The Midlife Feast
The Midlife Feast
#160 - Season 5 Finale: The Midlife Glow-Up You Didn’t See Coming
What if menopause wasn’t something to endure, but something to embrace? After asking my Instagram community about the unexpected gifts of midlife, their answers revealed just how liberating this season can be. From deeper friendships and renewed creativity to freedom from dieting and people-pleasing, their stories echoed a powerful shift, and one rooted in self-awareness, strength, and permission to live more authentically.
These insights inspired my new book, Eat to Thrive During Menopause, which blends intuitive eating with symptom-supportive nutrition. No tracking, no rules, just nourishment. Even though this is the Season 5 finale, this episode invites you to see menopause not as an ending, but as a new beginning.8
Like what you learned? Check out these other episodes!
8 Things I Wish I'd Known About Perimenopause Before My Last Period
Feasting with Gentle Nutrition in Midlife with Rachael Hartley, RD
Dear Diet Culture Diary: What the 80s Taught Us About Food
You Are More Than What You Eat with Dr. Emma Beckett, PhD
What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!
📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause will be out on October 21st, 2025. Pre-order your copy today and help get the word out!
Looking for more about midlife, menopause nutrition, and intuitive eating? Click here to grab one of my free guides and learn what I've got "on the menu" including my 1:1 and group programs. https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/links
Hi and welcome to the Midlife Feast, the podcast for women who are hungry for more in this season of life. I'm your host, dr Jen Salib-Huber. I'm an intuitive eating dietitian and naturopathic doctor and I help women manage menopause without dieting and food rules. Come to my table, listen and learn from me trusted guest experts in women's health and interviews with women just like you. Each episode brings to the table juicy conversations designed to help you feast on midlife. And if you're looking for more information about menopause, nutrition and intuitive eating, check out the Midlife Feast Community, my monthly membership that combines my no-nonsense approach that you all love to nutrition with community, so that you can learn from me and others who can relate to the cheers and challenges of midlife. If you knew that menopause was something to look forward to and not dread, what would you do differently? So at the beginning of this season, I started with a podcast about how menopause is a beginning, not an end. That's episode 122, three reasons it's time to lean into menopause, which you can listen to and catch up on if you haven't already, and in that episode I went over lots of the reasons why we actually have so much to look forward to after menopause. Now, that's not to discount or gaslight anyone who is experiencing all of the shitty symptoms of midlife, or to minimize the discomfort, pain, all of it, but what I realized over the last year is that by shifting how we think about menopause, we can also shift the way we approach food, movement, life in general and just the decisions that we make. I was once inspired well, many years ago, I was inspired by this quote, and I don't know who said it. I don't know who to attribute it to, so if you know, please let me know. But it went something like this when we make decisions out of fear, we're running away from something, but when we make decisions with confidence, we're running towards something, and I'd like that to be our theme that we're making decisions because we know something good is coming. We have something to look forward to.
Jenn Salib Huber:A couple of months ago, I asked my Instagram community this question in my stories what has been a pleasant surprise about midlife or menopause that you weren't expecting? I think there had been a few threads going around or stories going around about how it's not all bad. There are lots of things to look forward to, and so when I asked this question, I got dozens of answers and I thought that I would share some of the ones that really resonated with me and also some of the ones that I think reflect this. This is going somewhere good kind of mindset and also tying it into some of the episodes that we've had this year, so a bit of like a mini reflection on this season. So the first response to this question was I wasn't expecting to lose and find myself when I turned 50, but I love who I am now and I'm here for it and I love that. Oh my gosh, it really reminded me of the question that Jesse Harold brought up in episode 140 about navigating motherhood and perimenopause the who am I now that? Who am I now that I'm in menopause? Who am I now that I am? Whatever age? It really just kind of allows us to explore that question with curiosity and not judgment, and I love, I love, love, love. Telling people let yourself fall apart, lose yourself, but build yourself back up with intention. You get to choose what that looks like. So I loved that answer, another one which I think many, many people can relate to, because I have heard this from quite a few people I was surprised by how much more confident I feel in saying no.
