May 16, 2025 • 37 mins
Ever feel like healthy living is one long list of rules you can never keep up with? Imagine if eating well and living long could actually feel joyful, simple, and…fun.
In this episode, I’m joined by the fabulous Lynne Bowman—cookbook author, grandma, and full-on wellness rebel in her 80th year of life. From reversing type 2 diabetes to thriving with energy, Lynne shares how she simplified nutrition, embraced joyful cooking, and turned midlife into her most vibrant chapter yet.
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU’LL DISCOVER:
✔ Why who you eat with matters as much as what you eat
✔ The truth about sugar, sleep, and why intention matters more than perfection
✔ Easy, joyful recipes that don’t require measuring, macros, or stress
✔ How midlife can be the start of your most vibrant, connected, and energized years
🎯 OMG Moment: Eat joyfully. When you change your intention, you change everything—from your food to your future.
Take Action
Ready to simplify your healthy habits and have way more fun doing it? Grab Lynne’s book, Brownies for Breakfast, and find simple, joyful recipes that are easy to love and hard to mess up. Find her at lynnebowman.com and on Substack at lynnebowman.substack.com.
Listen to the recent episode on isolation and connection in midlife (episode 17).
Why This Episode Matters
Health in midlife shouldn’t feel like punishment. This conversation is a reminder that food, sleep, and movement are tools for joy, not control. With the right mindset—and a little chickpea pasta—you can feel strong, connected, and truly alive at any age.
🎧 Hit follow now and join me next week as we keep the healthy momentum going with a new episode all about walking—why it works, how to make it fun, and the real mindset shifts behind this powerful midlife habit.
Find all coaching and podcast resources at cherylpfischer.com.
Text me to ask a question - I'll answer on the podcast!
🌸 Liked this episode? Share it with fellow midlife women over 40 navigating hormone balance, an empty nest, and self-confidence!
🫶 Love this show? Leave a review to help more women over 50 find us.
💡Want support through menopause, mindset shifts, or midlife transitions?
Book a free Mindset Coaching / Intro Call: cherylpfischer.com/coaching, and join us in Midlife Pivot on Patreon.
Let’s talk self-care, self-talk, and owning your next chapter—without the “midlife crisis” narrative.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cheryl Fischer (00:00):
Isn't it crazy how many rules and I'm doing air
quotes when I say rules thereare about how to be healthy.
Oh my goodness, I can open anysocial media, turn on the TV,
(00:21):
open the magazine, whatever andthere's somebody telling me and
I know you've had thisexperience, of course how to be
healthier, how exactly toexercise, how I'm supposed to
eat, what I'm not supposed toeat, and all these things are so
that we can.
We can live longer and behealthier, and that's great that
(00:44):
there's all that advice outthere.
And I guess the opposite ofthat wouldn't be good, would it?
We don't want to have no ideawhat to do, but it's
overwhelming.
It's overwhelming for me, whichtells me it's probably
overwhelming for you.
So let's see if we can simplify.
So let's see if we can simplify.
Welcome to Mind your Midlife,your go-to resource for
(01:07):
confidence and success, onethought at a time.
Unlike most advice out there,we believe that simply telling
you to believe in yourself orchange your habits isn't enough
to wake up excited about life orfeel truly confident in your
body.
Each week, you'll gainactionable strategies and oh my
(01:27):
goodness, powerful insights tostop feeling stuck and start
loving your midlife.
This is the Mind your Midlifepodcast.
When I hit midlife and the wayI'm defining that is grown up,
kids who are out of the house,at least kind of part of the
(01:48):
time.
You know college and beyond, aswell as into the mid 40s, 50s,
maybe even early 60s.
Obviously, your timeline mightbe a little different than mine,
be a little different than mine, but when I hit midlife, I
(02:12):
realized that I want to behealthy, I want to exercise and
feel good about my body and eatwell so that I feel good.
And I, at this point, I knowwhat things I should eat if I
want to have energy that day andwhat things will make me sleepy
.
And you know we've learnedthese things about ourselves so
far.
Right, but I'm also at thepoint that was a long intro to
(02:35):
what I wanted to say where Iwant quality of life to be
factored in, and I had aconversation with my friend just
two days ago where she wassaying you know, I know that I
could lose a bunch of weight ifI was just so, so, so strict
with what I was eating and Ididn't let myself ever have, you
(02:59):
know, anything out of theordinary and I exercised an hour
a day and I just rampedeverything up, but she was
saying I don't want to live likethat, it's too hard.
And I think sometimes then weextrapolate from that and we say
, well, living healthy ingeneral is too hard, so I don't
(03:19):
want to do it.
Or if you're not heading downthe forget it, it's too hard
pathway, maybe you're headingdown the.
Well, somebody just tell me.
Just tell me the best thing todo, Keep it simple.
Just tell me what to do.
I want to feel good.
Sure, I want to live long, Iwant this period to be the
middle and have all that timeahead of me.
(03:41):
But just somebody tell me whatto do.
So I fall into these traps allthe time.
I bet you do too.
So my guest today is such a coolperson.
So Lynne Bowman is, as she says, in her 80th year.
(04:01):
She's going to tell us that sheis 79.
She is living proof that youcan cook, eat, sleep, laugh and
walk your way out of type 2diabetes, and that is her
wording.
She has a best-selling bookcalled Brownies for Breakfast, a
cookbook for diabetics and thepeople who love them.
And she is just a cool grandma,mother, businesswoman, and so I
(04:30):
am super excited because we'regoing to try to make this simple
, and she is going to, I think,speak about eating and longevity
and health, maybe with a littlebit different angle than you
have heard recently.
So welcome Lynne.
Lynne Bowman (04:46):
I am so happy that everything's working and we're
here.
Let's do this.
Cheryl Fischer (04:51):
Technology is amazing.
It's amazing.
So let's just start with thishow did you end up with such a
focus on longevity and eatinghealthy for longevity on
longevity and eating healthy forlongevity.
Lynne Bowman (05:05):
It was totally an accident.
It happened to me.
I didn't happen to it, but Ithink it goes back, cheryl, to
way back when, and the more weread about this and study this,
the more we realize that we kindof come out of the chute and
arrive on earth with a program,whether we like it or not.
If you're a parent, I thinkyou've seen it in your kids.
(05:26):
No matter what you'd like toproject on them, you know, no
matter what you think, they gethere with something they want to
do or something they need to do.
And it's not always what youthink.
But in my case, my mom died whenI was very young, I was 18, and
he had been ill most of my life.
She had chronic kidney diseaseand in fact and this is an
(05:49):
interesting thing that's come uplately In fact she was advised
not to have me.
She was advised to get anabortion because of her health,
and I've just now been hearingfrom a couple of different
sources.
There is a theory I guess.
I don't know how well proven itis, but among Native American
(06:10):
peoples apparently there's thisidea that when a mother's life
is threatened for some reason oranother, the child that's born,
the female child that's born isa warrior, and there is science
behind there being some kind ofa thing that happens chemically
to women, who are stressed in acertain way during their
(06:33):
pregnancy that removes fear intheir children.
And that sounds creepy, right,but I've asked the question.
My youngest, particularly myyoungest, is a daughter, and she
was one of those babies that Icould not take my eyes off her
for one minute because she wasafraid of nothing.
She went straight out in thepasture after the cattle, she
(06:54):
went straight up the hill afterthe cat.
This kid, as soon as she couldwalk, was gone.
And this is the five diamond,black diamond, snowboarding,
going to Costa Rica, divingunder it and so on.
And you have to go.
Okay, maybe there is something,maybe there is a thing that
happens to us.
Cheryl Fischer (07:14):
Interesting.
Lynne Bowman (07:15):
Chemical, maybe it's spiritual, maybe it's both,
who knows the mix.
But so I grew up with a motherwho was impaired with this and
she died when I was 18.
So I came into adulthoodunderstanding a little bit more
than a lot of people do aboutone, how temporary life is.
(07:36):
Two, you're on your own and youbetter figure it out, whatever
it is.
