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Welcome to The Modern Midlife Collective—where midlife isn’t a crisis, it’s a rebirth. Hosted by Dr. Ade Akindipe, DNP, and Dr. Jillian Woodruff, MD, this is the podcast for women ready to unapologetically own their power, thrive through the ups and downs of hormones, weight, and self-care, and show the world that thriving at 40 and beyond isn’t just possible—it’s your birthright.
Biweekly, we bring you science-backed insights on hormones, menopause, longevity, and sexual health—real tools to empower women in midlife and beyond. With a fearless blend of functional medicine, real-life wisdom, and no-nonsense empowerment, we’re here to challenge the norms, break through the barriers, and help you step into a life of vitality, confidence, and unstoppable strength.
Ready to rise? Let’s do this.
Dr. Ade
Welcome to the Modern Midlife Collective podcast. The place where we get unapologetically real about thriving in midlife, health, hormones, and everything in between.
00:12
Dr. Jillian
I'm Dr. Jillian.
00:13
Dr. Ade
And I'm Dr. Aday.
00:14
Dr. Jillian
Together we're your guides to navigating this powerful season with confidence, strength, and the wisdom you deserve. Welcome back to the Modern Midlife Collective.
00:26
Dr. Ade
Yes, and today we are diving into a very important topic that we feel like every midlife women need to hear. The topic today is food fads and female hormones. So what actually is happening to your nourishment, your nutrition, as you're experiencing midlife? So in my practice as a weight loss and health coach, you know, I find that it's often a challenge to figure out how to navigate what's happening in your body and then aligning that with what you eat. So hopefully this episode really resonates with you so you can understand what nutrition is, what's out there, and how you can personalize it to your lifestyle.
01:04
Dr. Jillian
When midlife hormones enter the mix, it causes things to really get mixed up. There are so many diets and fads and nutrition plans and things that are out there. And when midlife comes about, your hormone levels, as we've talked about all the time, they really fluctuate wildly and so we really have to choose a plan that's really going to support us, maybe decrease that fluctuation of hormones. And so many people have very strong opinions on their diet plans. I know I do have some very strong opinions. Dr. Aday, I'm sure you have some opinions on what you think work best for women. So I'm excited to kind of get into it, discuss what's out there, what people are doing and what we think about it.
01:52
Dr. Ade
Yes, we definitely need to talk about the noise and then cut through the noise, hopefully from everything from keto to HCG to intermittent fasting. You know, there's so many things, it's impossible to keep up sometimes with all of the things or things that are maybe evidence based and not so evidence based. So hopefully this is resonating for you. So let's go ahead and get started.
02:11
Dr. Jillian
Let's move on then to the plant forward diet. This one is, it's different than vegetarian. It's just one where you focus more on plants and eating that rainbow. So eating all different types of plants and vegetables and, but still allowing animal protein if you desire it. This diet is really anti inflammatory in nature and it's supposed to be gut friendly and it could support your estrogen Detoxification. That's probably because when you think of, I know we probably both prescribe dim vitamins, which is created from cruciferous vegetables. So your broccoli, your cauliflower, Brussels sprouts. And it helps your estrogen to break down on a good pathway. Right. So eating those foods and extracting those nutrients are ways to naturally help to break down the estrogen, get the metabolites out of your body and hopefully make more estrogen or use more estrogen.
03:14
Dr. Jillian
But this one does have a risk of you not getting enough protein intake. Especially if you're very plant focused and you're not eating meat. It's possible to get that protein that you need, but you really do have to know how to eat plant. Proteins are excellent sources of protein, but you have to figure out, you know, how to get that protein if you're not familiar with eating plans.
