Good Enough Health | Healthy Habits for Busy Women, Women’s Health, Food Freedom, and Health Without Perfectionism

Lindsay Martens | Registered Dietitian & Women’s Health Strategist
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Nutrition

Good Enough Health is a women’s health podcast for busy women who want healthy habits that fit real life without turning food, health, or their bodies into a constant battle. Hosted by Lindsay Martens, a Canadian Registered Dietitian and women’s health strategist, this show helps you build sustainable health habits with more structure, more self trust, and less all or nothing thinking. If you care about your health and already know a lot, but still find yourself restarting routines, overthinking food, feeling guilty about your body, or wondering why consistency feels so hard, you are not alone in that pattern. And you are not lacking willpower. Most women do not need another intense plan, strict routine, or wellness rule to follow perfectly. They need health systems that work with their actual lives. Each episode explores topics like:  • healthy habits for busy women • women’s health and nutrition • food freedom and body image • health without perfectionism • capacity vs willpower • health decision fatigue • sustainable nutrition habits • how to stop overthinking food • all or nothing thinking with health • building routines that bend instead of collapse This is not a weight loss podcast.It is not a quick fix wellness show.And it is not about optimizing every part of your life. This is about learning how to care for your body in a way that feels clear, flexible, and sustainable. You’ll hear grounded science, thoughtful reframes, and practical strategies to help you:  • build healthy habits that last • reduce food and body overthinking • make more confident health decisions • create flexible routines for busy seasons • stop starting over every time life shifts • care for yourself without turning health into another full time job If you are ready for a steadier, more realistic approach to women’s health, welcome to Good Enough Health. 🎯 Start Here Take the Health Roadblock Quiz: https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/roadblock-quiz/ 👷‍♀️ Ready to build more structure? Explore The Good Enough Health Club: https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/club

  1. 1d ago

    When Diet Culture Sounds Like Love | Weight Stigma, Body Image & Family Food Rules

    Send us Fan Mail Some of the hardest food and body messages to untangle are the ones that came from people who genuinely cared about us. A parent or caregiver may have been trying to protect you from teasing, weight stigma, health concerns, or the kind of body judgment they experienced themselves. But protective intentions can still shape what you learn about your body — and what you believe you need to do when your body changes later in life.   In this episode of Good Enough Health, registered dietitian Lindsay Martens explores the connection between diet culture, weight stigma, body image, family food rules, childhood body messages, and inherited food and body beliefs.  We look at why the urge to “get ahead of” a body change can sometimes feel protective, why understanding where a message came from doesn’t automatically mean you have to keep using the same strategy, and what it can look like to separate the care underneath a message from the food or body rule attached to it. This isn’t about blaming parents or pretending you shouldn’t care about your health or what other people think. It’s about getting curious about what some of those very fast, very familiar reactions around food and your body may actually be trying to protect you from. If you’re working on quieting food and body noise without replacing it with another rigid set of rules, Fed Mamas offers support for understanding the patterns underneath your relationship with food, health, and your body. Learn more about Fed Mamas here: https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/fed-mamas-program/ Work with Lindsay Lindsay Martens is a registered dietitian in Winnipeg, Manitoba, helping women quiet food and body noise, understand what their body needs, and build realistic health habits without rigid rules or all-or-nothing thinking. Looking for support with nutrition, your relationship with food and body, or creating a more sustainable approach to your health? Explore the different ways to work with Lindsay and choose the support that fits your needs and your life. Explore ways to work with Lindsay → https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/workwithme/ Follow the Podcast  If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Good Enough Health so you don’t miss future conversations about sustainable health habits and building a version of health that supports your real life. New episodes release every week. This podcast is for busy women who want structure, clarity, and a realistic approach to health. *** This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and does not replace individualized medical, nutrition, or mental health care. For support specific to your needs, please consult a qualified healthcare provider.