So when my children were born,I was told my son was about 10
pounds and I was told and wewere talking earlier about the
medical teams that we weredealing with in those days, and
this is in the South and it'slike well, ms Bauman, you know
you're, your kids, 10 pounds,you're probably you got a
(07:59):
gestational diabetes.
I do.
Well, they hadn't thought totest me, or in those days it was
not a thing that you were aboutRight.
So they did say you're going tohave to watch your weight and
you're going to, and when you'rein your forties you will
probably have type two diabetes.
So, and I also, at the sametime, um, I had one of the worst
(08:19):
marriages ever.
Another story a vet who had comeback from Vietnam, marine, and
so part of trying to stay alivewas that I had to leave North
Carolina with my two-year-old,three-year-old and four-year-old
and come to California tosurvive.
But all of this, your lifebecomes about staying on your
(08:43):
feet, and some of us to agreater degree than others, but
all of us are doing this.
You know, whether we're doingit consciously or not, and in my
case it was conscious.
I was not going to leave mykids, and so I just started
doing everything that I could doto be as healthy as I could be.
I didn't have the money to besick either, you know, and I
(09:06):
didn't have the support to besick.
So my defense was take care ofyourself.
And I did my best and Ieducated myself about it.
And also, when you're a singlemom, you know and you're making
way, however, you can do it.
Cooking and eating, of course,is a big part of what you're
(09:26):
doing, and so I developed someskills in the kitchen to make it
fast, cheap and healthy.
I love that, yeah, and it justturned into this longevity thing
, because people were alwaysasking me.
First of all, in this book thatI most recently did, people
(09:46):
wanted to know how I did it,because it seemed it was like a
superpower To me.
It was quite ordinary.
You're just slinging hash,you're putting it on the table,
but in my case it had to behealthy.
It had to be something that wasnot going to make me sick and
make my kids sick, but it wasabout me staying alive so I
(10:07):
could keep them alive.
So it just sort of developedover the years.
And then now what's happening?
First of all, when I wastalking sugar-free, even five
years ago, nobody wanted to hearit Like, oh no, no, thank you.
Cheryl Fischer (10:23):
We were in the fat-free kick back then.
Lynne Bowman (10:26):
Well, and just, there was something about
sugar-free.
First of all, it saysdeprivation.
Nobody wants to be deprived ofyummy, delicious, sweet food.
And also, I think people hadgot kind of a bad idea about
sugar substitutes, with goodreason, because they were some
lousy ones.
They made your tummy hurt andthey weren't you know.
(10:46):
They gave people cancer orwhatever.
Cheryl Fischer (10:48):
You know what I, I.
There's a meme out there that Iremember seeing that, something
like you know the processedfood is cheaper now and the
healthy food is expensive, butnot as expensive as being sick
for 20 years is, or something.
You know, something like that.
Lynne Bowman (11:04):
Yeah, not as expensive, as being sick for 20
years is, or something like that.
Yeah, yes, and we are allnoticing how expensive I mean.
You buy a sandwich out anywhereand it's 15 bucks.
20 bucks with tax, you know, 25with tip.
Food has gone up, and notnecessarily great food either.
Cheryl Fischer (11:21):
So one of the keys then is cutting the sugar.
Are there any other major keysto the way we eat and how it
affects longevity?
Lynne Bowman (11:31):
Yes, the most important one is who you eat
with.
Cheryl Fischer (11:35):
All right, tell me more about that.
Lynne Bowman (11:37):
Well, food, first of all, is not just fuel, it's
connection, it's a sacrament,it's community, it's all these
other things that are human andwe seem to think that eating
something out of a bag, in theback of a car or behind a
steering wheel is food.
It's not.
Humans are meant to share foodand when we take food in, we're
(12:02):
not just throwing stuff downWell, we are throwing it down
our gullet.
But we're not just throwingstuff down Well, we are throwing
it down our gullet.
But what we're made to do islook at it, see what it is,
smell it, see how it smells,feel it, taste it, because those
are the things that tell usit's okay and those are the
things that allow our body to gooh, she's going to throw
(12:26):
something down.
You're ready, you know you'vegot this whole system about
eating.
It's not just throwing it downyour throat and that hopefully,
it will land in your liver andyou know, go on out the other
end.
I mean it's a whole system thatneeds to receive your food and
people.
I think just don't even thinkabout that.
(12:47):
It's also connected, deeplyconnected, to how you sleep and
if you sleep and in middle age,women are constantly.
I love you, darling, but I knowwhat you're doing.
You're whining about notsleeping at night, all of you.
Cheryl Fischer (13:03):
If you're listening, I wonder is she
telling the truth?
Lynne Bowman (13:08):
Yeah, we talk about sleep a lot.
I know you ate pizza in frontof Jimmy Kimmel.
Last night I saw you and thenthere was a little bit of ice
cream, wasn't there.
So the problem is not I meanthe pizza.
Yeah, I'll tell you.
I can tell you how to make thebest pizza ever, and it's
fabulous food and you can eat it.
(13:29):
But you can't order pizza andeat it and have it be good food.
I'm sorry, you have to make it.
So there's that and of course,the ice cream we've already
talked about.
But the Jimmy Kimmel part andJimmy love you honey, but you
must.
You must go to bed at a decenthour and you must quit eating
three to four hours, have yourlast bite three to four hours
(13:52):
before you sleep and you'veprobably heard this already and
you're, you're going.
Yeah, yada, yada, yada.
But it does make a hugedifference in how your food is
processed and how your wholebody is allowed to do what it
needs to do.
Have you talked about autophagyon your podcast?
Cheryl Fischer (14:10):
No, I have not.
Lynne Bowman (14:12):
Good, because it's going to be our word of the day
.
Excellent Word of the day.
Hey, I love that.
So I'm going to be Miss Yvonnefor a minute.
Autophagy.
You know it's autophagy.
Self eating sounds pretty grody, but what it is is your cells
want to recycle each other,clean out the bad ones and
(14:34):
strengthen the good ones.
They are genius, the littledevils in there.
They know how to do this.
Genius, the little devils inthere, they know how to do this.
But you have to leave them aloneto do the work.
You cannot continue to shovelfood in because they can only
work after something like 14 to16 hours foodless has gone by in
(14:55):
your body, which, of course,you're thinking okay, wait, if I
have pizza at 11 o'clock atnight, you know that's right.
You can't.
You have to stop eating.
The earlier the better.
Old crusty people like me canstop at four or five in the
afternoon, which I do.
I often eat my last meal at twoin the afternoon.
It's fine, because I'maccustomed to it and I know how
(15:15):
important it is.
And, plus, I'm a recreationalsleeper, Cheryl, Do you know
what I'm saying by that?
You enjoy it, I love to sleepand you know it's all about the
pillow.
I actually iron my pillowcases.
I know that's how sick I am,but I mean I want my bed lovely
and I want the room light, justso, and I want it quiet and so
(15:37):
on, and it's a whole ritual andI would wish for anyone that you
enjoy that as much as I do, ormaybe more because you got to do
it every day.
Why not make it fun, you know?
Why not think of it as a lovelything to do, not a capitulation
, you know, because you're tired.
Cheryl Fischer (15:56):
That's a great point, because we do.
I'm speaking for my age group.
Overall we do complain aboutsleeping a lot, we talk about it
a lot you're totally rightabout that and maybe because
we're having hot flashes andhaving interrupted sleep and
that's something we hadn't dealtwith before.
But I don't think I've ever hada conversation with somebody
related to sleep where we talkedabout really trying to make it
(16:19):
a whole experience.
That was wonderful andenjoyable and it's the intention
, right, and maybe it's the samething with eating.
Lynne Bowman (16:28):
It's the intention , Absolutely.
And with sleeping.
You know you can't talk aboutthat without talking about
dreaming, and there's so muchwonderful stuff out there to
read about how important dreamsare, what the spiritual elements
of dreaming are, what NativeAmerican or Central American
dream.
Get into it, Enjoy it.
(16:49):
It's an aspect of your life.
