Hey hey and welcome to the Forties Formula, your go-to place for insightful discussions
on navigating the forties and thriving in this transformative decade.
We're your hosts, Jasmine and Amanda, two women that are passionate about exploring
the challenges and adventures that come with turning 40 and what lies ahead.
Today we're diving into the world of holistic nutrition and the transformative power of
real food and lifestyle choices.
Our guest today, Rihanna Rupani, is a holistic nutritionist with a deep passion for helping
others create lasting changes through the choices they make in their diet and daily
life.
Rihanna, a mother of three, has had her share of life's challenges.
She spent over 15 years in the corporate world until her own health gave her a powerful wake
up call.
Dealing with health issues such as PCOS, ulcerative colitis and infertility, Rihanna discovered
the incredible potential of diet and lifestyle changes to turn her life around.
She understands the unique pressures of balancing work, family and self-care and today she's
here to share her insights and experiences.
A true foodie, Rihanna is also a recipe developer, food blogger and the founder of Everyday,
a range of flavor forward products made from real food ingredients to elevate your daily
meals.
She works with individual clients, leads a global group called Clean in 15 and collaborates
with corporations, restaurants and brands to educate, promote awareness and create healthy
and delicious recipes.
I am so excited with today's guest.
We've got Rihanna Rupani here, a fellow foodie and holistic nutritionist who is showing the
world that eating healthy doesn't mean dry chicken and broccoli.
Welcome Rihanna.
Thank you.
I'm so excited to be here.
We're so excited to have you.
So you spent more than 15 years in the corporate environment and then something happened.
What was it?
So yeah, I spent most of my life working in finance.
But during this time, during the whole process of me, you know, doing the corporate thing,
working hard, playing hard, supposedly doing all the right things, my body was kind of
breaking down.
I don't want to say I burnt out, but I did.
I was basically burning out and I was lucky enough and fortunate enough to make the realization
that something wasn't right, that the pieces weren't fitting and I was able to make a change.
So I mean, just to give you a little bit of background, I feel like I was always somebody
who kind of suffered with different ailments and issues, but I didn't know that it was
a problem because I continuously was told that, oh, this is normal.
You know, just take this pill or just do that.
So you know, I had PCOS.
I was diagnosed at 16 years old.
In my 20s, I had ridiculously bad cystic acne, mood swings, etc.
Again, I was told, you know, take another pill.
And then it came to in my 30s when I was trying to get pregnant while I was still working
in my corporate job and that wasn't working.
And again, you know, doctors were really helpful and wonderful at helping me, you know, deal
with my symptoms, finally conceiving my first child.
But none of them were able to tell me why.
Like, why did I have PCOS?
Why was I dealing with cystic acne?
Why was I always moody?
Why was I dealing with infertility?
And that's what really got me started down the rabbit hole, you know, with Dr. Google
just searching and researching and looking into, you know, root causes and asking those
questions.
And it was from there that, you know, it just started to point me into that direction of
food and lifestyle.
Yeah.
I feel like your story really resonates with me because I can see that what you've went
through was exactly what I went through.
You know, you just wonder why am I period so bad and your doctor's telling you, oh,
it's okay, it's normal.
It happens to some people.
And then wondering why am I not getting pregnant?
Why are all these things happening to me?
And then obviously, like you mentioned, Dr. Google, and you know, they say that curiosity
killed the cat.
I feel like it saved this guy.
I agree.
Yeah, there is something you can, you know, you can say you can dive a little bit too
deep.
But, you know, with this, same for me.
It totally saved my life.
Yeah.
And, you know, my husband and I run Lyft Clinic, which is like a medical wellness clinic here
in Singapore.
And we always say that just because something is normal or in range doesn't mean it's optimal.
And I think when I'm in my 40s, right, I am all about living optimally and getting to
that next level.
So just because something's normal, that's not okay enough for me.
I need it to be its best.
Yeah.
But is having messed up periods normal?
I feel like that should not, that is not normal, right?
So that's the other thing, right?
And now, even, you know, I do meet like a lot of young ladies and they're like, oh,
yeah, I get it maybe once every other month or I don't know when the last time it was.
And I always say your period is like your vital sign for women, right?
That clock, that rhythm means things are working the way they need to.
And I always say just because, or I've heard this and now I say, just because something
is common doesn't mean it's normal.
