The Hidden Beauty of an Empty Nest

What's great about focusing my business on nutrition for the whole family is that I get to help clients of all ages and stages of life. Every so often in this blog, you’ll see me zero in on one particular age group. I’ve got a couple of issues in store for women and kids in the near future, so keep an eye out.

But, this week, I’m starting where I live….

Friends who might be reading this will laugh out loud at me saying there’s any sort of beauty in an empty nest. You see, my husband and I are there… sort of. Our daughter is in college. I console myself with the fact that she still “lives at home” when she’s not at school. This is still her “permanent address,” so we’re not really empty nesters at all. Right?

OK, maybe we’re “empty nest adjacent.”

Either way, I’ve made no bones about the fact that it’s awful. I say that half jokingly, because I really do love the time with my husband. But we’re both lamenting the days when our daughter was little and how fast the time went.

So how can I -- of all people -- tell you to look for any sort of silver lining there?

Well, because after years of focusing on your kids — their schedules, activities, diets, you name it — there’s finally a chance to turn the focus inward and take stock of where you are.

You no longer have to worry about making something for dinner that everyone will like, or fighting the “eat this, not that” battle. You no longer have to keep snacks in the house “just for the kids” that might derail your attempts at clean eating. And you no longer have to leave your own nutrition goals on the back burner.

Instead, it’s the perfect opportunity to optimize your health for the next phase of life so you can do all the things you’ve been saying you’ll do when the kids are gone.

Do you want to guess how??

Nutrition is the single best way to reduce your risk of disease and improve your overall health.

Read that again.

So ditch the habits that don’t serve you and replace them with ones that do. You know what I’m talking about – the habits you know you should break if you only knew where to start.

Now is not the time to adopt the “old dog, new tricks” nonsense. (Who said old?!) Now is not the time to be comfortably complacent.

Because, whether or not you see visible signs, your eating habits have already had an impact on your health and longevity. That’s why, in this phase of life, it’s more important than ever to harness the power of clean eating to fuel you for the fun days ahead. And for the challenging ones, too. Maybe especially for the challenging ones.

Some of my favorite clients have been people who were entering a new phase of life – from teens to my contemporaries. There was something so exciting about helping them get a fresh start. And, while they all had different specific goals, the underlying goal was the same: eat better to feel better; feel better to function better. 

I’ve said it before and I know I’ll say it again and again  – whatever your health goals, chances are, whole-food nutrition can help get you there.

Even better, it can be fun in the process, especially as an empty nester! You can experiment with new eating styles and recipes, or introduce yourself to foods you may not have dared to bring home before the kids left. 

The fridge and pantry are all yours now, so have at it!