The world says our best years are behind us. I disagree.

Midlife unlocks wisdom, resilience, and the kind of power the world desperately needs. But tapping into the potential? That’s a choice.

You may be here because you’ve been struggling with losing weight in a sustainable way and are fed up with fad diets and extreme hacks. You’ve learned first hand that the quick-fix approaches are not doable, even if you initially lose a few pounds… 

Maybe you’re transitioning into a new phase of life (empty-nester, nearing or have retired etc.) and you’re confused about what will work for you when it comes to creating your best health so you can live the life you’ve dreamt of for so long.

Maybe a health scare or condition is impacting the quality of your life. It could be something you’ve been dealing with for some time… or a scary new diagnosis. It doesn’t have to be something with a name, maybe you just feel less energetic, have more aches and pains, experience fatigue and brain fog and think it’s just part of getting older.

Regardless of how you made your way here, I’m so happy you did. Woo-woot! It’s finally time to prioritize your own care since your quality of life depends on it.

I want you to know you’re in the right place and that here we do things informed by science and supported by wisdom. That’s how we make new healthy habits stick!

And just in case you wonder, it’s NOT SELFISH to take of yourself. In fact, it’s the total opposite since it will allow you to show up in the world as your best self!

Hi, I’m Annika, creator of Evolutionary Nutrition. Most of my clients are women in their 40’s, 50’s or 60’s and I help them figure out how to eat, move and live in a way that meets them where they are in body, mind and soul.

With my approach they are liberated from fad diets & health hacks along with confusion around how to eat in a way that actually works for them.

I want my clients to channel their focus and energy towards what brings them meaning and fun, not constantly trying to figure out how to get healthy and lose weight (like playing Snakes & Ladders).

After working with and talking to lots of women over the years about their health goals and their health challenges I gained some important insights. Most women want to feel good in their bodies, know how to eat and be able to lose a few pounds if they want to as perimenopausal or postmenopausal women. They want more energy, reduce inflammation and slow aging.

These women also wrestle with similar challenges such as a desire to prepare and eat healthy foods with ease and not skipping meals, especially when they’re eating alone.

Many found themselves on a never-ending cycle of fad diets or hacks as recommended by a friend, family member or online influencer. They always hoped it would be “The One”! When they stumbled or completely fell off the proverbial wagon they thought it was their fault (not the diet or hack’s).

These cycles would often lead to negative self-talk followed by “feeling like a failure” and feelings of shame and embarrassment. They were frustrated that they could not keep their word to themselves… especially since they were so good at keeping their word to everyone else!

These women experienced a gap between what they really wanted for themselves and what they wanted in the moment. They thought they were the only ones having these struggles… and wondered WHY they couldn’t figure it out, once and for all?!

My take on the real reason why so many women just like you are struggling with these issues stem from two things; social conditioning that runs very deep and self-knowing that doesn’t go deep enough.

High Stakes

Without being too dramatic I would like to talk about what may happen if we keep going with patterns that are not serving, or do nothing. Remember that everyone’s path is unique and there is no way to say with certainty how someone’s future with regards to their health will unfold over the years and decades ahead.

Why Yo-Yo Dieting Stops Working

However, what I have observed and what is supported by research is that yo-yo dieting stops working over time for many, especially once women reach midlife. Here are some of the reasons:

Metabolic Slowdown Gets “Locked In” – Each cycle of weight loss and regain tends to reduce lean muscle mass and increase fat mass—especially visceral fat (that’s the inflammatory fat around our middle). Less muscle mass means slower metabolism leads to a “new normal” where the body burns fewer calories even at rest, making future weight loss harder and weight regain easier.

Increased Stress Response – Chronic stress from dieting can push cortisol even higher, promoting fat storage (especially belly fat), disturbing sleep, and weakening the immune system.

Increased Insulin Resistance – Yo-yo dieting can increase insulin resistance (that’s the path to type 2 diabetes) over time. Each diet cycle often involves weight regain that leads to fat accumulation around the belly, which worsens blood sugar regulation. As estrogen levels decline in midlife, insulin sensitivity naturally decreases as well—dieting adds fuel to this fire.

Psychological Exhaustion and Nervous System Dysregulation – After years of trying to “be good,” restrict, or “start over Monday,” the nervous system may become dysregulated flipping between hyper-vigilance (control) and collapse (giving up). This affects the vagus nerve and the ability to regulate digestion, energy, and emotions—all vital for good health.

The Body Becomes Protective (and Distrustful) – Repeated cycles of scarcity signal to your body that it can’t rely on a consistent food supply. This creates a protective mechanism where your body tries to hold onto fat more aggressively. The more you diet, the more your body resists. It learns not to trust you.

Get What “Runs in the Family”

As I am sure you know, we are genetically connected to our family members. We may look like our moms and also have her predisposition for type 2 diabetes, arthritis or heart disease.

Many of these conditions are fueled by inflammation, especially chronic inflammation. Just getting older is inflammatory in itself and unfortunately many of the foods we eat on a regular basis that are part of the “Standard Diet” are also inflammatory. That’s some of the reasons why certain conditions “run in a family.”

There is a Better Way

When these women are able to figure how to eat, move and live in a way that works for their unique physiology and have a plan that meets them where they are they stand to benefit from reduced inflammation, less stress, better sleep and a lifestyle where they are able to gradually lose weight in a sustainable way (if that’s a goal). They will once again feel at home in their bodies and at peace with life.