Jenn Salib Huber:I used to bend over backwards for everyone, but now I really value my own opinion and peace. No is a complete sentence. My friends, and as April mentioned in episode 159, which was just last week my friend April, where we were talking about perimenopause and boundaries she has found so much freedom in saying no, thank you, and just stopping there, not feeling the need to justify, explain, rationalize. There is so much freedom in that and I really think that there's something about the transition to midlife and menopause where the ability to say yes to things that we don't want to do becomes so uncomfortable that we just can't do it. So saying no is the only option, and that's not to say we never say yes or we don't do things to help other people, but we include our own opinion in that decision. We're not saying yes to make other people more comfortable, I guess is the best way to put it.
Jenn Salib Huber:Now, the third one which I think lots of people can relate to is the freedom from periods. I didn't realize how much energy they were zapping until they were gone. Now, the third one which I think lots of people can relate to is the freedom from periods. I didn't realize how much energy they were zapping until they were gone. Now I haven't done an episode on periods, which is what this made me realize. So look for that next season.
Jenn Salib Huber:And as somebody who had endometriosis for you know, 25 or 30 years and very heavy, painful periods through perimenopause, I was ready to shout from the rooftops when I finally crossed that one year threshold. Not having a period was game changing for me. It not only allowed me to let my iron levels and my ferritin levels recover, but just the exhaustion from managing that pain on a regular basis or managing the crime scene periods. I was the person setting alarms at two o'clock and five o'clock in the morning and lining my bed with towels, and you know that's that is energy depleting, when you have to plan and think. I used to think you know forward to every vacation, am I going to be able to sit in a car for two hours if we're driving somewhere? So, yes, I can definitely relate to that one too, and I loved this one.
Jenn Salib Huber:I've stopped caring so much about what other people think of my body. That's been incredibly freeing. We talk a lot about body image on the podcast in the Midlife Feast community. I talk about it a lot on Instagram and other social media, because body image is something that affects everyone. You know negative body image or struggles with body image affects all ages and stages. But we do know that these hormonal landmarks puberty, pregnancy, perimenopause bring some other challenges, because our brain is going through this remodeling and there's this period of vulnerability where your body image might be taking a hit and when you can get through that, supported in whatever way that works for you. It is incredibly freeing to not care as much about what other people think about your body, and episode 134 with Summer Inanen is a really great one, and episode 135, which is another one on body image and with the authors of Body Image Inside Out. So if body Image is something you're still struggling with, definitely put those on your playlist this summer.
Jenn Salib Huber:Now this one I love, love, love, love, love. My friendships have deepened. It feels like we're all dropping the masks and just being real with each other. Oh, my goodness. Yes, you know, I used to think of when I would meet with friends in my 20s and 30s. I would, you know, always get dressed up and not dressed up, dressed up, but I was still always thinking about like I needed to look a certain way to show up, even with my friends, or my house needed to be perfectly clean, or I needed to serve the perfect dinner, or if we were having house guests, I would plan this elaborate menu of you know what I was going to serve them. And we just had house guests last weekend. We were, you know, it was super fun to have Jamie Carbaugh who's fit ragamuffin Lots of you know her, her and her family stay with us for a night and it was at the end of a busy week and, honestly, we just like, went to the grocery store and picked up a bunch of stuff and called it a picky plate supper. And I didn't think twice about it, because I know that that friendship is not based on what I'm going to serve and what my house looks like. And I think that recognizing the friendships that allow you to be yourself, where you can just let that mass drop and just be real with each other, is something to look forward to, because those friendships they're there and it's easier to find them, I think, in midlife and menopause, and Tova Lee talks about that in her book Good Girls Gossip, and we talked quite a bit about this in episode 158. So that's a good one to put on your playlist too. So how about this one?
Jenn Salib Huber:I've discovered new hobbies and passions that I never made time for before. It's like rediscovering who I am Now. We actually first talked about creativity, I think, two seasons ago, in episode 81, with Meryl Cook. We were talking about exploring creativity, but I really discovered my creativity with cooking in the last few years, and so I've always been interested in food. I've always been interested in cooking. Obviously, I've been working in the area of food and nutrition for 25 years now, but it really has become a source of pleasure for me, and not because of just the eating, but the process and Chef Andrea Bucket, who has also an amazing cookbook that just came out this year. We talk about that in episode 149, cooking for pleasure, not perfection, and so you know, if you are somebody who has felt that pressure to make food perfect, to prepare the perfect meal, to prepare the perfect whatever when it comes to food, and maybe you haven't been allowing yourself to just have fun with it, then that is definitely something to look forward to.
