The Midlife Feast
Welcome to The Midlife Feast, the podcast for women who are hungry for more in this season of life. I’m your host, Jenn Salib Huber, dietitian, naturopathic doctor , intuitive eating counsellor and author of Eat to Thrive During Menopause. Each episode “brings to the table” a different perspective, conversation, or experience about life after 40, designed to help you find the "missing ingredient" you need to thrive, not just survive.
The Midlife Feast
#161 - Season 6 Kickoff: Kitchen Table Talk: My Sister and I Dish on Menopause and My New Book
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This week’s episode is extra special for TWO reasons! For one, we are kicking off Season 6, and my sister Friedel is interviewing me! We’re diving into my new book, Eat to Thrive During Menopause, and why I felt called to write it after my own surprising start to perimenopause at 37.
Instead of talking about what to cut out, I share why I focus on what to add, such as fiber, phytoestrogens, and carbs that actually satisfy. We also bust some common menopause myths and talk about how intuitive eating can help you feel at peace with food in this season of life.
Friedel shares some of her favourite recipes from the book (pumpkin flax muffins, anyone?) along with some of her behind-the-scenes memories of me while I was writing it!
Join us for a sweet conversation about food, midlife, and finding joy in this season of life.
Like what you learned? Check out these other episodes!
- 5 Things My Sister Wants You to Know About Perimenopause
- Intuitive Eating in Menopause: A Conversation with Evelyn Tribole
- What to Do When Intuitive Eating Doesn't Work with Julie Duffy Dillon
- 5 Things I Wish I Had Known About Intuitive Eating 10 Years Ago
What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!
📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now! Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.
Welcome to The Midlife Feast
Jenn Salib HuberWelcome to the Midlife Feast , the podcast that helps you make sense of your body , your health and menopause in the messy middle of midlife . I'm Dr Jen Salib Huber , intuitive eating dietician and naturopathic doctor , and author of Eat to Thrive During Menopause Around . Here , we don't see midlife and menopause as problems to solve , but as invitations to live with more freedom , trust and joy . Each week you'll hear real conversations and practical strategies to help you feel like yourself again , eat without guilt and turn midlife from a season of survival into a season of thriving . I'm so glad you're here . Let's dig in . Hi everyone , welcome back to another season of the Midlife Feast . I hope that you've had a great summer .
Jenn Salib HuberIf you're listening to this in September , when we're just coming back from a break , we are headed into the busy season . It feels like for a lot of us . I have a kid going off to university for the first time . I have two that are entering the equivalent of grade 10 . I have two that are entering the equivalent of grade 10 . Year 11 for anybody who is familiar with the British system is also the big GCSE year . So it feels like there's a lot going on in life . But the other really big thing that I'm just so excited about is that my book comes out . So Eat to Thrive During Menopause comes out October 21 . So this is coming out September 8th , which means that
Introducing Eat to Thrive During Menopause
Jenn Salib Huberwe're in the close to six-week countdown and I always like to do the first .
Jenn Salib HuberI like to do something special , something maybe a little bit different , for the first and last episodes of the podcast , and this year I decided to ask my sister to kind of interview me about the book . Now , you might know my sister from episode 121 , where I asked for her advice on you know things that she wants you to know about perimenopause , and that was such a favorite from all of you that it was actually the most popular episode last year , by more than 1000 downloads , so not just a little bit more popular . All of you love Friedel , as do I , which is why I thought you know what I'm going to ask her to interview me about the book Personally , because she really was kind of my co-pilot . She was the person that I bounced ideas off of . She was the person that I would send snippets to and say how does this read ? What do you think ?
Jenn Salib HuberShe was my chief recipe tester , but she has also eaten a lot of my recipes , not just the ones in the book , and she's also in perimenopause , so I really felt , like you know she was a good person to kind of just ask me some questions , and I had asked my Instagram community for a few questions and we've included those , but I think you'll see that she really brought out the best of what I want everyone to know about Eat to Thrive during menopause . So welcome back . Thank you , friedel , for joining me today . It was fun . I always love talking to you and I always love sharing what I think is most important about not just menopause and nutrition , but our relationship with food , so I hope that everyone enjoys this .
FriedelHi everyone , I'm Friedel , and if you're thinking , well , who's this Friedel person ? Well , fair enough . You don't usually hear me on the Midlife Feast podcast , but today I'm stepping in as a guest host for my sister , jen , and this is a really exciting day because I get to interview her about her brand new book , which is Eat to Thrive During Menopause . It's so exciting . It is exciting , jen , so I'm going to pick up your book . I've got it in my hands . It's a real thing and it just it looks amazing . I think you're all going to agree . It looks absolutely amazing . So , jen , we're going to get into all the details in the next half hour or so , but just tell me , in three words or less , this is your morning challenge . In three words or less , what's it like seeing this , seeing your baby in print in real life ?