You don't just go dead for sixhours or eight hours.
You're alive and things arehappening.
So groove on it a little bitand hope.
Maybe the next morning youremember some of it, which is
hard for me, I don't.
I mean, I sleep deeply and longand wake up the next morning
(17:10):
going huh.
Cheryl Fischer (17:13):
Well, I can remember my dreams sometimes,
but they're usually so strangethat you know who knows.
Lynne Bowman (17:19):
Oh strange is good , it's good.
You just need to think aboutwell why you know who knows.
Oh strange is good, it's good.
You just need to think aboutwell, why you know was that
strange and what?
Who was that character, and soon.
So that just food isn't justfood.
Sleep isn't just sleep, it'sritual, it's life.
And you, your question, yourbasic question, was what is it
about?
(17:39):
That's most important longevitywise about food.
And it is who you eat with.
If you're not eating withpeople you want to eat with now,
fix that honey.
Right now.
It's time to fix it.
And I'm not going to name names.
You know who.
You are out there.
You've been eating with themfor how long and hating it and
complaining about it.
Fix it.
(18:00):
I know people and I'm not goingto mention names here who
recently bought the home next totheir home so they could live
separately, but next door totheir husband.
Wow, she's very happy.
There are things you can do tomake your life just exactly what
you want, and some of theminvolve money and some of them
(18:21):
don't.
Some of them just involvecourage.
So longevity, I mean, all ofthe studies will tell you that
the people who live the longestare the happiest people, the
people who are best connected,whether it's with friends or
community or family, but whohave deep connections that make
(18:41):
them happy.
That's what makes you live long.
Cheryl Fischer (18:44):
Yes, I agree fully and you're right.
There have been plenty ofstudies about this and actually
I'm going to put in the shownotes, if you're listening now,
a link to an episode I did abouthow we sometimes end up
isolating ourselves in midlife,because that is part of this
problem that we're talking aboutand it's really important that
we figure a way out of that.
Yes, community is a big dealand it's been so odd in the past
(19:08):
five years because of thepandemic and everything, so
there's so many variables there.
Lynne Bowman (19:12):
Yeah, yeah and right.
In my book I said, and I'll sayit again if you're eating alone
, put down your fork, go downthe hall, knock on a door.
You know, mrs Johnson want tocome have some soup.
You know, larry, are you hungry?
I mean, you got to reach outand sometimes you think, well, I
(19:32):
don't really want to, and youknow what, shut up, just do it,
just do it.
It doesn't matter if your houseis a little bit upside down.
People love to be invited and Iwill never forget the first
time.
I think I was in college, stillvery young, and a friend
invited a couple of us over toher house, her apartment she was
(19:56):
a couple of years older to havea meal.
And we got there and the tablewas all set and there were
candles on it and napkins and Ithought she really wanted us to
be here, she was expecting usand because I had come to
maturity without my mom doing alot of these things and I was
just swept away with how lovedit made me feel to have someone
(20:21):
expect me and set a table for meand then share a meal with me.
Now, did I care and do I evenremember what the food was?
No, it didn't matter.
But to feel that embrace islife-giving for people,
literally.
It's life-giving which bringsup the question of hospital food
(20:44):
.
How in the world can hospitalsget away with feeding people
what they do?
Cheryl Fischer (20:53):
Oh my God, it's not life-giving, yeah, no.
So that brings us back to food,which is perfect, because as
soon as we start talking in anyconversation about eating
healthy, I think people havesome amount of stress, that kind
of like everybody's telling mehow to eat healthy, everybody's
(21:17):
given me a rule, and I got tocook for an hour every day if I
want it to be healthy, and it'svery complicated.
I don't know who to listen to,and I can see your face as I'm
saying this, and so you'vesimplified it.
So tell us more about that.
Lynne Bowman (21:31):
First of all, I am an impatient, messy cook.
I don't measure very well, Idon't write anything down, I
don't journal, I don't countcalories, I don't count macros,
none of that.
I just cook and my beliefs arekind of simple One eat what you
have, open up your fridge andpull the stuff out and figure
(21:56):
out how to make a meal out of it.
It's usually pretty easy.
It's almost always soup in thebook and there are a couple of
basic things that you do tostart a pot of soup.
And then you take that kalethat you meant well when you
bought it, and then you didn'tknow any, and you take the
spinach out and you take thecelery.
All this stuff comes out Plus.
(22:17):
I made a meal yesterday and Ithought you know, I'm going to
talk about this with peoplebecause there's a way to make a
bowl of I don't know what am Igoing to call it.
I need to come up with a greatname for it, but it's everything
in it.
Pasta is what it is.
You've got some meat and youhave some vegetables and you
(22:39):
have some cheese.
It's whatever you had in thefridge, but with a couple of
little tweaks it turns out to bethis gorgeous casserole that
you've made with and here's mynew tweak pasta made with
chickpeas.
Are you eating chickpea pastayet?
Okay, high protein, very, verywonderful food profile.
(23:01):
It's, of course, strictly.
You know, it's no meat, it'svegan, vegetarian and high fiber
Great food.
But what's even greater aboutit is don't make it the way it
says to make it on the package.
You've got a big, sloppyskillet full of meat and
(23:22):
vegetables and you pour somebroth in it or some water in it,
and so you've made this juicewith all your good tasting stuff
.
Then you just dump that pastain there uncooked and let it
soak up the flavor of all thatother stuff, and it cooks
beautifully.
Just give it eight or nineminutes with a low heat under it
so that it can soak it all up.
(23:43):
And now you've got a gorgeousgreat big skillet full of and
I'm using meat usually, but youdon't need meat.
Whatever you're going to makeyour gooey mess out of.
Oh, and I'll make.
It was Trader Joe's tomato andfeta soup.
I had about a half a thing leftof it and, of course, the broth
(24:04):
.
I had some hamburger that Ijust sauteed.
In the bottom I had half a redpepper onions.
Chop them up, throw them inthere, saute them.
I'm forgetting a lot of it, Idon't know, but you get the
drift yes, Trust me, it'sfabulous.
Cheryl Fischer (24:21):
Okay, so that has just changed the way my
husband and I are going to eatdinner.
Let me just tell you I love itand I have eaten various types
of gluten free pasta for a longtime.
Maybe it's made from brown rice, maybe chickpeas, maybe
whatever else, but it neveroccurred to me to try to create
a situation where I could justthrow it in and let it cook with
(24:43):
whatever I was using it with,and I can see how that would
make it amazing.
Lynne Bowman (24:47):
Pot, no draining, no, nothing, I mean hello.
So that's how I cook in 15minutes, one pot.
I'm talking the whole time andwaving my arms and giving orders
and you know it should be fun,it should be communal.
And you know everybody'swatching TV about cooking,
(25:07):
cooking shows on TV with someangry chef and you know, tight
t-shirt and giving you know no,no, you know I've got.
I have recipes in my book showthat are two ingredients and I
can give you one right now.
You're going to love this.
That are two ingredients and Ican give you one right now.
You're going to love this.
(25:29):
Buy the best balsamic vinegaryou can find and I've got two
local ones that I love.
It's a Gravenstein apple oneand then an apricot one from a
market close by Sigona's market.
But have a really good, alittle bit sweet balsamic
vinegar and then tahini, a jarof tahini.
All it is is ground up sesameseeds.
So really good food, very goodfor you.
The bottom of the salad bowlyou put some tahini in there,
(25:51):
you put some of the balsamic inthere, you mix it up, there's
your dressing, you're done, andthen whatever greens you have,
whatever you're going to makeyourself, and then just toss
them.
So you have not made a separatebowl, you haven't ground
anything up, you have tossed twothings in the bottom of your
salad bowl and, trust me, it'sas good as any dressing you've
(26:12):
ever had in your life.
So good If it's a good balsamicand good tahini.
Cheryl Fischer (26:18):
I love it.
I'm going to try thatAbsolutely, absolutely Because I
love it.
I'm going to try thatAbsolutely, absolutely, because
I love to eat salad and thereare some dressings I really love
and I've always said I'm notgoing to get rid of everything.
