Why these nine steps?

Years ago, I came across an insight that has stayed with me: the absence of bad things does not mean the presence of necessary things. Healthy eating for women is not simply avoiding or limiting foods that don’t serve our bodies at this stage of our lives. It also requires consuming the nutrients we need. Because we can keep out the foods or beverages that we know cause problems and still not be truly nourishing our bodies.

In addition, as we move through midlife, what it means to have “healthy eating habits” changes, but the foundation is more consistent than the nutrition headlines would have us believe. The women I work with are smart, health-literate, and doing a lot of things right. But the nutrition landscape is noisy, and it is easy to think we need a major diet overhaul every time a new “top 50 foods for women” comes out. The end result is very little clarity on what to actually put on our plates to get the nutrition we need.

These nine steps cut through that. They are not a perfect diet plan, and they are not meant to be adopted all at once. They are a sequence of habits, intended to be adopted one at a time so you can build lifelong habits. Start with step one. When it becomes part of your daily routine, move to step two, and so on. That’s it.

And while you’re focused on the first few steps, don’t worry too much about the later ones. If you are working on steps one through four but still have room for a treat after eating enough vegetables and protein, then go for it! The goal is to build sustainable habits without becoming overwhelmed or trying to eat “perfectly”.

Step 1: Drink enough water for your size and lifestyle

Water is the most essential nutrient for every body function, and it is the foundation of healthy “eating” for women… and everyone else, for that matter. As a general starting point, aim to consume about half your body weight in pounds as ounces of liquid each day. So, if you weigh 180 pounds, that is 90 ounces, or about 11 cups. In hot or humid weather or during intense exercise, you will need even more.

For women in perimenopause and postmenopause specifically, adequate hydration helps maintain joint health, skin integrity, digestion, and the regulation of body temperature, all of which need more support as estrogen declines.

Ideally, this liquid would be pure water or water-based beverages, like herbal teas, fruit-infused water, and bone broth. Milk from animals or plants, plain coffee, and juice with no added sweeteners can contribute as well. However, beverages with added sweeteners, whether natural or artificial, do not count, and we will come back to why in step seven.

Step 2: Eat 6+ servings of vegetables and fruit every day.

Vegetables and fruit are packed with vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, fiber, and water. No supplement regimen can truly replicate how a variety of colorful plants nourishes the body.

Six servings sounds like a lot, but it adds up quickly. A handful of berries with breakfast, a large salad at lunch, a cup of roasted vegetables at dinner, and you are most of the way there.

If you are already eating several servings daily, you can get the most benefit by:

• Emphasizing vegetables over fruit, since vegetables tend to be lower in sugar and calories and higher in fiber and hard to get micronutrients;
• Choosing colors from across the rainbow, since different colors reflect different phytonutrients; and
• Eating the whole food rather than drinking juice, as juicing removes fiber and the body doesn’t easily recognize calories that we drink, making it easier to overconsume.

Bonus: a plant-forward diet is one of the most well-supported strategies to healthy eating for women in midlife. A wide variety of colorful plant foods helps manage inflammation, supports gut health, and reduces cardiovascular risk, three areas that shift meaningfully in perimenopause and postmenopause.

Step 3: Get plenty of fiber.

The minimum recommended daily intake of fiber for women ranges from 22 to 28 grams, depending on age. In practice, aiming for 35 to 50 grams is an ideal target for most midlife women, especially given the role fiber plays in estrogen metabolism, gut microbiome support, and cholesterol management, all of which become more relevant as we go through the menopause transition.

If you are following step two, you are already building a strong fiber foundation. Add beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, and whole grains to get you even closer to the optimal amount.

Step 4: Consume enough protein for your body.

Although 45-70% of a woman’s body weight is water, the most critical macronutrient for bodily function is protein. It provides structure, enables movement, and helps create energy. It is necessary for repairing tissues and transporting other nutrients throughout the body. From the hair on our heads to our toe nails, protein is crucial for health.

In midlife and beyond, women’s protein needs actually increase rather than decrease. As estrogen declines, muscle preservation becomes harder, and adequate protein intake is one of the most evidence-supported tools for maintaining lean body mass, supporting bone density, and managing body composition changes that often accompany perimenopause.

Step 5: Incorporate healthy fats.