  2. Sep 9

    The Food and Body Rules You Inherited Without Realizing It | How Childhood Experiences Shape Your Relationship With Food

    Send us Fan Mail Some of the beliefs you carry about food, health, weight, and your body may not feel like beliefs at all. They may just feel true. In this episode of Good Enough Health, registered dietitian Lindsay Martens explores how childhood experiences can shape your relationship with food and body image long before you consciously decide what you believe. This isn’t about blaming your parents or deciding that everything you learned growing up was harmful. Food and body beliefs are shaped by families, culture, health advice, media, social expectations, and the things we quietly observe over time. Sometimes those ideas get repeated so often that eventually they stop feeling inherited and start feeling like your own common sense.  Lindsay explores how beliefs around hunger, weight, food choices, cooking, discipline, and what it means to be “good” or responsible can become deeply familiar without ever being explicitly taught. She also introduces the question “Whose voice is this?” Not as a way to find someone to blame, but as a way to get curious about where a belief came from, why it feels so certain, and whether it still reflects what you actually want to believe now.  If you’ve ever wondered why certain food or body thoughts feel automatic, why some choices carry more guilt than they seem to deserve, or how your childhood food experiences may still be influencing your relationship with food today, this episode gives you a place to start looking more closely. Topics include childhood food experiences, relationship with food, body image, inherited food beliefs, food rules, generational diet culture, food guilt, weight beliefs, hunger cues, family food messages, and diet culture. Want support going deeper? Fed Mamas is Lindsay’s program for women who want to understand the food and body beliefs they’ve inherited, quiet the food noise, and create a more trusting relationship with food and their bodies. Learn more here: https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/fed-mamas-program/ Work with Lindsay Lindsay Martens is a registered dietitian in Winnipeg, Manitoba, helping women quiet food and body noise, understand what their body needs, and build realistic health habits without rigid rules or all-or-nothing thinking. Looking for support with nutrition, your relationship with food and body, or creating a more sustainable approach to your health? Explore the different ways to work with Lindsay and choose the support that fits your needs and your life. Explore ways to work with Lindsay → https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/workwithme/ Follow the Podcast  If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Good Enough Health so you don’t miss future conversations about sustainable health habits and building a version of health that supports your real life. New episodes release every week. This podcast is for busy women who want structure, clarity, and a realistic approach to health. *** This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and does not replace individualized medical, nutrition, or mental health care. For support specific to your needs, please consult a qualified healthcare provider.

  3. Sep 2

    Food Rules Aren’t Just Restriction | Why Food Guilt Lingers & How Food Trust Grows

    Send us Fan Mail You can eat the bread. Order the takeout. Have dessert. Eat after dinner. And still have food rules quietly shaping the experience. Food rules don’t always show up as foods you refuse to eat or rigid plans you consciously follow. Sometimes they appear afterward as guilt, second-guessing, compensation, or the immediate feeling that you did something “wrong.” In this episode of Good Enough Health, registered dietitian Lindsay Martens explores a less obvious side of food rules: the beliefs that influence how you interpret hunger, convenience foods, evening eating, fullness, and your own choices, even when you intellectually know those beliefs aren’t particularly helpful anymore. Because recognizing a food rule is valuable, but awareness alone doesn’t necessarily change an eating pattern. We’ll look at why old diet-culture thoughts can remain surprisingly convincing, what those rules may be providing beyond nutrition, and why real-life experiences can be such an important part of rebuilding food trust. You’ll hear about: why eating a previously “forbidden” food doesn’t automatically mean the food rule is gonethe connection between food rules, guilt, control, certainty, and identitywhy knowing better doesn’t always translate into feeling differently around foodhow convenience foods can become tangled up with ideas about responsibility and healthwhy hunger and evening eating can activate old diet mentalityhow curiosity can give you more useful information than judging a choice as good or badwhy changing your relationship with food usually takes repeated experiences, not one perfect breakthrougha practical question to ask when an old food rule suddenly feels very convincing againThis isn’t about replacing diet rules with a new set of “correct” ways to eat. It’s about creating enough space to notice what actually works for your body, your appetite, your energy, and your real life. If you’re working toward less food noise, fewer food rules, more intuitive eating, and greater trust around food, this episode offers a practical way to think about what happens between understanding a pattern and actually changing it. Mentioned in the episode: Inside FED Mamas, we look at the food rules, beliefs, nourishment patterns, body-image pressures, and real-life circumstances that can make eating feel much more complicated than it needs to be. You can learn more about this program here: https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/fed-mamas-program/ Work with Lindsay Lindsay Martens is a registered dietitian in Winnipeg, Manitoba, helping women quiet food and body noise, understand what their body needs, and build realistic health habits without rigid rules or all-or-nothing thinking. Looking for support with nutrition, your relationship with food and body, or creating a more sustainable approach to your health? Explore the different ways to work with Lindsay and choose the support that fits your needs and your life. Explore ways to work with Lindsay → https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/workwithme/ Follow the Podcast  If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Good Enough Health so you don’t miss future conversations about sustainable health habits and building a version of health that supports your real life. New episodes release every week. This podcast is for busy women who want structure, clarity, and a realistic approach to health. *** This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and does not replace individualized medical, nutrition, or mental health care. For support specific to your needs, please consult a qualified healthcare provider.

