A Practical Guide To Eating For Brain Health And Hormone Balance

Brain fog doesn’t have to rule your day. We dig into a practical, feel-good approach to women’s health in our 40s, showing how everyday foods can protect memory, smooth mood swings, and keep energy steady without complicated rules or bland meals. The focus is simple: add more of what your brain and hormones love, and let the rest fall into place.

We walk through a brain-friendly pantry you can build this week—blueberries for memory, walnuts and omega-3s for focus, pumpkin seeds for clarity, spinach for folate, and green tea for graceful aging. You’ll hear how lentils stabilize energy without a crash and how kale earns a permanent spot on the grocery list, whether you toss it in a salad, sauté it with garlic, or juice it with apple. We also share easy, satisfying meals like a bright chickpea salad and a rich lentil soup powered by a quick sofrito that turns simple ingredients into comfort food.

Midlife nutrition is more than macros. We talk about balancing higher protein with fiber and hydration to avoid constipation, getting calcium and vitamin D as estrogen declines, and spotting the patterns behind sugar slumps, pasta bloat, and coffee jitters. Instead of strict diets, we lean on small habits: weekend juicing, smart swaps for refined carbs, and honest check-ins with your body to see what truly helps. If you’re looking for a sustainable way to protect your brain and feel lighter in your skin, this conversation gives you tools you can actually use.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a quick review telling us your favorite brain-boosting food. Your feedback helps more women find practical support right when they need it.

Chapters

• 0:00 Framing Women’s Holistic Health
• 0:41 Diet As Daily Prevention
• 2:14 Family Risk And Food Awareness
• 3:36 Simple Meals That Nourish
• 5:20 Brain-Protective Foods Spotlight
• 8:35 Juicing Routines And Green Tea
• 10:50 Lentils And Flavor With Sofrito
• 13:12 Building A Dementia-Defense Pantry
• 15:20 Slow Habit Change Over Perfection

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hello everyone, this is Still Roses Podcast. This podcast was created for women by women to elevate women's voices. I hope everyone is having a fabulous day today. So I wanted to pick up where I left off, continuing to focus on health and wellness for women, but more from the holistic side of things. So today I really wanted to focus on like diet. What is your diet doing to your body? What's the best thing you can consume? What should you really just avoid in general? Every anytime you Google up any any diet, not even diet, just what are the best foods to eat in a certain age range? They're gonna point you to Google specifically is just gonna point you to where is it? Lean meats, fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, like you know, like you know it. But specifically, I wanted to call your attention to a couple of things. So now, one of the things that I touched on in the last episode was brain fog was a big thing because it's something that's freaking me out. So I focused a lot there. What I wanted to mention a couple foods here that protect women's brains from dementia. Now, this is one of those things that you know when they tell you and the doctors tell you, this is hereditary, you're gonna get this, this is gonna happen. Heart disease is in my family, diabetes is in my family, high cholesterol is in my family. I have none of these things, but I have family members close to me, close relatives to me, that are already on medication for high cholesterol. They're already on medication for high blood pressure, on medication for diabetes. This is the path that I don't want to go down. And because I don't want to go down it, I'm incredibly mindful of what am I eating, how much am I consuming, and what is it doing for me. Consistently, when I make meals for myself, I always look up what are the health benefits of the foods that I'm eating. It makes me so happy. Last night I made um a chickpea salad with cilantro, red onions, black pepper, and feta cheese. I was so excited to make this chickpea salad because this is gonna be like my little meal prep thing that I'm having. And you can eat it with anything. Like I actually had a little at like a quarter cup of rice and I mixed it in with the rice and it made it like really fulfilling. But those are the kinds of things that like I want to push to you guys. Like, you don't have to go the normal path. Now, if you're not a vegetarian, you can still eat chickpeas. Nobody's gonna scream at you. But if you are vegetarian, like these are the things that are like really great options. So, again, one of the things that I I digress because of brain fog, I joke, it's not that bad. But one of the things that I did want to