Jenn Salib HuberIn three words or less , really .
Jenn Salib HuberHey , you asked me a lot of challenging questions last time , so it's incredibly amazing , I think , are the only two words , three words , but it's is really like the third word . But you know , after two years of planning , writing , editing , waiting , waiting , waiting , waiting , I realized that writing a book is very much a hurry up and wait process . I cried
Sisters Talk Menopause: Friedel Interviews Jen
Jenn Salib Huber. I cried for probably the first day Anybody who's had a baby , when you have your first baby and you spend the first couple of days just looking at them amazed because you've grown this for nine months or however many months , and you're just looking at it thinking like , is this real ? I actually had that same kind of feeling when I first opened it and I shared the unboxing video on Instagram . But when I opened it , when I looked at it , I actually spent like the next day doing that at least three times , just like is this actually real . So it's incredibly amazing , would be my three words .
FriedelSo we're going to dive into the book in just a moment , everything that's inside your top insights , all the little gems that every woman in midlife needs to know . But first , I'm sure , because you are bringing out this book , there are going to be a lot of people discovering you for the first time . Can you just introduce yourself for people who haven't met you before , who haven't been following the podcast for years ? Tell us who is Jen oh gosh .
Jenn Salib HuberOkay , well , I am postmenopausal . I feel like that is a very relevant fact . So I have been through it all . My perimenopause journey started 10 years ago at 37 , 11 years ago at 37 . And I had already been a dietician and a naturopathic doctor for almost 15 years at that point and I guess it was actually closer to 10 , if I'm doing the math .
Jenn Salib HuberBut I had been working in this field of nutrition and women's health and really kind of integrative medicine for a long time , and yet I was still surprised by perimenopause .
Jenn Salib HuberI was still surprised by perimenopause and it really made me not question my education so much as question why we didn't have enough information available , not just about perimenopause and symptoms but life after menopause .
Jenn Salib HuberYou know , like I found myself in early menopause , I was fully menopausal by 44 . And it really just made me want to know how do I take care of myself for the rest of my life ? But what also was happening when I was going through all of that was that I was crash landing back into diet culture Because all of the information that was available at the time it's changed a little bit , thankfully , because there's lots of great people out there , but all the information at the time it's changed a little bit , thankfully , because there's lots of great people out there . But all the information at the time was very much focused on diets what to eat , what not to eat and it was a very weight-centric approach . And because I come from a history of disordered eating , I really needed to get away from that . So I had this kind of crash landing of perimenopause professionally personally , was crash landing into my experience and I wanted to change things , not just for myself but for everyone that's wonderful .
FriedelI just I'm going to gush here because you're my sister and I'm allowed to gush , but I know this is going to help a lot of people . One question I do have for you is so you amassed this wealth of information through your own experience , both professionally and personally . But what you've written is not just an information book , it's also a cookbook . So there's a lot of recipes in there that people can cook to help support their health . Why did you decide to make it a cookbook ?
Jenn Salib HuberSo that's a great question . So the other part of my story is that , you know , when I went into perimenopause and once everyone kind of realized what was happening I did , I think I chose the best option that was available to me at the time , which was , you know , to try some hormone therapy , and I really , really wanted it to work . Some of my most
Understanding Intuitive Eating in Midlife
Jenn Salib Huberbothersome symptoms were the anxiety , you know , sleep changes , the heavy , heavy crime scene periods that made me like terrified to leave the house , and also hot flashes . So I first started with some progesterone . That really wasn't helping me feel better . It was making me feel a lot worse .
Jenn Salib HuberI tried some estrogen , and I don't even know if the estrogen had a chance to do anything , because when we added estrogen I needed to have more progesterone and I'm just one of those people that I just couldn't tolerate it . And so , after spending six or seven months trying to figure out , you know , what are the hormone therapy options available to me and coming to the conclusion that , well , there aren't at this point and that's changing a little bit , you know , we're kind of 10 , 11 years in there are some new medications on the market that had I been in that situation now I might have had other choices , but it really led me to look at the food connection , and that is what you know , prompted me to dive into the research about soy and phytoestrogens as just kind of one of what I call the key ingredients . But of course , that led me to well , how can I cook these ? How can I enjoy these ? And so over time , I really had developed this you know library of recipes , and you know I'm not a trained chef .
