The Role Intuitive Eating Plays at Midlife with Jenn Salib Huber [Podcast]

bowl of fruit and a stethoscope with picture of podcast cast

Intuitive eating is needed more than ever during midlife. That’s because it helps redefine a woman’s relationship with food in ways that create sustainable change.

Whether it’s listening to your body, avoiding all or nothing thinking about food, or denouncing diet culture, as my guest says: “it’s really something that needs to come together for most women.”

I found Jenn Salib Huber, RD, ND, on Instagram as I started navigating midlife health and nutrition. She’s a dietitian, naturopathic doctor, and intuitive eating coach. After her own experience with early perimenopause, she learned about intuitive eating and became well-versed in midlife health. Soon she realized this was how she wanted to help women.

Jenn has quite the following on Instagram, runs online classes for women, and recently started up The Midlife Feast, a podcast for women hungry for more.

We talk about both her personal and professional experience with midlife, what to expect at perimenopause, nutrition, common body changes and challenges, and how intuitive eating fits in it all.

Show Highlights

How Jenn’s personal experience of going through perimenopause early coupled with learning about midlife health and intuitive eating led to where she is now.
One reason perimenopause is so challenging is due to a lack of diagnostic framework and doctors telling women they aren’t in perimenopause due to “normal” blood tests.
Why we need to get comfortable using symptoms and experience as a diagnostic guide.
How midlife circumstances create the perfect storm for eating and body image challenges.
The body changes women can expect at midlife (and why they can’t control their weight as they used to).
Why a scarcity mindset with food backfires and how to use an “adding-in” strategy instead.
The benefits of phytoestrogens like soy and other plant-based protein during the menopause transition.
Why diet culture is so ingrained in midlife women and how they can work to “un-diet” those beliefs.
Why body neutrality may be a better goal than body positivity.
Her thoughts on the risk and benefits of hormone therapy and her top two midlife myths.

Quote from the Show

We tell girls at puberty that your body’s going to change and it has to. We tell women at pregnancy your body’s going to change, obviously. We need to tell women at midlife your body is going to change and it’s not your fault