Welcome to the Mastering Midlife podcast where we talk about all the crazy fun things that happen when you are a midlife mama. I'm your host, Heather London. Let's dig in.
Hola, chicas. Okay, the party is over and I am back at home. I am in my office ready to go. And as I reflect back on this... amazing experience I had it really is it makes me giddy when I think about it because it was just so delicious and I'm trying to think of like how do I tell you everything it's there's just so much that I experienced and it was of course life-changing just it was so good and I don't even know where to start I met so many people
I learned so much history and culture and I learned so much about myself. I went on so many adventures. I learned new skills. It just... was just so amazing and I would highly encourage anybody who's listening who is on the fence about going and traveling on their own or going and traveling in general to just be like yes, you need to do this. This is the thing that you should do. I love traveling on my own. I really do because I
am very spontaneous. When I went to Spain, I just bought a one-way ticket because I didn't know where I was going to end up and where I was going to fly home from. And I love that kind of adventure. To me, that is what... traveling is all about what life is all all about that's not might not be for everybody you might not want to travel solo it's not a problem I just want to encourage you to if it's one of your dreams or on your list to go and travel
Go and do it. Make it happen in whatever form that looks like for you. If you want to go on a tour with other people, go for it. If you want to go by yourself, go for it. Like just do it. This is the time.
in our lives that's meant for exploring and adventure because we're done with our kids we're good we're good with them and we have all of this you know life experience and we have money because we've been working our whole lives and our physical body allows us is like yes now's the time when you can go
I swear, I bought brand new runners before I left, like runners for tennis and that, and I wore them out. Not only because I was playing tennis all the time, but I walked everywhere. I saw all the sights. I was taking the bus. I was...
riding bikes I was walking my runners I just wore them down to the ground so I was like damn this was such a good adventure because my runners are done but I just want to encourage you for whatever that looks like for you yes do it like don't let anything stand in your way
If something comes up, some kind of resistance, know that that's just fear. It's your brain going, don't do it. You could die. Like, remember, our brain is designed to keep us safe, to avoid pain and to seek pleasure. And so if you're talking about traveling to a foreign land, you're.
brain is going to freak out and be like girl don't even think about it but that's what you want to say thanks i appreciate you brain and do it anyway you got to get past that there's going to be resistance there's going to be fear
So the thing that I did want to talk about because I was like, what should I talk about today? Because there's just so much that happened. I think one of the things that just popped into my brain is food because you know me and food i love me some food especially when you're going to foreign countries food is a huge thing i
For many, many, many years, I used to have international students that would come and stay at my house and they would go to high school. First of all, I'm like, damn, I had mad respect for them because they're in a foreign country. They're in high school and they're. going to a high school, learning subjects in English, which isn't their main language, and they're doing that in high school, which high school is just hard enough, period.
I always had mad respect for these people and the reason I'm telling you this is because the one thing that always came up no matter where the student was from was food because food is... life and food is culture and food is a part of who we are so the most difficult part of this experience was the food the further you were from north america the more
difficult the food situation was so i think the asian cultures found it the different the most difficult because it was so profoundly different and i'm telling you that because As you travel, food is a thing. But the food in Spain was amazing. And one of my takeaways from both of my travels is that...
Whole clean foods is the answer. And I know I have always been a plant-based person in the way I... work I never push that on other people I just share what I know so if you're interested here's a whole bunch of really awesome information and even if you're not a plant-based person you can apply this to your diet. And diet, I want to say nutrition because I hate the word diet. But when you eat food, you can apply this philosophy, this plant-based philosophy.
no matter whether you eat meat or not. And the basis of everything that I've learned is whole clean foods, nothing processed. One ingredient foods whenever possible. So keeping it super simple, going back to the basics, taking our cues from nature. And the reason I wanted to talk about food today is because every time I come back from a trip, I notice.
that I am leaner. So I've lost weight and I never, it was never my intention to lose weight, but I'm leaner. I'm healthier. I'm more connected to my body. Skin is better. Energy is better. Just everything is better every time I come back. And then a short time after I've been back, that disappears because I'm eating. the food that I'm used to eating here. And this has caught my attention because I think when I think about health and longevity and midlife and all that.