highlight here is these particular foods that came across my feed that are actually really, really highly beneficial for you. So, blueberries was at the top of the list for dementia. Now, blueberries have incredible healing properties. Blueberries' health benefits. I actually meant to have this all pulled up. I apologize. So blueberries packed with nutrients, fiber, vitamin C, vitamin Kers offers benefits like improved memory and brain function, better heart health, reduced inflammation, aids in exercise recovery. The brain function is really where I was focusing in on. But they're overall good and they're low calorie, which, if you're concerned about the weight issue, like this is a really great option. I'll mix blueberries into my plant-based yogurt. I don't eat pancakes anymore, but if I did, I probably would have thrown them in there. Um, I don't juice with blueberries. I actually don't think I've tried it yet. I might give it a shot. Maybe I'll run to the market today and get some blueberries and give it a shot because I didn't, I don't think I've talked about it enough here, but I actually do make juice. I do juicing every single weekend to make sure that my kids are getting vegetables. That's actually my thing. But blueberries, huge, huge deal. This is something really consume. Walnuts are high in omega 3s, dark chocolate. If you're into chocolate, it increases blood flow to the brain. I don't particularly care for it. It gives me indigestion. Avocados is there for your healthy fats. Everybody knows that one. Green tea has anti-aging polyphenols in it. I drink green tea every single day for multiple reasons because I'm also off coffee, which you can't tell by my chitter chatter, but I am off coffee. Um, I had to give it up in 2025 for health reasons. So green tea is a thing for me. Every single day a green tea. Uh pumpkin seeds for zinc for have zinc for clarity, spinach has folate for memory, and lentils stabilize brain energy. Let me tell you how much I love lentils. I love making lentil soup. Lentils are my favorite, favorite thing to make. So you can throw any seasoning in there for the lentil soup that I make in the pot before I put the, so you soak your lentils, I make them fresh, and you soak your lentils first. And then when you're getting ready to put them in the pot, before you put everything into the pot, you're gonna make it's called a sofrito. So for everyone who's listening who's not Spanish or not married to a Spanish person, the sofrito is like the key ingredient to every single dish you're gonna make. So frito is basically a blend of herbs and spices that you're gonna put together and have simmer a few minutes before you start throwing in everything else. That blending of seasonings and spices and herbs is a power punch to your food. I highly recommend look it up, find recipes on YouTube. You can use anything to make it, depending on how what ingredients I have on hand. I'll do onions, garlic, peppers, cilantro. That's actually my favorite combination, those three. And then I'll throw a double in, some salt, oil, water. This is not a fine recipe, by the way. I just use my neutral bullet, throw everything in that fits, and then I blend it all up, call it a day. Nothing I do is that finite. But when you do that and you throw that in the bottom of your pan and you let that heat up a little bit, and then you throw your lentils in, and then you throw the water in to get everything boiling. Good grief. How delicious. But again, these are all things, the ones that, so blueberries, walnuts, chocolate, dark chocolate, avocados, green tea, pumpkin seeds, spinach, and lentils. This is on this list for plants that protect women's brains from dementia. I've told you a few times how concerning this is for me. So it's something that I wanted to bring to your attention that there are natural things for you to consume that will actually help your current situation. And you don't have to eat them every single day. Start incorporating it in slowly, you know, and it doesn't have to be something crazy. Lentils you can make on a Sunday and you can eat it Monday, Tuesday. You know, like kind of spread things out a little bit. You don't have to go two bananas. I think that is the biggest problem with most people trying to make shifts. You try to do it, we all, not you, we all try to do it too fast, and then it doesn't take. You got to do it slowly. So I did Google best foods for women in their 40s. It goes right to for women over 40, best focused on protein, fiber, healthy fats, and calcium vitamin D. I will say this. I was focusing on protein quite a bit in December, and it caused a massive problem for me. I stopped consuming dairy except for like cheese here and there a couple years back. In December, I consumed so much cheese and I was eating Greek protein yogurt, thinking