Fat has been unfairly maligned for decades, and many women are still cautious about eating it. But dietary fat is essential for cellular structure, brain function, absorption of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K), hormone production, and blood sugar regulation. Even in midlife when our body composition is changing and our cholesterol levels may be increasing, consuming fat is encouraged and necessary to support our well-being.

The best sources include avocados, olives and olive oil, nuts and nut butters, seeds and seed oils (like flaxseed oil), cold-water fatty fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel), coconut, and grass-fed dairy and meat. These provide the fatty acid profiles your body uses most efficiently.

Side note: I don’t like avocados, so I get my healthy fats and fiber from other sources on this list. There is no one food you have to eat. Choose the sources that work for you.

Step 6: Choose whole food over processed food.

Processed foods are purposefully designed to be convenient, shelf-stable, hard to stop eating, and profitable for the manufacturer, not necessarily to support your health. They frequently contain preservatives, artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, emulsifiers, and other additives that have little to no nutritional value and some have been shown to do harm for some or all of us.

This does not mean you need to make everything from scratch or never buy anything in a box, bag, can or bottle. It does mean reading labels and choosing foods with ingredient lists you recognize is necessary to support your healthy eating habits. The closer a food is to its natural state, the more it retains its nutritional value.

Choosing whole food matters especially for women in perimenopause and postmenopause because processed food tends to drive inflammation, disrupt gut bacteria, and contribute to blood sugar instability, three things that are already more challenging to manage in this phase of life.

Step 7: Cut out soda and other sweetened beverages.

If you’re like me, you grew up drinking soda and watching your parents drink soda. But sweetened drinks, including soda, flavored waters, sports drinks, energy drinks, and sweetened coffees contain excess sugar, artificial sweeteners, and other additives. They add calories without satiety, spike blood sugar without the buffering effect of fiber, and often contain ingredients that can negatively affect your health (as mentioned in step 6).

For hydration, stick to water, herbal teas, plain sparkling water, and coconut water. If you want more or varied flavors, a slice of lemon, some fresh berries, or a splash of unsweetened juice in sparkling water goes a long way.

If you rely on sweetened beverages for hydration and giving them up feels like a significant loss, that is valid. Taste preferences do shift over time, and this is worth doing gradually rather than all at once so you don’t feel deprived as you are developing your healthy eating habits.

Step 8: Learn to cook and make it a habit.

Food you prepare at home is almost always more nutritious than food prepared elsewhere. Processing food such that it can be frozen/canned/dried, packaged and reheated may kill valuable micro- and phytonutrients and usually requires added ingredients. When you cook, you control the ingredients, the quality, and the portion.

If cooking does not come naturally to you, start with simple, forgiving recipes, like scrambled eggs or a sheet pan of roasted vegetables and baked chicken thighs. As you gain experience, expand your repertoire one simple recipe at a time. Confidence in the kitchen builds with repetition, not innate talent.

For women with full lives and demanding schedules, batch cooking one or two days a week is often more realistic than cooking every night. Find the recipes and rhythm that fit your life, and you’ll be more likely to maintain this healthy eating habit.

Step 9: Enjoy indulgences as occasional treats.

Dessert is my biggest weakness when it comes to healthy eating. I also love really good French fries, and once stuffed myself at a pizza restaurant two days in row because it was hands-down the best pizza in the history of ever. I’m not willing to give up my treats entirely, and I will never suggest that you do either.

Sound nutrition is not about prohibition, and it is certainly not about guilt. We are allowed to want, eat, and enjoy foods that have no particular nutritional merit. The key is keep them as treats, not daily habits.

When indulgences become routine, they can work against your health goals over time. When they remain genuinely occasional, they fit comfortably into a nourishing pattern of eating. Enjoy them fully, without the side of self-criticism, and move on.

This is especially worth saying to us women, who often hold ourselves to an impossible standard. Eating well does not have to mean eating joylessly. After all, that would come with its own unintended health consequences.

Conclusion

Making changes to your eating habits is a journey, not a project with a deadline. Take these steps one at a time, give each one enough time to feel natural before adding the next, and be gentle with yourself when you feel like you backslide or life gets in the way.

You are exactly where you need to be in this moment. And I believe you can move yourself toward healthy eating habits when you start from right where you are.

Looking for a specific place to start? My free guide, 3 Daily Tweaks to Reset Your Energy and Reclaim Your Wellness, gives you three small, doable shifts you can make right now.

Download it free: https://offers.feedyourintention.com/3dailytweaks

Image courtesy of geralt from Pixabay.