Jenn Salib HuberI'm always first to say that I'm not a trained chef , but I've been cooking for a long time , and so I felt like my recipes were everyday recipes and you reassured me of that a lot . Um , when I would have , when I was having some imposter syndrome moments about this , you were like Jen , your recipes are practical . They're like things that I can make in my kitchen without having to go shop for all these special ingredients , and so I wanted it to be practical . So that's why it's also a cookbook . But it's not just a cookbook , it's also a cookbook .
FriedelYeah , and I think that's such an important point about what you've created here is that it is practical .
FriedelI know we shouldn't get into stereotypes and there's no one menopause for everyone or no one approach for everyone , but I think I can say with a reasonable amount of confidence that there is no woman in midlife especially women who are juggling families and careers and all these other challenges who wants to make a millefeuille Definitely not , and that's one of the things I absolutely love about this book is it really is just practical recipes that don't take too much time .
FriedelYou can feed your family as well as yourself , and I just think that's so special , thank you . There's something else that I think we need to get into , and that's really at the heart of the book , because you know I mean , there's all these symptoms that you've mentioned , and certainly I sent you my fair share of like 3 am messages about aching joints and not being able to sleep , and that was just three days ago . Also , I'm still sending you messages , less at 3 am , though . Okay , this is true , but what I wanted to get to is you know , it's not only a cookbook , but there's a very important philosophy underlying it , and that is intuitive eating . So again for the people who may not have been listening to your podcast for years , what is intuitive eating ?
Jenn Salib HuberYeah , and so I like to say that you know , this is , I think , the only menopause nutrition book that incorporates intuitive eating , so I do think that that's a really important part of it . And for anybody who's not familiar with intuitive eating , this is the framework philosophy created by Evelyn Triboli and Elise Resch more than 30 years ago now , and it's a non-diet approach , meaning that we're not using rules or plans or lists of good and bad foods . We're not saying that there's one right way to eat , and we're bringing back what we call interoceptive awareness or attunement and bad foods . We're not saying that there's one right way to eat , and we're bringing back what we call interoceptive awareness or attunement into the equation . When are you hungry ? You know ? When do you feel full ? What do you want ? We honor satisfaction . So throughout the book , I say you know quite a bit . I remember my editor saying enough with the satisfaction , jen , but like I think it's so important to lead with satisfaction , so do you want it ? Is it enjoyable to eat ?
Jenn Salib HuberAnd so throughout this book , I'm teaching you how to eat . I'm teaching you how to eat to thrive during menopause , but I'm not telling you this is good , this is bad . You have to have this or you should have this . And one of the things that I love , kind of one of my favorite parts , is that all of these undiet reminders and feast on this reminders that are sprinkled throughout the book , so that when we do start talking about the gentle nutrition pieces which is another you know one of the principles of intuitive eating , which is , you know , choosing foods with some intention , so choosing foods that are high in fiber , choosing foods that might have phytoestrogens , for example , that you're not getting caught up in that all or nothing mentality of this is best . I have to have this because it has this thing . So I really try and I hope that I succeeded in giving people practical information that is evidence-based , that you know will help them to thrive during menopause , but with that non-diet philosophy that you know kind of underpins intuitive eating .
FriedelOne of the gems that you've passed on to me that I would love to share with other people , because so often when we're thinking about diet culture , we're thinking about what do we have to cut out , what do we have to take away , and what I love about your approach is what can I add which just feels immediately so much more satisfying or enriching to be able to do that .
Jenn Salib HuberYeah , and that nutrition by addition is absolutely . The gift of intuitive eating is that you don't have to say no to anything , and when you get out of what we call the scarcity mindset of I can't have this or I have to cut this out , it immediately just feels more peaceful . So yeah , a peaceful relationship with food and menopause is one of my wishes for everyone too .
FriedelAnd you make it sound really easy . But let's be honest . I'm going to go to a question from one of your listeners right now and they said you know it just feels so hard to do intuitive eating right now . So what do you have to say about that ? How long have you been doing this and what can you say to someone who's just at the start of this process ? And even though it's intuitive , it can still seem really hard .
Jenn Salib HuberIt can , and I often like to remind myself and others that intuitive does not mean automatic , and so I think that when people discover intuitive eating , there's an immediate draw to it because it just feels so much nicer than following another diet . But I think sometimes our expectations are that there's just going to be a crystal ball sitting on our table every day telling us what to eat . So intuitive doesn't mean automatic and it is a process , and I usually tell people that I think a year of really committing to the process , not the outcome of becoming an intuitive eater sets you up , you know , in a really good way . And for anybody who's listening who thinks I've tried intuitive eating , this doesn't work or I'm , you know I'm not doing it right .