I was doing something really beneficial for my gut. But unfortunately, in my case, it actually caused horrible constipation, something you would never think of. So if you're actually eating something that is very high in protein and you're in your 40s, you might end up with very bad constipation. That's not something that's common knowledge. Nobody would think of that. And honestly, when you look it up, it literally says either this is gonna be really good for you or really bad for you. And I'm like, that's nice. Obviously, you gotta play it by ear, it's per case-by-case scenario, but just a heads up. So they have the list, you know, lean proteins, fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, whole greens. Protein is helping to maintain muscle mass and keeps you full. Fiber supports gut health, manages cholesterol, calcium and vitamin D is crucial for preventing osteoporosis as estrogen drops. Omega-3s is good for heart health and potentially easing menopause symptoms. Interesting that it says potentially easing menopause symptoms. That little thread there is what you want to pick up on and you want to dig deeper. I already told you I take omega-3s twice um every single day. Oxidants found in colorful produce um fight cell damage. Let's stay young, ladies. Now, I'm running through this really quickly because I also want to say like, if you're somebody who wants to have a steak and wants it with, you know, mashed potatoes or butter or chives or whatever the hell, go for it. Like, nobody's saying restrict anything you're doing. Just incorporate more greens or pull in, you know, like fruits every single day. Maybe it's juicing for you, like whatever you can do to consume some of these things that we're talking about here. Something that we consume multiple times a week, I wanna say it's probably three or four times a week is kale. So, not a lot of people like kale. It's a very coarse leaf. I actually really like it in salads because it is incredibly fulfilling to me. I like the density of it. I like the consistency of it. I feel good eating it because I know how good it is for me. So maybe that's part of it is that I know how beneficial it is. So I really like to eat it. You can eat kale every single day. It provides a massive nutrient boost, offering potent antioxidants, vitamins A, C, K, and minerals, which supports immunity, strong bones, and heart health, eye health, skin and digestion, while potentially reducing cancer risk and eating weight management due to fiber and low calories. I don't eat it every single day. I actually use it in my juice. So, for example, I make, you know, I mentioned I have a juicer, I use it every single weekend. And in December, I was making multiple batches to keep everybody healthy because of the flu that we were going through. But on a regular basis, I will throw in kale apples and you know, pineapple. Today I actually did kale apple celery because that's just what I had on hand. I don't think the kids are gonna drink this one because it's not as sweet without the pineapple, but nevertheless, huge benefit for you. So that's the first thing I drink in the morning. Well, excuse me, hold on a second. I drink tea first. So I'll have a cup of black tea and with honey. And then after the black tea with honey, I drink a cup of water, about eight ounces of water with all the vitamins that I mentioned on one of the other episodes. So then I will have my pile of vitamins with my water and my black tea. And I take that in the morning. That's what I have. And then from there, I transition over to I'll take one of the cold presses that I make. So in this case, this week, I will be drinking kale apple celery. Highly beneficial for you. Now, kind of fills me up a little bit, but like obviously eating fills it more up. Let's see here. Heart health, immune support, detox, oh, detoxification. Kale aids the body, body's natural detoxication processes, supporting liver health. It's just, it's one of those vegetables that is so good for you. I actually made kale for my dad the other day when he came to visit. You remove the stem, and then with just the leaves, I sauteed it with like a tab of butter and a little bit of fresh garlic. Nothing else. I didn't season it. I did nothing else to it. I just sauteed it lightly and I gave that to him with um the baked fish that I made. He loved it. And it tasted really good. So there's other ways to incorporate it. Eating it raw is obviously the best way because you're gonna get that really raw, the density of it. But you can saute it, throw it into something else, throw it in your soups. Um, I had a cousin, I have a cousin who shout out to the fancy foodies. Um, she she did this recipe the other day, and I was watching the recipe, and she made this really delicious looking soup, and I was like, oh man, like