Welcome back to a new season of The Real Dish! I’m your hostess with the mostess, Chef Mareya, The Fit Foodie and I’m here to dish up real food for thought on how to live well and thrive – especially in midlife.

If you described the way most people live in the U.S. to someone in the south of France or the heart of Madrid, they’d probably blink at you in disbelief. Early dinners eaten standing up. Everything low-fat, sugar-free, gluten-free. Coffee in to-go cups. Eating alone at your desk. Skipping meals to “save calories.” Grinding all day, wearing stress like a badge of honor.

Now picture the opposite: People eating dinner at 9 p.m.

 Sipping wine—yes, daily—and enjoying it. Devouring flaky croissants, creamy cheeses, and fatty jamón without guilt. Dessert? Absolutely. Smoking? Still a thing for many (not endorsing it, but yes—it’s still culturally embedded). And somehow… they’re not just surviving. They’re thriving.

The cafés are full of older adults laughing, walking arm in arm, climbing stairs without complaint, dancing in plazas, and frankly looking damn good doing it. It made me stop and ask: How are they doing it? How are they aging well despite what we’ve been told are the “bad habits”?

It turns out, they’ve cracked the code. Not by following food fads or counting macros, but by living in rhythm with their bodies, their communities, and their culture.

So today, I want to break down the Top 5 Lessons I learned from this life-changing trip—lessons that I believe can radically shift how we think about aging in midlife and beyond.

Whether you’re 35 or 65, this episode is for you if you’re ready to live better—not just longer.

So let’s dig in!