03:39
Dr. Ade
Yeah, absolutely. I see a lot of this actually, this plant focused and protein can definitely be one of those that's missing from there. But you also have to. I don't know if this is. Like I said, there's different variations that I will see that people are just focused on either eliminating. Some people will eliminate processed foods, they'll eliminate the gluten part of their diet to prevent all of those. You know, maybe there's inflammation, maybe they have autoimmune issues related to gluten. But the great thing about this diet is like you said, it's anti inflammatory, which is I think actually helps a lot of people. They'll say they go on this diet and they have more energy. So I don't know if it's the processed part of it that's helping that because that makes total sense.
04:24
Dr. Ade
If you remove all the processed fatty, the fast foods out of that and you're eating more plant based, that's great. But we just have to make sure that you're not, you know, losing the protein. I know some, a patient that actually would do a plant based protein supplement either it's a shake to make sure that she's getting adequate protein in. But you know, of course you have to be very careful where these are sourced from to make sure that you're getting the correct things in and you're not getting things that are pesticides or whatever. But you know, in Alaska we are, we don't really have a whole lot of selection. So sometimes you may have to do the frozen aisle because that's what's available depending on the season.
05:00
Dr. Ade
But I mean, I think this is probably something that I would be A proponent for depending on the person as long as they are still getting adequate nutrients, especially during this changing phase of life.
05:11
Dr. Jillian
So me too. And one thing about those frozen foods is that they are frozen at their peak. Right. So they're frozen when they have the most nutrients. So I think that's a really great source of plants and vegetables for us is using those frozen foods. I know people, you know, it's intuition to think we need to have fresh foods. And fresh foods are important. But like where we live here in Alaska, our fresh foods may not actually have all of those nutrients by the time they make it to us. And they've been traveling in hopefully temperature controlled spaces, but then they're going to warehouses and then oftentimes by the time I see my fruits and veggies, I may buy it and like a day later I'm seeing mold on it. That's, it's terrible.
05:58
Dr. Jillian
So having a frozen foods which are frozen at that peak and remain frozen I think is an excellent source for us. I also use protein powders, plant based protein powders. But we do have to remember that, you know, in back in the day when our foods were more nutrient rich, nutrient dense, that we didn't have powders. Right. So powders are also processed, the processed food, even though it's healthy, but I mean, just keep it in mind, these are things we have, you know, we may have to do. This may be the source of what you're getting, depending on where you're living. But you know, we should know, you know, that there's pros and cons to everything. I know after my colonoscopy I was given a pamphlet about plant forward diets.
06:47
Dr. Jillian
And basically the point she was trying to make is really just to eliminate meats and as much as possible, you know, as a protein source and to try to do more plant protein sources for your gut health. And that's really your specialty. So I definitely understand it. And there's also less risk of colon cancer when you're eating more plants than meats. But it's a difficult one, especially if we've grown up or. Yeah, basically if we've grown up with a meat forward diet, it's difficult to make change. Right. And also to learn about vegetables and how to cook them, how to cook these things in different ways so we're not bored.
07:27
Dr. Ade
Yeah, I totally agree. You know, again, I'm from a West African background and meat is meat and fish is very part of what we eat. So it's like if I cook a meal and there's no meat. You know, my husband's like wondering, you know, what's happening, are we broke out, what's happening?
07:44
Dr. Jillian
Right?
07:45
Dr. Ade
You know, as a clinician, it's, you know, I growing up in a household that was like that. It's like, as long as there's meat and potatoes, there's meat and carbs, we're good. You know, it's trying to shift your thinking into, okay, we need nutrition from more than that. You need more nutrition from your vegetables as well. The fiber, there's a lot of things out there that we eat, but you don't want to eat too much meat. We know that relation to our gut health as well. So making sure that you are cooking a more well rounded sort of a meal so that you're not missing out on anything, depending on, you know, what your body tolerates. But I think that's why I really love the Mediterranean diet, which is the next for us to discuss.