I know they're not ideal for me, but I'm just going to eat them
anyway.
I can try this.
Lynne Bowman (26:32):
If you buy them in a jar, they're probably not
good for you.
I mean, you know, that's thething.
And a lot of us fall down whenit comes to salad dressing
Because if you really read thelabel, they've all got sugar,
they've all got oils that youreally don't want to eat.
I mean, they're full of crap.
So why not just make your ownin two seconds and have it way
(26:53):
better and have your guests gooh my goodness, what is this?
It's so Say, oh well, it'ssomething you know.
Cheryl Fischer (27:00):
I threw it together, I whipped up yeah, so
say, oh well, it's something youknow I.
I threw it up.
Yeah, I love it, I love it.
And that was actually myquestion for you is what are
some of your favorite easyrecipes?
So there we go, I just gave itaway, right.
Lynne Bowman (27:11):
But this the thing is you do not.
Not only are you not going tobe deprived, you are going to be
eating better than you've evereaten.
Because guess why, when you getrid of all the stupid white
stuff, the ground up stuff, andyou're left with okay, now, what
am I?
It opens up this wholewonderful world of colorful,
(27:32):
healthful, delicious, wonderful,smelling stuff that you didn't
even think about eating beforebecause you were so busy with
that stupid croissant that youget every morning.
Cheryl Fischer (27:46):
And you know what?
I want to add something here,because I like what you just
said for a particular reason.
It's also about how we'rethinking about this and kind of
our mindset about it, Absolutely, I mean, if you want to be
deprived.
Lynne Bowman (27:57):
You're going to find a way to feel deprived, but
I don't want to be deprived ofmy last 20 years, you know.
And here's another thing aboutmidlife it gets so much better
after 50.
And I'm not the only person whofeels this way.
I mean, I got girlfriends, youknow, many of whom are in their
nineties, and I won't say many,but I have a few, and they're
(28:19):
cool, they're artists.
But the point is that we aresort of taught that when our
menstrual cycles end, so doesour life.
No, no, not even close.
I don't know who made up that,but it's wrong when you get that
stuff behind you and your kidssort of pretty well launched,
(28:44):
you and your kids sort of prettywell launched.
And in my case I was 50 when Imoved to where I am now, which
we bought this money pit, brokendown old farm on the coast of
California just fell madly inlove with this the light, the
trees, the ocean, all of it.
I feel so grounded and happy.
It's a magical place.
But 50, I think of that in mylife, as that was when
everything kind of started toreally go my way.
(29:07):
You know, I could make choices,I could, I could be where I
wanted to be.
Up until then it had been somuch about the kids, the career,
the husband, the, you knoweverything.
And I really do think that,husband, the, you know
everything.
And I really do think that Imean we're stronger in many ways
, absolutely.
(29:30):
You know our, our.
We certainly are moreexperienced and, um, the brain
power is there not impaired by alot of what has to happen
earlier in your life?
Life is so interesting in somany ways and it just gets more
interesting, and to be this ageis is weird.
I mean, and I'll repeat it, I,I have had my 79th birthday.
So I'm saying to myself, girl,this is your 80th year.
(29:52):
What I'm doing?
Strength training.
I'm working out four days aweek with an adorable trainer,
who's really wonderful, and withmy girlfriends.
That's my social life is inthis little gym in town, but I
never had the freedom, theability to do that in the past.
(30:12):
Four days a week, I get to dothat Four mornings, yay.
And, by the way, girls, that'show you keep your bones strong.
Yes, yes, it's not withpharmaceuticals, it's at the gym
doing strength training, and Iam now dead lifting 50, 60, 70
pounds, depending on the day, Ithink my limit.
(30:34):
I did 95 one day and you cantoo.
And then it was explained to methat all of the noise about
when you fall you're going tobreak a bone and you don't want
to have brittle bones becausefalling and so on, what prevents
falls is having muscles.
If you have muscles, you're notgoing to bust a brittle bone.
(30:54):
So the combination is veryimportant.
Also, hormones yes, let's talkabout it.
I am doing a regime, and havebeen for a couple of years, of
topically applied bio-identicalestradiol and progesterone.
Cheryl Fischer (31:16):
Yeah, yeah, I definitely believe in the power
of that, for sure.
Lynne Bowman (31:20):
Not recommending it.
Not a doctor, okay, and we haveto do all those disclaimers
Absolutely, see your doctor,yeah, and I'm doing it under the
care of Dr Selma Rashid, who'swonderful, but I think it's a
gift.
I think it's a wonderful thingAlso in part because we have
females doing the prescribingnow.
Cheryl Fischer (31:40):
Yeah, yeah, that's a big change for sure.
Okay, wow.
So we've gone in all differentdirections, but they have all
fit together and that's amazing.
Where can people find your book?
What's the name of your book?
What would they be getting andwhere could they find you?
Lynne Bowman (31:56):
Okay, so just be sure you spell my name right,
because it'sL-Y-N-N-E-B-O-W-M-A-N.
My middle name and my authorname is Lynn Parmiter Bowman,
but that's kind of hard.
It's P-A-R-M-I-T-E-R, but ifyou search Lynn Bowman, I'm
usually the first Lynn Bowmanwho will pop up.
The book is Brownies forBreakfast.
(32:18):
Oh yes, a cookbook fordiabetics and the people who
love them.
That's why I wrote it.
Cheryl Fischer (32:27):
But then I realized that, that's everybody,
well fair.
Lynne Bowman (32:29):
Everybody, pretty much.
We've got a diabetic somewherethat we love.
And also it's the same exactrecommendation for people with
heart disease or who don't wantheart disease Uh, people who
want to protect their liver,whatever.
It's just granny sensible.
Here's how to eat and there'sno biochemistry in it.
(32:51):
It's just all simple.
Here's what you do.
Love it.
And then, of course, I do tellsome stories, but I love pretty
food.
Yes, I love pretty food, andthe point is I want you to know
that you can make stuff that'sgoing to look exactly like this.
Cheryl Fischer (33:12):
Oh boy, isn't that a big deal with a cookbook?
Lynne Bowman (33:15):
Yeah, so the brownies are made from canned
pumpkin.
Yes, nut butter you can use anykind you want.
Cocoa, which is a health food.
Chocolate is a health food ifyou don't put sugar in it and
some other things, some cinnamonand some baking soda and some
stuff not much and you can useeggs or egg substitutes.
(33:38):
So everything in the book youcan do vegan, vegetarian or put
meat in it.
Boom.
Cheryl Fischer (33:44):
Amazing, amazing .
And when we talked before werecorded this, you told me about
the pumpkin, and I've beenfascinated about it ever since,
so I will be trying some of therecipes, for sure.
Lynne Bowman (33:55):
Good, good.
And then I hope I always wantyou to send me pictures and give
me feedback.
It's like, well, it looked likeit was burning around the edge
and so I reduced the heat.
Yes, good idea, you know, umit's.
They're very, very simple.
But if you're not cooking atall, you know you, you may be a
little hesitant about, uh, justbaking anything.
(34:16):
But there's, there's pumpkinbars in there.
There's orange snack cake,where you take a whole orange
and put it in the blender.
What fun is that?
Cheryl Fischer (34:26):
Oh yeah, and if you're listening, tell us on
social media or wherever, if youtry some of these recipes as
well.
Yeah.
Lynne Bowman (34:34):
Okay, and the contact stuff.
Okay, I'm on Substack, lynnBowmansubstackcom, and that's
kind of new, but I'm having funwith it.
I love hearing from people.
But yeah, you'll find me if yousearch for me and I hope you do
and then my website it haseverything on it, it's just
lynnbowmancom absolutely okay,then let's wrap up with.
Cheryl Fischer (34:59):
I always like to talk about the omg Like the
thing that we have to rememberthat's so important.
From this whole conversation,what do you think is really the
thing that people need to keepin mind?
Eat joyfully, nice, I love it.
Eat joyfully.
It's not just about the food,it's not just about the time,
it's about all of it.
