Food for Thought with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

In today’s episode, we talk about why bone density begins to decline and what actually builds strong, resilient bones — at every age and every stage of life, including perimenopause and postmenopause.
Now, before you think, “Well, that’s not me — I’m in my 20s… my 30s… my 40s,” please give this episode a listen, because the strength of your bones at 60 is determined by what you do at 25.
This is Part 1, focused on nutrition and hormones — and it lays the groundwork for what comes next: Part 2, where we’ll talk about mechanical stress, weight-bearing exercise, resistance training, balance work — and why movement is non-negotiable for long-term bone health.
In this episode, we explore:
* When we reach peak bone mass and why that matters
* Why bone loss accelerates earlier than many women expect
* What perimenopause is (and why it matters for bone remodeling)
* How bone remodeling works — and the roles of osteoclasts and osteoblasts
* Why estrogen is central to bone density in women
* How to know where you stand: DEXA scans, blood work, and risk factors
* Why “normal” blood calcium doesn’t tell you what you think it tells you
* The nutrition foundation for strong bones
* What can work against bone health over time (and what to watch for)
🎧 Listen to the full episode of Food for Thought, celebrating 20 years of practical inspiration for living compassionately, sustainably, and healthfully.
To join World Vegan Travel (and my husband!) on their amazing trip, Climb Mount Kilimanjaro: A Vegan Trekking Adventure, AND get a $100 voucher for REI, use JOYFULVEGAN as your code and THIS LINK to find out more information and to book your adventure!
Provence, France: In the episode, I also mentioned our 2027 trips, none of which are ready to offer yet; however, one of them may be Provence, and as we’re just now gauging interest. I highly encourage you to PRE-REGISTER for this trip. You don’t have to pay a cent or commit to a trip (that doesn’t exist yet!), but if you’re interested in getting first dibs when the trip goes live, click on the button below. (Again, you don’t have to pay anything, so just ignore the $100 on the first page you come to.)
If you make a purchase using the links below, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you—and you’ll receive exclusive discounts using the codes provided!
* Complement SupplementsEverything you need, nothing you don’t. Complement makes targeted supplements for plant-based eaters, including B12, D3, DHA, and more—all from clean, trusted sources.🔗 lovecomplement.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 15% off all products!
* Plaine ProductsRefillable, non-toxic, plastic-free personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash. Gentle on you, gentle on the planet.🔗 plaineproducts.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 20% off all products!
* Nama JuicerMy favorite cold-press juicer—quiet, powerful, and easy to clean. It’s become an essential part of my kitchen.🔗 namawell.com | Code: COLLEEN10 for 10% off all products!
Additional Resources
👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.
👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.
👉 Travel with me! I host animal-friendly, luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the world, specifically curated to ensure high-quality, high-touch premium experiences. Check out our upcoming trips, and let me know if you have any questions.
👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.colleenpatrickgoudreau.com/subscribe

In today’s episode, we look at why Valentine’s Day—long before chocolates and cards—was rooted in the natural world and inspired by birds! And we explore how food, desire, and romance became intertwined with love, pleasure, and compassion.
It’s a fun, playful, and historical episode, grounded in the senses, and—of course—rooted in compassion.
Happy Valentine’s Day… or happy any day you choose to celebrate love. 💗
(And enjoy the romantic story I share in the beginning!)
In this episode, we explore:
* What birds have to do with Valentine’s Day
* What aphrodisiac foods really are
* The difference between foods that support desire and those that undermine it
* Why plant foods have been associated with sensuality, pleasure, and vitality across cultures
* The role of color, texture, heat, aroma, and sound in creating a romantic experience
* How to create about romantic menus that excite rather than overwhelm (or offend)
* How compassion—for ourselves, for others, and for animals—fits squarely into the story of love
🎧 Listen to the full episode of Food for Thought, celebrating 20 years of practical inspiration for living compassionately, sustainably, and healthfully.
For the animals,—Colleen
Get your RECIPES FOR ROMANCE E-BOOK, filled with delicious plant-powered dishes to beguile your beloved! ON SALE FOR A LIMITED TIME!
Support the Podcast (20-Year Anniversary)!
To keep Food for Thought Podcast ad-free and accessible to all, I rely on the support of paid subscribers. If you’re already one—thank you. If you’re not, please consider becoming one. None of the companies below sponsored this episode. They’re simply brands I personally use, love, and trust—which is why I agreed to be an affiliate.
If you find this episode helpful, please consider giving it a like, share, comment, or restack. Remember Food for Thought is a listener-supported podcast, and your support as a paid subscriber helps me continue creating content that inspires compassion and action—for animals, people, and the planet.

