Eating Healthy As You Age
By Madhusudhan Tammisetti
For any age, healthy eating is important but more so as you reach midlife and beyond. The key to staying emotionally balanced and positive is to eat well and keep the body healthy. Healthy eating doesn't mean you've to follow a strict diet routine and stress yourself to get six-pack abs. Rather, you enjoy fresh, tasty food containing essential vitamins and minerals with your family and friends.
Benefits of Healthy Eating
Nutritious food may help boost immunity, lowers the risk of heart disease, keeps weight in check, reduces stroke risk, fights illness-causing toxins, type-2 diabetes, cancer, bone loss, and high blood pressure.
People who eat fruits, vegetables, and fish, and nuts containing omega-3 fatty acids may sharpen the mind, improve focus, and decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease. As you age, consuming antioxidant-rich green tea may improve memory and mental alertness.
Eating wholesome meals provides you enough energy and improves your mood, and boosts self-esteem. Eating healthy makes your body feel good and happier outside and inside.
Healthy Senior Diet
As you age, the key to eating healthy is to eat minimally processed food that the body needs and consume food in its natural form. It takes some experimentation to find a healthy diet as different bodies react differently to different foods, depending on health factors and genetics.
Choose calcium-rich food for bone health. Older people suffer from different ailments, especially bone-related disorders such as osteoporosis and bone fractures. Adequate intake of calcium may help prevent bone-related conditions. Some of the good sources of calcium include milk, cheese, yogurt, tofu, almonds, kale, and broccoli.
Eating fruits and vegetables may enhance focus and improves memory. Regular intake of fruits and leafy veggies may reduce the risk of some chronic diseases. They're nutritional powerhouses and improves heart health. They contain vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.
Dietary fiber may lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. It improves the health of the skin and may reduce the risk of diabetes. As you age, digestion becomes less efficient, and consuming fiber-rich food improves digestion and feeds the good bacteria. Eating fiber-rich food helps you feel fuller and keeps your weight in control. Recommended daily intake of fiber for men and women over 50 are 30 grams and 21 grams, respectively.
Be smart about carbs. Refined sugar, white rice, and white flour contain refined or simple carbs, and consuming them may lead to a sudden rise in blood sugar, resulting in a rapid crash, making you feel more hungry, which may lead to overeating.
As you get older, healthy eating improves sharpness, boosts energy levels, and increases resistance to illness. Eating fruits, vegetables, and nuts may help improve your overall health.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Albuquerque, N.M.