08:22
Dr. Ade
You know, it's funny, I went trip to Greece a few years ago and this was still when I was still on that journey and trying to figure out what kinds of foods, what work well with my body, and went there, ate everything, including certain breads that I. I wouldn't necessarily eat here in the US But I ate them there and I was, I felt great. So that tells you the kinds of foods that are produced maybe here in the US that are different when you go somewhere else. Maybe it's the way they're not processed. You know, they don't have that gluten in there, so they just promote a very high intake of vegetables. So whole grains, nuts and seeds and, you know, healthy oils, olive, virgin olive oils. I really enjoyed it.
09:06
Dr. Ade
And I think this is something that we even in traditional health system, this is something that would say, follow a Mediterranean diet just because it's low inflammation, it's high in fiber, antioxidants. You know, it's known to help support your blood sugar, your cholesterol levels, blood pressure. So I think this might be a good one overall. The word Mediterranean diet, I guess that's just how they eat there. But it's really just finding foods that will lower inflammation, high fiber and proteins. If I was to pick a favorite one, I think this one will be it. Just because of all the things I've seen that clinically, how it improves women's health overall. So you know that's the pro. It's hormone health, heart, brain health. The cons, I don't know.
09:52
Dr. Ade
It doesn't, I don't know If a, a big con, of course you still want this to be individualized because even though it's a healthy diet, you know, if you have insulin resistance, for example, you don't want to just start consuming anything just because it's anti inflammatory. It still needs to not spike your blood sugar and keep your blood sugars and store fat. So either way, if something like insulin resistance is a problem or if you have some food sensitivities, you definitely wanna make sure that it's personalized to you.
10:19
Dr. Jillian
In general, I do like this diet, but you said exactly something we should keep in mind, which is you were in Greece and you felt better and you were eating in this way and you talked about how they may have less gluten in their foods. But the other important thing, well, in Greece is they have one of the blue zones. So they. The blue zones are places throughout the world where people tend to live much longer than others. So usually more than 100 years people are living in these areas. And so there's probably many things that play into their longevity, but of course nutrition will be a big part of it. And they're eating this Mediterranean diet, which you said it was high in plants, beans and grains and also fish. Right. So high in fish and seafood.
11:08
Dr. Jillian
And so I think taking into account where you live really will play a role in how healthy this diet is for you. For example, eating your fish here in Alaska versus maybe on the southeast of the country is very different. A lot of the fish that may be sold in the grocery stores are artificially colored. They are farmed. When you think about salmon, farmed salmon is very different than wild salmon. Right. And perhaps in Greece and other Mediterranean countries, Spain and Italy, they're having fresh fish. And also the type of fish we eat would be important. If we're eating those bottom dwellers that eat up all the other fish and then they have high mercury content and that's probably not good for us.
11:53
Dr. Jillian
So I think just what you said, like where you are in the world also can support how healthy that diet is for you, especially even when talking about grains. And the American farming system is very different in that we do have a lot of pesticides. We have the pesticides which like glyphosate. And it really can disrupt our gut health, making it more, I guess call thing leaky gut, right. Making it more permeable. And even our organic farms are typically near other farms and those pesticides infect the soil, infect our water system and so it's really hard to get away from it. Here. So our greens may not be as good as their grades are. I feel like I'm the bearer of bad news when it comes to this because, like I will tell you, I try to eat healthy, but I also do not.
12:45
Dr. Jillian
So I have both of them. So I don't want to make it sound like I don't eat any of these things. So that is not true. But I do, like, you know, just try to keep in mind what is good and try my best the majority of the time to eat what's healthy for me in the place that I am. So that's why I love to travel and then go and try the things that are healthiest in that area. So that's my idea. The Mediterranean diet's supposed to be great for your cardiovascular health, but it also has, you know, high in red wine, which can have some benefits, but when it comes to hormones, it will women. It's very unpopular, but in studies, there's actually not an appropriate amount of alcohol for women. It. Our bodies don't metabolize it very well.
13:33
Dr. Jillian
Where, you know, a man may be able to have some, but for a woman, it's a toxic substance. So that's unpopular. Very unpopular.
