389: What I Eat and Drink in a Day to Stay Fit Over 50
5 Dec 2025 · 12 min
Podcast solo episode (Midlife Conversations #389) in which Natalie Jill describes her daily eating, supplement, hydration, and movement routine to stay healthy and lean over age 50. She frames the changes as responses to age-related loss of muscle mass, slowed metabolism, injuries, and reduced digestive enzyme production. Key emphases: unprocessed whole foods, higher protein (~80–90 g/day goal), abundant vegetables/phytonutrients, regular hydration (including hydrogen water and ketone minerals), digestive enzymes and probiotics, custom vitamin packs based on blood tests, daily walking, and sipping bone broth and occasional dark chocolate as treats. The episode ends with standard CTAs (subscribe, show notes, free Age Optimizing guide).
Questions this episode answers
About 80–90 grams per day.
Every four months.
Glutathione, vitamin D, and hydrogen water.
Dr. Anna Cabeca's Keto Greens; BioOptimizers gut drink; BioOptimizers enzyme and probiotic; Safe Catch tuna; Living Ratio dark chocolate.
Chapters
Hi.
I want to welcome you to Midlife Conversations. I'm Natalie Jill, your host and I help midlife women redefine and rebrand aging.
On this podcast, I do what I.
Do best, taking complicated information and conversations around aging that are relevant to us now and breaking it all down simply with actionable steps that you can implement.
To level up your life because your best years are yet to come.
I also regularly interview some of the most inspiring people living in their best midlife years. On this show, I cover topics about our health, hormones, navigating, getting weight, blood sugars, our mood, focus changes, even our relationships, career changes, beauty, and more.
I'm about to share with you exactly what I eat and drink in a day to stay healthy, lean and fit and energized over the age of 50. And I want to share how this changed. I'm going to give you the actual breakdown of what I specifically do in a day, even though I want to preface that with what I do may not be exactly what you should do. We're all unique, we're all individual, we're all different. So I'm going to answer this for you and share it because I've been asked this before and I want you to be able to incorporate some of what I'm sharing in. But just know that we're all on our unique journey and you get to be your own health detective. But here's exactly what I do and why it's changed over the years. So first and foremost, my background is fitness, fat loss and nutrition. And that's what I helped women with for years and years and years. This is what I taught, this is what I know. I based everything on unprocessed natural real food. I still primarily eat unprocessed natural real food. But some things have changed because there's an importance after the age of 50 specifically, because as we age, our bodies undergo significant changes that affect our nutritional needs. So maintaining a balanced diet and an on point diet becomes even more critical to support healthy aging and to continue living a dynamic, active lifestyle, which I know that you want or you wouldn't be here listening to me about this. So my goal has changed because over the years I was hit with a lot of things that slapped me upside the head. I'll be be really real with you. I was plugging along like a lot of us do in our 30s and 40s, thinking, I've got this. I know what I'm doing here. It's not going to change as I age. I'll keep doing more of the Same and it will keep going. But this has greatly changed over the years. What had had to happen to me was what some of you might recognize. I started getting some injuries. I started having a slowed metabolism. I started getting what I midlife thickening. Some things started to change and I started to just know that my energy and my focus was not the same. And I knew it was more than just tweaking hormones. I knew it was more than just monitoring my blood sugar. I knew that something was off. And so I started digging really into the aging process and what changes. And what I learned was that there are a few things that are absolutely more important to incorporate as we age. We like adding in more protein. We've got to add in more protein to maintain muscle mass. You see why we get that midlife thickening. A lot of the reason is we're losing muscle mass. And if we can add in more protein and add in weight training and do those things, we're going to have less of that going on as a problem. So here's exactly what I do in a day and I'll tell you that my goals are specifically more hydration, lots of phytonutrients, which we get from fruits and low glycemic, low glycemic fruits and vegetables, and lots of lean proteins. And I am not quite, you know, doing the whole eat my body weight and protein. That's not what I'm doing in a day, but I do aim to get about 80 to 90 grams a day. That's what I'm doing. Okay, so here's exactly what I do. This is what I eat, this is what I take, this is what I do throughout the whole day. So number one, before I even roll out of bed in the morning, before I even roll out of bed, it's on my nightstand, right next to my bed. I have