A New Season: Grace, Midlife and the Woman You’re Becoming

My conversation with nutritionist and menopause expert Alison Bladh.

I’m writing this from London, where I recently saw an acupuncturist trained in both Eastern and Western medicine. I went to her hoping for some help balancing my hormones. What I came away with was unexpected.

She told me, “Your body is doing what it has to do.” Then she said so many of us women aren’t being kind enough to our bodies. We’re driving, pushing, pushing, pushing, when what we really need is more grace and more compassion for what’s happening inside us.

That stayed with me. So I was thrilled to sit down on the podcast with Alison Bladh, a nutritionist and menopause expert, to talk about exactly this: how we can feel vibrant and healthy through midlife, and how we might start to see this time not as something to struggle through, but as the beginning of a new chapter.

“It’s just the change”

Alison’s love of hormones started when she was a teenager with very bad skin. Even then, she was asking, “What is going on?” She cut back on sugar, looked closely at the products she was putting on her skin, and it made a huge difference.

That curiosity led her to train as an aesthetician. Because she was so interested in hormonal skin health, she started attracting women in their 40s, 50s, and beyond whose skin was changing. The common thread? Perimenopause and menopause. So she went back to university to study nutritional science and functional medicine because, as she put it, the outside matters, but you also need the inside piece.

What really moved me was her memory of her own mother, having terrible hot flashes. When Alison asked if she was okay, her mother said, “Oh, it’s just the change. We just have to get on with it as women.” I think so many of us grew up hearing some version of that. Struggle through. Don’t expect help. I’m so grateful that’s finally starting to shift.

Stop chasing your 20-year-old self

When I asked Alison where to start, her answer wasn’t a supplement or a workout. It was this: take a deep breath, step back, and recognize that you’re in a different stage of life now. You have to recalibrate.

She sees so many women chasing the version of themselves they were at 20 or 30. Trying to get back into those skinny jeans. Training like mad every day. And it’s exhausting, because our bodies have changed. A lot of metabolic changes happen through menopause, and what worked then simply isn’t what we need now.

I shared something with Alison that I’d heard recently that explains the magnitude of this change well. When a girl gets her first period, everything changes, inside and out, and everyone can see it. Menopause is a change of that same magnitude. It’s just not as visible, not to others and sometimes not even to ourselves. Alison told me that’s exactly why some are now calling perimenopause the “second puberty.”

We have receptors for estrogen and progesterone all over our bodies. These aren’t just reproductive hormones; they affect everything. And after menopause, when those hormones decline, research shows we’re at higher risk for things like osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive decline. This isn’t something to just push through. It deserves real attention.

What’s actually on your plate?

Alison laughed about all the nutrition trends we’ve lived through. No fat in the ’90s. Then we needed fat. Then no carbs, no sugar. And now, especially on social media, it’s massive amounts of protein. Her approach is refreshingly realistic, because she knows women don’t have hours every day for complicated routines. Here’s what she suggests:

• Get enough protein, but don’t go crazy. About a palm-sized portion with every meal.
• Watch your blood sugar. Toast with marmalade for breakfast will send it soaring. As we move through menopause, we can become insulin resistant, meaning our bodies don’t handle sugar the way they used to. Aim for protein, fiber and healthy fats at every meal.
• Get your carbohydrates mainly from vegetables and whole grains.
• Cut back on ultra-processed foods. If you do just one thing from this whole conversation, Alison said, make it this. Fewer packaged foods with long ingredient lists would have a huge effect on your health.

Don’t do this alone

If you’re feeling confused, lost or overwhelmed, Alison’s first piece of advice is simple: talk to someone. Doctors and practitioners now specialize in menopause, so find one and get the support you need.

She also pointed out something I think is so important. Many women she sees are exhausted and feeling terrible, but they haven’t realized it’s menopause. They put it down to stress, careers, family at home, aging parents. Those things are real. But add perimenopause on top, and it can become too much.

So first, understand what’s happening in your body. Then take small steps. Don’t try to overhaul everything overnight. Drink enough water. Protect your sleep. Give yourself time to look after yourself. Our resilience to stress shifts during this phase, and things that never bothered us before can suddenly get us really worked up. That’s not a personal failing; it’s biology.