13:42
Dr. Ade
It's unpopular. But you know what, Dr. Jill, this. That's our job, right? To let people know that and inform them on, you know, your choices. You know, if you do choose to have this, you just know this is what happens. I think it's better that people understand and be real about it that this is what happens. So when those hot flashes are hotter or more frequent, it's probably because of the extra wine, right? Because this is linked to it. You gotta be careful how much that impacts your hormones like you talked about, right?
14:12
Dr. Jillian
That's right. In your. And your breast health, in cancer in general, increased risk of cancer. But, you know, there are so many things that increase our risk. So we have to figure out what's going to work best for us, what's going to be sustainable for us. And I'm not like any other woman, you know, I'm me and you're you. So. But the more information we have, the better choices we can make for ourselves. And the more we know about our family and our family's health, the better choices we can make because the things that maybe I'm at risk for are different than what you're at risk for. So I may need different nutrition habits to support my issues, and you may need something different for yours. And so that's where working with somebody like you, that really specializes in gut health.
15:00
Dr. Jillian
Because gut and hormones, they probably need to go into that different show. That is huge in the way we break down our hormones and utilize our hormones. Really has to do with our gut health. And it's hard to fix our gut. Once we start to have leaks, it's hard to plug those leaks up. It takes a while.
15:19
Dr. Ade
Absolutely. I mean, like we talked about, I think everything has to be, you know, personalized and realizing what the risks are. But I think, you know, if there's any take home, there are some things I think because we are such in a high risk for in high inflammation as our hormones change. I think if we can adopt some kind of a lifestyle, it won't be perfect all the time. But it's anti inflammatory. We don't want to be pro inflammation. We want to be against inflammation. So some of those things like vegetables or even herbs are really great. I know garlic, I feel like garlic is such a wonderful, powerful anti inflammatory. You know, you can add it to foods. You know, you can add it to sauces.
16:06
Dr. Ade
So if you're taking that, if that's part of your way of seasoning foods and maybe if you want to go less on the salt and add more garlic, fresh garlic, especially if you have that's a great option. Blueberries. I know my husband eats this because he thinks it's good for its brain. Actually, he's right. He likes to eat them. He'll just put them in anything. It's just weird. But hey, he'll put them in pizza if he can. But it's. But it's a great antioxidant.
16:29
Dr. Jillian
That's strange.
16:30
Dr. Ade
It's very strange. I've given up on that. I don't even ask him about that. Sardines, you know, I didn't really like sardines, but I decided to try it. But they are actually packed with omega 3 and calcium and vitamin D. You know, those of us that live in Alaska, we just don't get enough vitamin D. We just don't have enough sunshine. So fish, wild fish, you know, are great. Polyphenols and virgin oil. I know you've got to be very careful how much you don't want to overdo it, but these are great anti inflammatories. Cabbage. Cabbage is also great. You know, especially the colorful one, the purple ones, they've got powerful antioxidants. You know, I like to put them in stir. I like to stir fry them with some red bell peppers. That's just some way of getting also some fiber from that too.
17:16
Dr. Ade
You know, there's pistachios. Pistachios also great if it helps lower, you know, when, if your doctor checks your labs and you've got like high CRP levels, which is a marker for inflammation. It's a great way not saying go all out. You make sure you're watching the salt content too. There's the salted ones and not salted ones. So just figuring out what works for you and using food as a way to lower inflammation is great. So if you're not very good in the kitchen, there's lots of great cookbooks out there. I actually have a list of something I put together. We can definitely share that with you in the show notes or something that if you add these into meals in some way can really help women as you're getting through this stage of life, to get used to incorporating it.
18:00
Dr. Ade
You don't have to do all at once, but just, you know, maybe taking something else, something out that's not as healthy and replacing it with something each time is how I coach my clients. You don't have to overhaul your diet, but start with one thing, fix it. You know, what's the word I use? I can't remember it right now, but just starting with one item, for example, in a meal can make a huge difference. And then you just go from there. It's just those little small changes, you know, that really helps.