Busting Menopause Myths and Misconceptions
Jenn Salib HuberFirst is you know , don't do it alone . There are so many resources out there . There's the two books , the workbook . There's , you know , lots of courses . There's my community . There's lots of ways that you can get support . But I have included tons of information in the book , including the principles , and really it's woven into everything . So this might actually be a good resource for somebody who feels like they're struggling with intuitive eating too .
FriedelYeah , and is there ? I'll tell you what's going through my head right now . I'm going to be really honest , and I know that this is going through the minds of a lot of people . They're thinking yeah , sure , jen , sounds good , just eat intuitively . But I know what I'm going to do . I'm going to eat six bars of chocolate and seven bags of chips . Yeah , am I going to get what I need if I just open up and give myself all this freedom ? How do you know that I'm actually going to be eating what I need to support myself ?
Jenn Salib HuberAnd I think that that is one of the biggest fears about intuitive eating that people will get stuck in saying yes . And what you know I often talk about , and what people in this space talk about , is that it's a common fear that doesn't play out to be true when we're actually practicing real unconditional permission , which is permission to say yes or permission to say no . And so I'm going to give you the example and I've probably given this to you before , but who knows ? You know , when you've been on vacation , you guys do lots of bike trips . You know , when you take vacations , you do it the proper European way .
Jenn Salib HuberAt least two weeks , and so probably in the first few days of the vacation , it's exciting to not , you know , have to cook or clean , and it's exciting to just maybe stop at a restaurant or , you know , go somewhere to eat . But by the time you get to the end of that trip , you just can't wait to get home . Right , you're just , I just can't wait to get home in my kitchen cook the food that I want . So when we practice saying yes , the novelty of saying yes actually wears off pretty quickly . When we're trying to practice conditional permission , which is I can say yes on Friday . I can say yes if I go to the gym . I can say yes if I have enough points . I can say yes if I've earned it . That makes it very difficult to feel satisfied , so that's why satisfaction is so important is that you are less likely to get stuck in saying yes to the foods that you've been holding in restriction if you really practice saying yes to anything that you enjoy .
FriedelSo we've touched on intuitive eating , which is really at the heart of your book , but I also want to talk about what's inside . What are people going to see when they flip open the cover , and what they're first going to see is four main sections . The recipes , of course , that's at the end we're coming to those in a moment but they're also going to see sections about what's really happening to us when we're going through perimenopause . So what's it doing to our body ? The importance of the nutrition and I know that in your writing , you're busting a lot of the myths , the things that we've all heard a million times or that we've come to believe about these topics , so I want to put you on the spot again . I'm going to give you another challenge more than three words this time , though . Okay , and that is what would you say from your experience . Having put all this information together , what are the most persistent myths about food , weight and hormones in midlife that you're tackling in this book ?
Jenn Salib HuberWell , so the first three sections , I guess , to kind of give listeners a sense of what it looks like . The first section is called Midlife Mayhem and I really wanted to make sure that we had this foundation of what's happening , because one of the myths is actually about what's happening . Lots of people are surprised to hear that in perimenopause , especially early perimenopause , your estrogen levels might be higher than they were before . A lot of people have heard that they have to be having hot flashes in order to be in perimenopause , which is not true , by the way .
FriedelIt's crazy how many people think that . So I am definitely in perimenopause with lots of symptoms , but I have never had a hot flash . That so I have .
Jenn Salib HuberI am definitely in perimenopause with lots of symptoms , but I have never had a hot flash , not yet . So one of the myths is really what is perimenopause and menopause ? So making sure that we're all starting from the same foundation of factual information . But another myth that I think really set the tone for why I wanted to write the book is this idea that menopause is the end , that you know everything is worse and that you know it's only going to get worse from here , and so I really try and set the foundation that we actually have quite a bit of research and certainly from my own lived experience I can say that it gets better . I would not turn back time for anything Now . I would not go back to where you are , I would not go back to periphenopause .
FriedelThanks , jen , that's making me feel really good right now .
Jenn Salib HuberWell , I would go back knowing what I know now . Right , I wouldn't go back to where I was feeling really lost , confused , scared even . Because you know the body changes , weight changes , I mean they feel like they happen out of nowhere , which I definitely talk about in the book and talk about why they're happening and how you can respond with some compassion and what you can and can't do . So you know , a lot of the myths that I'm busting are around what is happening ? Because everybody or anybody who spends time on social media or on the internet really will know that there are a lot of cooks in this kitchen and not all of them deserve to be there . So I really wanted to create a book that was going to stand the test of time . I'm very confident that the information that is in here will be relevant in 10 years . It's not based on fads , which is why I spent so much time reading the research and making sure that what went into this book was absolutely rock-solid information for people to use .