glutathione, vitamin D and my hydrogen water. It's the first thing I do every morning. Glutathione, vitamin D and hydrogen water. That's what's on my, my table. Then I love to walk first thing in the morning. I live in outside of Scottsdale, Arizona right now. So it is hot, very hot during the day. So I gotta walk first thing. So the first thing I do is I go go on my walk. Now typically, because I'm not a great person at just not having anything in my stomach, I'll have a little bite of something. So like six almonds or a little bite of a perfect food bar, just something like that. Just to get me going And I take something called ketone minerals, which is basically sea water that's been sterilized. And it is so good. Maybe it's psychological for me, but that's what I have in the morning. And then I go walk. And usually on my walk I'm listening to a podcast or I'm listening to an audible, I'm listening to something, but I start moving my body and sweating as soon as I get home. As soon as I get home, I mix my little gut health drink and I use and I'll link everything by the way below, but I do Dr. Anna Kabeca's keto Greens and I do my bio optimizers gut drink and love that. So I just drink that. I drink that the first thing I do. Okay, so then I'm home from my walk and I take a shower and I'm ready for my breakfast. Now what I do is I aim for tons of water at that first meal. A protein packed breakfast. So typically for me, that's a few whole eggs with lots of veggies. And I do something that you might think is weird, but this is what I do. I trickle olive oil on it. Olive oil is so good for us and I'm all about those healthy fats and I love the taste of olive oil. So I'll use some salt, I use Vera salt and I use some olive oil on my eggs. I know that sounds weird, but I swear it's not weird. It tastes really good. And I'll do fruit, I do some fruit, whether it's mixed berries, maybe it's a small plum, but it's something. But that's my breakfast. So I'm getting my protein, my eggs, my vegetables, my olive oil is my fat. And I'm getting some fruit, which is my carbs. So that's how I start. Now sometimes I don't want that and I'll have something a little different. Sometimes I'll have an occasional smoothie. And if I have a smoothie, I'm going to have lots of berries. I'm going to have a big scoop of protein. I'll add some collagen in there, I'll add some vegetables. And that's what I have for breakfast. Now with my breakfast, I always have a digestive enzyme and I have probiotic and I have my multivitamin pack. Now I do enzymes because after the age of 35, we do not produce as many enzymes. So it's not so much just what we're eating, it's what we're actually digesting and absorbing. So I find by adding enzymes back in, I'm actually getting more bang for my buck, actually going to process those nutrients. I'm actually going to get all of that in my system. And I do not get the bloating, I do not get the stomach issues when I have those digestive enzymes. So I use bioptimizers, enzyme and probiotic. And don't worry if you're driving or you're watching this on the go, whether you're watching this on YouTube or you're listening on the podcast, I'm going to link everything below so you know what I'm talking about here. And then I do my custom vitamin packs now. Now, maybe I'm a little bit of a weird freak, but I love this. I get my blood tested every four months. And then based on that, I have a little custom vitamin pack from Optimized Nutrition that should. That basically gives me what I need in those packs. So that's what I do. That's my. That's my breakfast. Okay. So then I go about my day and lunch. Same kind of thing. Protein is my focus. Abundance of greens and vegetables. I am not enrolled in the whole. Vegetables are bad for us. I love vegetables. I understand some people are sensitive to oxalates, but it's actually a very small amount of people that have that as a problem. So I have lots of greens and vegetables and then I do some type of fat, like whether it's nuts or seeds or some avocado. Now, here's the thing to know my protein choices, like chicken or turkey or fish. Tuna is a lot that I'll have. I'll use a brand called Safe Catch Tuna, which is a great tuna brand. And I'm also going to take my enzymes and probiotics. Again with that lunch. Drink lots of water. Now, when you look at portions, what I do is I go kind of heavier on the protein. If you're somebody that's working on fat loss, I do encourage you to look at portions. So a good rule of thumb is kind of like the palm of your hand would be a great protein to sort of start with. If you're having the fat, look at the size of your thumb. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but if you're on a weight loss journey, you would want to look at that. And then your carbs, your. Your vegetables. Which vegetables are carbs? I do limited. If I was doing a starchy carb like a potato or rice, which I rarely do, but if I'm going to do that, I'm Going to have a smaller portion of that, so about the size of my fist. But if I'm still hungry, I'm going to add more protein, I'm going to add more vegetables, and I'm going to add more of the healthy fats first. That's my lunch. Then for snacks. I don't typically have a lot of snacks, but if I can get it in, I love to, like, snack on some bone broth. I might have some raw nuts later in the day, maybe some more fresh fruit and vegetables. Fruit sometimes maybe some vegetables and some hummus. But bone broth is like my go to. I'm always sipping on bone broth. It's so good for our gut, it's so good for our joints, great for our hair, our skin, our nails. So it's like the real source of collagen. So sipping on bone broth is big. And then one of my favorite little treats that I usually have as a snack in the afternoon is a piece of dark chocolate. Now, I love the brand Living Ratio again. I'm going to link all this below if you want to see exactly what I'm doing. Because my friend Jonathan owns that company and he makes these decadent chocolates that are so good for you. He sources the best, most amazing chocolate. They look like Godiva truffles, but they're all healthy and amazing for us, all different flavors. And I'm a member of his club. So I get a box of these truffles every month. So I eat those as a snack, and they're so good. Okay, so moving on to dinner. What do I do for dinner? For dinner, I do another protein. And then I'll do either a big, huge salad or more vegetables. If I'm going to have my starchy carbs, this might be when I do it. Maybe it's a yam or a sweet potato. Sometimes I'll have some rice, but I really am doing more protein, lots of vegetables. And I'm using some healthy oils here. Whether it's olive oil or avocado oil, that's my choice. My husband loves to cook with ghee. I don't love ghee, but I do either, you know, olive oil or avocado oil is what I do. Tons of vegetables. I play a game with myself every day. How many vegetables can I get in how many phytonutrients? In fact, my husband teases me. He says that I'm like a brontosaurus because I'm like, constantly munching on raw vegetables, but I crave them. That's What I do, that's what I love. And always my enzyme and probiotic. And then I take my nightly multivitamin pack. Okay? So that's what I eat in a day. That's what I eat in a day. And as far as hydration, like I'm drinking water throughout the day. All the time I drink water. I might drink some tea. I drink herbal teas. That's something. Sometimes I'll drink someone a little caffeine. I avoid sugary drinks. I avoid artificial sweeteners. I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners. If I want something sweet, which I rarely do, I gotta be honest with you, and I know that maybe sounds weird, but ever since cleaning up my gut health and really balancing how I'm eating, I don't have a lot of sweet cravings. So my goal for myself is like never hungry, never stuffed. And that's what I teach clients that come through my my fat loss plans is like never hungry, never stuffed, no deprivation. And focusing on unprocessed natural real food. That's what I do. That's what I do. So I wanted to make sure you knew that because that's a question I commonly get, especially on Instagram, like, can you give us a sample of what you eat? That's what I eat. Now, if you're thinking that sounds like low calorie or that's not enough, it's, it's plenty of calories. I eat plenty. What I didn't go over was exact portions for me. But I'm not measuring my protein, I'm not measuring my vegetables, I'm not measuring my fat at this point. I'm eating it to feel good and to fuel myself. And that's what I do. And I. Nothing is really off limits. But I look at, can I have mostly unprocessed natural real food? Food that makes me feel good, that makes me feel focused, that makes me feel energized. That is what I do. That's what I do. So I hope you found this helpful. Make sure you subscribe. If you have not done this so far. If you're on my YouTube channel, make sure you hit subscribe so you do not miss a show episode. If you're listening in on my podcast, make sure you hit follow the show so you can make sure to get notified of all new episodes. And if this was helpful, please let me know. Let me know on Instagram, let me know in the comments, let me know that you like some of these solo episodes. And I'm happy to do more and then please check out the show notes. Check out below because I want to make sure you grab my free Age Optimizing guide where I link all of the things I talked about discounts all of that. It's all right there for you. Thanks for joining me. See you next time.
I hope you enjoyed the episode. Thanks for taking time out of your.
Day to listen in as my guest. If you found this episode valuable, please share it with friends and on social media. Be sure to tag me and our guests so that we can find you and share the love. I'm Natalie Jill fit on all social media platforms and the biggest thank you that you can give me is leaving a review and hopefully a nice one at that. This will help others find these episodes so we can help and reach more people. If you do leave me a review, please Message us@supportnataliejillfitness.com with a screenshot of your review and we would love to send you a free digital download of my DSR journal as a thank you.
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