The Evolutionary Nutrition Way

Just like the midlife women I was talking to were wondering why this self-care business was so hard,  I also had a question. I was wondering why women who are so good at taking care of everyone else so often struggle when it comes to taking care of themselves? 

That was the question that led me to create Evolutionary Nutrition. I realized we needed a new approach and that we’re not dealing with flawed women. Instead, we are dealing with a societal problem that goes way, way back.

Let me share the Evolutionary Nutrition framework with you.

Your Outer Game

Once we have a new and kinder operating system installed, it’s time to figure out our “Outer Game” which answers the question WHAT to do.

There is usually no problem finding advice about what to do, just open your social media feed or talk to a friend or family member. The problem is that the advice that worked for someone else may not work for you.

The key is to meet the person where they are in body, mind and life when their health plan is created to set them up for success. 

Planting Healthy Habits That Take Root

That my friends is how healthy habits take root over time and becomes part of a healthy lifestyle that doesn’t rely on willpower and discipline.

Once our new healthy habits begin to stack up we find ourselves climbing our very own Health & Resilience Mountain.

Enter Integrative Genetics

But wait, it gets even better! In my work I am always looking for deeper and better solutions for my clients and that’s how I ended up including Integrative Genetics in my work and it’s been a game changer. 

The human genome was mapped about 20 years ago. I started learning about genetics more than a decade ago and used the simple reports that were available at the time. The clinical use was limited since it was all about looking at single SNPs (a SNP is a mutated gene).

Fast forward a decade or so and to Integrative Genetics created by Dr. Penny Kendall-Reed. With her GeneRx reports we look at how groups of genes work together. We are now able to learn how to eat, move and live based on our genetic blueprints. Our genes don’t change so once we know, we’re good for life!

Some of the most mind-blowing insights we learn include: how much protein we need, how sensitive we are to carbs, how much saturated fat we can eat before it leads to weight gain and inflammation. We also learn how to support our detoxification pathways, neurotransmitters and much, much more.

Taking our self-care from general advice to an individualized plan is for those who are ready to truly invest in themselves and are serious about their current and future health.

Here you can see what it looks like when we climb our Health & Resilience Mountain boosted by Integrative Genetics.

Climb Your Health & Resilience Mountain Boosted By Genetics

The roadmap up the mountain follows the these steps when you add Integrative Genetics and go from General to a Highly Individualized Plan:

• Nurture: Give yourself foundational care, compassion and establish trust with yourself.
• Nourish: Meet your macro and micro nutrient needs. Eat for your genes.
• Genetic Reset: Focus on Stress, Inflammation and Sleep. Genetic Reset via epigenetics.
• Genetic Support: Detox, Metabolism, Neurotransmitters, Hormones and more. Deeper support w. genetics.
• Maintain: Maintenance plan to keep you going. With genetics, turn on longevity genes and move for your genes.
• At the Summit: You’ll live with better health & energy and feel more at home in your body. You’ll know yourself more deeply, inside & out, and enjoy a life that’s more on purpose for greater meaning, impact and joy!

Self-Care Fuels Self-Growth

We’re so fortunate to be living at a time when we have access to this information and no longer have to guess when it comes to how we care for ourselves. Like I mentioned above, knowing what to do is one thing, actually doing it is another and that’s where Evolutionary Nutrition coaching makes all the difference. This approach acknowledges that we have an inner life that is empowered through Wisdom.

I hope you can see how, when combined, Science and Wisdom give us a brand-new opportunity to get healthy and get to know ourselves better—all in one fell swoop.

My Alterior Motive

I am going to admit that I have an alternate motive with the work I do. 

I love supporing my clients and students so they become empowered to be part of the Solution (with a capital S) we so desperately need at this time. This is an all-hands-on-deck situation when it comes to protecting and restoring our planet and to work for more social justice. 

The symbol you see below is called a triquetra, it’s an ancient symbol to show how triplets form a sacred whole.

The three words that have informed all my work for many years are Health, Wisdom & Impact. The way I see them come together is that we have to start by taking care of ourselves anew before we can give without sacrificing ourselves in the process.

That’s why we always start with Health and Wisdom and once we have filled our own cup, we are ready to connect with our purpose in a new way and have a positive impact in the world in a way that makes our heart sing!

My hope for my clients and for myself is that when we build our lives around Health, Wisdom and Impact we are set to have some of our most rewarding and fun years ahead. No matter how old we are when we get serious!

Thank you for staying with me until the end of this page to learn how Evolutionary Nutrition takes our desire for better health, losing some weight and have more energy on a journey of self-discovery through science and wisdom that sets us up to become more of who we truly are.

Remember that midlife unlocks wisdom, resilience, and the kind of power the world desperately needs. But harnessing that potential? That’s a choice. It starts with deeper self-knowing so we can nourish and nurture ourselves in a way that honours who we truly are— body, mind and soul.

If my message has resonated with you I would like to invite you to sign up to receive Moon & Molecule—a twice-monthly letter where I unite modern science and ancient wisdom to help you navigate life transitions with clarity, vitality, and real agency.

Join me. The second half of life is just the beginning.

Stay curious,

Annika