18:27
Dr. Jillian
So a day when you tried sardines, did you like them?
18:31
Dr. Ade
Absolutely not. But then, you know, I. I did not. But what I started to do was get really creative. I just started adding them with eggs and made add a little bit of spice and garlic to it. It's actually pretty good. But the first taste, just, you know, opening it up and eating them. No way. I hated it.
18:47
Dr. Jillian
My mother used to eat sardines, you know, from the little can. And, oh yes, she loved them. And last summer when I was in Paris and you were there too, but they sold so many varieties, sardines. And I was very tempted. I said, well, goodness, if they have like this whole aisle of sardines, it must be good. And I was tempted to get them, but I did not.
19:11
Dr. Ade
Yeah, so maybe straight out of the can, I've got to do something to it, Spike, spice it up, do something, add some peppers.
19:18
Dr. Jillian
You've discussed a diet that I am. This is the one that I really love, the anti inflammatory diet. And I think I like it because it's not really a diet. It's really just a nutritious way of eating, you know, So I like, it's not saying you can't have this and you can't do that, but it's really increasing the foods that are decreasing our inflammation and those anti, increasing antioxidants. And you talked about the garlic. There's also a role of, in blood sugar. I'm not sure if you mentioned that, how it can decrease our blood sugar. And then there's turmeric. A lot of people are trying to add turmeric for their love. Turmeric, anti inflammatory. Right. Cinnamon, ginger.
20:02
Dr. Jillian
So just incorporating good things as opposed to just taking things out of our diet and just really one of the things as well as increasing the anti inflammatory foods you eat, but really getting a handle on what causes inflammation in you. So these are all general things that will help to decrease inflammation. But you may be eating something that is a good healthy food, but for you it's increasing your inflammatory factors. And so you may still be having trouble. I've noticed this with things that are really. I did testing with our nutritionist Ashley and found that foods that are very healthy for some, for me, were causing low, medium or high levels of inflammation. And so by cutting these healthy foods out that caused this problem for me.
20:53
Dr. Jillian
It allowed my gut to heal, but also it really changed how I experience food and the benefits that food have for me. And so that's a really individualized way of working with your providers or your nutrition specialists to kind of figure out what it is for you if you have that time and also disposable income. Right. Because it's not a cheap thing to kind of do these tests. They're not really supported by insurance or anything. So they're, it's difficult to kind of get this information when you're doing food testing. In traditional medicine, it's really for allergy testing. So in typically, as we're adults, we know what foods we're allergic to that cause allergic responses. There's different types of antibodies. So the antibodies that our body forms to fight allergens are a little different than just general inflammatory proteins.
21:52
Dr. Ade
Yeah, absolutely. And I think in terms of the cost, you're absolutely right. Those tests can be quite expensive. One way you could start if you're working with a provider is to start the elimination diet. Often it'll start by eliminating some of the foods that are the most commonly known to cause sensitivities. So it's kind of like you're, it's like you're guessing in a way, but most of the time you're removing the most common ones and when you start to feel better, then usually they're about, typically about four to eight weeks. You remove some of those potential causative factors. Maybe it's in your diet or thing like that, and you can start to replace one at a time and seeing if those reactions come back. Let's say you get bloating or gas or constipation or diarrhea.
22:38
Dr. Ade
If you start to introduce that food back in, that might be the culprit. So that's like a cheaper way of doing it if cost is a barrier. But you know, there's a lot of other tests out there. They're not as broad if you don't have the money. But it's again, they're testing the most common ones. And I know that there is a lab called Vibrant Lab, that's another one, Genova Diagnostics. Sometimes they'll have lower cost ones that you can try to work. But either way, I think seeking help and starting with foods, the most common ones, may be a good way to kind of eliminate things if there is a problem, of course, with your nutrition.
23:15
Dr. Jillian
I like that. That's really great advice. Let's just get into some of these other diets. I realized the diet I was thinking of before when were talking about keto is the Atkins diet. Do you remember that one?