And that's what we're confusing with because it's very common to have irregular periods.
It's very common for women to have to deal with, you know, terrible perimenopause symptoms.
It's very common for us to, you know, have mood swings, et cetera.
And we're told it's just because you're a woman that's, you know, it's part of life.
It's not.
It's common, but it's not.
I feel like if it was men going through this, they would have figured it out ages ago.
But because it's women, it's like, no, no, no, it's fine.
Another thing to deal with.
Exactly.
And, you know, even so many of these studies that you, you know, people keep quoting this
study and that study and whatnot.
More than 80% of them are not even conducted on women because of our fluctuating hormones.
So that's what I'm really hoping starts to change more.
I mean, it is changing, but, you know, our fluctuating hormones are a beautiful thing
and they are complicated and that's okay.
We need to learn to understand that and, you know, work accordingly.
So you said you started to make changes.
What type of changes did you make and how did you feel it affected you when those changes
were implemented?
Yeah.
So I was always a foodie.
I love delicious, yummy food, but I was never cooking it myself.
So, you know, my mom even used to tease me that you're going to become like a, like a
taste tester or you're going to, you know, go to restaurants and review restaurants and
whatnot.
So, yeah, I loved food.
And then the biggest change was taking food into my own hands and starting to prepare
it myself for the most part.
I still completely enjoy dining out and indulging and whatnot, but really understanding what
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Now back to the show.
I think the other big switch in regards to my diet that I made was I was always following
like a low calorie, low fat diet.
And I know there are a lot of women out there who feel the same or were or still are doing
the same where, you know, they're told or they grew up in that generation of thinking
fat is going to make them fat and you need to stick within a 1200 calorie diet, et cetera.
So the second I kind of was like, okay, I'm going to bite the bullet and throw out the
calorie counter and just kind of focus on my intuition and, you know, go with it.
It was like, wow, like life changing, life changing.
I love that.
I think you're absolutely right that so many women spend decades trapped in that kind of
less is more mentality.
And I think maybe that is one of the things that's so freeing in our 40s is that it's
like no, actually more is more.
More muscle is more.
Better digestion is more pooping every day.
That's more.
So, you know, if you don't eat enough to actually formulate a poop, that is definitely a problem.
Yeah.
It's like all of these extremes that we, you know, we get stuck in.
And even now, to be honest, like you often find that certain macronutrients are kind
of demonized.
Like there's the good and the bad and it doesn't exist.
There is no good and bad.
There is a balance and understanding your body and understanding how to incorporate
the right amount for you.
So, you know, before it was fat was bad.
Now it's carbs are bad.
Before you know it.
I mean, it's already kind of coming out with the whole carnivore philosophy.
You have haters saying protein, too much protein is bad.
It's bad for your kidneys.
So yes, anything in extreme.
And plants are bad because they're going to kill you.
Yeah, exactly.
Plants are poison.
I mean, anything in extreme, whether it's a good food, there's no good and bad food.
But anything in extreme is not going to be optimal.
It's funny you say that because today, I mean, I've got two monitors on my arm.
You can see I've got a glucose monitor and a ketone monitor.
And my boys were really intrigued and they were like, mommy, which one's a good one?
Which one's a bad one?
And I had to explain to them that both of them are good and both of them can be bad.
Like there's no good and bad in, you know, one sense.
It's not that I need to have my glucose completely flat and my ketones skyrocketing.
Any extreme on either of them can be bad and both of them can be good.
Like your body needs to utilize both.
And I think people always think of me as the keto person.
I started off that way, but it doesn't mean that that is my method now.
And that's how I help my clients.
I help them understand sort of metabolic flexibility.
And as carnivores, there are certain things we need carnivores, omnivores, omnivores,
there are certain things that we need to eat.
You know, that means, you know, nourishing your body with the right amount of protein
and eating plants and things like that.
So how do you sort of get around sort of food challenges with your clients?
Oh, that's a tough one.
Because right, so many, so I work with predominant, I work with men, but I do work with predominantly
women.
And you come in with so many preconceived notions and so many fears.
You know, you kind of cling on to food is emotional as well, right?
I mean, let's just say that, you know, food is, you know, there to provide us comfort.
It is there to bring us together, you know, whether it's socially as a family, and it
needs to be embraced and it needs to be celebrated.