  4. Aug 26

    How to Decide What to Eat When Nothing Feels Obvious | A Dietitian’s Practical Guide

    Send us Fan Mail “What should I eat?” can become a surprisingly complicated question. You might be trying to think about protein, hunger, fullness, nutrition, what’s already in the fridge, what everyone else will eat, how much time you have, what will keep you satisfied, and whether you’re going to regret your choice later. Suddenly, deciding what to have for lunch feels like it requires far more brainpower than it should. In this episode of Good Enough Health, registered dietitian Lindsay Martens offers a more practical way to approach everyday food decisions. Instead of searching for the healthiest, most balanced, or most “correct” meal, you’ll learn to consider what you actually need from the eating opportunity in front of you. Sometimes that means a substantial meal that keeps you going through a busy afternoon. Sometimes it means something quick because your capacity to cook is gone. Sometimes it means eating before you’re particularly hungry because you know your next chance to eat is uncertain. We also talk about why protein isn’t the only thing that determines whether a meal is enough, how carbohydrates and overall energy matter, and why satisfaction deserves a place in conversations about healthy eating. If you’re eating a technically nutritious lunch but thinking about food again an hour later, that’s information worth paying attention to. You’ll also hear why “just listen to your body” can be harder to apply than it sounds. Hunger cues matter, but so do your schedule, energy, preferences, food availability, future plans, and what you’ve learned from previous eating experiences. This episode explores: what to eat when you can’t decidefood decision fatigue and overthinking mealshunger and fullness cuesintuitive eating in real lifeprotein, carbohydrates, energy, and meal adequacysatisfaction and enjoyment with foodflexible eating versus rigid food ruleseating when you aren’t hungry yetconvenient meals and realistic nutritionmaking food choices with a busy schedulelearning from how a meal actually leaves you feelingThere may not be one perfect answer to “What should I eat?” And learning to make a reasonable choice based on your body, your capacity, and what comes next can be far more useful than trying to find one. Work with Lindsay Lindsay Martens is a registered dietitian in Winnipeg, Manitoba, helping women quiet food and body noise, understand what their body needs, and build realistic health habits without rigid rules or all-or-nothing thinking. Looking for support with nutrition, your relationship with food and body, or creating a more sustainable approach to your health? Explore the different ways to work with Lindsay and choose the support that fits your needs and your life. Explore ways to work with Lindsay → https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/workwithme/ Follow the Podcast  If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Good Enough Health so you don’t miss future conversations about sustainable health habits and building a version of health that supports your real life. New episodes release every week. This podcast is for busy women who want structure, clarity, and a realistic approach to health. *** This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and does not replace individualized medical, nutrition, or mental health care. For support specific to your needs, please consult a qualified healthcare provider.

