Wellness Doesn’t Equal a Salad: Rethinking What It Means to Be Healthy as We Age

Wellness has always had a certain look…

For a long time, wellness for women has had a certain look. Salads. Green juice. Smaller portions. More cardio. A thin body.

Even as our conversations around women's health have evolved, some of those old messages are still hanging around. We may use different words now: lean, toned, healthy, clean but underneath them can still be the same goal: Take up less space.

But as we move through our 40s, 50s and beyond, I think we need a different definition of wellness. One that isn't centered on how small we can make our bodies, but on how well those bodies can carry us through the next several decades. That means talking about muscle. Food. Sleep. Recovery. Strength. And perhaps most importantly, learning to pay attention to what our bodies are actually telling us.

We're Getting Better at Paying Attention

One shift I've noticed recently among the women I train is an increased interest in understanding their bodies. More women are using wearables like the Oura Ring and paying attention to trends in sleep, recovery and readiness. The interesting part isn't the technology itself. It's what the data is teaching them. They're seeing just how much sleep matters. They're seeing the impact alcohol can have on sleep and recovery. They're recognizing connections between stress, training, rest and how they feel the next day.

And they're starting to understand that every day doesn't have to be a push day. That's progress!

A wearable shouldn't become another authority telling you whether you had a "good" or "bad" day. And a readiness score shouldn't override what your body is telling you. The value is in connecting the dots. Data should help you become more aware of your body not less connected to it.

Food Can Give Us Information, Too

I'm seeing something similar happen with nutrition. Women who spend some time tracking their food are beginning to understand what they're actually eating, not what they think they're eating.

One of the biggest discoveries? Protein and fiber.

"I thought I was eating more protein."

"I didn't realize how little fiber I was getting."

"I didn't realize I needed that much food."

Tracking doesn't have to become something you do forever. For some women, it can simply be a period of education. What foods give you protein? Where is your fiber coming from? Are your meals actually satisfying? Are you eating enough to support how much you're asking your body to do? The goal isn't to become obsessed with another set of numbers. It's to understand your habits well enough that eventually you don't need the numbers to tell you what a balanced meal looks like.

Wellness Doesn't Equal a Salad

This is where I think we still have some work to do. We've been conditioned to associate wellness with eating less. Order the salad. Skip the carbs. Choose the lowest-calorie option. Burn off what you ate. But sometimes the "healthy" choice is the bigger meal. Sometimes it's adding carbohydrates to your plate because you're training later. Sometimes it's eating breakfast instead of fasting. Sometimes it's taking a recovery day. Sometimes it's going to bed instead of squeezing in another workout. And sometimes it's choosing to build your body instead of constantly trying to shrink it.

Wellness isn't an aesthetic.

It is having a body with the resources and capacity to do the things you want it to do.

The Thin vs. Strong Conversation

This one can be uncomfortable.

I still see women who, when it comes down to it, would rather be thin than strong. They may not say those exact words. Instead, I hear things like:

"I just want to be lean."

"I don't want to get bulky."

"I'd like to lose five more pounds."

"I want more definition."

But here's something we need to understand as we age:

Muscle is an asset.

We need it for strength and physical function. Muscle also becomes increasingly important to preserve as we get older. The goal can't always be to weigh less. At some point, we have to ask a different question:

What kind of body do I want to live in when I'm 60, 70 or 80? Do you want to be able to get yourself off the floor? Carry your luggage? Pick up your grandchildren? Climb stairs without thinking about it? Continue traveling, hiking, playing, working and living independently? Then we need to give muscle a much bigger seat at the table.

If You Want to Build Muscle, Here's What It Actually Takes

Building real muscle takes time. Not a few workouts. Not a four-week challenge. And not constantly switching exercises because you're bored. It takes months and years of consistent training. Your muscles need enough resistance to create a reason to adapt. Over time, that challenge needs to progress. But training is only one side of the equation. Your body also needs the resources to build.

That means:

• Consistent resistance training

• Progressive overload

• Adequate total food

• Enough protein

• Carbohydrates to help support training

• Quality sleep

• Recovery

• Time

You can't continually ask your body to build while simultaneously trying to give it as little energy as possible. Muscle is tissue. Your body needs building materials to make it. And this is where some women unintentionally work against the result they're chasing. They want more muscle definition, but they're not eating enough. They want to get stronger, but they're afraid to increase calories. They want visible muscle, but they aren't consistently challenging that muscle. They want change, but they change their program before their body has enough time to adapt. We can't have it both ways.

Your Feet Are Part of This Conversation, Too

Wellness also means paying attention to parts of our bodies we've largely outsourced to products, including our feet. We tend to assume more cushioning and more support automatically mean better shoes. But our feet are sensory structures. They're constantly receiving information from the ground and helping our brains understand where our bodies are in space. Foot strength matters. Toe function matters. Sensory input matters. And constantly putting the foot inside highly structured footwear changes the way it interacts with the ground.

That doesn't mean everyone should throw away their cushioned shoes and start walking barefoot all day. Feet need progressive exposure and time to adapt just like any other part of the body. But it does mean we should start thinking about our feet as something to train, not simply something to support.

Roll your feet.

Move your toes.

Spend some appropriate time barefoot.

Give your toes room to spread.

Pay attention to how you walk.

Your foundation matters.

Maybe Wellness Is Simpler Than We've Made It

We have access to more health information than ever. Wearables can give us recovery data. Food tracking can teach us about nutrition. Training can show us what our bodies are capable of. But none of those things are the goal. They're tools. The goal is learning how to take care of the body you're asking to carry you through the rest of your life. Eat enough to support it. Build muscle. Sleep. Recover. Move. Pay attention. Enjoy your food. And maybe stop measuring wellness by how little space you take up.

Strong is something we get to carry with us.