So a lot of times when I do work with clients, you know, they're very worried that I'm going
to take away their favorite foods, that I'm going to put them on this bland and boring
diet of, you know, grilled chicken and steamed broccoli.
So oftentimes what I do is, you know, I tell them upfront always, you know, you got to
trust me, you got to trust the process.
You've come to me, you know a little bit about me.
That's why you're coming to me.
So just give me a chance, give me two weeks.
And I always, always, you know, I make sure to tell them as well, right, nutrition, holistic
nutrition, it's not black and white, right?
It's about playing detective, figuring out your body and making those tweaks and changes
along the way.
And that's what I'm there for to support you with, to help you make those tweaks and changes
along the way.
So once that you build that trust, and once they try the food, then you definitely find
that they're a lot more receptive.
Can you explain the concept of holistic nutrition as opposed to the traditional types of approaches
that people use?
Yeah, so I think the biggest difference and the biggest confusion I would say is a lot
of people think when they think of nutrition, they think of maybe perhaps like a dietician.
But what a holistic nutritionist does is they look at the body as a whole.
So not just what you're eating.
And I always say it's about not just what you eat, how you eat, when you eat, why you
eat.
So that's the whole food part of it.
But then also understanding how our lifestyle and our mindset also plays a part.
You know, you go to a doctor sometimes, let's say you have a tummy upset, and you go to
a gastro doctor, and they look at just your digestion, right, just your gut or just your
stomach.
But we all know, for example, that our stomach, our gut is very much related and linked to
our brain.
So as a holistic nutritionist, we want to make sure we're looking at the body as a whole
and not just targeting into one area because it's all connected.
I understand that like chronic cortisol levels being constantly elevated can really impact
your body, you know, in terms of like your digestion and all that stuff.
Now, some people may have sort of corporate careers or demanding lifestyles and demanding
jobs.
What sort of changes can they make, you know, when like leaving their current lifestyle is
not an option?
Yeah.
This also was very much me.
So I'm not telling anyone to do this.
But when I left my job, I was scared, like nobody knew.
And to the point where I did not even want to have the conversation with my boss at the
time or anybody actually that I was working with that I was feeling like this.
And I feel like that being vocal and speaking up for yourself is step one, right?
If you're feeling like your boundaries are being pushed constantly, we all have times
that are going to be busy, etc.
But if you constantly feel like you're, you know, burning the candle at both ends, then
speak up.
Because what I found is the second I was able to speak up, my boss at that time, she was
like, wow, she was like, I would never have even known that you were feeling like this.
So I was fortunate enough, she was like, take a sabbatical, take some time off, figure things
out if that's what you want, don't quit.
But having that, being able to just vocalize how you're feeling is a big, big step.
I was following a career and burnout recovery coach.
And she was saying that let's call burnout what it is, it's exploitation, right?
Burnout suggests that it's something that's happening to you that you have to deal with.
Exploitation suggests that it's something that's wrong with the system, the environment
that you're in, and that that's what actually needs to change.
And I think that that shift in kind of what burnout is and how you treat it is really
important.
Yeah.
And I mean, for women in particular, right, we are people pleasers.
In a sense, we always do put ourselves last.
So you know, the more demands that are put on us, we want to be able to fulfill it.
So whether it is at work or with our family or with our friends.
So that comes to like my second point for people who can't make a career shift or quit
their job or whatnot.
Setting up those boundaries is really important.
So learning how to say no, learning how to respect yourself and putting yourself first
can play a huge role.
So whether it is something as simple as, you know, your girlfriends are going out and you're
being like, hey, you know, I'm really tired.
I'm going to stay in tonight.
That's okay.
They're your friends.
They'll they'll understand that.
Or you know, telling your husband, you know what, I know we had plans to watch this Netflix
show, but I'm really tired.
I think we're going to I think I'm going to call it a night, you know, by 10 p.m.
Setting those boundaries for yourself can be huge.
I had a client just recently that one of her main struggles in exactly setting boundaries
at work was that their work provides lunch most days.
And it was often very unhealthy catering, think things like pizza, noodles, you know,
dumplings, whatever.
And she really struggled with being able to assert herself in such a way to bring her
own food into that environment.
And I mean, this I don't mean struggled like a couple of days.
I mean, struggled for six months to be able to feel strong enough to march into her office
with her own bag of food and eat it in front of her colleagues.