Lynne Bowman (35:19):
All of it the company.
You know the intention all ofit.
Cheryl Fischer (35:24):
Perfect way to wrap up.
Well, lynn, thank you so muchfor joining me today.
Oh, this has been big, big fun.
Wow.
For me, that OMG moment wasperfect and it kind of pulled
together everything I washearing in this conversation
about intention.
Yes, what she said is lesssugar, community eating,
(35:54):
community in life, sleep, andlet it be good sleep, let it be
fun, something you look forwardto.
It was all based in changingour attitude and our intention
behind what we're doing, and youknow, I love that.
It's the mindset thatunderscores this entire thing.
(36:15):
And so midlife, it's the middle.
We have a long and amazing andfun way to go, and I hope you
heard that today.
Now make sure you've hit thefollow button, because next week
on the podcast, we're going tostay in this healthy theme for
(36:37):
another week and we're going totalk about walking, and I'm not
just going to say to you youshould walk, I'm going to tell
you why and I'm going to tellyou how, and so stick with me,
I'll see you then.
Oh, my goodness, let's keepcreating confidence and success,
one thought at a time.
Isn't it crazy how many rules and I'm doing air
quotes when I say rules thereare about how to be healthy.
Oh my goodness, I can open anysocial media, turn on the TV,
(00:21):
open the magazine, whatever andthere's somebody telling me and
I know you've had thisexperience, of course how to be
healthier, how exactly toexercise, how I'm supposed to
eat, what I'm not supposed toeat, and all these things are so
that we can.
We can live longer and behealthier, and that's great that
(00:44):
there's all that advice outthere.
And I guess the opposite ofthat wouldn't be good, would it?
We don't want to have no ideawhat to do, but it's
overwhelming.
It's overwhelming for me, whichtells me it's probably
overwhelming for you.
So let's see if we can simplify.
So let's see if we can simplify.
Welcome to Mind your Midlife,your go-to resource for
(01:07):
confidence and success, onethought at a time.
Unlike most advice out there,we believe that simply telling
you to believe in yourself orchange your habits isn't enough
to wake up excited about life orfeel truly confident in your
body.
Each week, you'll gainactionable strategies and oh my
(01:27):
goodness, powerful insights tostop feeling stuck and start
loving your midlife.
This is the Mind your Midlifepodcast.
When I hit midlife and the wayI'm defining that is grown up,
kids who are out of the house,at least kind of part of the
(01:48):
time.
You know college and beyond, aswell as into the mid 40s, 50s,
maybe even early 60s.
Obviously, your timeline mightbe a little different than mine,
be a little different than mine, but when I hit midlife, I
(02:12):
realized that I want to behealthy, I want to exercise and
feel good about my body and eatwell so that I feel good.
And I, at this point, I knowwhat things I should eat if I
want to have energy that day andwhat things will make me sleepy
.
And you know we've learnedthese things about ourselves so
far.
Right, but I'm also at thepoint that was a long intro to
(02:35):
what I wanted to say where Iwant quality of life to be
factored in, and I had aconversation with my friend just
two days ago where she wassaying you know, I know that I
could lose a bunch of weight ifI was just so, so, so strict
with what I was eating and Ididn't let myself ever have, you
(02:59):
know, anything out of theordinary and I exercised an hour
a day and I just rampedeverything up, but she was
saying I don't want to live likethat, it's too hard.
And I think sometimes then weextrapolate from that and we say
, well, living healthy ingeneral is too hard, so I don't
(03:19):
want to do it.
Or if you're not heading downthe forget it, it's too hard
pathway, maybe you're headingdown the.
Well, somebody just tell me.
Just tell me the best thing todo, Keep it simple.
Just tell me what to do.
I want to feel good.
Sure, I want to live long, Iwant this period to be the
middle and have all that timeahead of me.
(03:41):
But just somebody tell me whatto do.
So I fall into these traps allthe time.
I bet you do too.
So my guest today is such a coolperson.
So Lynne Bowman is, as she says, in her 80th year.
(04:01):
She's going to tell us that sheis 79.
She is living proof that youcan cook, eat, sleep, laugh and
walk your way out of type 2diabetes, and that is her
wording.
She has a best-selling bookcalled Brownies for Breakfast, a
cookbook for diabetics and thepeople who love them.
And she is just a cool grandma,mother, businesswoman, and so I
(04:30):
am super excited because we'regoing to try to make this simple
, and she is going to, I think,speak about eating and longevity
and health, maybe with a littlebit different angle than you
have heard recently.
So welcome Lynne.
Lynne Bowman (04:46):
I am so happy that everything's working and we're
here.
Let's do this.
Cheryl Fischer (04:51):
Technology is amazing.
It's amazing.
So let's just start with thishow did you end up with such a
focus on longevity and eatinghealthy for longevity on
longevity and eating healthy forlongevity.
Lynne Bowman (05:05):
It was totally an accident.
It happened to me.
I didn't happen to it, but Ithink it goes back, cheryl, to
way back when, and the more weread about this and study this,
the more we realize that we kindof come out of the chute and
arrive on earth with a program,whether we like it or not.
If you're a parent, I thinkyou've seen it in your kids.
(05:26):
No matter what you'd like toproject on them, you know, no
matter what you think, they gethere with something they want to
do or something they need to do.
And it's not always what youthink.
But in my case, my mom died whenI was very young, I was 18, and
he had been ill most of my life.
She had chronic kidney diseaseand in fact and this is an
(05:49):
interesting thing that's come uplately In fact she was advised
not to have me.
She was advised to get anabortion because of her health,
and I've just now been hearingfrom a couple of different
sources.
There is a theory I guess.
I don't know how well proven itis, but among Native American
(06:10):
peoples apparently there's thisidea that when a mother's life
is threatened for some reason oranother, the child that's born,
the female child that's born isa warrior, and there is science
behind there being some kind ofa thing that happens chemically
to women, who are stressed in acertain way during their
(06:33):
pregnancy that removes fear intheir children.
And that sounds creepy, right,but I've asked the question.
My youngest, particularly myyoungest, is a daughter, and she
was one of those babies that Icould not take my eyes off her
for one minute because she wasafraid of nothing.
She went straight out in thepasture after the cattle, she
(06:54):
went straight up the hill afterthe cat.
This kid, as soon as she couldwalk, was gone.
And this is the five diamond,black diamond, snowboarding,
going to Costa Rica, divingunder it and so on.
And you have to go.
Okay, maybe there is something,maybe there is a thing that
happens to us.
Cheryl Fischer (07:14):
Interesting.
Lynne Bowman (07:15):
Chemical, maybe it's spiritual, maybe it's both,
who knows the mix.
But so I grew up with a motherwho was impaired with this and
she died when I was 18.
So I came into adulthoodunderstanding a little bit more
than a lot of people do aboutone, how temporary life is.
(07:36):
Two, you're on your own and youbetter figure it out, whatever
it is.
So when my children were born,I was told my son was about 10
pounds and I was told and wewere talking earlier about the
medical teams that we weredealing with in those days, and
this is in the South and it'slike well, ms Bauman, you know
you're, your kids, 10 pounds,you're probably you got a
(07:59):
gestational diabetes.
I do.
Well, they hadn't thought totest me, or in those days it was
not a thing that you were aboutRight.
So they did say you're going tohave to watch your weight and
you're going to, and when you'rein your forties you will
probably have type two diabetes.
So, and I also, at the sametime, um, I had one of the worst
(08:19):
marriages ever.
Another story a vet who had comeback from Vietnam, marine, and
so part of trying to stay alivewas that I had to leave North
Carolina with my two-year-old,three-year-old and four-year-old
and come to California tosurvive.
But all of this, your lifebecomes about staying on your
(08:43):
feet, and some of us to agreater degree than others, but
all of us are doing this.
You know, whether we're doingit consciously or not, and in my
case it was conscious.
I was not going to leave mykids, and so I just started
doing everything that I could doto be as healthy as I could be.
I didn't have the money to besick either, you know, and I
(09:06):
didn't have the support to besick.
