Most of my patients decide to change their diet and activity levels in midlife. The good news is that it’s never too late.
Welcome to the Healthy Aging Newsletter, a free publication translating trustworthy medical research into simple habits to age well, free of chronic disease. I’m Dr. Ashori, a family medicine doctor turned health coach.
By midlife most of us in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia have collected a few diagnoses. Whether it’s high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, or arthritis. Even halfway through life, your nutrition choices can have a wonderful downstream effect.
Focusing on Nutrition
The reason I emphasize nutrition so much in my Healthy Aging practice is because poor westernized diets is how most of us ended up here. Until we see a bigger societal shift it’s on us to make the necessary changes.
Calories are cheaper to make and more abundant than ever before. The way we can counteract the negative effects of such foods is to focus on nutrient-rich meals that aren’t excessively calorie-dense.
The Body Knows How to Heal
If you have an infection in the lung, the body will use its immune cells to fight it. If you have high blood pressure the body will adjust your heart rate to avoid excess damage. Plaque build up in the coronary arteries is stabilized by macrophages. And osteoarthritis is controlled by adding more lubrication in the joint space.
While medications have their place, they aren’t a free ride. Side effects and cost aside, nutrition is the biggest bang for the buck. Inflammation can be improved by avoiding foods that are pro-inflammatory in our diet. Lowering salt intake can help the body stabilize high blood pressure, and cutting out unnecessary saturated fat will help stabilize the plaque in the arteries faster.
Changing the Trajectory of Illness
I’ve worked with 2 people who stand out to me – MS and NA. MS was diagnosed with heart failure from uncontrolled high blood pressure. And NA had very bad kidney function – close to dialysis.
Back then I didn’t do much healthy coaching but we talked about nutrition and exercise. Each went on to make the necessary changes in their diet – MS cut out salt and added more veggies and NA cut out proteins and increased grains and seeds.
They still had the same diseases but drastically changed the trajectory. MS didn’t have to worry about a heart transplant because he essentially maintained his ejection fraction and even improved it a little. NA didn’t have to go on dialysis.
What Are You At Risk For?
Based on your current health status come up with a few common conditions wherever you live in the world and see what you can do to help delay or prevent them through nutrition.
If it’s heart disease it’s the saturated fat and lack of fresh produce that may be a modifiable factor. If it’s osteoarthritis it might be having too many inflammatory foods, which for some are dairy and gluten and for others it’s eggs and chicken.
Midlife is the best time to change your trajectory.
If you want help building a nutrition plan you can actually follow, book a Fit Call. We’ll map out the next 2–4 weeks so you know exactly what to do, based on your goals, your risks, and the foods you already enjoy.
- Identify your biggest risk drivers (BP, cholesterol, sleep, weight, inflammation)
- Build simple meals that are nutrient-rich, not calorie-dense
- Create a realistic activity routine that supports metabolism and recovery
- Reduce the few foods that move your numbers the most (without restriction spirals)
- Leave with a clear weekly plan, grocery strategy, and next steps
Bring your main goal (energy, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, sleep). I’ll help you choose the simplest next step that makes everything else easier.