And you know, for us, I think in this world, it's so easy.
I wouldn't even think twice.
I wouldn't have ever had the noodles because I just walk in with my lunch.
But you know, there isn't a level of boundary setting and practice that it takes.
And I think, you know, reminding our clients right that it's not going to be the first
time that it feels OK.
You might walk in with the lunch and never take it out of your bag.
And that's OK.
That's the first step.
But eventually, you have to be able to assert what you want.
Yeah, I think that exactly like what you said, even with your own husband, right?
I can't watch that Netflix show.
I need to be in bed by 10.
Yeah, yeah, you have to do it.
No one's going to take care of you.
You have to take care of yourself.
And even to that point with the lunch, you know, I always tell women, especially like,
you know, if you're going out for lunch or you're going out for dinner or or what and
you're feeling uncomfortable, like ordering off menu or ordering something different.
Most others are so self concerned.
They're so worried about themselves.
They couldn't care less what you're eating or what you're, you know, ordering or whatnot.
But we're so worried that someone's going to judge us.
Oh, she's high maintenance.
She asked for dressing on the side.
Yeah, no girl, I'm successful.
I asked for what I want.
Exactly.
Or I'm on a diet, you know, because I'm choosing not to eat all the things and, you know, whatnot.
So even like for a lot of my clients, oh, but I'm going out for dinner.
What do I tell them?
And I said, you know, say you're trying something new.
I'm trying to improve my health.
I'm doing this for my well-being.
I'm not stopping any of you from, you know, eating whatever you want.
But you know, this is something I'm doing for myself.
I always get that as well.
Like people are like, oh, my God, was Jasmine going to eat?
I'm like, don't worry about me.
I will find something.
And I still get that.
Oh, you're on the diet.
You're on a diet.
I'm not on a diet.
I've been eating this way for the last six years now.
It's not a diet.
It's a lifestyle.
Yeah.
I feel like the three of us in this room are probably the least excited.
Like people are dreading inviting us to the dinner parties.
No one wants the nutritionist at their dinner party.
It's so funny because some people are like, don't judge what I'm eating.
And I'm like, yeah, I get that all the time.
I never do.
I know.
I'm like, no judgment.
I was like, don't judge me when you see me on Friday night, like having a big glass of
wine and some sweet potato fries with my kids, because that happens too.
Or as a pregnant lady eating an oyster.
You stop by DB Bistro, you go see me.
So what sort of stuff do you eat then?
I actually now, luckily, so there was a time that I had to be quite restrictive, I would
say.
So the other issue that I had along with the PCOS and the cystic acne and the infertility
was autoimmune conditions.
So I suffer from two autoimmune conditions, ulcerative colitis being one of them.
I'm happy to say, though, that I am medication free and have been in remission for about
five years.
That's amazing.
But in order to get there, yeah, I did have to restrict my diet quite a bit.
So there was a point where I was eating absolutely no dairy, no grains.
I was being extremely careful when I was eating out.
I couldn't eat raw vegetables even at one point.
But now I'm at a place where I can pretty much eat it all in moderation, in limitation.
I'm happy to say that I can listen to my body.
I understand my body.
So for the most part at home, I would say I eat predominantly whole food based.
So lots of, I always say build your plate with the concept of VPF, lots of vegetables,
good amount of protein, and then healthy fats.
So that's my formula for building your plate.
Hashtag VPF listener.
Monday through Thursday, I would say.
And then on the weekends, I do.
I love to eat out.
I love to try new restaurants.
But yeah, I mean, there are definitely little hacks and tricks that I like to throw in there
when I am dining out.
But yeah, whole foods, I would say.
100%.
And I say that to my clients as well.
I say, this is not forever.
This is just while your body's adjusting.
For anyone that's going on a weight loss journey, I guess it does get to the point where something
has to give.
Whether you're restricting carbohydrates or you're restricting calories or you're restricting
time, there's always something that you need to adjust in order to see results.
But it's never forever because you can play around with it and see then how your body
reacts to something.
Yeah.
It's the same as being on a fitness journey.
It's like you don't have to run.
If you're training for a marathon, initially you have to run a lot because you need to
develop your running fitness.
But once you have your running fitness, you can actually scale back quite a bit and still
be successful in a marathon distance.