So my defense was take care ofyourself.
And I did my best and Ieducated myself about it.
And also, when you're a singlemom, you know and you're making
way, however, you can do it.
Cooking and eating, of course,is a big part of what you're
(09:26):
doing, and so I developed someskills in the kitchen to make it
fast, cheap and healthy.
I love that, yeah, and it justturned into this longevity thing
, because people were alwaysasking me.
First of all, in this book thatI most recently did, people
(09:46):
wanted to know how I did it,because it seemed it was like a
superpower To me.
It was quite ordinary.
You're just slinging hash,you're putting it on the table,
but in my case it had to behealthy.
It had to be something that wasnot going to make me sick and
make my kids sick, but it wasabout me staying alive so I
(10:07):
could keep them alive.
So it just sort of developedover the years.
And then now what's happening?
First of all, when I wastalking sugar-free, even five
years ago, nobody wanted to hearit Like, oh no, no, thank you.
Cheryl Fischer (10:23):
We were in the fat-free kick back then.
Lynne Bowman (10:26):
Well, and just, there was something about
sugar-free.
First of all, it saysdeprivation.
Nobody wants to be deprived ofyummy, delicious, sweet food.
And also, I think people hadgot kind of a bad idea about
sugar substitutes, with goodreason, because they were some
lousy ones.
They made your tummy hurt andthey weren't you know.
(10:46):
They gave people cancer orwhatever.
Cheryl Fischer (10:48):
You know what I, I.
There's a meme out there that Iremember seeing that, something
like you know the processedfood is cheaper now and the
healthy food is expensive, butnot as expensive as being sick
for 20 years is, or something.
You know, something like that.
Lynne Bowman (11:04):
Yeah, not as expensive, as being sick for 20
years is, or something like that.
Yeah, yes, and we are allnoticing how expensive I mean.
You buy a sandwich out anywhereand it's 15 bucks.
20 bucks with tax, you know, 25with tip.
Food has gone up, and notnecessarily great food either.
Cheryl Fischer (11:21):
So one of the keys then is cutting the sugar.
Are there any other major keysto the way we eat and how it
affects longevity?
Lynne Bowman (11:31):
Yes, the most important one is who you eat
with.
Cheryl Fischer (11:35):
All right, tell me more about that.
Lynne Bowman (11:37):
Well, food, first of all, is not just fuel, it's
connection, it's a sacrament,it's community, it's all these
other things that are human andwe seem to think that eating
something out of a bag, in theback of a car or behind a
steering wheel is food.
It's not.
Humans are meant to share foodand when we take food in, we're
(12:02):
not just throwing stuff downWell, we are throwing it down
our gullet.
But we're not just throwingstuff down Well, we are throwing
it down our gullet.
But what we're made to do islook at it, see what it is,
smell it, see how it smells,feel it, taste it, because those
are the things that tell usit's okay and those are the
things that allow our body to gooh, she's going to throw
(12:26):
something down.
You're ready, you know you'vegot this whole system about
eating.
It's not just throwing it downyour throat and that hopefully,
it will land in your liver andyou know, go on out the other
end.
I mean it's a whole system thatneeds to receive your food and
people.
I think just don't even thinkabout that.
(12:47):
It's also connected, deeplyconnected, to how you sleep and
if you sleep and in middle age,women are constantly.
I love you, darling, but I knowwhat you're doing.
You're whining about notsleeping at night, all of you.
Cheryl Fischer (13:03):
If you're listening, I wonder is she
telling the truth?
Lynne Bowman (13:08):
Yeah, we talk about sleep a lot.
I know you ate pizza in frontof Jimmy Kimmel.
Last night I saw you and thenthere was a little bit of ice
cream, wasn't there.
So the problem is not I meanthe pizza.
Yeah, I'll tell you.
I can tell you how to make thebest pizza ever, and it's
fabulous food and you can eat it.
(13:29):
But you can't order pizza andeat it and have it be good food.
I'm sorry, you have to make it.
So there's that and of course,the ice cream we've already
talked about.
But the Jimmy Kimmel part andJimmy love you honey, but you
must.
You must go to bed at a decenthour and you must quit eating
three to four hours, have yourlast bite three to four hours
(13:52):
before you sleep and you'veprobably heard this already and
you're, you're going.
Yeah, yada, yada, yada.
But it does make a hugedifference in how your food is
processed and how your wholebody is allowed to do what it
needs to do.
Have you talked about autophagyon your podcast?
Cheryl Fischer (14:10):
No, I have not.
Lynne Bowman (14:12):
Good, because it's going to be our word of the day
.
Excellent Word of the day.
Hey, I love that.
So I'm going to be Miss Yvonnefor a minute.
Autophagy.
You know it's autophagy.
Self eating sounds pretty grody, but what it is is your cells
want to recycle each other,clean out the bad ones and
(14:34):
strengthen the good ones.
They are genius, the littledevils in there.
They know how to do this.
Genius, the little devils inthere, they know how to do this.
But you have to leave them aloneto do the work.
You cannot continue to shovelfood in because they can only
work after something like 14 to16 hours foodless has gone by in
(14:55):
your body, which, of course,you're thinking okay, wait, if I
have pizza at 11 o'clock atnight, you know that's right.
You can't.
You have to stop eating.
The earlier the better.
Old crusty people like me canstop at four or five in the
afternoon, which I do.
I often eat my last meal at twoin the afternoon.
It's fine, because I'maccustomed to it and I know how
(15:15):
important it is.
And, plus, I'm a recreationalsleeper, Cheryl, Do you know
what I'm saying by that?
You enjoy it, I love to sleepand you know it's all about the
pillow.
I actually iron my pillowcases.
I know that's how sick I am,but I mean I want my bed lovely
and I want the room light, justso, and I want it quiet and so
(15:37):
on, and it's a whole ritual andI would wish for anyone that you
enjoy that as much as I do, ormaybe more because you got to do
it every day.
Why not make it fun, you know?
Why not think of it as a lovelything to do, not a capitulation
, you know, because you're tired.
Cheryl Fischer (15:56):
That's a great point, because we do.
I'm speaking for my age group.
Overall we do complain aboutsleeping a lot, we talk about it
a lot you're totally rightabout that and maybe because
we're having hot flashes andhaving interrupted sleep and
that's something we hadn't dealtwith before.
But I don't think I've ever hada conversation with somebody
related to sleep where we talkedabout really trying to make it
(16:19):
a whole experience.
That was wonderful andenjoyable and it's the intention
, right, and maybe it's the samething with eating.
Lynne Bowman (16:28):
It's the intention , Absolutely.
And with sleeping.
You know you can't talk aboutthat without talking about
dreaming, and there's so muchwonderful stuff out there to
read about how important dreamsare, what the spiritual elements
of dreaming are, what NativeAmerican or Central American
dream.
Get into it, Enjoy it.
(16:49):
It's an aspect of your life.
You don't just go dead for sixhours or eight hours.
You're alive and things arehappening.
So groove on it a little bitand hope.
Maybe the next morning youremember some of it, which is
hard for me, I don't.
I mean, I sleep deeply and longand wake up the next morning
(17:10):
going huh.
Cheryl Fischer (17:13):
Well, I can remember my dreams sometimes,
but they're usually so strangethat you know who knows.
Lynne Bowman (17:19):
Oh strange is good , it's good.
You just need to think aboutwell why you know who knows.
Oh strange is good, it's good.
You just need to think aboutwell, why you know was that
strange and what?
Who was that character, and soon.
So that just food isn't justfood.
Sleep isn't just sleep, it'sritual, it's life.
And you, your question, yourbasic question, was what is it
about?
(17:39):
That's most important longevitywise about food.
And it is who you eat with.
If you're not eating withpeople you want to eat with now,
fix that honey.
Right now.
It's time to fix it.
And I'm not going to name names.
You know who.
You are out there.
You've been eating with themfor how long and hating it and
complaining about it.
Fix it.
(18:00):
I know people and I'm not goingto mention names here who
recently bought the home next totheir home so they could live
separately, but next door totheir husband.
