I’ve been working with women in their mid-40 and beyond. They come to me with discomfort and symptoms such as bloating, building a belly, feeling tired and grumpy. And I found it difficult to hear them describe the awfulness of their experience and feeling hopeless.

As I’m walking through life as a woman, nutritionist, and yoga teacher, it is time for me to raise my voice and spread a message of joy, hope and a deep sense of worthwhile.

Five years ago, I was grieving time gone. Since then, I have profoundly embraced and experienced a more basic truth. From 40 onwards, our bodies go through a natural transition that needs to be acknowledged and honoured deeply.

Trying hard to delay this life transition with denial or hormone replacement therapy, or to mask some symptoms with dieting, artificial booster or even plastic surgery is like putting a plaster on a wooden leg. Ageing is not a condition or a disease.

Looking at ourselves holistically is the best way to go through life gracefully. It starts by stemming what we have been building in the previous decades.

When creating an environment for the body to thrive on, we feel great and energised. No quick-fix pills or isolated nutrients will help us to get through smoothly. Assessing the past and some basic dietary and lifestyle changes will.

How would you find your way on a GPS if you don’t know where you start from?

The severity of the symptoms you experience after 40 is often related to imbalances that started long before. What was tolerated by your body until now is no longer tolerable with emerging hormonal fluctuation and gut dysfunction.

After years of pushing through, you have progressively lost connection with your natural rhythms. Your life rhythms were all imposed on you with barely any pause or timeout.

With symptoms such as bloating, weight gain, fatigue, overwhelm, dread, frustration, your body is telling you that your familiar eating patterns and lifestyle are not working anymore. These symptoms are often the products of the past. Overload needs to be addressed.

Changes like getting adequate sleep, taking the time to prepare and eat mindfully nutrient-rich wholefoods, living harmonious relationships, tweaking your exercise regime and/or timing your meals according to your needs will ease the years to come.

Watch your thoughts

You’ve probably heard dreadful stories about ageing, a look online and you see it is a synonym of aches, pain, discomfort and dis-ease, your older friends describe what a terrible time they go through.

Watch your thoughts and your beliefs. There is nothing in the physiology of the body that says going through life is something to dread and there are many cultures that do honour this evolution.

Dreading your current condition activates chronically your sympathetic nervous system. And chronic stress has detrimental consequences. If you add your constant negative self-talk to overworking, eating on the run, or over-exercising, you set the scene for inflammation and oxidation that will worsen the process.

When you start to celebrate your ageing process, your body starts to follow. Your parasympathetic activity finds its voice again and all your body systems are suddenly bathed in a calm environment.

If you look to cultivate calm with some meaningful bodywork, check my 6 weeks Stretch and Strong Program[1]. Regular sessions over the year. Ensure you receive our newsletter to keep up to date with the next session.

45-minute nutrition consultation is also a great way to reset your current habits and start afresh, book now[1]. You can book online.

I will share soon the holistic way I approach healthy and bouncing ageing. I see it works all the time.