And I feel like people need to know that the short-term interventions to get to a certain
place are not the way that you need to maintain that place forever.
Yeah.
I give you an analogy of driving a car.
When you first learn to drive a car, you're like hands up to a 10.
Yeah, you're checking your mirror.
You can't have any music on.
No one can talk to you.
And you're just so focused on that road.
It's exhausting.
So same thing when you are making diet changes, when you are implementing these new ways of
eating or cleaning out your kitchen and cleaning out your pantry and starting fresh and learning
a new way of eating.
It's a heck of a lot of work.
But for those of you who drive or ride a bike, give in, let's say, now you got the music
going, you got the kids yelling in the background, you got a friend or your husband in the car,
you're chatting, you're able to do it kind of on autopilot.
And that's what it will become.
But yeah, you got to put in the effort to start before that autopilot can set in.
Not my husband.
He cannot focus on driving.
If the kids are in the car and I'm talking to him, he's going to snap.
He's going to be like, can't do it.
Just leave it alone.
So I can't have a conversation with him in a car.
And this is just us two, because I think the kids are the trigger.
The X factor.
Yeah, the noise.
Is there anything that you absolutely do not eat or try to avoid as much as you can?
I would say mock meats, like the fake meats.
I don't know.
I grew up with a lot of vegetarians in my life and I just, it was something that I was
exposed to a lot.
And now it just, it kills me.
And even things like the Beyond and the incredible meat replacements, et cetera.
I'm always like, make a black bean burger.
There's so many better options out there, but these chemically produced, factory produced
products just, yeah.
Well thanks, Rhianna.
We've lost Beyond Meat as a sponsor.
I'm totally kidding.
There's three of a kind in here when it comes to consumption of fake meat.
Yeah, I feel like if you want to eat more plant-based, then go ahead, eat more plants.
But if you want to eat fake meat, just eat meat.
Sorry guys.
Yeah, I mean, there's so many great, I'm very plant-forward and there's so many great protein
sources or other ways to work with your lentils and legumes and whatnot to make them better
for you and easier to digest, et cetera.
You know, again, even tofu, soy, it's gotten a bad rap, but on this side of the world,
I mean, we've been eating it forever.
So you know, there are definitely options out there where you don't have to turn to
these, I don't know, Frankenfoods.
Frankenfoods, I like it.
So like myself, you also have three boys, am I right?
How do you get your kids to eat healthy?
Do you struggle with that?
I do.
Kids are kids, you know, but the one thing that I've kind of learned and it's again,
similarly to like what I try to teach clients is you got to let your kids listen to their
bodies, you know, different and they learn from example, right?
So they'll see me and what I eat and they might not be wanting to eat it now, but eventually
I'm hoping that when you lead by example, they will kind of follow suit.
So simple things, even though, you know, having your kids listen to their body clock, eating
when they're actually hungry, respecting when they say they're full, you know, these are
all kind of just small tweaks, letting them enjoy treats, you know, when it is a weekend,
when we are dining out, we like to do it.
Why shouldn't they do it?
But I feel like it's more about these small shifts than trying to get them to eat like
a bowl of salad or broccoli and, you know, grilled chicken or whatever healthy means.
How old are your boys?
So, yeah, I've got three boys.
My eldest one, Sumer, is about to turn 10 years old.
My middle one, Sean, is going to be turning eight very soon and my youngest is six.
Oh, wow.
So yeah, they're very much in growth stage where it's like they probably the bigger struggle
for you is getting them to just eat enough.
Yeah.
And that's the other thing, right?
What's accessible at home?
What am I filling my pantries with?
What am I filling my fridge with?
So when they do come home and they're like, because they come home and they...
Stop it.
Yeah.
It's like the kitchen is just like mayhem, you know, at 3.30 p.m.
But they have what's available to them, you know.
Yeah.
What do you stock your kitchen with?
What are some go-tos that your boys love?
Greek yogurt, cheese, sliced meats, sausages.
In the pantry section, we do a lot of dark chocolate rice crackers.
Obviously, a lot of foods by Re-crackers.
Sorry.
It's every day now.
Can we get some links for those dark chocolate crackers?
Yeah.
So a lot of...
In the show notes?
Every day crackers.
But yeah, I mean, they'll do simple things like, you know, even like a simple sandwich,
you know, made with better bread, not sunshine bread.
