than adults or vice versa. And so we can learn to maybe grieve

Julie Duffy Dillon (16:38)

Mm-hmm.

Jenn (16:47)

differently if we detach it from work.

Julie Duffy Dillon (16:51)

Yes, yes. Yeah, and I think part of what happened for me, and I wonder if listeners are aware it or not, I don’t know, but I could see, I could notice how the world was reacting differently to me. Like I was basically like losing access to privilege as I was getting older and noticing that. And I love that as like a metaphor, like that being able to see the two different

Jenn (17:09)

Yeah.

Julie Duffy Dillon (17:19)

like the baby versus an adult child and using that for myself because really, ⁓ yeah, I was going through a time where I was losing access to privilege, but my worth was the same. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of acceptance. Yeah.

Jenn (17:32)

Yeah. And also like acceptance, right? Like I can accept that

I can’t reverse time and can’t make my older children babies again. know, no, exactly. And I see that about, you know, midlife too. Like I’m 48 and a half and change. And I wouldn’t go back to being 38 or 28 for any amount of money. I accept that there were things that were easier, for sure. Just like I can accept that maybe

Julie Duffy Dillon (17:42)

No, nor do I want to. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yes.

No, no, no.

Uh-huh.

Jenn (18:02)

what my body looked like then made some things easier. But I wouldn’t go back. I have accepted that the changes have happened and more will come. But it doesn’t mean that all the bad things are coming, right?

Julie Duffy Dillon (18:11)

Yeah, yes.

Right.

That’s really interesting because I’m totally in agreement with you, 100%. And I think for me, psychologically, I can tell that I’ve experienced a lot of growth and I have clarity on things that I never had clarity on before. I think part of why I have that clarity is because of the grief work that I did and I processed it and went through the periods of acceptance. But there are definitely peers of mine who are in that place of still like,

I would do anything to go back or they’re doing everything they can to fight their body. I’m just thinking and processing in real time, which is not always the best, like also I’m like, yeah, that I hope that everybody who goes through the aging process has the space to grieve and to have the tools to go to a place of acceptance. So then they can experience the, this clarity, know, this, this, this kind of.

difference and I appreciate not everyone’s going to be able to do that. mean, we all have different access and privileges and things like that. ⁓ yeah, I would not. No, I don’t want to go back to 38, 28. No.

Jenn (19:22)

No. And I always like to clarify

the difference between acceptance and resignation, right? Because a lot of people who are grieving are stuck in resignation. They are like, I am stuck in the suck of this aging body and there’s nothing I can do and I hate it and blah, And they’re just resigned to feeling crappy or to not being able to have the younger version of themselves. And the acceptance work is really…

Julie Duffy Dillon (19:28)

Yes, ooh, that’s a big difference.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Jenn (19:49)

just exactly that, accepting that all bodies age. Accepting the body that you are in today as the only one that you have. You don’t have to like it and you don’t have to love it, right? Those are two important pieces of that work too, but just kind of like accepting like, okay, my knees are going to be creakier. My eyes are going to be worse. I’m going to turn down the radio. I’m going to turn down the radio when I need to focus because somehow that helps me focus. And yet,

Julie Duffy Dillon (19:53)

huh.

Yeah, you put you pick the right one. Why these are so creaky.

Yes. Yes.

Jenn (20:18)

I can still make steps and changes to improve how I feel in my body. Right? But I think a lot of us, especially those of us who have maybe struggled with body image and weight changes before menopause, that resignation comes in like a freight train, just kind of like, well, I haven’t figured it out by now. I’ve really like, you know, I’ve lost my chance. And so I just really want people to hear that like,

Julie Duffy Dillon (20:25)

Yeah, yeah.

⁓ yeah. ⁓

⁓

Jenn (20:48)

It’s actually a powerful time to move from recognition to acceptance, right? Because a lot of other things are changing. Like, let it all happen.

Julie Duffy Dillon (20:50)

Yes, yes,

Exactly. ⁓ I would imagine that this letter writer is in that spot between acceptance and reconciliation. In that last paragraph, it’s like, can tell this person’s coming along. And they use that word, like, frumpy, which I think all of us probably toss around a little bit. ⁓

Jenn (21:10)

Mm-hmm.

Julie Duffy Dillon (21:18)

and miss being stylish, like thinking like, okay, I don’t have access to that anymore. And then but that I can hear like the it’s there’s starting to be acceptance, but maybe not able to imagine what that can look like as a positive yet. ⁓ Is there something the? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And I wonder if I’m like, I’m thinking about this person’s mom, like, maybe that’s something that the mom kind of helped with. I don’t know. Like, maybe there’s, I want to give that mom just some

Jenn (21:27)

Yeah.

I think the seeds have been planted for sure. That’s I read too.

Julie Duffy Dillon (21:46)

some high fives from doing the best that they could. And yeah, for someone who maybe is in that space, because I would imagine many people listening to this podcast, like, I mean, it’s obvious my podcast is a non diet podcast. And if they’re listening to this, because like, oh, I saw this is about midlife and beyond. Maybe they are seeing the the duality of this resignation versus acceptance and wanting to go towards acceptance. Like what, what can people do to like, help themselves move?