Jenn Salib Huber:So what about this one? Food is less of a battlefield. Intuitive eating has helped me stop obsessing and start enjoying. Now this, this one's after my own heart for all the reasons. But you know lots of people that I talked to and again I was right there with you. We've we spend a lot of our our life, you know, often starting in our tweens, maybe even before the age of 10, feeling at war with our bodies. Feeling like food is something that needs to be counted, measured, tracked, accounted for all the time and when you can get out of that diet mentality and when you can really welcome the pleasure of eating, the ease of eating and use the intuitive eating framework. It opens up so much space in your life for everything. And there was a really great feaster, jenny, who came on the podcast episode 128, where she was sharing her experience of kind of navigating perimenopause ADHD and diet culture. That really speaks to how powerful it can be to just be able to ditch the diet mentality.
Jenn Salib Huber:The next one is learning to undiet and become an intuitive eater at 65. Reminder that it's never too late has taught me to eat in a way that I wish I had known at 25. It's so much easier to think about. How do I want to feel Now? You can apply this. How do I want to feel Now? You can apply this. How do I want to feel to anything, but it is a really helpful question to ask yourself with food and movement, especially Because if you're coming from a framework where you're only thinking about what should I eat, what is the best food, what is the best movement, what is, you know, the thing that is at the top of that hierarchy? That's a really hard way to eat, and in episode 152, which was one of my highlights of the season, which was welcoming Evelyn Tribbley on the podcast and we were talking about intuitive eating and menopause we talk about how you know these principles of intuitive eating and that framework really allow you to focus on how do you want to feel? So definitely give that a listen.
Jenn Salib Huber:Now, when it comes to clothing, I think we can all relate to this, or can all relate to wanting to feel like this, because getting dressed in clothing and body image can get really messy in this stage of life. But this person said I've started dressing for me, not a body I wish I had or someone else's expectations here here. I am here for this and I know that clothing is hard, and so you know, one of the things that happens as we go from perimenopause to menopause is that we go through this. You know, one of the things that happens as we go from perimenopause to menopause is that we go through this kind of redistribution of assets, as I always call it, and our shape changes and so, even if the number on the scale isn't changing, the shape is changing and so the clothes that maybe you used to wear your default, your go-to brand styles they just don't work anymore and it can be really really hard to feel confident getting dressed. And if you're not familiar with Daisy Gillespie, mindful, closet on Instagram, unflattering on Substack I love her Substack definitely go check her out and listen to episode 153, style, joy and Midlife what to Do when Nothing feels right.
Jenn Salib Huber:This was the episode that I think got the most listener, feedback, messages, emails, comments, and so many people said that it was really, really helpful in helping them through this tricky stage. So the last one is, even though the physical changes can be annoying, I feel stronger emotionally than ever, like I'm really getting to know myself now, and I think this speaks to the research that we have on happiness and yeah, just happiness in post-menopause and menopause, because we actually have and I talk about this in the season opener but how we actually have data that you know women are happier post-menopause. Because we actually have and I talk about this in the season opener, about how we actually have data that women are happier post-menopause. And so we tend to understandably, get caught up when things aren't working so my knee hurts or I'm bloated or I'm not sleeping or my mood sucks or whatever it is, and feel like it's the beginning of the end, but but yeah, those things are annoying, but you're mood and your sense of who you are and your confidence can still improve despite all of that. So I'd really love to just insert this little moment of food for thought for you after hearing all of these amazing reflections so thanks to everyone on Instagram who shared those a couple of months ago Start thinking what is the life that I want to nourish after menopause?