Sorry, you're going to lose them.
Yeah, I'm telling you, girl, you're knocking on our sponsors.
I'm knocking them down one by one.
Or skip the peanut butter.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
So yeah, but nut butters is another great one.
Lots of fruit, lots of good nut butters.
They love smoothies.
Yeah.
So they now can make their own, you know, smoothies.
I need to get my boys on to making their own.
Smoothies are the like the godsend for kids because they think it is fun.
You can put a bunch of stuff in it and they, you know, and...
They have the protein.
Yes.
And they can make it themselves because you're like, here is a blender.
Yeah.
That's wonderful.
So I like that you said that you let your kids go by their own sort of hunger cues.
And when they're full respect that one of the things my husband actually said to me
when before we had kids was don't force them because he was never really a lover of food.
It's all changed now.
But growing up, he hated mealtimes and he goes that was such a stressful period for
him having to sit there and being told you have to finish your food because I guess we
all come from that generation of don't waste your food.
There are kids starving, which I understand.
He goes, but that feeling of, oh my God, I have to eat again.
Sit here till the plate is empty.
And so I was on the opposite end of the scale.
I loved my food growing up.
Still do.
And I would eat my food and then my sister, my sister, and you know, any moment I got,
I felt like I was always hungry.
So you know, I guess understanding that your kids do have different needs.
And if someone doesn't want to eat, there's a reason they don't want to eat.
And it's hard, right?
With kids.
Yeah.
You know, growing up, I was the absolute worst.
I wasn't a lover of food or a hater of food.
I was the picky one, the really picky one.
We would go to a barbecue, obviously very American.
We'd go to a barbecue and I would have an empty bun and I would spread some mustard
on it.
And if I was hungry, I'd have a second bun.
I mean, it was like zero food consumption.
But you ate mustard.
I ate mustard and bread, which is so bizarre.
You know, like skip the meat, skip the veg.
But my parents never like force fed me or made a whole big deal about how picky I was.
They just kind of let it be.
And fast forward to today, I'm like hyper omnivorous.
I mean, I'm the person who eats the intestines and the brains and the, and you know, whatever
else I post the other day.
The only thing about the only thing I don't eat is balut.
No offense to balut lovers out there.
I actually don't know what that is.
Oh girl, it is, it is a specialty in this part of the world.
When I traveled to Vietnam, it's a common thing.
It is a developed duck egg.
Oh, I know what you mean.
Like you get a beak in there when you're enjoying balut.
So that's, that's a little bit past my palate.
But what I'll say is I think part of the reason that I do eat everything and why that switch
flipped in me naturally when I became more of an adult is because my parents didn't go
either way on it.
You know, they didn't push me and, you know, and they obviously would make sure that I
was okay.
Like take me to the doctor, make sure I don't have nutrient deficiencies, right?
But they just didn't push it.
And then when it was the right time, it happened.
And I think that message is powerful for parents.
And that's the other thing that I think parents need to remember is that your child isn't
trying to torture you by not eating.
There might be some, there might be something underlying for sure.
There could be like, to your point, a nutritional deficiency.
They could have something going on with their digestion, which is why maybe they're gravitating
towards, you know, easier to digest white foods, white pasta, white rice, white bread,
et cetera.
But you know, a lot of times we see now a lot of adults have a bad relationship with
food.
And, you know, to your point, what you were saying, Jasmine, about your husband was so
true.
That starts when we're a kid.
The last thing we want kids who are going to become teenagers, who are going to become
adults, is feel like an anxiety around meal time, right?
It should be a time where they feel like they're relaxed.
They can sit with their family or friends and they can have no judgment, you know, with
what they're eating or how they're eating and that we respect that.
So yeah, but with kids, yeah, it's hard.
I sometimes even still find myself saying, come on, hurry up, hurry up, finish.
We gotta make the bus.
We gotta do this.
And then we have to remind ourselves like, okay, it's okay.
It's okay.
It's fine.
If they're starving or if they're really hungry, they'll eat.
Exactly.
Exactly that.
And also just keep introducing certain foods.
Like one of my sons, he does not eat vegetables.
He's gotten better.
He can now have a little bit of lettuce in a burger, but at least he's not picking it
out anymore.
And it's just because I kept putting it in there.
So I think he was just like, okay.