  5. Aug 19

    When Everyone Else Is Fed and You’re Running on Scraps | How to Feed Yourself as a Busy Mom

    Send us Fan Mail You can know exactly what your kids ate for breakfast, which snacks need to be packed, what has to come out of the freezer, and whether dinner needs to happen before or after dance—and still get to mid-afternoon realizing you haven’t really eaten. For many moms, feeding themselves isn’t difficult because they don’t care about nutrition or don’t know what to eat. It’s difficult because so much of their food-related brain space is already being used to anticipate and manage everyone else’s needs. Your own food becomes the leftover decision. And by the time hunger finally gets loud enough to demand attention, you may already be tired, mentally maxed out, and trying to make yet another choice. That’s when coffee, abandoned toast, a piece of cheese at the counter, or whatever is easiest can quietly become most of the day’s nourishment. In this episode of Good Enough Health, registered dietitian and mom Lindsay Martens looks at why feeding yourself in motherhood can feel surprisingly hard—and why “just put yourself first” often misses the real issue. She explores the invisible mental work involved in feeding a family, how eating too little earlier in the day can show up as louder food thoughts, exhaustion, low patience, and dinner-time chaos, and why the answer doesn’t need to be another elaborate self-care routine. Instead, Lindsay offers a simpler reframe: stop making your food a completely separate project. If breakfast is already happening, can your food happen then too? If snacks are being packed, can something go in for you? If lunch is being plated, can yours make it onto a plate before cleanup begins? You’ll also hear practical ideas for making snacks more substantial, keeping realistic “I cannot cook tonight” meals available, and putting your own food preferences back into the equation after years of planning meals around everyone else. Because nourishing yourself as a mom doesn’t have to mean perfectly meal-prepping, eating an aspirational dinner every night, or creating one more system to maintain. Sometimes it looks like cheese and crackers. Sometimes it looks like frozen pizza. Sometimes it looks like eating the good strawberries too. The goal isn’t to put yourself above your family. It’s to remember that you are one of the people the family food system needs to feed. If feeding yourself tends to become an afterthought, start with one food moment that already exists and see if there’s room to include yourself in it too. Your need for food doesn’t disappear just because other people need you. If this episode felt familiar and you’re noticing that feeding yourself is tied up with food guilt, old rules, putting your needs last, or simply not knowing how to care for yourself without creating another set of expectations, FED Mamas is where we go deeper into those patterns. You’ll learn how to build a more supportive relationship with food and your body in a way that fits real life. Learn more about FED Mamas here: https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/fed-mamas-program/ Work with Lindsay Lindsay Martens is a registered dietitian in Winnipeg, Manitoba, helping women quiet food and body noise, understand what their body needs, and build realistic health habits without rigid rules or all-or-nothing thinking. Looking for support with nutrition, your relationship with food and body, or creating a more sustainable approach to your health? Explore the different ways to work with Lindsay and choose the support that fits your needs and your life. Explore ways to work with Lindsay → https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/workwithme/ Follow the Podcast  If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Good Enough Health so you don’t miss future conversations about sustainable health habits and building a version of health that supports your real life. New episodes release every week. This podcast is for busy women who want structure, clarity, and a realistic approach to health. *** This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and does not replace individualized medical, nutrition, or mental health care. For support specific to your needs, please consult a qualified healthcare provider.

  6. Aug 12

    How to Trust Yourself Around Food After an Imperfect Eating Day | Food Self-Trust, Emotional Eating and Food Guilt

