Earlier this month, I turned 50.

Does anyone who turns 50 actually feel 50?! I don’t know.

I don’t feel 50.

If you ask me how old I feel, I’d probably say mid 30s.

This was me, mid 30s, landing in the town in Tuscany that I called my home for five years:

It was a few years after this that I started learning about ancestral food. As you’ll know, if you’ve followed my story, food and I have had an ‘interesting’ relationship.

I celebrated my first ‘big’ birthday, my 18th, having never really known being anything other than substantially overweight. Food, specifically sugar-laced food, was my escape, a sensual experience that gave me the comfort, gratification and love that was lacking in my home life.

Between my 18th and the next big birthday, my 21st, I lost half my body weight. Looking back, losing it was the easy part. The following decades of learning to be Alison without the addiction; the turning towards many painful things in my life/psyche has been so much harder. Through addressing thorny habitual ways of being, bringing to life the things that I actually care about and connecting with my food, 50 looks a lot more peaceful than 18.

Engaging with ancestral foods and the lifestyle that supports them, as I did in my 30s, has taught me so many things. It feels like a worthwhile task to try to encapsulate some of those things to mark my 50th.

The world has not taught me these without a fight. And the ones that I refuse to learn, keep coming back and hitting me over the head again and again!

50 things an ancestral lifestyle has taught me:

Food heals. But there is so much more to health than food; you can get your diet ‘perfect’ and still be very unhealthy and it’s too easy to hide behind food changes and ignore other, unbalanced, parts of your life.

There are people who believe in the same things you do. No matter how isolated you feel, you are not alone. The incredible boon of information technology (is it the only one?!) is that we can find these people. I thought I was alone and yet I’ve found thousands of people through my work. Put it out there.

As much as technology can connect us, technology can ruin our lives. Most people are sleeping through this, unaware of the many, many ways they are being manipulated; how their life could be so much more alive if they began by looking up from their phone.

People who aren’t ready to change aren’t worth trying to persuade. Do not give your energy to them. Focus on what you’re doing and fine tune your instinct so you can notice those precious moments when others are receptive.

One size does not fit all, food-wise. And there are some things health-wise, that you just can’t get over. But, you can almost always make them somewhat better.

Self acceptance is the key to becoming softer, not harder, as you age.

Integrity – truly being in alignment with the choices you make – is one of the most worthwhile goals to aim at. When enacted, it feels so very good and also moves you forward in your life.

There is always another, deeper, layer than the one you’re working on now. And to uncover it will probably take longer than you think.

Patience can be learnt through actions.

Clarity is a pre-requisite to right forward movement. Question what you want again and again. If there’s any doubt that it feels right, circle back around and start over.

It’s not about all or nothing, in fact, all or nothing can be very harmful.

Saturated fat does not make you fat!

Most of the world still believes that saturated fat makes you fat.

Our biome is the master controller of our health.

It is very hard to change our biome.

No one knows more about your body than you. By all means take in information, but listen to yourself first.

In order to understand what your body is saying, take quiet time.

You can trust your instinct, but you won’t know what your instinct sounds like until you test out your inclinations, watch what happens and take time to reflect.

The thing that you ‘can’t do without’, food-wise, is so often the thing that is messing you up.

Changing something around in your diet, even if only for a couple of days, can be so revealing.

You can survive without the thing that you think you absolutely need.

Rest. Rest. Rest.

Following what brings you joy is the way to move forward in your life.

Cooking is not a frivolity. Cooking can be an incredibly deep way of connecting – to your digestion, your food, the soil, the community and your family.

Cooking is an art form.

The closer you get to your food, the more you value it and see the profound impact it has on all areas of your life and the world around you.

All actions have a consequence. Even ‘good’ actions.

Pushing harder is not the answer.

Restricting your choices in the kitchen will force you to be more creative.

Humans are founts of creativity – you have more than you will ever know.

Examine any resentment you hold. Over and over again.

If you want to remain active, choose a lifestyle where you have to be active.

Changes you make now will have an impact on you in 20 years time.

Having children at home is such a challenging lifestyle but brings immense benefits.

We can do things we never believed possible.

Lean on your past work. Remember challenges you’ve been through in the past and hard things you’ve done.

When we have clarity of direction and we put in effort, things shift. But 99% of the time it’s always slower than we want.

Calories are not what the world thinks they are.

There is so much going on outside the bubbles we live in…but sometimes it’s best to live in our bubbles.

Community is so, so important. Support can be the difference between giving up and keeping going. Plus it enlivens your life.

The creative process is incredibly challenging. But the payoff is magnificent.

Learning to accept, not fight failure is a key to being fulfilled. If we can pass this on to our children, we have done amazingly.

Screens are addictive and change your brain patterns.

I think I got 50, right?!

So, with all these lessons offered to me, where am I at? Here’s the flavour of the beginning of my 6th decade in the world:

What I’m working on:

The podcast, my blog, homeschooling, preparing three meals a day…these all fill my days and continue with their challenges. But my edge is my book; it’s offering up a chance for me to be moulded, to go deeper, to learn and to practise…

How can it really take this long?! There’s never enough time to write.

And I want it to be successful. But I know from experience that unless I act with integrity, I will suffer the consequences. So I question, again and again, yes, this action might promote the book, but how do I feel about it? When I hear a whisper of a doubt I try to stop and put plans to one side. The cycle of finding actions with integrity will start again.

What I still have to learn:

I need to remind myself of everything that I’ve written above.

Right now, I walk forward with goals that do not seem, to my rational mind, possible. I hold the belief that by honing my clarity and making effort towards my aims, things I would never imagine will move around me to support me.

And, as always for me it’s vital to remember that I don’t need to push.

Before I head off, don’t forget that you can support my work by sharing it with others, engaging with my courses, joining me at The Kitchen Table as a podcast supporter or leaving me a donation.

You might also like:

Letting Go of A Dream…I’m Leaving Italy – reflections upon leaving Italy after a decade of living there.

Come sit at my table and I’ll tell you a story – what I tell you if we sat together, with tea, and you asked about my life.

Alison in Pictures – a visual glimpse into my life.