Five years ago, despite having a thriving career, healthy habits, a strong faith, and a full life, I found myself asking a question I couldn't ignore: Is this it?

What I've learned since is that midlife isn't simply about maintaining your health—it's about rediscovering your purpose. When the brain fog lifts and the busyness quiets, many women find themselves face-to-face with dreams, desires, and callings they've put on hold for years.

That restless feeling isn't a sign of dissatisfaction. It may be a sign that something within you is waking up. Perhaps this season isn't about decline at all—perhaps it's about choosing, with greater clarity and intention, what you're building the second half of your life toward.

If intermittent fasting works for you, there's no need to abandon it. The key question isn't when you eat—it's whether you're giving your body what it needs when you do.

Fasting doesn't typically cause the blood sugar crashes associated with a high-carbohydrate breakfast. But if you're eating only one or two meals a day, each meal needs to work harder. Protein becomes even more important, alongside vegetables, healthy fats, fibre, and key nutrients that support muscle, bone, hormone, and brain health.

The real question isn't "Is fasting bad?" It's "Am I nourishing my body well enough during my eating window?" A few thoughtful adjustments may be all that's needed to help you thrive.

Last week I encouraged you to aim for 30g of protein at breakfast. This week, we're making it practical.

Most common breakfasts are surprisingly low in protein, leaving you hungry, foggy, and reaching for snacks by mid-morning. The good news? Hitting 30g is easier than you think.

From eggs and smoked fish to Greek yoghurt, moin moin, nuts, beans, or even leftovers from dinner, small adjustments can make a big difference to your energy, concentration, and blood sugar stability.

Before you eat tomorrow morning, ask yourself one simple question: Where's the protein? Your brain will thank you by 10am.

The most powerful brain fog intervention might not be a supplement or a prescription—it might be how you start your morning.

The "morning anchor" is simple: wake up at the same time, get 10 minutes of natural light, and eat a protein-rich breakfast. Together, these three habits support your circadian rhythm, stabilise blood sugar, improve sleep quality, and help restore mental clarity.

More than a productivity hack, it's a daily act of grounding—physically, mentally, and spiritually. Small, consistent steps that help you begin the day anchored rather than reactive.

A practical guide to beating brain fog: the science is encouraging, and most solutions are simpler than you might think. From movement and sleep to nutrition, stress management, and gut health, small consistent changes can have a powerful impact on memory, focus, and mental clarity.

The key takeaway? You are not losing your capability—you may simply be under-resourced. Start with one small habit, build from there, and give your brain the support it needs to thrive through midlife and beyond.

Last time I wrote about brain fog and what it actually feels like when you’re someone who’s used to being sharp. If you missed it: it’s real, it’s common, and it’s not dementia.

But the more useful question is this—what’s actually driving it?

In practice, you might get a quick acknowledgment and a suggestion like HRT or “give it time.” But through a functional medicine lens, I’m asking something more specific: what combination of factors is creating your version of brain fog?

Common drivers include oestrogen fluctuation, sleep disruption, chronic stress, thyroid dysfunction, nutrient deficiencies (B12, vitamin D, iron, magnesium, omega-3s), blood sugar instability, chronic inflammation, and gut health.

They don’t act in isolation. They interact—sleep affects inflammation, stress affects sleep, gut health influences hormones, and so the cycle continues.

The key shift is this: it’s not “do you have brain fog?” but “which threads in your system are pulling most strongly?”

Most of these are modifiable. You don’t have to accept fog as your new baseline.

I’ve been away from your inbox longer than I intended. I had to pause and question what I was building and whether it was truly mine, or something I’d been trying to fit myself into.

Sometimes you only realise a path isn’t yours by walking far enough down it.

So here I am. Still a GP, still in lifestyle and functional medicine, still a coach and still, before all of it, a woman of faith who believes you were never designed to live on empty in your forties and fifties, wondering if this is all there is.

You and I both know the woman I’m speaking about. She’s exhausted in a way sleep doesn’t fix, carrying a body that feels different than it used to, and quietly asking herself if there is more to her life than this stretch of survival.

If this no longer feels aligned for you, I understand completely.

But if you’re still here, stay. I’ll be writing the things I wish someone had told me earlier, grounded in medicine, faith, and lived experience.

I’m an avid reader and a writer who prides herself on a quite decent command of the English language. So imagine my frustration: deep in conversation with a close friend, struggling to find the precise word to convey my thoughts. That nuanced noun or apt adjective evades me, dangling just out of reach at the wispy edges of my cognition until I just give up and use the next best but totally unsatisfactory turn of phrase. Super frustrating!! (The word came the next morning: it was "validation"! 😏

Now that's annoying enough over coffee. But when it starts happening in board meetings and team huddles, in the middle of giving a lecture or a patient consultation, that's when it stops being funny. Losing your thread mid-sentence, buying time with "sorry, where was I?", over-preparing for presentations you'd have winged two years ago. You quietly start to wonder if something is seriously wrong. This isn't just about forgetting where you put your keys or looking for the phone that's right in your hand. (Of course that hasn't happened to me! 🤦🏾‍♀️)

It All Begins Here