Nutrition is at the top of the list by far because that's what we do every day to fuel our body. That's what we're made of is the food that we eat. And it's so important to take this as feedback and be curious about it and go, what is it? Like when I was in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, I just ate the local. foods that were grown there and made there and they were whole clean foods that's that's the way that they and the lifestyle was sunrise sunset in the ocean sunshine every day
Like I am a sun worshiper, not from a sense of I want to tan, but from the sense that sun is life. Because in the history of man, all cultures worship the sun because without the sun we wouldn't exist. And there was no... cancers from sun it's and I believe it's the sunscreen that's causing the problem because we need the sun we need the sun for our body to do a whole bunch of chemical reactions inside of our cells in our body the sun is one of the main components and ingredients in all of the
How do I say this? Chemical reactions that our body does, our cells do. Sunshine and cholesterol. So don't be afraid of cholesterol. Cholesterol and sunshine, they're like magic. They're magic. So when I say I'm a sun worshiper, it's not from a... a sense of being 10 i don't even 10 i just freckle that's what happens but from a sense of the health
aspect of it. When I'm near the ocean, when I'm in the ocean, when my feet are in the sand, when I'm watching the sunset, the sunrise, when I'm in nature, when I'm walking everywhere, every go where I go, I don't rent a car, I don't do anything. I walk, I ride a bike. I ride the bus. I walk everywhere. In Spain, the people on the bus were 60, 70, 80 years old, just riding the bus.
the system is set up for seniors to ride the bus like there's plenty of ways seats like they get priority seating all of the kind of thing and they go and they walk everywhere and that's their lifestyle and that's why they have such amazing longevity because they're eating whole clean foods and they're moving their body they're walking everywhere and when i went to spain the same was true the food was whole clean foods
oh the difference about Spain though is just like oh god I just my heart because I'm taken back to the I just have this memory this knowing of walking through the streets smelling the fresh baked bread and the the seafood and oh it's so good but also hearing the sounds of conversation people laughing talking loudly and glasses clinking like there food is a social aspect it's connection it's community
And when you get together with somebody for eating, it's not about just eating. It's about the connection in the community. And everywhere you go, you see it. Even though it's wintertime, everybody's sitting outside having drinks. Most of them are smoking, but they're drinking and eating whole clean foods. And that's what makes it such a game changer for your health. And wellness in general is that it's a social community connection thing. And I just totally love, love, love that.
The tapas are like a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and you order it for the table. So when I went to... out with my friends and a lot of it was people that i had just met i was building community as i went so it's like let's go for tapas and everybody would order a couple of things for the table
And we would share the food. We'd be like, oh my God, that one is so delicious. And we'd have conversations and we'd be drinking vermouth or whatever it is. And it would last for hours. And it was just... right in so many ways and I somebody who doesn't like to cook I just was not into it because as a mom you can relate to this you spend 20 21 years
cooking meals for people. What do you want for dinner? So I hated it and I didn't eat meat and I was cooking meat for my kids and it was just like blah. But now I have this new appreciation for the idea of the social aspect and community behind it the tapas a little bit of this a little bit of that let's just this is a part of the conversation like this is a part of the whole ambience
So brilliant. So I have this new appreciation for connection over food as opposed to like, I just got to nourish my body. Connection over food, like with food.
connecting to your community your family making new friends taking the time the laughing just all of it like every time I talk about this right now as I'm talking about this I have this this visceral feeling of Just as I'm walking through the streets, not even sitting down with people, I'm a part of it because of just the sounds and the smells and the sights, like just so beautiful.
And I feel like in North America, we're more individualistic and everything is separate and individualized. And that breaks my heart. I really feel that community is the way we go. We need more community in life. That's just how it is. And the reason I wanted to tell you about this is because growing up, I was always plant-based, like I've been plant-based for forever. And I've raised my kids to just...
I've taught them about what I know about nutrition and the body and health and energy and all that. And I've provided, you know, the healthiest food that I could. I've let them make their own choices. And when I cooked for them, I made meat for them, but I. red meat like i hadn't had red meat in 37 years because it just grossed me out when when i was 18 i'm like ah gross so i never made it but i would make chicken and fish
And so my kids ate a lot of chicken growing up because that's all I knew how to cook. I didn't even know how to cook red meat. If I wanted to cook red meat, I would have to ask my mom and it would always be horrible. And I just didn't know how to do it. So when my kids turned a certain age, I turned to them and said, can I stop momming you? Like, can you guys, you know?
cook your own food now and stuff because also I want them to have these skills to learn these skills to take care of themselves because I really feel especially as young men their responsibility is to take care of themselves it's not anybody else's job except for themselves I taught them how to do their laundry when they were seven and they do all their own things and now they're learning how to cook their like to take care of themselves because that's their job it's not a
woman's job to take care of them so it's their job to take care of themselves and so i'm like you know can i stop cooking for you guys because i i just hated it i liked when we were together we would always sit together there was never phones at the table it was always conversation Deep conversations, not just how was your day, just like what's the meaning of life and how does the brain work and like just really deep connections over dinner.
And so they took on this task of cooking for themselves and discovering what kind of foods they like and doing all the research, being like the health nut that I am. they kind of were around that so they did a lot of investigating and they decided that full carnivore was the way to go like meat is the way to go and as they investigated more and more they're like full carnivore like meat is the answer and I'm like hey You do whatever works for you because you've done the research.
