Trying to Get Healthy While Feeding Three Other Humans

The goal changed

In my 20s, health goals were about appearance. In my 40s, they're about energy, sleep, and being able to carry all the groceries in one trip out of principle.

Perimenopause rewrote the rules without asking. What worked at 32 does not reliably work now, and pretending otherwise was making me tired in a new and special way.

What I actually do

Two strength sessions a week, walking most days, protein at breakfast so 10 a.m. doesn't feel like a crisis, and a bedtime I defend like a meeting with someone important. Because it is.

This is not a protocol. It's the handful of things that survived contact with my actual life, which includes a business, three kids, and a complicated relationship with 5 a.m.

The one-dinner problem

I cook one dinner. It has components: a protein, a starch, a vegetable, and the understanding that everyone assembles their own acceptable version. Deconstructed tacos are diplomacy.

Trying to eat better while feeding other humans gets much easier when you stop cooking separate meals and start cooking flexible ones.

A note and a disclaimer

Everything here is my personal experience and general information — not individualized medical advice. Hormones, sleep, and symptoms deserve an actual conversation with your own clinician, preferably one who doesn't say 'that's just your 40s' and end the appointment.