kale. Kale's looking so good in there, you know. So it's just one of those things that really boosts everything that you do. So, really, I recog strongly recommend it. Now, focusing a little bit more on best foods for women and perimenopause, the focus is the same. So it's a nutrient-rich diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, healthy fats. Something that I've noticed too for myself, I've actually completely stopped eating all pastas. I do not eat any processed food. I do not eat pasta. Very rarely will I eat bread in general. It kind of sounds like I don't eat anything now that I'm saying all that out loud. Very rarely do I eat any bread. If I am gonna have pasta, I actually will specifically use protein pasta. So it's made from chickpeas. There's some regular semolina flour in it, but it's also chickpeas, lentils, like all the other things. Because regular pasta, I just can't eat it. I can't eat it. And it's not that I'm allergic to it. I am not allergic to gluten. What I don't like is the feeling that I get when I when I eat it. And because I get have such a bad feeling after I eat it, and it's not mental, it's physical. I'm lethargic and bloated. I just feel my body like being like, it feels like a bomb has been dropped into my stomach and it's just sitting there, like waiting. And that's the feeling that I don't like. So I won't eat it anymore, specifically because of that, which for any family members listening is probably like, oh my God, because we have you see pasta all the time. But it's a food that I actively avoid now. I will not eat it. You can give me pretty much anything else. I will take a protein and a salad over that any day of the week. And it kind of sucks and it kind of sounds like, oh, damn, you're not enjoying your life. But I am because there's lots of really good things to eat out there beyond heavy-duty carbs. So foods to avoid in perimenopause, menopause. So here, like the list is kind of general. So it's spicy foods, sugar, processed items, refined carbs, excess caffeine, and alcohol. Regarding sugar and refined carbs, so this is another one. So beyond the pasta that I gave up, I found this past year I no longer was having any cravings for sugar. So I used to actually get really, really terrible cravings for sugar in the afternoon. It was constantly like foraging around for something. I would go to, oh my God, I'm embarrassed to admit this. But I used to go to Walgreens and they had these like dollar boxes of candy. And I would get, I really, really like my favorite candy. I don't like chocolate because that repeats. I'm like allergic, I guess. What I do really like though is um like chewy, sugary candies. So it's like a sugar bomb going off in my body. So like Mike and Ike's juju fruits. I really, oh my god, Juji fruits are my favorite. My mouth just started watering talking about it. So bad for you though. What I noticed this past year, anytime, so I don't eat it, I don't keep it in the house. Anytime that I would decide I'm gonna splurge, I'm gonna just get a little treat for myself, and I would eat candy, within 20 minutes of eating the candy, my body would completely crash. And I it felt like I was dragging like so badly. So I would have to drink like copious amounts of water to try to flush my system out. I noticed that every single time I ate a little treat, quote unquote. Because of that, I got ahead and researched it, and that's the sugar disrupting my body and the crash from the fallout of the sugar. Now, I never had it like this before, where I would get such a bad fallout, but I'm paying attention now to my body. And my body is saying no sugar. So guess what? No sugar. My body also told me no coffee in 2025. I was the person who was drinking, I don't know, four shots of espresso a day. I love coffee. It's so delicious. But I got to a point where I was starting to get really bad pain in my bladder. And there was nothing wrong. There was no infection, there was nothing happening. And so I just kind of was like, all right, I might have to just give this up and see if it if it helps. And unfortunately, fortunately, it did help. And I felt better. And so that's it. And that's kind of my process with all this, to be perfectly honest with you. It's very trial and error. And so I'll decide, like, you know what? I don't really feel great after I eat this. I don't want to eat it anymore. Let me see what it's like to not eat it. Let me see if I can still have it. And you basically just test the waters. Something else that regarding the pasta and like heavy rice and carbs and things like that. One of the other things that really got me was I I accidentally caused a um a clog in our pipe in the sink. And it was due to the amount of pasta that I threw down the garbage disposal. Well, when I did that, it made me start to think about our