Wow, she's very happy.
There are things you can do tomake your life just exactly what
you want, and some of theminvolve money and some of them
(18:21):
don't.
Some of them just involvecourage.
So longevity, I mean, all ofthe studies will tell you that
the people who live the longestare the happiest people, the
people who are best connected,whether it's with friends or
community or family, but whohave deep connections that make
(18:41):
them happy.
That's what makes you live long.
Cheryl Fischer (18:44):
Yes, I agree fully and you're right.
There have been plenty ofstudies about this and actually
I'm going to put in the shownotes, if you're listening now,
a link to an episode I did abouthow we sometimes end up
isolating ourselves in midlife,because that is part of this
problem that we're talking aboutand it's really important that
we figure a way out of that.
Yes, community is a big dealand it's been so odd in the past
(19:08):
five years because of thepandemic and everything, so
there's so many variables there.
Lynne Bowman (19:12):
Yeah, yeah and right.
In my book I said, and I'll sayit again if you're eating alone
, put down your fork, go downthe hall, knock on a door.
You know, mrs Johnson want tocome have some soup.
You know, larry, are you hungry?
I mean, you got to reach outand sometimes you think, well, I
(19:32):
don't really want to, and youknow what, shut up, just do it,
just do it.
It doesn't matter if your houseis a little bit upside down.
People love to be invited and Iwill never forget the first
time.
I think I was in college, stillvery young, and a friend
invited a couple of us over toher house, her apartment she was
(19:56):
a couple of years older to havea meal.
And we got there and the tablewas all set and there were
candles on it and napkins and Ithought she really wanted us to
be here, she was expecting usand because I had come to
maturity without my mom doing alot of these things and I was
just swept away with how lovedit made me feel to have someone
(20:21):
expect me and set a table for meand then share a meal with me.
Now, did I care and do I evenremember what the food was?
No, it didn't matter.
But to feel that embrace islife-giving for people,
literally.
It's life-giving which bringsup the question of hospital food
(20:44):
.
How in the world can hospitalsget away with feeding people
what they do?
Cheryl Fischer (20:53):
Oh my God, it's not life-giving, yeah, no.
So that brings us back to food,which is perfect, because as
soon as we start talking in anyconversation about eating
healthy, I think people havesome amount of stress, that kind
of like everybody's telling mehow to eat healthy, everybody's
(21:17):
given me a rule, and I got tocook for an hour every day if I
want it to be healthy, and it'svery complicated.
I don't know who to listen to,and I can see your face as I'm
saying this, and so you'vesimplified it.
So tell us more about that.
Lynne Bowman (21:31):
First of all, I am an impatient, messy cook.
I don't measure very well, Idon't write anything down, I
don't journal, I don't countcalories, I don't count macros,
none of that.
I just cook and my beliefs arekind of simple One eat what you
have, open up your fridge andpull the stuff out and figure
(21:56):
out how to make a meal out of it.
It's usually pretty easy.
It's almost always soup in thebook and there are a couple of
basic things that you do tostart a pot of soup.
And then you take that kalethat you meant well when you
bought it, and then you didn'tknow any, and you take the
spinach out and you take thecelery.
All this stuff comes out Plus.
(22:17):
I made a meal yesterday and Ithought you know, I'm going to
talk about this with peoplebecause there's a way to make a
bowl of I don't know what am Igoing to call it.
I need to come up with a greatname for it, but it's everything
in it.
Pasta is what it is.
You've got some meat and youhave some vegetables and you
(22:39):
have some cheese.
It's whatever you had in thefridge, but with a couple of
little tweaks it turns out to bethis gorgeous casserole that
you've made with and here's mynew tweak pasta made with
chickpeas.
Are you eating chickpea pastayet?
Okay, high protein, very, verywonderful food profile.
(23:01):
It's, of course, strictly.
You know, it's no meat, it'svegan, vegetarian and high fiber
Great food.
But what's even greater aboutit is don't make it the way it
says to make it on the package.
You've got a big, sloppyskillet full of meat and
(23:22):
vegetables and you pour somebroth in it or some water in it,
and so you've made this juicewith all your good tasting stuff
.
Then you just dump that pastain there uncooked and let it
soak up the flavor of all thatother stuff, and it cooks
beautifully.
Just give it eight or nineminutes with a low heat under it
so that it can soak it all up.
(23:43):
And now you've got a gorgeousgreat big skillet full of and
I'm using meat usually, but youdon't need meat.
Whatever you're going to makeyour gooey mess out of.
Oh, and I'll make.
It was Trader Joe's tomato andfeta soup.
I had about a half a thing leftof it and, of course, the broth
(24:04):
.
I had some hamburger that Ijust sauteed.
In the bottom I had half a redpepper onions.
Chop them up, throw them inthere, saute them.
I'm forgetting a lot of it, Idon't know, but you get the
drift yes, Trust me, it'sfabulous.
Cheryl Fischer (24:21):
Okay, so that has just changed the way my
husband and I are going to eatdinner.
Let me just tell you I love itand I have eaten various types
of gluten free pasta for a longtime.
Maybe it's made from brown rice, maybe chickpeas, maybe
whatever else, but it neveroccurred to me to try to create
a situation where I could justthrow it in and let it cook with
(24:43):
whatever I was using it with,and I can see how that would
make it amazing.
Lynne Bowman (24:47):
Pot, no draining, no, nothing, I mean hello.
So that's how I cook in 15minutes, one pot.
I'm talking the whole time andwaving my arms and giving orders
and you know it should be fun,it should be communal.
And you know everybody'swatching TV about cooking,
(25:07):
cooking shows on TV with someangry chef and you know, tight
t-shirt and giving you know no,no, you know I've got.
I have recipes in my book showthat are two ingredients and I
can give you one right now.
You're going to love this.
That are two ingredients and Ican give you one right now.
You're going to love this.
(25:29):
Buy the best balsamic vinegaryou can find and I've got two
local ones that I love.
It's a Gravenstein apple oneand then an apricot one from a
market close by Sigona's market.
But have a really good, alittle bit sweet balsamic
vinegar and then tahini, a jarof tahini.
All it is is ground up sesameseeds.
So really good food, very goodfor you.
The bottom of the salad bowlyou put some tahini in there,
(25:51):
you put some of the balsamic inthere, you mix it up, there's
your dressing, you're done, andthen whatever greens you have,
whatever you're going to makeyourself, and then just toss
them.
So you have not made a separatebowl, you haven't ground
anything up, you have tossed twothings in the bottom of your
salad bowl and, trust me, it'sas good as any dressing you've
(26:12):
ever had in your life.
So good If it's a good balsamicand good tahini.
Cheryl Fischer (26:18):
I love it.
I'm going to try thatAbsolutely, absolutely Because I
love it.
I'm going to try thatAbsolutely, absolutely, because
I love to eat salad and thereare some dressings I really love
and I've always said I'm notgoing to get rid of everything.
I know they're not ideal for me, but I'm just going to eat them
anyway.
I can try this.
Lynne Bowman (26:32):
If you buy them in a jar, they're probably not
good for you.
I mean, you know, that's thething.
And a lot of us fall down whenit comes to salad dressing
Because if you really read thelabel, they've all got sugar,
they've all got oils that youreally don't want to eat.
I mean, they're full of crap.
So why not just make your ownin two seconds and have it way
(26:53):
better and have your guests gooh my goodness, what is this?
It's so Say, oh well, it'ssomething you know.
Cheryl Fischer (27:00):
I threw it together, I whipped up yeah, so
say, oh well, it's something youknow I.
I threw it up.
Yeah, I love it, I love it.
And that was actually myquestion for you is what are
some of your favorite easyrecipes?
So there we go, I just gave itaway, right.
Lynne Bowman (27:11):
But this the thing is you do not.
Not only are you not going tobe deprived, you are going to be
eating better than you've evereaten.
Because guess why, when you getrid of all the stupid white
stuff, the ground up stuff, andyou're left with okay, now, what
am I?