23:28
Dr. Ade
That's right.
23:29
Dr. Jillian
It's really popular.
23:30
Dr. Ade
Of course. How could I forget that one?
23:32
Dr. Jillian
Right? Yes. Atkins. Oh, my goodness. I'm sure I did that on multiple.
23:36
Dr. Ade
That's very sensible. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Remember in the Atkins diet very well.
23:41
Dr. Jillian
And it did lead to some ketosis, but it changes. So the difference, I just looked this up. The difference between the keto and the Atkins is that with Atkins, your carbohydrate intake increases over phases, whereas with keto, it's, you know, stays the same. Very, very low carb. But with Atkins, at the beginning you just eat meat and then you may add in, you know, a little vegetables. And so like fruit has a lot of sugar in it. So were eliminating that. But like I said, it changes over time. But then there's also the other diet that was in the top 10 list, which is the paleo diet. And they say this is your ancestral diet. That takes you back to what the hunters and gatherers would eat. So you're eliminating grains, you're eliminating legumes, you're eliminating dairy. So it's what you find.
24:31
Dr. Jillian
You didn't find a cup of milk out in the. Wherever people find food. I don't know where the hunters and gatherers were out in the fields, they did not find a milk jug, so that is eliminated. And so there's an emphasis on whole foods and not processing foods. Right, because they weren't processing their foods. They didn't have factories and things in which to do that. So they ate foods as they came. But this is also going to be a very restrictive diet in today's times because we do have stores and we're not hunting and gathering them. So sustainability is going to be an issue. And also, I think in our. Especially at midlife, which is what we're focusing on, we need some carbohydrates. We need to.
25:16
Dr. Jillian
And especially if we're doing exercising and movement, which we should be, we do need carbohydrates in our life. So I just think there's good carbohydrates and there is bad carbohydrates or. Or good and not so good. Maybe I should say ones that are really more beneficial for health and others that may not be as beneficial. But I do see the benefit of eliminating grains. I've been doing some research about grains. I think we just. We already touched on a problem with the pesticides and that our grains are just really highly processed now. And so I think a lot of the nutrients have been removed from them. So I can understand that. Also the gluten. But it also depends on where we live, because as we mentioned in Greece and Europe, well, that's the same.
26:02
Dr. Jillian
But in Europe, they do process their foods with less gluten. Their breads have less gluten. So a lot of their breads are more firm. Gluten makes our breads very soft in here. I guess Americans like that soft bread. That's something that we market. And so there it is different. They have less gluten. But also I can go there and eat bread here. I really try not to. But there I can eat croissants and pain au chocolat, and it's delicious and I feel good and I have energy and I don't have, you know, a crash. But here I may look like I'm pregnant after I eat some bread. So if it's not a day where I want to be pregnant, I'm not going to eat it.
26:39
Dr. Ade
I mean, that's a good segue into our next discussion, which is our personal approach. I really think that when I see patients in the clinic and they're telling me this is something that I go to when I feel like I need it, you know, I think at the end of the day, nobody wants to be such an, you know, restrictive. You want to be able to eat and feel good, you want to be able to celebrate with people when they're having birthday parties and things like that. But at the same time, if you know, like you talked about when you eat certain things, you know how you're going to feel afterwards, you may need to go run outside, you may need a nap. So it really depends on you. So, Dr.
27:16
Dr. Ade
Jill, you know, you talked about you don't like diets in general, they're not sustainable. So you kind of talked a little bit about that. What is your general approach to maintaining not just a healthy weight but to make sure that you are metabolic, you're metabolically healthy?
27:31
Dr. Jillian
Great question. I really do like the anti inflammatory style of eating, incorporating antioxidants and anti inflammatory foods into my diet. I am blessed that I've done food testing so I know exactly what increases my inflammatory markers so I can avoid those. A plant forward diet is something that I'm really working on towards. I've incorporated a lot of plants into my diet that I may not have been exposed to previously. And so I'm very proud of myself for that. But I would like to further decrease the meat that's in my diet. We didn't talk about this, but when you're thinking about meats, animals as they're raised for food, they may be given hormones, steroids, things to make them grow bigger, hormones when, you know, to eliminate bacteria and things that we don't want in our bodies.
