The One About Nutrition

So Halloween rolls round once more and soon after we’ll be counting down to Christmas. I always feel that it’s all a bit too soon, that summer hasn’t been quite long enough, that I’ve only just adjusted to the light and got used to having my spring / summer wardrobe when along comes another clock change. I’d happily cope I think with Christmas celebrations every other year!

I’ve been listening to a radio programme today asking callers about their festive plans, questioning the changes that they might be considering given the cost of living crisis. I wanted to berate the producer for bringing the mention of Christmas into my kitchen but it’s actually struck a bit of a chord!

I’ve been trying to get my head around the promotion of good nutrition that complements the midlife journey while also taking into consideration the financial implications of recommending dietary change. My intention and hope has always been to work with communities who wouldn’t naturally access one to one coaching. Access might not necessarily be financial but it’s definitely on my radar.

I want to share my midlife well being knowledge with as many women as possible, I want to learn from them too about what works and what the challenges are when it comes to implementing change. Time and again one of the common laments is that as we age, as we navigate the menopause we lay down fat or find it harder to shift weight. Belly fat, another menopausal gift is one that winds us up the most! And whilst it isn’t all about what we eat, mother nature is more complex than that, getting the right nutrition is really important to ensuring we live healthier for longer.

But good food isn’t cheap, it should be but for families on a budget and that’s most people at the moment making a conscious choice to cook from scratch, eating healthily is financially challenging. I quipped to a client yesterday that we never see BOGOF kale or smoked mackerel and it’s true. You can fill your boots with biscuits, crisps, sweets and alsorts of fatty, sugar dense carbohydrates that fill us up and give a short dopamine high but ultimately lead to type 2 diabetes. Foodstuffs that are less processed and fuel our bones, muscles and keep us healthier and well cost more, fact.

So talking to women about the importance of increasing their protein through the consumption of healthy fats, eating more nuts, cheese, eggs, fish when I know that they are for many less accessible is difficult. Making a bowl of kale chips in the air fryer costs about £1, a packet of Walkers cheese and onion crisps less than 30p. It’s a bit of a no brainer … or is it? I don’t know and that’s what’s hurting my head at the moment.

How is it possible to reframe the healthy living agenda so that the big manufacturers don’t monopolise the food market? How can I make a case for kale which let’s be honest is an acquired taste over the instant satisfaction of a packet of crisps? I probably can’t!

Perhaps it is however about making smaller changes. Introducing the idea of bulk cooking, adding a few herbs and spices here and there, reducing rather than eradicating the ultra processed from the shopping trolley, suggesting hacks that will improve the quality of diet and not expecting to revolutionise the food industry or the family shop overnight. Talking to women about the nutritional advantages of organic and plant based milks who can’t afford flaxseeds, who can’t justify the cost of fresh fish, who won’t be able to add magnesium supplements to the weekly shop still feels morally wrong.

I need a way around this. To find the ‘magpie nuggets’, the gold that will replace omega 3 with something else that makes as much of an impact or I miss nutrition out altogether. I’m not yet equipped or prepared to do that.

It’s painful and although I understand the temptations (god knows I’ve filled my own trolley many a time with completely nutrition free crap), I know the psychology behind the marketing, understand some of the complexities of trying to make money from farming in the UK, I still don’t get that we are in the Western world happy to shut our eyes to the health problems that lie ahead if we don’t change things soon / now.

I have seen the difference in my own well being when I take my eye off the ball, when I eat with abandon ‘treats’ and forget to focus on what my body needs rather than what my head thinks it fancies. I feel lethargic, heady, run down, queasy and want to turn back the clock! This is how I used to feel before I took control of my diet but it doesn’t take much to tip the balance. For women who’s balance is tipped every day through lack of access (and I recognise that it’s not just about money, it’s about time, education, availability, family pressures, fitting in with other people’s needs etc) that feeling of bleurgh is constant.

I’m just as conflicted about my own food choices though - sometimes life happens and I still buy processed, I still buy chocolate (the dark stuff!), I still cave at ice cream (but learning to have less) and like most of the families in my street I’ve got a box of ‘treats’ by the door for the trick or treaters that I expect will knock when the light fades. There’s chocolate and sweets and not a kale chip in sight!