SPECIAL OFFER: To join World Vegan Travel (and my husband!) on their amazing trip, Climb Mount Kilimanjaro: A Vegan Trekking Adventure, AND get a $100 voucher for REI, use JOYFULVEGAN as your code and THIS LINK to find out more information and to book your adventure!
If you make a purchase using the links below, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you—and you’ll receive exclusive discounts using the codes provided!
* Complement SupplementsEverything you need, nothing you don’t. Complement makes targeted supplements for plant-based eaters, including B12, D3, DHA, and more—all from clean, trusted sources.🔗 lovecomplement.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 15% off all products!
* Plaine ProductsRefillable, non-toxic, plastic-free personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash. Gentle on you, gentle on the planet.🔗 plaineproducts.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 20% off all products!
* Nama JuicerMy favorite cold-press juicer—quiet, powerful, and easy to clean. It’s become an essential part of my kitchen.🔗 namawell.com | Code: COLLEEN10 for 10% off all products!
Additional Resources
👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.
👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.
👉 Travel with me! I host animal-friendly, luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the world, specifically curated to ensure high-quality, high-touch premium experiences. Check out our upcoming trips, and let me know if you have any questions.
👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.colleenpatrickgoudreau.com/subscribe

Before we talk about symptoms, hormones, or interventions we have to examine the words we use to describe women, aging, and the most natural biological transitions of our lives. Because language doesn’t just reflect our attitudes—it actively shapes how we experience our bodies, our worth, and our place in the world.
Drawing from personal experience, cultural history, etymology, and media portrayals, I explore why menopause and women’s aging have been shrouded in silence, stigma, and shame—and how deeply sexist assumptions are embedded in the very words we use.
In this episode, we explore:
* Why women “age out” of relevance while men “age into” status
* The origins of words like spinster, crone, hag, hysterical, and old maid—and what they reveal about cultural bias
* How euphemisms around menstruation and menopause reinforce secrecy and shame
* Why even the word menopause frames it as a loss rather than a transition
* The surprising animal origins of words (“animalogies”) like estrus, estrogen, and crone
* How media has (rarely) addressed menopause
* Why reclaiming language is a powerful act of self-respect, agency, and healing
This conversation is for women navigating perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause—and for anyone who loves, lives with, or wants to better support them.
🎧 Listen to the full episode of Food for Thought, celebrating 20 years of practical inspiration for living compassionately, sustainably, and healthfully.
For the animals,—Colleen
Support the Podcast (20-Year Anniversary)!
To keep Food for Thought Podcast ad-free and accessible to all, I rely on the support of paid subscribers. If you’re already one—thank you. If you’re not, please consider becoming one. None of the companies below sponsored this episode. They’re simply brands I personally use, love, and trust—which is why I agreed to be an affiliate.
If you find this episode helpful, please consider giving it a like, share, comment, or restack. Remember Food for Thought is a listener-supported podcast, and your support as a paid subscriber helps me continue creating content that inspires compassion and action—for animals, people, and the planet.

If you make a purchase using the links below, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you—and you’ll receive exclusive discounts using the codes provided!
* Complement SupplementsEverything you need, nothing you don’t. Complement makes targeted supplements for plant-based eaters, including B12, D3, DHA, and more—all from clean, trusted sources.🔗 lovecomplement.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 15% off all products!
* Plaine ProductsRefillable, non-toxic, plastic-free personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash. Gentle on you, gentle on the planet.🔗 plaineproducts.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 20% off all products!
* Nama JuicerMy favorite cold-press juicer—quiet, powerful, and easy to clean. It’s become an essential part of my kitchen.🔗 namawell.com | Code: COLLEEN10 for 10% off all products!
Additional Resources
👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.
👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.
👉 Travel with me! I host animal-friendly, luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the world, specifically curated to ensure high-quality, high-touch premium experiences. Check out our upcoming trips, and let me know if you have any questions.
👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.colleenpatrickgoudreau.com/subscribe

What does it actually mean to be vegan? For most people, the answer is simple—until it isn’t.
This week on Food for Thought (celebrating 20 years!), I explore what happens after someone stops eating animal products…when the (seemingly) neat definition starts running into the messy reality of the world we live in.
Most of us don’t actually live by strict definitions, but when real-life scenarios arise that defy simple answers, conflict and confusion can follow, leading to questions like:
What about plant-based foods made on shared equipment?
What about burgers cooked on the same grill as meat?
What about taking life-saving medications that may have been tested on animals
What about sugar filtered with bone char?
And then there’s the bigger question underneath all of it: Who gets to decide what “counts” as vegan? After all, this isn’t the Boy Scouts, where you take a pledge, earn merit badges, and defer to a Scoutmaster. Why does it feel like that to some people?
In this episode, I talk about how an intention rooted in compassion and wellness can unintentionally morph into something else entirely—a purity test. One that confuses the public, exhausts vegans, and sometimes pushes people away from even making kinder, healthier choices in the first place.
I also revisit the origins of the word vegan and why it was never meant to function like religious dietary law, a moral checklist, or a tool for policing one another.
In this episode, we look at:
* Why “becoming vegan” isn’t about dogma or doctrine
* How perfectionism undermines progress
* Why some grey areas are personal lines—not universal rules
* And why focusing on purity distracts us from the real problem: the billions of animals brought into this world only to be killed
If you’ve ever struggled with grey areas as a vegan, this episode is for you. And if you’re not vegan but have been turned off by what looks like rigidity or contradiction, this conversation is for you too.
🎧 Listen to the full episode: The Vegan Purity Trap: Grey Areas and Why Perfection Isn’t the Point wherever you listen to podcasts and check out the video version on my YouTube channel, where you can subscribe and get notifications about every new video I post.
And remember: Don’t do nothing because you can’t do everything. Do something. Anything.
For the animals,—Colleen
Support the Podcast (20-Year Anniversary)!
To keep Food for Thought Podcast ad-free and accessible to all, I rely on the support of paid subscribers. If you’re already one—thank you. If you’re not, please consider becoming one. None of the companies below sponsored this episode. They’re simply brands I personally use, love, and trust—which is why I agreed to be an affiliate.
If you find this episode helpful, please consider giving it a like, share, comment, or restack. Remember Food for Thought is a listener-supported podcast, and your support as a paid subscriber helps me continue creating content that inspires compassion and action—for animals, people, and the planet.