28:28
Dr. Jillian
But everything that animal takes or eats, we are also taking and eating. So things that maybe were not inflammatory in the past are very inflammatory today, like a lot of corns. And the corn feed that animals are given is not maybe the most nutritious type of corn. It's a pretty inexpensive of corn. And so they're eating that and then we're eating that. We're eating this meat, corn and then we're getting. And I don't even know if all the animals eat corn. Like what do I know about what they're eating, right? I eat, they're eating corn, they're eating grains, whatever animals they are, but we're eating those things too. We're getting those antibiotics too. And so you can find your meats that you know that say they aren't given hormones, Right.
29:13
Dr. Jillian
I don't know if we've seen antibiotic free or not because you just think about if you're sick. We're trying to eliminate a lot of antibiotics from our children and adults. Right? But when it comes to Animals, you know, they may need antibiotics as well. And so that's adding to our burden. Not only what we take, but what they're taking. So plant forward. I also eliminate dairy, so I don't have dairy in my diet. Dairy, it's very highly processed and for me it leads to like acne, pimples, I just don't want that. So I don't have dairy. But whenever you eliminate things, you have to be careful about what you are filling in that space with. And that takes a lot of time and energy to kind of figure out if you're replacing it with something that's healthy or not.
30:02
Dr. Jillian
I do try to focus on whole foods and that's something I'm still, you know, working on, trying to eat foods in our natural states. But, you know, boxes and bags do make their way into my home. But I do, you know, my best and just really teaching the family even when it comes to those celebrations, because yes, I'm going to have, you know, a piece of cake. But when it comes to celebrations, trying to figure out how we can celebrate, especially you know, if you have kids, as celebrations were really built around food, can we change that a bit and make it so. So a celebration isn't built around what we're eating, but maybe the time we're spending together. I mean, this is a really difficult thing.
30:46
Dr. Jillian
This is a huge change in how many of us live and celebrate and enjoy our time together. A lot of it's around the dinner table. And around the dinner table is really an important time to spend time together with the family.
31:02
Dr. Ade
Absolutely. Yeah. I take a similar approach. I mean, I was overweight as a teen. I kind of yoed I was overweight, lost weight, depending on how active I was in sports and things. And as I got older, of course obesity creeped in until I was obese and started having chronic problems. So I had to really make that decision. And for me, I think it was more about self awareness. Why is your weight like this? How are you? What is your relationship with food? And for me, I knew I was a stress eater. I eat when I'm stressed. So I think the way I coach my clients too is kind of uncovering how you're wired and how you look at food.
31:36
Dr. Ade
I think that's a really important step because no matter what diet you're on, if you stop that diet, if that underlying issue isn't addressed, it's going to keep coming back. So I know that my relationship with food was not a healthy one. So being self aware and When I start to notice, okay, I think my cortisol is probably high today because I'm going through a lot. Let's find some time to wind down. Let's take a break. Let's take a walk then. I'm not using food to deal with the issue at hand. I think that was a big game changer for me. So I look at nutrition as I'm eating because I need to feel my body. I'm eating because I love my body. I don't want it to become something that's going to poison me.
32:16
Dr. Ade
So until I rewired my brain around how I look at food was when the weight loss stuck for the first time in my life, because it was always the same back and forth. So I think if we as women can look at food and the way it should be, it's a source of nutrition and not something that we celebrate. Because in my culture, food equals celebration. You're celebrating with food. There's plenty of food everywhere, whether it's fried, whether it's. And very little on the healthy ones. So that's another thing too. All these cultural things come into play. And then I find out that I have food sensitivities on top of that. So it's like, okay, you have food sensitivities or some certain things that you need to let go of. Milk is one of them. I can't do milk.