When I told Alison what my acupuncturist said, she agreed completely. The human body is an amazing thing, she said, and all it’s ever trying to do is find balance. Our modern lives, with all their stress and constant stimulation, keep throwing it off. So we need to rest, to let our brains switch off, and to listen. If you’re bloated, getting headaches, aching all the time, your body is trying to tell you something.

A new spring

So many of the women I work with, and so many of you listening, are wanting a new chapter. Maybe you’ve just been divorced. Maybe you’re single and open to a new relationship. Maybe you just feel there’s something more waiting for you. So I asked Alison how we can reframe this time in an empowering way.

She was honest: we live in an ageist society, and the pressure on women to look younger and thinner eats away at us. But menopause is a completely natural transition, like puberty. And aging, she reminded me, is a privilege many people are denied.

She sees so many women in post-menopause get a whole new lease on life, and she includes herself in that. You stop caring so much about what people think. You become more confident. You’re no longer afraid to say no to things you never wanted to do in the first place. She sees women starting businesses in their 60s and traveling the world, finally doing what they didn’t get the chance to do when they were younger.

Alison shared that in Japan, menopause is described as a new season, a new spring. And research has shown that in cultures where women going through menopause are respected as leaders and wise elders, they actually have fewer symptoms. I find that so fascinating! That internal battle we fight in the West, trying to go backward, is just not kind to ourselves.

Then she told me about killer whales. Only humans and a few whale species go through menopause. When a female killer whale goes through it, she becomes the leader of her pod, because she holds so much knowledge. The others follow her. Nature is showing us, so clearly, that there’s another way to see this.

Dating, body image and the new you

For the woman who has just come through menopause and wants to start dating again, I asked Alison how she can embrace her body as it is now.

Her answer was so warm. Going through menopause doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you, or that you can’t go out and date. Maybe you’ve put on a little weight around your middle. Maybe you have a few fine lines. **You’re still amazing, and you’re still beautiful.

Maybe you can’t wear exactly what you wore at 20 or 30, she said, but there are so many fabulous clothes out there. Find what suits you now and makes you feel fabulous. Maybe the high heels don’t work anymore, but you can find lovely shoes that still make you feel sexy.

Having worked in the beauty industry for years, Alison has seen how destructive anti-aging culture can be. Chasing the person you were when you were younger will only make you unhappy. And as she pointed out, most of the time the people we’re dating don’t even notice the things we obsess over. They want someone who looks healthy and happy. So go out there, embrace it, and have fun.

Authentic integration: embracing all of who you are

This is where our conversation came home for me, because it’s at the heart of my own work. In The True Lens Method, one piece I guide women through is what I call authentic integration.

Authentic integration means embracing who you are today, not only on the physical level, but also the woman you’ve become. She doesn’t care as much what other people think. She’s more connected to her own truth. She isn’t afraid to dream big or to start a new chapter.

Authentic integration means bringing all those lessons and experiences into who you are now, and embracing it all together, rather than trying to leave any part of yourself behind.

Alison put it beautifully. Think of how much knowledge we carry as women, and everything we’ve been through. It all makes us who we are today. Her mother, the same woman who once told her “it’s just the change,” used to say to her when something awful had happened: “Don’t worry, Alison, it’s very character-building.”

That’s the invitation of this season. Not to go backward, but to integrate everything you’ve lived into the woman you are becoming.

Want more from Alison?

Alison’s book is Have a Magnificent Menopause: A Straightforward Guide to Looking Good and Feeling Great. When she was researching it, the women she spoke to all said the same thing: “Just tell me what to do.” So it’s a practical, hands-on guide covering nutrition, lifestyle, and beauty, one you can dip in and out of. It’s a bestseller and has been a finalist for a couple of awards.

You can find it on Amazon, and you’ll find links, free meal plans, and other downloads on her website, alisonbladh.com. She’s on just about every social media channel too; search for Alison Bladh.

I’ve already ordered my copy. Thank you, Alison, for helping us begin to see menopause in a whole new way.

**Check out our podcast here.