For most of my life, I’ve loved being healthy.
When I was just 22 years old, I created a document called “Danielle’s Guide for Healthy Living” — loosely based on the first real “nutrition” book I ever read for fun: Fit For Life by Harvey Diamond. Remember that one?
My guide included daily and weekly to-do’s, along with a list of important rules to remember — like never eat margarine or processed foods, limit my intake of meat, and for heaven’s sake… never mix a starch and a protein. 🙂
While the book’s premise may have been a little off (like eating only fruit until noon), it was my first foray into following food rules.
More profoundly, that one-page guide sparked something in me. It eventually led me to pursue a career in nutrition.
Fast forward 20+ years and I’ve genuinely enjoyed the structure and discipline of my own food rules. I know, I know… food rules aren’t very “in” these days. But for me, they offered a path of exploration. I played with eating vegetarian, went raw for a while, got deep into clean eating, and more recently, fasting.
I enjoyed experimenting with how food made me feel and I found comfort in the clarity of those rhythms.
But somewhere in my 50s, those rules started to feel… a little boring.
My body wanted something different. It wasn’t responding with the same joy it used to. And, more importantly, I didn’t want to live in that relationship with food anymore.
I just wanted to eat whatever my body felt like eating.
And I think I know why.
I was looking for rhythm.
We Don’t Need More Restriction. We Need Rhythm.
In midlife, everything shifts: hormones, energy, emotions, clarity, desire.
And when the internal landscape changes, the old rules don’t land the same way.
What I’ve come to understand, both in my own body and through science, is that health and wellness (or whatever you call it) isn’t just about what you eat. It’s about when and how you eat, too. It’s about rhythm.
Biologically, your metabolism runs on clocks. Light, sleep, movement, and food all communicate with those clocks. And when you live out of sync with your internal rhythm, the body starts sending signals: fatigue, cravings, weight changes, inflammation, brain fog.
We often interpret those signals as problems to fix. So we reach for more restriction, more effort, more rules. But often, what’s really needed is realignment.
Not punishment. Not control. Just rhythm.
The Energetics of Restriction vs. Rhythm
There’s a very different frequency between eating in rhythm and eating in restriction.
Restriction says:
You can’t be trusted.
You want too much.
You need to earn this.
Rhythm says:
I’m listening.
I trust my timing.
My body is wise.
Energetically, rhythm is a form of self-respect.
It creates coherence. Not just in your physiology, but in your day, your mood, your energy field.
It’s the flow-state of nourishment. A return to harmony with your own biology.
And maybe most importantly: rhythm feels sustainable.
It meets you where you are and invites you into deeper partnership with your body.
A Midlife Invitation
I believe midlife is a beautiful (and maybe a bit uncomfortable) invitation to shift from doing to being. From performing health to embodying it.
Midlife invites you to step out of rigidity and into resonance. Not because you’ve failed at being disciplined, but because your body is ready for a new kind of dialogue with itself. A more mature, intuitive, and grounded relationship with food.
Rhythm isn’t another plan to follow.
It’s a pattern to remember.
It’s already inside you.
This might mean you stop trying to outsmart your hunger… and start attuning to it.
Make eating less about managing your metabolism and more about meeting it.
I believe your body already knows exactly how to eat.
The work now is simply to learn her rhythm.
XO Danielle 💛
Hi! If we haven’t officially met yet, I’m Danielle Omar — integrative dietitian, writer, and founder of In Rhythm, where I explore what it means to age well, live seasonally, and nourish yourself in partnership with your body.
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