FriedelYeah , so , so important , and you know you've already touched on it a little bit there is so much information out there . I think anyone who starts to go through this , who has come to the slow realization of , hey , I think I'm going through perimenopause and trying to figure out what they can do about the various symptoms that they're experiencing , has reached that point of overwhelm , and not only overwhelm in terms of information , but also who do you believe ? Right ? Because you do come across all sorts of people with all sorts of different views , and if you're trying to do that with everything else that's going on in your life , it very quickly becomes overwhelming . How did you navigate that while writing ? Because you also had to wade through all the information .
FriedelAnd I can remember . One particular memory that really stands out to me is you sent me this picture You'd gone to a hotel to write for a weekend , just to , you know , have a really quiet space that was yours to write , and you sent me a picture of the wall in your hotel room which you had covered with at least 100 post-its . I think , yeah , so much information . How did you process it all , select it all ?
Jenn Salib HuberOh my gosh . So when I decided to write this book and started the process of writing it after signing with my publisher , I knew that I knew a lot . Obviously , this is kind of my area of expertise and I'm in it , you know . So I'm lived experience , professional experience , and of course , the first thing that you do is you do kind of a literature review , and so I regularly read research and I felt like I was on top of the
Food Connections: Nutrition for Menopause Symptoms
Jenn Salib Huberlatest research . But when you actually start to dive into what's been published in the last year , especially with a hot topic like menopause , I did very quickly become a bit overwhelmed because I felt this responsibility to make sure that I was reading everything that I could to make sure that the information was accurate . So it's one of the reasons , actually , or it's one of the ways that I organized the book .
Jenn Salib HuberWas that okay ? I'm going to organize it by symptoms so that you know I can talk about what's most relevant about hot flashes and the really strong connection to food . So in each of the symptom sections I have what's called a kitchen connection , and this is where I give people you know my experience and my clinical experience , my personal experience , combined with what I think is the best evidence for that symptom . So I touch a little bit on other therapies as well . So I mentioned if something is , you know , particularly relevant to hormone therapy , for example .
Jenn Salib HuberBut what I really needed to do for my own kind of process was to just hyper-focus in on the food and the nutrition piece , and so that's kind of how I organized . It was by symptom , really sticking with the food piece . But yeah , I had books everywhere , you know things that were tagged , I think I printed out , because I'm Gen X , I need to print and highlight . I think I printed out like 100 studies at least and I , you know , had all these things organized . I used , you know different softwares to organize it . But it was a lot and there were definitely times when even I felt overwhelmed . As somebody who was who does this full time , I felt overwhelmed at times .
FriedelSo what does that mean then , for the average person , a woman in menopause who does want to do their own research , who does want to have a look around and see what they can learn ? I mean , do you have a suggestion for someone who's just staring down into the black hole that is the internet ? How can they tell if they're getting ?
Jenn Salib Hubergood information or not and this is a great question that goes beyond any discussion about the book but I think is really important is to trust who you're getting the information from . There are lots of opinions . Not everyone is qualified to give them . So understanding that you know there are going to be people who have a very powerful anecdote that has changed their personal life , but that the plural of anecdote is not data , and so one person sharing their experience and telling you what worked for them is not going to be the same experience for you .
Jenn Salib HuberSo I like to suggest that people have filters in their life . So I describe my role as a filter . Often , you know , I filter out for people what I think is relevant and real . Having healthcare providers that you can trust very important as well and just making sure , if you're getting information from people on the internet , that they're qualified to do that . So somebody who's a registered dietitian would be a great place to start , but there are other nutrition professionals . There can be naturopathic doctors as well . Obviously , that's kind of my other credential , but just making sure that people have the credentials to give you that information , that's a great tip .
FriedelGo look for the experts . Yeah , we had a question from a listener as well who asked you know , in this process of writing the book , was there something that you learned and that you still do ? Was there like a little habit that you picked up or a ritual ?
Jenn Salib HuberSo a couple of things actually . You know one of them when I was researching the section on sleep and you know , with sleep there are some really interesting connections to food and you know some of the more obvious ones are carbohydrates . So carbohydrates help us sleep . Anybody who regularly follows me or listens to the podcast knows that I'm a big fan of carbs . But making sure that you know you have carbohydrates as part of your evening meal and you know the really interesting thing with that is that carbohydrates are actually involved in getting some of the amino acids into the brain that help to make serotonin , which gets converted to tryptophan .