    Send us Fan Mail What does it actually mean to trust yourself around food? It probably does not look like making the perfect food choice every time, never eating emotionally, always knowing exactly what your body wants, or following your eating plan without changing your mind. Food self-trust becomes much more visible on the days when eating does not go exactly as planned. Maybe dinner ends up being takeout because you do not have the energy to cook. Maybe you change your mind about the leftovers you thought you would eat. Maybe food provides comfort after a difficult day. Maybe you wait too long to eat and end up feeling uncomfortably full. Those moments can quickly trigger food guilt, compensation, new food rules or the familiar feeling that you need to “get back on track.” But an imperfect eating experience does not automatically mean you have lost control around food. In this episode of Good Enough Health, registered dietitian Lindsay Martens looks at food self-trust through a more practical lens: how you respond, repair and return after eating does not go the way you hoped. Because progress with your relationship with food is not only about preventing difficult eating experiences. It can also look like: Changing your mind about what you want to eatChoosing convenient food without needing to justify itResponding to emotional eating with curiosity instead of shameEating more when a snack or meal was not enoughAvoiding the urge to compensate after feeling overly fullReturning to regular eating without creating a new food ruleOne useful way to think about progress is the distance between a difficult food moment and your return to normal care. If one uncomfortable meal used to lead to several days of restriction, guilt or starting over, and now you are able to return to your next meal without punishment, that matters. Food confidence does not require a flawless eating day. It grows when you can notice what happened, respond to what you need now, and move forward without turning one experience into a new set of restrictions. If you struggle with food guilt, emotional eating, all-or-nothing eating or feeling like you constantly need to get back on track, this episode offers a more realistic way to recognize progress. Instead of asking whether you ate perfectly, try noticing: How quickly can I return to feeding myself normally? Respond instead of correct. Return instead of restart. Until we meet again, trust that good enough really can be enough. Work with Lindsay Lindsay Martens is a registered dietitian in Winnipeg, Manitoba, helping women quiet food and body noise, understand what their body needs, and build realistic health habits without rigid rules or all-or-nothing thinking. Looking for support with nutrition, your relationship with food and body, or creating a more sustainable approach to your health? Explore the different ways to work with Lindsay and choose the support that fits your needs and your life. Explore ways to work with Lindsay → https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/workwithme/ Follow the Podcast  If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Good Enough Health so you don’t miss future conversations about sustainable health habits and building a version of health that supports your real life. New episodes release every week. This podcast is for busy women who want structure, clarity, and a realistic approach to health. *** This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and does not replace individualized medical, nutrition, or mental health care. For support specific to your needs, please consult a qualified healthcare provider.

  7. Aug 5

    Why Waiting Too Long to Eat Makes You Feel Out of Control Around Food | Hunger Cues and Evening Overeating

    Send us Fan Mail Do you ever reach the end of the day feeling ravenous, eat more quickly than you intended, and wonder why food suddenly feels so hard to manage? You may not be losing control around food. You may be arriving at the meal much hungrier than you realized. Many women have learned that hunger only counts when it is obvious: a growling stomach, intense hunger, or the feeling that they could eat almost anything. Earlier hunger cues—such as thinking about food, losing concentration, feeling irritable or noticing a dip in energy—can be easy to miss. When those quieter signals go unanswered, the body increases the urgency. That can make food feel more compelling, decision-making harder and comfortable fullness more difficult to notice. The experience may then be interpreted as proof that you need stricter food rules, when waiting too long to eat may have helped create the urgency in the first place. In this episode of Good Enough Health, registered dietitian Lindsay Martens explains why intense hunger can feel like a loss of control and how the body’s earlier requests for food may show up before a dramatic stomach growl. You’ll also hear a simple experiment for identifying the hunger signal that appears before the one that normally gets your attention. Instead of asking: Am I hungry enough? Try asking: Would food be useful now? Recognizing hunger is not about reading every body signal perfectly. It is about becoming more familiar with how your body begins asking for food—and noticing what changes when you respond a little earlier. Work with Lindsay Lindsay Martens is a registered dietitian in Winnipeg, Manitoba, helping women quiet food and body noise, understand what their body needs, and build realistic health habits without rigid rules or all-or-nothing thinking. Looking for support with nutrition, your relationship with food and body, or creating a more sustainable approach to your health? Explore the different ways to work with Lindsay and choose the support that fits your needs and your life. Explore ways to work with Lindsay → https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/workwithme/ Follow the Podcast  If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Good Enough Health so you don’t miss future conversations about sustainable health habits and building a version of health that supports your real life. New episodes release every week. This podcast is for busy women who want structure, clarity, and a realistic approach to health. *** This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and does not replace individualized medical, nutrition, or mental health care. For support specific to your needs, please consult a qualified healthcare provider.

