Living Better After 50: Patricia Odone on Carnivore, Food Noise, Menopause, and Self-Care

After years of experimenting with different approaches, Patricia eventually moved from Atkins to keto and, in 2024, to carnivore. She says that transition brought one of the biggest changes she had experienced in her relationship with food: the constant mental conversation about carbohydrates and her next meal finally became quiet.

When the Food Noise Finally Got Quiet

Patricia says that keto gave her more control, but there was still a low-level urge toward carbohydrates. Even when she wasn’t eating traditional junk food, she could still find herself overdoing foods such as blueberries, berries, or other keto-friendly options.

When she started carnivore, she noticed something different.

Within a few weeks, she says she was no longer constantly thinking about food or planning her next meal. For someone whose world had revolved around food for much of her life, that mental quiet was more meaningful to her than the weight loss she experienced.

She also emphasizes that her experience doesn’t mean carnivore is right for every woman. Her own journey has been about learning what works for her body and being willing to adjust along the way.

Menopause Changed the Conversation

Patricia’s story also takes place within the reality of changing hormones and life after 50.

She describes experiencing significant physical and emotional challenges through perimenopause and menopause, including sleep difficulties and emotional changes. She eventually used hormone replacement therapy, which she says dramatically changed her experience.

For Patricia, learning to care for her body after menopause meant recognizing that she couldn’t necessarily approach health the same way she had earlier in life.

She became increasingly interested in understanding her individual needs rather than following a universal set of rules.

A Quieter Mind

Patricia also describes changes in her mental and emotional experience after transitioning to carnivore.

She has ADHD and says that carnivore seemed to slow down some of her ADHD tendencies. She doesn’t view her ADHD as something inherently negative, but says she has had to learn how to work with it. In her experience, carnivore helped quiet some of the constant mental activity and made it easier to feel organized and focused.

She describes having more clarity and determination and feeling less like she was constantly chasing the next thing on her to-do list.

Again, these are Patricia’s observations about her own experience—not a promise that a particular way of eating will produce the same result for someone else.

Why She Stopped OMAD

Patricia’s willingness to change course is another important part of her story.

She spent about six months experimenting with OMAD, or one meal a day. She enjoyed the longer fasting period and liked how she felt while fasting, but eventually realized that she wasn’t able to comfortably get enough protein and fat into a single meal for her needs.

She also noticed that the large meal could leave her feeling heavy and tired, particularly around exercise and sleep.

So she went back to two meals a day, sometimes having a third depending on her activity and nutritional needs. For Patricia, the experiment wasn’t a failure. It gave her more information about what worked for her body.

Living Better After 50 Means More Than Food

One of the most important messages from Patricia’s conversation is that nutrition is only one part of living well after 50.

She emphasizes sleep, exercise, strength training, self-care, and stress management. She particularly highlights the importance of maintaining muscle as we age—not simply for appearance, but for strength and independence.

Self-care has also become a much bigger part of Patricia’s life.

She describes spending years being constantly busy and taking pride in getting everything done. Now, she recognizes the value of creating enough quiet to actually listen to what her body is telling her.

For her, that can mean walking, taking time to slow down, or simply getting into her hot tub and allowing herself to do nothing for a while.

Getting Curious Instead of Getting Smaller

Perhaps the most important message Patricia shares is about curiosity.

She points out that many women have spent generations being told to be smaller, eat smaller, and take up less space. Her advice is to question those old messages and become curious about your own body instead.

That means experimenting, paying attention, learning from what doesn’t work, and giving yourself grace throughout the process.

Patricia’s story isn’t simply about finding the “right” diet. It’s about learning to listen.

At 57, she says she feels healthier than she did in her 30s or 40s. For her, living well after 50 has meant finding more clarity around food, taking better care of herself, staying active, and becoming more comfortable with the idea that her body has its own needs.

And perhaps that’s one of the most useful lessons in her story: getting older doesn’t have to mean giving up on feeling good. It can mean becoming more curious about what makes you feel your best.

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