Jenn (22:15)

Yeah.

Julie Duffy Dillon (22:15)

towards that.

Jenn (22:18)

The first step for anything and even for this reader is ⁓ self-compassion, right? You know, I think there’s such a push in the aging space for optimization and like we should always be trying to make ourselves better. What if we started from a place that you are enough, that as you are today in the body you have today, regardless of why

Julie Duffy Dillon (22:33)

Yes

Mmm.

Jenn (22:46)

you think you’re in this body today. Like that is acceptance, right? But having the self-compassion to be like, you know what, I probably have done the best that I can with the resources that I have, you know, over the course of my lifetime. So acceptance is a practice. I also really like body appreciation as a tool for acceptance. And you know, there’s so much good evidence around that too in practice of like, if we can learn, if we can have a gratitude practice for our bodies.

Julie Duffy Dillon (22:55)

Mm-hmm.

Jenn (23:15)

Right? For this reader, having gratitude for a body that danced, that allowed her to move to music and to perform, doing something that she loves, even if she can’t do that now. Like gratitude for that body or that phase of her body. Gratitude for, you know, what our bodies can do. You know, gratitude, like I had three kids and a set of twins and under, you know, three years and I was like, I’m so grateful that my body…

Julie Duffy Dillon (23:19)

Yes.

Jenn (23:43)

was like magical that way and then I could feed them and carry them and nurture them. And, you know, there are still signs of the body that did that and there always will be. So I actually have like gratitude now for like my, my stretch marks and my scars. And so I think a gratitude practice that is centered in self compassion in and is moving away from that self improvement movement that it can be really loud these days would probably be a first step.

Julie Duffy Dillon (24:09)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. I know what’s helped me a lot is knowing women older than me who have gone through, there’s a few steps ahead. And I feel really lucky. have a couple, I have some amazing people that live in my neighborhood and two in particular, they’re in their mid sixties and they kind of taken me under their wing. so,

Jenn (24:18)

Yeah.

Julie Duffy Dillon (24:37)

And they just have informed me like what’s ahead. And they’ve been really sometimes funny about it, but also just like, hey, heads up. And this is how I got through it. And let me know when you need help on it and things like that. And ⁓ I love that so much. So ⁓ that helped me to just to know it’s gonna be okay. Yeah, because I think, yes.

Jenn (24:55)

Yeah, absolutely. Having mentors, right? I mean, just that you can

be like, ⁓ here’s somebody who’s, that’s that village, right? That we just don’t have access to in the way that we would have in another time. Not good or bad, it just is. you know, being able to kind of have these people to look up to is something that we miss.

Julie Duffy Dillon (25:03)

Yes.

Yeah. ⁓

Yeah. Well, I think the diet culture and restricting or thinking you have to cut out foods, it’s a very isolating thing. It ⁓ gets in the way of connecting with people over food and then also shame if you don’t feel like your body looks the right way or if you’re eating the wrong things. so it just keeps us from having access to that, to see people who have gone before you. And that’s why, I feel so grateful. ⁓

Jenn (25:23)

Yeah.

Julie Duffy Dillon (25:43)

to just have people in my life that have been able to like, yeah, share what’s ahead. And this person mentions like feeling like they can’t be stylish anymore. And I can remember like, I’m not someone that’s, I never used the word stylish for myself, but I’ve always enjoyed like interesting looking clothes. don’t know, like I like finding consigned and thrift clothes, like just things that are I don’t know, I always kind of like things that are a little odd and including in my clothes.

And so when I was going through some of these changes, I remember feeling really sad too, but then again, some people in my life, were very like stylish and not the same way as me, but they just were into it. And I was like, oh wait, why can’t I be stylish? I don’t know, like why can’t I like still have fun with clothes? And it may look a little different. I don’t know, like I like different types of clothes on my body now than I did probably 20 years ago, but whatever, who cares?

Jenn (26:26)

Yeah.

Exactly.

Julie Duffy Dillon (26:40)

So yeah, like

look for people who are doing this in a body that maybe looks like yours and ⁓ yeah, is doing things in the way that you want that’s celebrating it. don’t know. I find that there’s so many people, I know you’re on Substack and I find there’s a lot of people on Substack who are doing that. You know, just talking about like aging in a way that’s like, let’s celebrate. Yeah.

Jenn (26:53)

Absolutely.

Well, and one of my big take home messages for people going through menopause is that we’re going to spend at least a third of, if we’re lucky, we’re going to spend at least a third of our life in post menopause. So let’s really move out of the mindset that this is the end of something. It is a transition from one phase to another. And just like, you know, going from like a child or a young teen tween into like, you know, your twenties and thirties,

Julie Duffy Dillon (27:21)

Right, yes.

Jenn (27:33)

Like there are a lot of changes and some of those are uncomfortable and there are a lot of good things that happen. Like this is just another transition. And the best news about it is that when we look at the data that we have from people in postmenopause and there is some good data, we’re happier than our premenopausal selves, right? So, and part of that is because we know ourselves better. We’re very clear on what we want and don’t want, right?

Julie Duffy Dillon (27:40)

Yeah.