Jenn Salib HuberSo , even though I don't ever cut carbs anymore , I'm always conscious of having a filling-satisfying carbohydrate on my plate at supper . I don't skimp on that , for sure , because sleep is so important . But probably the other thing was how strong the research is for fiber , and obviously I knew this . You know fiber is one of the five key ingredients and you know but especially in midlife and menopause is a fantastic strategy . So now I really have started this practice which is one of the things that I recommend in the book of front-loading the day with a high-fiber breakfast , so oatmeal , which I loved before . I have probably five days of the week now and I really make sure that I've got all kinds of fiber add-ins , whether that's flax or pumpkin seeds or berries , you know , really trying to kind of put fiber on my plate as often as I can .
FriedelAnd sometimes it's so simple , right ? So my favorite breakfast at the morning . In the morning I'm more of a savory person , so I have cottage cheese , yeah , and then I'll put some tomatoes and cucumbers on top and some balsamic vinegar , and then I'll sprinkle over a handful of pumpkin seeds or some flavor seeds .
Jenn Salib HuberSo easy , yes , so good . So those are probably the two things that , as I was reading and doing the research that I really that were a little bit new , a little bit updated from what I already knew and became part of my routine .
FriedelWell , we're already talking about food , so why don't we start to go into some of the recipes we're going to find inside the book and , of course , some more practical advice ? So one question we had from a listener was are there many plant-based recipes in the book ? Yeah , and that's a great question .
Jenn Salib HuberI , yes , the answer is yes , and . But it is not a plant-based book . So there's some terminology that I go through . One of them is plant-forward versus plant-based . So plant-based and there's nothing wrong with that if somebody's listening and they define themselves as plant-based . For me personally it feels too all or nothing , and so I really like the plant-forward definition , which is thinking about adding more plants to my plate as often as I can in ways that don't feel hard , that don't feel like a rule . So I would say that probably 80% actually of the recipes in this book would be plant forward . There's lots of recipes with soy foods , like tofu , edamame , different kinds of tofu . I teach you how to prepare and buy and select tofu , because I know lots of people get kind of intimidated by it . There's lots of recipes with beans and lentils . I do include quite a few dairy foods so they wouldn't be considered plant-based . But again , like , there's lots of ways that you can adapt those recipes to suit your own personal tastes , values , preferences , but I would definitely describe it as a plant-forward book .
FriedelAnd you have a lot of recipes , I think , where you do give those options .
Jenn Salib HuberYeah absolutely .
FriedelYour tikka masala curry can be with chicken or with tofu , for example .
Jenn Salib HuberYeah , and a lot of the recipes actually use both . So the same with the tortilla soup it uses chicken and beans , and if you wanted to make it plant-based , you could just add more beans . So lots of variations , amazing , okay . So I have a question for you . So you were one of my chief recipe testers , obviously , as my sister , and we've lived in the same city now for almost six years . You have eaten a lot of my recipes .
FriedelI've been at your house very often for dinner . Yeah , what are some of your favorites ? Oh gosh , that's a big question and I have to make sure that I mention the ones in the book , because you've done a lot of cooking for me over the years , but I think I know them . I would say your tortilla soup is absolutely a standard in our family . Now Our whole family loves your tortilla soup . Oh , I love it , and it's also like there's nothing in your book . That's really hard , but that one is just supremely easy . Yeah , it is literally dump it all in a crock pot and walk away . Yeah ,
Practical Recipes and Real-Life Applications
Friedeleasy , it is literally dump it all in a crockpot and walk away , which I love , because on a busy morning I can open a few tins of tomatoes and throw a few other ingredients into the crockpot and come home and dinner's ready .
Jenn Salib HuberAwesome and it makes a lot . One of the reasons I love it is that there's always leftovers .
FriedelYeah , and it's very customizable . You know , the people who want sour cream can add sour cream .
Jenn Salib HuberSatisfaction right .
FriedelSatisfaction , and so usually in the evening when we have it , I just put a whole bunch of extras out on the table and everyone picked with what they want . The base is the same , yeah , and it's just so easy . So I love that , love it . Um , you've made me and I sorry I might not get the right title in the book , but you make these great muffins . They have um , flax , pumpkin flax , yeah pumpkin , pumpkin flax .