Jenn Salib Huber:What is the life that I want to nourish after menopause, and start thinking about how do you want to feel, because you want to make that decision with confidence and moving towards something and not making it out of fear and running away from something. So all of this leads up to my big surprise this year, which you might have already seen, which is that I've written a book. I have written a book about menopause, nutrition and intuitive eating, and it's called Eat to Thrive During Menopause Managing your Symptoms with Nourishing Foods. It comes out in October. I am over the moon excited about it, but I just wanted to tell you a little bit kind of about the process of that coming to be, because a few of you have asked oh my gosh, I had no idea you were writing a book, blah, blah, blah. So I'm about three and a half years now into postmenopause.
Jenn Salib Huber:It was February 2023 that I crossed the finish line and I can say pretty confidently that even five years ago I would have really struggled to do this between the brain fog and the not sleeping and all of it. But interestingly, and maybe it's luck, maybe it's coincidence, cosmic coincidence, I don't know what to call it but a week after I crossed that finish line, I met with a book agent, my agent Kitty, and started talking about this book that I wanted to write. Now I'd been thinking about writing a book for a while, but the timing never felt right. Just life was busy, all the kind of things, and what do I know about writing a book? How am I going to write a book? But honestly, it was that I was terrified. I was terrified of the process. I was terrified of the amount of time and space it was going to require and, just for the record, it required way more than I thought and, if I'm being brutally honest, I was afraid that I couldn't do it. I was afraid that I would disappoint myself, that I would disappoint the readers, that I just couldn't make it work.
Jenn Salib Huber:But I really believe that it was being in menopause and crossing into this space that gave me the confidence to write this book, and so I wrote the book that I needed 10 years ago when I was really struggling in perimenopause, looking for answers, not finding the right combination of information that also aligned with intuitive eating and, as I've shared in a few different episodes, you know, I wanted hormones to work, but they didn't and I just was looking for something that was food-based but science-based. I didn't want all the fluff, I just wanted to know what was what. And now, over the last 10 years you know I've been yeah, I'd say it's about 10 years now since I've been really in perimenopause there have been several incredible books written about menopause and I am so thankful that these books have been written and that you know these experts have written about what is menopause, what is perimenopause, what do we need to know about treatments and hormones? Because, as we all know, we 100% need all the help that we can get.
Jenn Salib Huber:But what I thought was missing from the shelves was a book that approached menopause and nutrition through the lens of intuitive eating, and so my book, eat to Thrive During Menopause, which I just love saying, teaches you this integrative approach, that how you can include foods not to the exclusion of hormones or any other treatments, but how you can include foods that can help you manage some symptoms, like soy, for example, for hot flashes, or carbohydrates to help you sleep, but also in a way that will help you to thrive in post-menopause, so that you're not just thinking about this week, this month, this year, but really thinking about 10 years, 20 years, in other words, helping you answer the question how would you eat if you knew that there was something to look forward to? And because it uses the principles of intuitive eating, you won't find any rules to follow, but instead a gentle nutrition structure using what I call key ingredients that feasters and people who work with me will recognize that really make it easy for you to know confidently what to add to your plate, and I teach you how to do this without counting, measuring or tracking. And because it's also a cookbook, you will also find 55 of my favorite recipes that are all tagged with these key ingredients, and there are lots of cooking tips and lessons throughout. So you do not have to worry. If you've never cooked a lentil in your life, I promise I've got you covered. So that's it about the book.
Jenn Salib Huber:The book officially comes out on October 21st, but it is available for pre-order everywhere that books are sold. You'll find a link in the show notes and I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has been so supportive since I announced this book and a special thank you to all the people who have pre-ordered. I really cannot tell you how much that means to me as a new author. Pre-ordering the book is critical to helping to get the word out there, and it tells booksellers and publishers that this book matters. And if you're here, I hope you know how passionate I am about this and how much I really think that this book needs to be out in the world as far as we can make it go.
Jenn Salib Huber:So I'm signing off for the summer for now, but there are 160 episodes that you can listen to if you need a little midlife feast in your life while we're on a break. But see you soon, friends, have a great summer. Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of the midlife feast. For more non diet, health, hormone and general midlife support, click the link in the show notes to learn how you can work and learn from me. And if you enjoyed this episode and found it helpful, please consider leaving a review or subscribing, because it helps other women just like you find us and feel supported in midlife.