Yep.

Jenn (28:01)

Now we just have to add in that confidence that comes from trusting ourselves, trusting our sense of style, trusting what we want to eat and that we know how to eat, trusting movement that feels good and not what we think we should do. So, you know, I really want people to be excited about life after menopause, because there really is so much life to come.

Julie Duffy Dillon (28:02)

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Yes.

I love it. So tell us what you’re working on right now. What’s going on in your,

Jenn (28:31)

Well,

the big news in my world is that this is my latest baby. This is my book, Need to Thrive During Menopause. And it comes out on the 21st. And I wrote this book because it’s the book that I needed 10 years ago. So when I went into perimenopause early, at 37, and was fully menopausal by 44, I tried hormone therapy and wanted it to work but didn’t.

Julie Duffy Dillon (28:34)

Hahaha

Aww, it’s so pretty.

Mmm.

Jenn (29:00)

But it also brought up, ⁓ perimenopause brought up a lot of disordered eating for me and a lot of body stuff. And all I could find was how to diet in menopause books. There wasn’t, and I was learning about intuitive eating and I was learning about menopause and I kind of had to bring them together for myself, which then became kind of the basis of the work that I do. And that is the book that I’ve written. So it really is a menopause nutrition, super evidence-based,

Julie Duffy Dillon (29:12)

Yes.

Jenn (29:29)

⁓ but written through that intuitive eating on diet lens. So there’s lots of recipes and there’s just lots of ways to eat kind of for this season, but also the next season so that you’re, you feel supported through all the seasons.

Julie Duffy Dillon (29:39)

Hmm.

Yes, like you said, this is not like a short time period. This is going to be a long time of our life. Yes, yes. I heard someone call it the U-turn or something. Like it’s not like the end, it’s a U-turn. I’m like, that’s so true, right?

Jenn (29:47)

No.

Yeah. ⁓

Yeah,

I I love that. And I was just going to say that, you know, one of the reasons why I wanted it to be a cookbook and have a bit more of a kind of emphasis on the food piece is because those gentle nutrition conversations can get really sticky. And, you know, especially like protein, we won’t go there because we’ll be here for an hour. you know, you know, it doesn’t have to be a full time job. Like you can be intentional about it without making it a full time job. And so having those gentle nutrition conversations.

Julie Duffy Dillon (30:11)

Yeah, yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

Jenn (30:27)

was something that I was really passionate about when it came to menopause because food matters just not in the way we’ve been led to believe.

Julie Duffy Dillon (30:30)

Good.

Well, the book is beautiful. So I’m excited to have my hands on it. So congratulations. And I will put links to it in the show notes. If people want to know more about you, where’s the best place for them to go?

Jenn (30:36)

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, I hang out on Instagram a lot at menopause.nutritionist, but I also have a podcast and a sub stack called the midlife feast. And you can find about all of that at menopausenutritionist.ca.

Julie Duffy Dillon (30:47)

Okay.

Nice.

Awesome. Thank you so much, Jen. I appreciate it.

Jenn (31:00)

Thank you so much.

Julie Duffy Dillon (31:03)

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Jen. And before you go, note that I’m gonna be reading a letter back from food for this letter writer at the very end of this episode. But I wanna mention a few things before I get to the letter. One is thank you for joining me today. I know your time is precious and there’s so many different food podcasts to listen to. So thank you for choosing Find Your Food Voice.

And in two weeks, I will have a new episode for you. It’s another letter episode. And this one has guest expert, Bonnie Roney, who I recently met because I was on her podcast called the Diet Culture Rebel. And so I invited her to come on mine as well. So I’m looking forward to sharing that episode with you in two weeks. But in the meantime, you can hang out with me on TikTok and on Substack. And in particular, I don’t know if you know this, but…

whether you are a free or a paid subscriber on Substack, you get access to dynamic ad free podcast episodes. That’s right. After I am done recording and editing the episodes, I go ahead and just plop the audio over on Substack. So if you get annoyed with the dynamic ads, which by the way, help support and like pay the bills, you can get to an ad free version over on Substack. So you can find me at findyourfoodvoice.substack.com.

and consider joining as a paid subscriber besides getting a monthly deep dive into a special topic. You also are supporting me and my team and my family by being a paid subscriber. But paid subscribers in particular, if you have insulin resistance or PCOS, you will find those deep dives really great. I have written them for you. And last month I had all of the labs that I recommended people with insulin resistance and PCOS to get.

from their doctor every time they go to their doctor every year. And this month in October, I will be sharing a deep dive essay into GLP-1 use and PCOS.

So those are all the announcements for this episode. So it’s time for Food’s Letter back to this letter writer.

Dear aging from Australia, we are holding the intergenerational complicated ways of connecting just falling at your feet. This burden must feel so heavy. We appreciate your body is often excluded from the spaces and places you’re in. This is not okay. You deserve to be seen, heard and valued on the stage with friends and going to the doctor. Consider letting yourself grieve not being included.

With threads of grief tied together, you may notice anger. Anger toward the broken systems that excludes you. Allow that anger to be your jet fuel towards your food voice for you and for others. Love food.