One of the most challenging aspects of midlife transition for many women is coming to terms with our own mortality and ageing. The paradigm is indeed different for men, there is more acceptance of the ageing man with grey hair. But for women, aside from menopause, there is great fear in ageing and becoming irrelevant. This largely has been perpetuated by the cosmetics industry and popular culture. How many role models of women ageing on their own terms do we see in the media, social media or television and films?

In this podcast, I talk with Faith Agugu, psychotherapist and founder of Silver Sirens, an ageing positive community for women over 50+. We discuss why the traditional narrative around ageing for women is not only limiting but harmful to wisdoms self-esteem and well-being. the research shows when you embrace your second half of life with curiousity and confidence you are setting yourself up to live well.

In the podcast we discuss:

How the narrative we were told about ageing as a child greatly influences how we approach our own ageing process,
How popular culture and media impacts how we feel about our bodies and mental health as we age,
How fear drives increased stress in our lives in this transition and what is misunderstood about getting older,
How there is a different paradigm of ageing for women than there is for men,
How many women describe midlife as a time when old identities fall away—roles, ways of being, expectations. What we see as therapists of this transition emerge when women are supported through that transition well?
The common myths Faith would love to dispel about ageing,
How intergenerational wisdom around ageing can be passed down through family systems,
What Faith believes is the most compassionate first step you can take as you approach both midlife or elderhood.

You can find Faith through her therapy practice The Healing Process or her community group Silver Sirens

or on instagram or Facebook..

In midlife, we start to notice changes in how our body metabolises food, how we recover from exercise and how we are able to deal with stress in our life. No longer can we drink lots of alcohol and pull up OK the next morning. Maybe there are a few sneaky kilograms piling on. This is because as we enter perimenopause, our hormones start to shift how we metabolise food and this impacts on many areas of our health.

Annie Gaudreault, who is a Licenced Nutritionist and Health Coach from Toronto, CA, joins me in the podcast to talk about the impact of nutrition on our life as we move into our midlife. Annie specialises in working with women in midlife to make sense of all the wellness information out there and to make sustainable changes to their health and wellbeing.

Annie has her own interesting midlife transition story. She started running in her 30s and as she approached her midlife transition she really trained hard and found emotional and mental resilience expanded and she was able to deepen her running expertise to run marathons. From there she moved into competing in Iron Man Triathlons. For Annie her midlife transition was an awakening. An awakening to becoming her true self and pursuing a new career in nutrition that created more meaning in her life.

In the podcast we talked about:
The lack of education around menopause and how this impacts our lifestyle choices,
The impact of estrogen decline on other hormones in particular our metabolic health,
How estrogen decline impacts on how our body can process sugar and simple carbohydrates. The impact on insulin production and how this may cause insulin insensitivity and pre-diabetes health issues,
Strategies to deal with addiction to sugar and carbohydrates,
Fibre and Protein in our diet and how eating more of these in midlife supports our health,
How internalised cultural belief systems impact our perception of midlife and the impact of it on our life.

You can find Annie at www.veev.ca or on instagram @veev_wellness. Annie works globally online, so if you would like to book a time to talk to her about your nutrition needs at midlife you can book a call via her website.