If you make a purchase using the links below, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you—and you’ll receive exclusive discounts using the codes provided!
* Complement SupplementsEverything you need, nothing you don’t. Complement makes targeted supplements for plant-based eaters, including B12, D3, DHA, and more—all from clean, trusted sources.🔗 lovecomplement.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 15% off all products!
* Plaine ProductsRefillable, non-toxic, plastic-free personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash. Gentle on you, gentle on the planet.🔗 plaineproducts.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 20% off all products!
* Nama JuicerMy favorite cold-press juicer—quiet, powerful, and easy to clean. It’s become an essential part of my kitchen.🔗 namawell.com | Code: COLLEEN10 for 10% off all products!
Additional Resources
👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.
👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.
👉 Travel with me! I host animal-friendly, luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the world, specifically curated to ensure high-quality, high-touch premium experiences. Check out our upcoming trips, and let me know if you have any questions.
👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.colleenpatrickgoudreau.com/subscribe

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Food for Thought podcast remains listener-supported. To support this work and receive perks and exclusive engagement, please consider becoming paid subscriber (but don’t go anywhere if you’re a free subscriber)!

Welcome to 2026—and to the 20th anniversary year of Food for Thought! I’m kicking off the new year with an episode about stretching our comfort zones through small, intentional practices that help us live with more clarity, resilience, and purpose.
In this episode, I explore:
* Why the idea of “doing hard things” isn’t new at all—and how it’s rooted in Stoic philosophy
* What thinkers like Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius actually meant by hardship (hint: it wasn’t suffering for suffering’s sake)
* How we can manifest this ancient practice in our modern lives
* Why trends like cold plunges miss the point if we focus only on promised (and alleged) health benefits
* How Dry January fits perfectly into this framework—not as a detox or moral stance, but as an experiment in awareness, habit, and choice
I also reflect on looking back at 2025—what I learned, what I practiced, what I shared with you—and why I still believe that setting intentions (whether for 24 hours or 365 days) is a powerful way to orient our lives.
If you’re feeling curious about:
* Doing something different this year
* Letting go of what’s familiar just long enough to learn from it
* Or giving yourself a gentle nudge instead of a total overhaul
…this episode is for you.
🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube.💛 And if you’re a paying Substack subscriber, I’ll see you in our weekly live chats.
Happy New Year—and thank you for being part of this journey with me.
For the animals,Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
Support the Podcast (20-Year Anniversary)!
To keep Food for Thought Podcast ad-free and accessible to all, I rely on the support of paid subscribers. If you’re already one—thank you. If you’re not, please consider becoming one. None of the companies below sponsored this episode. They’re simply brands I personally use, love, and trust—which is why I agreed to be an affiliate.
If you find this episode helpful, please consider giving it a like, share, comment, or restack. Remember Food for Thought is a listener-supported podcast, and your support as a paid subscriber helps me continue creating content that inspires compassion and action—for animals, people, and the planet.

If you make a purchase using the links below, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you—and you’ll receive exclusive discounts using the codes provided!
* Complement SupplementsEverything you need, nothing you don’t. Complement makes targeted supplements for plant-based eaters, including B12, D3, DHA, and more—all from clean, trusted sources.🔗 lovecomplement.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 15% off all products!
* Plaine ProductsRefillable, non-toxic, plastic-free personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash. Gentle on you, gentle on the planet.🔗 plaineproducts.com | Code: JOYFULVEGAN for 20% off all products!
* Nama JuicerMy favorite cold-press juicer—quiet, powerful, and easy to clean. It’s become an essential part of my kitchen.🔗 namawell.com | Code: COLLEEN10 for 10% off all products!
Additional Resources
👉 Connect with me 1:1 – Get personalized guidance whatever you are looking for.
👉 Read A Year of Compassion – Daily inspiration to help you live with intention, kindness, and clarity.
👉 Travel with me! I host animal-friendly, luxury, all-inclusive vegan trips around the world, specifically curated to ensure high-quality, high-touch premium experiences. Check out our upcoming trips, and let me know if you have any questions.
👉 Check out my Recipe E-Books and my library of On-Demand Cooking Classes for recipes.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.colleenpatrickgoudreau.com/subscribe