FriedelYeah , thank you and well , I think they taste great . My guilty little secret is I've never actually made them myself , but she makes them for me all the time and I can tell you I'm always so appreciative because I can just grab them and go and the book is coming out in pumpkin season , right .
Jenn Salib HuberSo this is a great time of year to find all those pumpkin flavors and they freeze really well . They're definitely a staple in our house too . I'm glad you love them .
FriedelI do love them . You can make them for me anytime . And you also introduced me to these energy bowls , yeah , and they've got some mint in them .
Jenn Salib HuberYo the chocolate mint ones . Yeah , yeah the peppermint flax .
FriedelBecause I think one of the misconceptions that I had and I'm pretty sure a lot of other people will have this as well is oh , I'm going to cook for perimenopause . That's going to be a bit boring , it's not going to be tasty . Yeah , but these are . I mean , they're really good , like they feel like a real treat , like they're sweet and they just hit all the right notes for me .
Jenn Salib HuberYeah , I'm glad you like those . I mean , my real philosophy with food is that I would say almost all the recipes . I didn't actually time them , but if I had to make a sweeping generalization , they're all ready within 30 minutes . You know , like give or take , no one , hold me to that , please . But you know this idea that food needs to be hard , complicated , that it needs to take a please . But you know this idea that food needs to be hard , complicated , that it needs to take a lot of time .
Jenn Salib HuberI really wanted to simplify that , because these are literally recipes that I make Like . These are not things that I , you know , like I developed for the cookbook . The vast majority of these some I did develop for the cookbook , but I make them a lot now the vast majority of these are , you know , staples in my house . That got me through perimenopause . That helped me to add the flax , the soy , the beans , the lentils , the fiber , like all of the things that I think we need to thrive . This is where these recipes came from . So I wanted them to taste good , I wanted my family to want to eat them , but I also just needed them to be easy .
FriedelYeah , exactly , and you just said something that I think we can't say it often enough . It's not just for you , so you're not making two sets of meals , one for you and one for the rest of the family . They're really things that well . Again , no promises , no one . Hold us to this . We're not saying everyone in your family is going to love everything , but they're accessible enough that you know most people will enjoy them , which I love about it .
Jenn Salib HuberAwesome . I have actually a funny memory . I think it was from that same Rotterdam trip . So when I was writing the book I think I did five little mini getaways three , four days . I would use my husband's Marriott points and go to a hotel or I'd find the most obscure Airbnb in the middle of nowhere . That was boring , so that I wouldn't be tempted to want to go do fun things .
Jenn Salib HuberAnd one of the last writing trips that I was doing was editing a lot of the recipes , you know , making sure that all the I's were dotted and T's were crossed . And I remember calling you and saying are you home ? Do you have any ground flax ? Can you weigh out how much a quarter of ground flax is ? Because I had a discrepancy and it was like that . You know that's what was the level of detail . You know that writing a book involves and obviously you want to get it right and I just I so appreciated having you as , like my , my sidekick , even though you weren't there in the kitchen with me , my sidekick to to help me out with that .
FriedelI was happy to do it , and then I had like a two week supply of groundlax , just like that , which I had to use . I think we're kind of coming towards the end of this podcast . I feel like we could sit and talk about it for days , yes , but it would then never make it up to your show .
Jenn Salib HuberI feel like you're going to be a fan favorite . I feel like people are going to be writing in and wanting more Frito , because the podcast that we did , which is 121 , which was the things you know , I think we titled it eight things my sister wants you to know about perimenopause was the most popular episode , by a thousand or more downloads last year , and people often say to me I love that episode with your sister . So I feel like , yeah , so you might get more invitations back .
FriedelOkay , I'm up for it , it's all good . So , yeah , we could sit here and talk a very long time we're very good at that but I do feel like we probably need to start winding it down so that people can get on with their day and rush out to the shop and buy their copy of your cookbook . So let's see if we can bring it to a nice close . And I think I just want to focus in on again why this book matters for people . So you've worked with a lot of different women . Through your practice . You've done a lot of different interviews , spoken to a lot of people . Is there maybe a story that stands out for you in terms of why this book matters ?
Jenn Salib HuberOh gosh , I probably should have thought about this answer more , but so one of the things that I incorporated into the book were little snippets of people's stories . So , at the beginning of the Symptoms , I had asked my community , the community of feasters way back so probably more than a year and a half ago now , when I was really kind of in the thick of writing , what's something that surprised you ? What's something that you didn't know ? What's something that you , you know , wish was different ? And so I included their quotes for each of the symptoms and for , you know , for every symptom of menopause .
