The perfectionist mindset can keep you in a diet mentality and feel like a weight loss failure. Try these 5 healthy lifestyle practices to eat better after 40 and improve your relationship with food.
If weight loss is your goal at all costs, do what makes you happy. However, the average weight regain is around 95% two years after dieting. Instead of staying on the weight loss roller coaster, take the long view of health. Put time into creating stainable behavior changes with this essential mantra – “practice, not perfection.” As my friend and colleague Dr. Jenn Salib Huber RD ND would say, “Lower the bar.” Here’s how you do it.
Yep. It’s possible to meet your health goals even if you have limited time and energy during perimenopause and menopause. Focus on these 5 healthy lifestyle practices: mindful eating, adequate-protein, making peace with carbs, hydrating well, and get better sleep. Let’s dive into each one.
1. Mindful eating without obsession
You don’t have to be a Zen Monk to practice mindful eating at every meal. That’s obsessive. Mindful eating means being present with your food with minimal distractions. This allows you to savor foods appreciating the flavors, textures, and smells – all of which increase your satisfaction with the eating experience. How can you practice mindful eating in the middle of your busy life?
Choose 1 meal a few times per week to eat without scrolling on your phone or watching TV. Plate up your food. Sit in a relaxing place. Outside is great if the weather allows!
Before you take a bite of food, notice the food’s colors, smells, and texture. Then take a bite and hold it in your mouth briefly. Take a deep breath through your nose. This enhances the flavors of the food in your mouth. Let the breath go out your nose. Chew the food gently and swallow.
Do this with a few more bites, and put the fork or spoon down between bites. What flavors, textures, and smells are the strongest? Do you want to add anything else to the food – more salt, tang (citrus or vinegar), or sweetness? Make any changes to your meal and move on to finishing the rest of the food at a comfortable pace.
You don’t need to eat the entire meal mindfully and you don’t need to eat every meal mindfully every day. Practice not perfection is important. Remember, lower the bar.
2. Are you eating enough protein?
There’s a lot of hype around protein these days. How much do you need as an active woman over 40? In this season of life, your body would rather give up muscle than maintain or build it. Mindfulness with your protein intake can help ensure you maintain lean muscle mass. If you’re strength training, increasing your protein intake will help you build muscle even during perimenopause and menopause. So how much protein do you need?
While current research on protein continues to evolve, especially for athletes and active people, the recommendation for 20-30 grams per meal still holds for most women over 40.
Thirty grams is about how much protein your body can absorb and use at one time. If you’re strength training, focus on 30 grams of protein per meal whenever possible. How do you know if you’re getting enough protein?
I teach my clients the main and supporting characters of protein technique that I adapted from Dr. Jenn Salib Huber RD ND. You don’t have to measure or track your food. Here’s how to do it.
The main characters of protein have the highest concentration of protein per serving size. Foods like meat, chicken, fish, tofu, tempeh, edamame, eggs, and hemp seeds.
Supporting character of protein have a decent amount of protein, but they also have complex carbs and healthy fats. This dilutes the concentration of protein per serving. Foods like beans, legumes (lentils, peas), whole grains, nuts and seeds, and dairy are supporting characters of protein.
To eat 20-25 grams of protein per meal, include 1 serving of main character protein and 1-2 servings of supporting characters of protein.
If you need 30 grams of protein per meal you can either increase the portion size of the main character of protein, 6 ounces instead of 4 ounces, or increase the number of supporting characters for a total of 2-3 supporting characters per meal. What does this look like with food?
Say you make a salad for lunch. You have greens, various colorful vegetables, and your favorite dressing. Add a 4-6 ounce serving of fish, chicken, or tofu (main characters). Then add ½ cup of cooked beans like chickpeas, black beans, lentils, or whole grains like quinoa or brown rice (supporting characters).
If you like crunch, add ¼ cup of nuts or seeds like walnuts or sunflower seeds. This salad will be satisfying with 1 main character of protein and 2 supporting characters of protein. You’ll be less likely to crave a sweet snack around 3 pm with this lunch!
3. The unpopular healthy lifestyle practice; make peace with carbs
I know. Eating carbs is not a popular healthy lifestyle practice these days. The problem with this diet culture message is that not all carbs are created equal.
Complex carbs include fiber which is important to maintain your energy levels, balance blood sugar, and reduce cholesterol – all important for women’s health over 40.
Simple carbs are also important, especially if you’re active. They have little to no fiber which means they digest easily and give you quick bursts of energy – important if you’re heading to the gym before or after work.
Your body and brain need carbs consistently to feel energized, reduce cravings, and improve moods.
Anxiety and depression are common symptoms of perimenopause and menopause-related to hormone fluctuations. Carbs and protein work together to increase serotonin in your brain so you can feel more calm and focused. Complex carbs in the evening can also help you wind down from the day so you can get to sleep. This brings us to low-bar healthy lifestyle practice number 4, get adequate sleep.
4. Get better sleep
Sleep can feel like an illusion in midlife. Create a bedtime ritual and sticking to it can set you up for a blissful night of sleep. This can include little to no screen time 2 hours before bed. Sip relaxing herbal tea like chamomile with dinner or about an hour before bed. Do 5-10 minutes of gentle yoga or stretching. Take a warm bath or shower and finish with a couple of minutes of cold water rinse to cool your body off. This is especially helpful if you suffer from night sweats. Check out this podcast episode with Dr. Caitlin O’Connor ND for more tricks to improve sleep.
5. Hydrate – the earlier the better!
This is the lowest bar healthy lifestyle practice. It’s so easy, inexpensive, and the one many busy women over 40 struggle with. You need adequate hydration to boost metabolism, keep your joints fluid, and improve mental focus. How much water do you need?
I recommend at least 64 ounces per day for most people. If you have heavy periods during perimenopause or are active most days, especially in warm temperatures, you need more water. What’s the easiest, way to practice this without perfection?
Drink at least 32 ounces of water before lunch and another 32 ounces before the end of your work day or 5 pm.
This will keep you hydrated earlier in the day when you need it most. It will also keep you from needing to pee in the middle of the night, which will disrupt your sleep.
If you do a workout in the morning, increase your water intake to 50 or 60 ounces before lunch to replenish the water you lost through sweat. If working out in the afternoon or evening is your jam, increase your water intake between lunch and your workout. Then you won’t need as much water to replenish your hydration after the workout when you’re likely going to bed in a few-ish hours (hopefully).
Practice not perfection is essential for a sustainable healthy lifestyle
Each of these 5 healthy lifestyle practices will improve your overall well-being. But don’t practice them all at once. Lower the bar. Take them one at a time and aim for practice on perfection.
Use a calendar to map out which practice you want to work on each week. Yes, only 1 practice Do it at least 2-3 times. If you can do more, great. If not, that ok too. Some is better than none. You’re not broken if you can’t mindfully eat every day, drink 64 ounces of water most days, or get 8 hours of sleep 5 nights per week. Practice not perfection is essential to taking small steps towards your health goals over time. You’ve got this!