It opens up this wholewonderful world of colorful,
(27:32):
healthful, delicious, wonderful,smelling stuff that you didn't
even think about eating beforebecause you were so busy with
that stupid croissant that youget every morning.
Cheryl Fischer (27:46):
And you know what?
I want to add something here,because I like what you just
said for a particular reason.
It's also about how we'rethinking about this and kind of
our mindset about it, Absolutely, I mean, if you want to be
deprived.
Lynne Bowman (27:57):
You're going to find a way to feel deprived, but
I don't want to be deprived ofmy last 20 years, you know.
And here's another thing aboutmidlife it gets so much better
after 50.
And I'm not the only person whofeels this way.
I mean, I got girlfriends, youknow, many of whom are in their
nineties, and I won't say many,but I have a few, and they're
(28:19):
cool, they're artists.
But the point is that we aresort of taught that when our
menstrual cycles end, so doesour life.
No, no, not even close.
I don't know who made up that,but it's wrong when you get that
stuff behind you and your kidssort of pretty well launched,
(28:44):
you and your kids sort of prettywell launched.
And in my case I was 50 when Imoved to where I am now, which
we bought this money pit, brokendown old farm on the coast of
California just fell madly inlove with this the light, the
trees, the ocean, all of it.
I feel so grounded and happy.
It's a magical place.
But 50, I think of that in mylife, as that was when
everything kind of started toreally go my way.
(29:07):
You know, I could make choices,I could, I could be where I
wanted to be.
Up until then it had been somuch about the kids, the career,
the husband, the, you knoweverything.
And I really do think that,husband, the, you know
everything.
And I really do think that Imean we're stronger in many ways
, absolutely.
(29:30):
You know our, our.
We certainly are moreexperienced and, um, the brain
power is there not impaired by alot of what has to happen
earlier in your life?
Life is so interesting in somany ways and it just gets more
interesting, and to be this ageis is weird.
I mean, and I'll repeat it, I,I have had my 79th birthday.
So I'm saying to myself, girl,this is your 80th year.
(29:52):
What I'm doing?
Strength training.
I'm working out four days aweek with an adorable trainer,
who's really wonderful, and withmy girlfriends.
That's my social life is inthis little gym in town, but I
never had the freedom, theability to do that in the past.
(30:12):
Four days a week, I get to dothat Four mornings, yay.
And, by the way, girls, that'show you keep your bones strong.
Yes, yes, it's not withpharmaceuticals, it's at the gym
doing strength training, and Iam now dead lifting 50, 60, 70
pounds, depending on the day, Ithink my limit.
(30:34):
I did 95 one day and you cantoo.
And then it was explained to methat all of the noise about
when you fall you're going tobreak a bone and you don't want
to have brittle bones becausefalling and so on, what prevents
falls is having muscles.
If you have muscles, you're notgoing to bust a brittle bone.
(30:54):
So the combination is veryimportant.
Also, hormones yes, let's talkabout it.
I am doing a regime, and havebeen for a couple of years, of
topically applied bio-identicalestradiol and progesterone.
Cheryl Fischer (31:16):
Yeah, yeah, I definitely believe in the power
of that, for sure.
Lynne Bowman (31:20):
Not recommending it.
Not a doctor, okay, and we haveto do all those disclaimers
Absolutely, see your doctor,yeah, and I'm doing it under the
care of Dr Selma Rashid, who'swonderful, but I think it's a
gift.
I think it's a wonderful thingAlso in part because we have
females doing the prescribingnow.
Cheryl Fischer (31:40):
Yeah, yeah, that's a big change for sure.
Okay, wow.
So we've gone in all differentdirections, but they have all
fit together and that's amazing.
Where can people find your book?
What's the name of your book?
What would they be getting andwhere could they find you?
Lynne Bowman (31:56):
Okay, so just be sure you spell my name right,
because it'sL-Y-N-N-E-B-O-W-M-A-N.
My middle name and my authorname is Lynn Parmiter Bowman,
but that's kind of hard.
It's P-A-R-M-I-T-E-R, but ifyou search Lynn Bowman, I'm
usually the first Lynn Bowmanwho will pop up.
The book is Brownies forBreakfast.
(32:18):
Oh yes, a cookbook fordiabetics and the people who
love them.
That's why I wrote it.
Cheryl Fischer (32:27):
But then I realized that, that's everybody,
well fair.
Lynne Bowman (32:29):
Everybody, pretty much.
We've got a diabetic somewherethat we love.
And also it's the same exactrecommendation for people with
heart disease or who don't wantheart disease Uh, people who
want to protect their liver,whatever.
It's just granny sensible.
Here's how to eat and there'sno biochemistry in it.
(32:51):
It's just all simple.
Here's what you do.
Love it.
And then, of course, I do tellsome stories, but I love pretty
food.
Yes, I love pretty food, andthe point is I want you to know
that you can make stuff that'sgoing to look exactly like this.
Cheryl Fischer (33:12):
Oh boy, isn't that a big deal with a cookbook?
Lynne Bowman (33:15):
Yeah, so the brownies are made from canned
pumpkin.
Yes, nut butter you can use anykind you want.
Cocoa, which is a health food.
Chocolate is a health food ifyou don't put sugar in it and
some other things, some cinnamonand some baking soda and some
stuff not much and you can useeggs or egg substitutes.
(33:38):
So everything in the book youcan do vegan, vegetarian or put
meat in it.
Boom.
Cheryl Fischer (33:44):
Amazing, amazing .
And when we talked before werecorded this, you told me about
the pumpkin, and I've beenfascinated about it ever since,
so I will be trying some of therecipes, for sure.
Lynne Bowman (33:55):
Good, good.
And then I hope I always wantyou to send me pictures and give
me feedback.
It's like, well, it looked likeit was burning around the edge
and so I reduced the heat.
Yes, good idea, you know, umit's.
They're very, very simple.
But if you're not cooking atall, you know you, you may be a
little hesitant about, uh, justbaking anything.
(34:16):
But there's, there's pumpkinbars in there.
There's orange snack cake,where you take a whole orange
and put it in the blender.
What fun is that?
Cheryl Fischer (34:26):
Oh yeah, and if you're listening, tell us on
social media or wherever, if youtry some of these recipes as
well.
Yeah.
Lynne Bowman (34:34):
Okay, and the contact stuff.
Okay, I'm on Substack, lynnBowmansubstackcom, and that's
kind of new, but I'm having funwith it.
I love hearing from people.
But yeah, you'll find me if yousearch for me and I hope you do
and then my website it haseverything on it, it's just
lynnbowmancom absolutely okay,then let's wrap up with.
Cheryl Fischer (34:59):
I always like to talk about the omg Like the
thing that we have to rememberthat's so important.
From this whole conversation,what do you think is really the
thing that people need to keepin mind?
Eat joyfully, nice, I love it.
Eat joyfully.
It's not just about the food,it's not just about the time,
it's about all of it.
Lynne Bowman (35:19):
All of it the company.
You know the intention all ofit.
Cheryl Fischer (35:24):
Perfect way to wrap up.
Well, lynn, thank you so muchfor joining me today.
Oh, this has been big, big fun.
Wow.
For me, that OMG moment wasperfect and it kind of pulled
together everything I washearing in this conversation
about intention.
Yes, what she said is lesssugar, community eating,
(35:54):
community in life, sleep, andlet it be good sleep, let it be
fun, something you look forwardto.
It was all based in changingour attitude and our intention
behind what we're doing, and youknow, I love that.
It's the mindset thatunderscores this entire thing.
(36:15):
And so midlife, it's the middle.
We have a long and amazing andfun way to go, and I hope you
heard that today.
Now make sure you've hit thefollow button, because next week
on the podcast, we're going tostay in this healthy theme for
(36:37):
another week and we're going totalk about walking, and I'm not
just going to say to you youshould walk, I'm going to tell
you why and I'm going to tellyou how, and so stick with me,
I'll see you then.
Oh, my goodness, let's keepcreating confidence and success,
one thought at a time.
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