And I believe that every human is different. And what works for one person won't work for the other. And the way we know what works for us is by listening to our bodies. If you have a desire for eating meat, then that's your body telling you that you need to eat meat.
If you have a desire to not eat meat, then that's the same thing. So I don't feel like there's a right or wrong. That's why I've never preached you have to do this. I'm like, here's what I do. And maybe you could take something and it would help you in your nutritional journey. After this whole experience, I just was more opened up to different ways of eating and I love to experiment.
with my body so when i when i was a personal trainer for a gajillion years i would always try the different diets fads study try it and do it on myself and then decide you know, really experience it so I could offer it to people to certain people and tell them about it. And so I decided when I came back, I would just, I was just going to do something different.
And I was going to start eating meat again because of my kids. Like they're so pro carnivore. I'm like, yeah, I need to do something different anyway. I believe every once in a while we've got to shake things up. And so I decided that I would go on now. I'm not going to call it a carnivore diet because it's more animal based. So eating meat, I had a steak for the first time in 37 years.
It was hard for me to mentally wrap my brain around eating it. But then once I did, it was delicious. It tasted great because my son is now an expert steak cooker because he's perfected it. It just took me that, it was like a mental thing that I needed to get over. And so instead of being full carnivore, I'm doing animal based. So it's meats and dairy and cheeses and... butters and you know those kind of healthy animal fats but nothing
like a seed oil. The key is that it wants to be as close to its natural form as possible. So we're not talking about margarine. No, we're not talking about seed oil. Seed oils are like the root of all evil. We're talking about butter so something that is processed as least as possible we're talking about milk that is organic or raw or it's called or old-fashioned now where they don't pasteurize it and that kind of stuff and we're talking about
The cheeses that are like the cheeses you would find in Europe or the meats, the meats that you would find in Europe. There's no additives. They're just cured or they're whole, clean, organic meats. So talking the best of the best. And I thought, I'll do that for 30 days and just see what happens with my body. Because I listened to what they say. They've done their research. And I'm like, I'm going to do that for 30 days to shake stuff up and just to see what happens with my body.
And so that's what I'm doing now. And I wanted to share this journey with you because. I'm going to tell you all about it as I go. So I'm, I think three or four days in, but I just want you to be curious about what's possible for you. Like at the end of this 30 days, I'm going to evaluate. And I don't know, I really like being plant-based. I really do.
So I'm anticipating I would go back to plant-based, but who knows? I'm open to everything. I feel that the key to being successful in this lifetime is being a curious person. and embracing uncertainty. Those two aspects are the key to a successful life. The more capacity you have for uncertainty and the more curious you are by nature, Like not, this is right, that's wrong. Or just like, hmm, I wonder what that's all about. Or how could that be right? Then the bigger life you're going to have.
the more deliciousness you're going to squeeze out of life. It's just going to be so fabulous when you can really be curious, just genuinely curious. have a huge capacity for uncertainty. That's the one, two punch. If you can master those two things, you got it going on. And as actually, when I travel, I found that the people that I enjoyed the most were the most. curious people. I was just totally attracted like a moth to light to curious people. I just find them so delightful and they just...
just lights my heart up when I connect with somebody who's a curious person. So I wanted to share this with you to ask you to be curious about what's possible for you.
Never in a million years did I ever thought I would do an animal-based diet or carnivore. It's not carnivore because my kids are just... One's full carnivore where it's just... meat and he'll throw in other things every once in a while but so it's not full carnival but it is full plant animal base like full on the other thing that i am adding in there would be fruits
So it's animal based with some fruits. That's what I'm going with right now. And so I will keep you updated on my journey, but I'm just. Still, I can't get over that feeling of being in Spain no matter where I was, whether it was Barcelona, Valencia, even Portugal. When I went to Portugal, Malaga, that's just the culture of the food. It's just...
every time I think about it, I'm just swept back into these magical moments. And I want that to last forever. And I want that for you too. Like I want you to experience that. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to create that for myself in my life right now. And I'm going to just run with it because it just feels, this is a big life change for me, like creating connection over food and community.
I don't even know how to explain it. It's just a feeling that I get in every fiber of my being when I think about it. And I wish that for every single person. So what's up? What's next for you? How can you take this? apply it to yourself what could you create for yourself how could you be curious about you and your life and what could be different how could it be better what could you change what could you try what could you incorporate because remember all of this is made up
All of this stuff is made up and you are the one that gets to make it up. So in this moment right here, you can totally try something new and change it. And if it works for you, yes. And if it doesn't, just throw it to the side and try something different. Because I'm here for all of it. My life just got even more bigger and more fabulous than I ever thought possible because of this change in mindset. And I wanted to share it.
and offer it to you and see what you can, what magic you can create for yourself with this kind of thinking. As always, thank you for listening. Always, always, always love yourself first and have... an amazing day.