Jenn Salib HuberI really don't think anybody in 2025 should be surprised that it's perimenopause . So the stories are really about the women who have felt empowered by the information and not scared , because so much of again what we hear is that menopause is terrible and it's awful , and you can't eat carbs and you have to give up sugar and you know your bones are going to break and all those things . And so , while I don't have one story , I feel like this is the story of all the people that I have worked with and all the stories that I've heard of . I don't know what's happening , I'm scared , I don't know what to eat . I'm confused by all the information and I'm exhausted , I'm low capacity . So all of those stories , I think , are reflected in this book .
FriedelThat's so beautiful . I might be a little too attached to this book . So if someone wants to get a copy of this book , how can they do it ? Tell us where are they going to find it and how can they stay connected with you generally ? So ?
Jenn Salib Huberwhen this podcast airs it will be September 8th . The book comes out October 21st . Anywhere and everywhere the books are sold . Anywhere and everywhere the books are sold . But if you want to pre-order and this is where I put in my plea and I'm going to tell you why pre-orders are so important If you would like to pre-order , you can also pre-order from wherever books are sold and we'll have links and basically anywhere you can find me , you can find a link . But your local bookseller , your retailer , wherever you buy books , if you put in Eat to Thrive During Menopause , my book will come up and then you can go to the link in the show notes and you can submit your receipt and you can claim some exclusive bonus recipes , so you get an additional pack of recipes that you can start cooking with right away .
Jenn Salib HuberNow lots of people have asked me and I actually didn't know the answer to this before this whole process why are pre-orders important ?
Jenn Salib HuberSo if you're a new author , an unknown author , of which I am , both you know the world , the book world doesn't know you , and so before the you know this big publishing date of October 21st , the more pre-orders that are , you know , placed . That really helps to show the book world that this is a book that people want and it means that they will order copies to have on their shelves . It means that you know people will want to hear about it . So it helps to get my message out . So lots of people have actually already written in and said hey , I'm a longtime listener because I had talked about this book a little bit at the end of last season . You know saying like you know I can't work with you for whatever reason , but I pre-ordered your book and you know as a way to kind of say thanks . So if you've ever wanted to support me , if you've ever wanted to support the podcast and this work , pre-ordering the book would be the biggest gift .
FriedelOkay , you heard it here first . If you love Jen as much as I do , pre-order her book , thank you . Usually , when you interview people on your podcast , uh , the very last question you ask is what is the missing ingredient in midlife ? And so I want to flip the script and now ask it to you , because I don't know . Have you ever answered that question ? Don't give us , oh my gosh , I haven't even thought about that um have I ?
FriedelI don't think I have answered that I haven't listened to every single episode of your podcast , but I've listened to many . I don't think I have answered that . I haven't listened to every single episode of your podcast , but I've listened to many . I don't think you've answered it or , if you have , it's been a very long time ago . Okay , so is that the ?
Jenn Salib Huberquestion .
FriedelSo that's yeah , yeah , yeah , that's well . The question is , yeah , if you could leave all of the midlife
Why This Book Matters
Friedelwomen who are listening to this right now with one message or one ingredient about food , body and the season of life , what would it be ?
Jenn Salib HuberI really think that satisfaction has been such a game changer , and I don't have one answer . I'm terrible at answering my own questions , apparently . So satisfaction , permission , right , permission to say yes , permission to say no to anything and everything in life , not just food , but also self-compassion . And because this is a hard season of life , it's a busy season of life , there's a lot going on , there's a lot going on in the lives of the people around us , and it is really hard . It's easy to be hard on ourselves , but if you're not sleeping , if you are going through body changes , mood changes , life changes , you know to have to lead with self-compassion and to make sure that your needs are meshed is , I think , a solid plan . And with that , though , prioritize satisfaction , pleasure , enjoyment , because this is going somewhere good . Menopause is going somewhere good . Jen , thank you so much .
FriedelThank you . Thank you , I'm going to give you a hug .
Jenn Salib HuberThanks everyone for joining us and I am so excited to share this new baby of mine with you in October . Lots more to come . Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Midlife Feast . If you're ready to take the next step towards thriving in midlife , head to menopausenutritionistca to learn more about my one-to-one and group coaching programs , free resources and where to get your copy of Eat to Thrive During Menopause . And if you've loved today's conversation and found it helpful , please share it with a friend who needs to hear this and leave a review . Wherever you listen to podcasts , it helps so many more people just like you find their way to food freedom and midlife confidence . Until next time , remember , midlife is not the end of the story , it's the feast . Let's savor it together
Final Thoughts and Pre-Order Information
Jenn Salib Huber.