  8. Jul 29

    Why You Don’t Trust Yourself Around Food | Rebuilding Food Self-Trust

    Send us Fan Mail You make a food choice—and then the investigation begins. Was it healthy enough? Did you eat too much? Will you be hungry again? Do you need to compensate tomorrow? For many women, the hardest part of eating is not the food itself. It is the guilt, second-guessing and self-criticism that can follow even an ordinary meal. Over time, this can create a painful conclusion: I cannot trust myself around food. But what if food self-trust is not damaged by imperfect choices as much as it is damaged by the punishment that follows them? In this episode of Good Enough Health, registered dietitian Lindsay Martens explains why more food rules and tighter control may temporarily reduce uncertainty without helping you build genuine confidence around eating. When every choice can be used as evidence that you were good, bad, disciplined, lazy or out of control, it makes sense that food decisions start to feel high stakes. A meal stops being an experience you can learn from and becomes something you need to pass. This episode explores the difference between gathering useful information and putting yourself on trial. You will learn: Why you may overthink food choices even when you know a lot about nutritionHow guilt and compensation weaken trust around foodWhy choosing the “responsible” meal does not always create peaceHow food rules can feel safer without building decision-making confidenceThe difference between responding to hunger and judging itHow to use fullness, satisfaction and energy as feedback rather than evidence against yourselfA simple way to begin rebuilding food self-trust after ordinary mealsFrom a nutrition perspective, every eating experience gives you information. When judgment takes over, that useful information gets buried beneath questions about what the choice says about your body, health or character. Food self-trust begins when you can make a decision, notice the outcome and respond without turning the experience into punishment. There are three questions you can start asking yourself after a typical-to-you meal to gain information. The goal is not to prove you made the perfect choice. It is to practice receiving information without using it against yourself. Because rebuilding trust around food may not begin with making more intuitive decisions. It may begin with staying on your own side after the decisions you are already making. Work with Lindsay Lindsay Martens is a registered dietitian in Winnipeg, Manitoba, helping women quiet food and body noise, understand what their body needs, and build realistic health habits without rigid rules or all-or-nothing thinking. Looking for support with nutrition, your relationship with food and body, or creating a more sustainable approach to your health? Explore the different ways to work with Lindsay and choose the support that fits your needs and your life. Explore ways to work with Lindsay → https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/workwithme/ Follow the Podcast  If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Good Enough Health so you don’t miss future conversations about sustainable health habits and building a version of health that supports your real life. New episodes release every week. This podcast is for busy women who want structure, clarity, and a realistic approach to health. *** This podcast is intended for educational purposes only and does not replace individualized medical, nutrition, or mental health care. For support specific to your needs, please consult a qualified healthcare provider.

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Good Enough Health is a women’s health podcast for busy women who want healthy habits that fit real life without turning food, health, or their bodies into a constant battle. Hosted by Lindsay Martens, a Canadian Registered Dietitian and women’s health strategist, this show helps you build sustainable health habits with more structure, more self trust, and less all or nothing thinking. If you care about your health and already know a lot, but still find yourself restarting routines, overthinking food, feeling guilty about your body, or wondering why consistency feels so hard, you are not alone in that pattern. And you are not lacking willpower. Most women do not need another intense plan, strict routine, or wellness rule to follow perfectly. They need health systems that work with their actual lives. Each episode explores topics like:  • healthy habits for busy women • women’s health and nutrition • food freedom and body image • health without perfectionism • capacity vs willpower • health decision fatigue • sustainable nutrition habits • how to stop overthinking food • all or nothing thinking with health • building routines that bend instead of collapse This is not a weight loss podcast.It is not a quick fix wellness show.And it is not about optimizing every part of your life. This is about learning how to care for your body in a way that feels clear, flexible, and sustainable. You’ll hear grounded science, thoughtful reframes, and practical strategies to help you:  • build healthy habits that last • reduce food and body overthinking • make more confident health decisions • create flexible routines for busy seasons • stop starting over every time life shifts • care for yourself without turning health into another full time job If you are ready for a steadier, more realistic approach to women’s health, welcome to Good Enough Health. 🎯 Start Here Take the Health Roadblock Quiz: https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/roadblock-quiz/ 👷‍♀️ Ready to build more structure? Explore The Good Enough Health Club: https://lindsaymartensnutrition.com/club

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