32:59
Dr. Ade
And I know substituting, but on the grand scheme of things, it's. There are days where I feel like I have a sugar craving. And it's okay if you take it. It doesn't mean that you have to restrict yourself, but understanding how those things play a role in your body, in your mind, and you know the repercussions. There's not going to be a perfect day where you're always eating whole grain foods, whole foods. You know, it's not. You're going to be in situations where you don't have access to those foods, whether you're on vacation, you're at a party. But it's just understanding that it's consistency that makes the difference. It's every day, if it's meal planning. So you make sure that you have the correct foods around that make you have great energy, make you not crash, make your blood sugar stable.
33:47
Dr. Ade
It's choosing to adjust your lifestyle to eating the correct way. And I think that overall, if you do that consistently, you will lose weight, you will balance your hormones, you know, you have less acne, you have less joint pains because you are Choosing to eat the foods that help your body improve over the long run. So I think overall, we have talked about so many different diets, but it's the same thing. What is right for you? What is right for your mind and your overall health? Right?
34:19
Dr. Jillian
Yes. So we need to nourish ourselves, not deprive ourselves. I love how you talk about mindset. Yes. So we change our mindset to, okay, instead of what do I need to eliminate, take out of my diet? No, what do I need to fuel myself, give myself energy, make myself feel strong and vibrant. Then, even if you're eating things that may not be the healthiest, you're fueling yourself with things that, you know, foods that will nourish you. Absolutely. I love that. Yeah. Mindset is important in all aspects of our life, definitely.
34:56
Dr. Ade
So I think, you know, moving forward to how do you support your hormones? You know, the topic is foods, fats and hormones, fads and hormones. So I think starting every pro, every meal with protein is always key. Right. We talked about protein being the building blocks we need for our muscles so that we can have a balanced body composition, Building up a healthy plate, you know, finishing dinner earlier, you know, for aiming to be able to recover. Let your body recover and offload, if you will, so that it can, you know, feel great for the next day for your meals. And don't let yourself get hungry. So Dr. Jill talked about how cortisol is, you know, the stress if you're eating, if you're going for prolonged fast, that's adding a lot of stress to your hormones in your body, supporting your thyroid.
35:44
Dr. Ade
Help your body process estrogen with cruciferous vegetables. Right. Especially if you're balancing your hormones or you are in hormone replacements. You know, DIM is a great way to help metabolize those hormones.
35:56
Dr. Jillian
Yep, that's right. Your hormones aren't trying to sabotage you. They are trying to protect you. So we need to honor them with the way that we eat and live.
36:05
Dr. Ade
Absolutely. Your hormones aren't trying to sabotage you for sure. So, Dr. Jill, do you want to close us out? This is a great conversation. I feel like we're going to have more and more of this.
36:15
Dr. Jillian
Yes. I learned a lot today, actually, just talking to you. And I am so grateful that we have this opportunity to learn from each other and to share with all of you. Thank you so much for joining us on the Modern Midlife Collective. If you love this conversation, share it with your friends, Share it with your sister. Share it with anyone you think needs to hear what we have to say. And then please like and subscribe to this podcast and share with us. If there is something that we need to start talking about, we want to have conversations that we all need to hear. So you can email us@connectodernmidlifecollective.com See you next time. Bye.
37:00
Dr. Ade
Thank you for tuning in to the Modern Midlife Collective podcast. We hope today's episode has inspired you to take bold steps towards thriving in midlife.
37:09
Dr. Jillian
If you loved what you heard, please leave us a review and share this episode with a friend who's ready to step into their power.
37:17
Dr. Ade
We'll be back next week with more insights, strategies and real talk to help you live your best life at any age.
37:24
Dr. Jillian
Until then, remember, thriving at 40 and beyond isn't just possible, it's your birthright. We'll see you next time.
37:32
Dr. Ade
Sam.