MEET MANDY. SHE’S 44, HAS A successful career working in sales for a multinational mobile phone company. With two children under 10, her morning routine is the kind of dance of precision and timing normally reserved for the final of Strictly as she tries to balance her family’s needs with professional demands. The problem is, in this whirl of activity, her own needs often get missed. Not only does she have the children to care for, but her parents are ageing and need support. She also wants to be a great partner to her husband, be there for all her friends and all while still performing like the female boss she is. Her job is demanding. There are calls at all hours, emails to answer, fires to put out. Little wonder she’s so busy looking after everyone else, she hardly gets enough time to look after herself.
If elements of Mandy’s story seem familiar, it’s because her circumstances are much more common than you might think. Mandy is an amalgam of almost every woman over 40 who’s come to me for either nutrition or health coaching when peri- or menopause symptoms have