But surprisingly, he loves olives.
So I'm finding things that he likes.
And I introduced to him cucumber with olive oil and salt and he was like, oh, I will eat
cucumber if it's got olive oil and salt.
I'm Mediterranean of you, Jasmine.
Nice.
No, but the same thing, my eldest, he was the pickiest eater when he was two, three,
whatnot.
And I was like, oh my God, I'm such a foodie.
I'm like, now he's about to turn 10.
And out of the three boys, he's the most adventurous.
He's willing to try it all.
But I think a lot of it comes because he doesn't feel pressure.
He does it when he wants and how he wants and he knows if he likes it, great.
And if he doesn't, I'm not going to force it down his throat.
Yeah, let it lie.
Yeah.
Amazing.
Rihanna, it's been absolutely incredible having you here.
But before we finish off, we would like to ask you a final question, which is what is
your forties formula?
What sort of advice or wisdom would you like to share with our listeners about thriving
in your forties?
So I find 40, being in your forties is like a magical time because you really start to
do things for yourself, I find, especially for us women.
But I would say for me, the biggest non-negotiables and the biggest advice that I would give to
others who are either entering their forties or are already in their forties is to set
boundaries, sleep, get a good night's sleep, find somebody you can talk to.
So that's a therapist or a friend or whatnot.
Having someone you can share with is really important.
Focus on whole foods, not all of the time, but most of the time and lift heavy things.
Oh, yes.
Yeah, I'm hearing it.
I love that last one.
Exclamation point.
Yeah.
So yeah, that's my forties formula.
Amazing.
We love it.
And I feel like we're definitely behind that one.
100%.
Thank you, Iyana.
It's been amazing.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
It's been great to be here.
This is Paul, our editor.
He's a 25 year old unmarried Singaporean guy listening to the ramblings of 12 older women
on everything from menopause to weightlifting to sex.
Paul, what's your thoughts on today's conversation?
So for me personally, I'm actually in my 20s and I don't quite care or pay attention to
my diet after I meet.
So I just eat whatever I want, I guess.
But I do acknowledge that having a good quality diet and it's beneficial for your health,
I guess.
So one thing I would say that I actually do enjoy is fake meat sometimes.
I wouldn't say it's a goody pleasure, but it's just like, you know, old static kind
of thing.
And I'm just thinking from the perspective of, let's say, my vegan friends out there,
like who would, you know, for some of those people who would sometimes want to enjoy their
meat cravings, you know, I understand that these are mostly artificially produced meats
from plant sources, you know, like maybe, I don't know, I'm not sure if I'm allowed
to say names because of sponsors, but let's just say if I'm vegan and I'm craving for
something meat textured, what should I go for, you know, besides just plain plants,
I guess.
That's probably just an open question I have.
Well just fruitful thought, I guess.
Catch you guys.
Hey guys, did you know that you can leave us questions and comments on FanList?
That's right.
On fanlist.com slash the forties formula, you can leave us a voice note where you can
ask us anything, leave us your feedback or just say hi.
Nicola 777 reached out to us and had this to say.
So I've just listened to the first two podcasts and I absolutely love them.
I enjoyed the content about real women and real issues to be facing our forties.
I love the flow of them.
Some very helpful insights and tips.
Well done.
I can't wait for the next one.
I feel like I need more now.
Lol.
I need to binge listen to more.
Lol.
I was like, I wonder what she is going to say there.
I'm not sure what I would say.
The forties formula is proud to be your source for that realness, Nicola.
Thanks for listening.
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Bye.
You get what you get for a reason.
Yeah.
No, I love my daughter, but she is my hard one for sure.
So far.
I mean, again, I only have the two, but yeah, she's definitely harder.
Yeah.
I see some of my friends who have, uh, again, girls who are, you know, in this 10 year old
range and whatnot.
And I'm like, drama.
I was like, Oh my God.
They're like sassy and oh yeah.
I was like, okay, the boys forget tomorrow.
It's like, you know, groundhogs day.
Exactly.
Like I had, I had a, I had a friend whose daughter was playing with my boys and she
was upset about something.
She went home and she spoke to her mom about it.
Then the mom came over and she was like, Oh, you know, like they weren't playing.
I was like, Oh, I didn't even know.
And I think they've forgotten.
So it's all good.
Yeah.
It's all good.