Healthy Eating for Healthy Aging
Everyone goes through that “light switch off” moment where their bodies can no longer handle eating fried foods and candy every single night and still be able to run a record-breaking mile the next day. Our bodies naturally change over time and need to be nourished differently in order to stay healthy for the years ahead.
As we all get older, eating well can improve a variety of lifestyle factors, such as mental sharpness, energy levels, and your immune system. However, not everyone knows exactly where to start and/or one may have an extreme vision of dieting when it comes to healthy eating. So we’re left asking ourselves how to eat properly in order to experience healthy aging.
Before delving exactly into the how, let’s take a deeper dive first into why it’s important to eat healthy as we all continue to age.
Benefits of Healthy Eating Over Time
No matter how old we get or how unhealthy our previous ways of eating are, it is never too late to change your nutritional choices to improve how you feel and think. MedicalNewsToday has shown a variety of benefits behind healthy eating habits and the evidence behind them, some of which include:
Healthier Heart
Cardiovascular diseases strike one in every two Americans according to the American Heart Association. By limiting certain types of fats and high sodium-based foods, we can reduce our blood pressure and keep the heart healthy.
Better Mood
A study conducted in 2016 found that diets concentrated with a high glycemic load, a characteristic of carbohydrates, may have led to the increase of higher depression symptoms, total mood disturbance, and general fatigue. By cautiously assessing our carbohydrate intake sources, we can vastly reduce our predisposition to negative moods and low energy levels.
Improved Gut Health
Do you ever feel like your gut is out of whack? The colon hosts naturally occurring bacteria that play an integral role in our digestion and metabolism. Fibrous foods provide a great combination of prebiotics and probiotics that can help good bacteria thrive in your gut and stave off inflammation.
Getting a Better Night’s Sleep
We all know how important sleep and night-time routines are to our day-to-day functions. Researchers conducted a study to see if food choices during the day can affect the quality of sleep at night, and they found data to support that poor nutritional choices of eating less fiber, more saturated fats, and more sugar throughout the day negatively affect sleep.
Less Hereditary Health Risk
Our children and their children learn most of the health-related behaviors based on the environment they grow up in. By making healthy nutritional choices a priority in your household, your children will be more likely to make healthy dietary and lifestyle choices during their lifetime, as well as be less predisposed to genetic health risks and conditions during their lifetimes.
How to Continue Eating Healthy for Healthy Aging
As alluded to earlier already, the key to healthy eating to age more healthily is to focus our nutritional choices around whole, minimally processed foods. Our natural resting metabolic rate begins to decline as we grow older, so nourishing our bodies with whole foods will help us feel satiated without the expense of unhealthy weight gain, which can increase our risk for chronic diseases.
A basic guideline for approaching your nutritional choices as you get older for healthier aging includes:
Choose high-quality protein sources
Protein is necessary for growing, repairing, and maintaining tissue. As a result, it’s important we choose high-quality protein sources and eat them in adequate amounts each day.
Aim for about 50 grams of protein a day
Choose protein sources such as chicken or ground turkey, non-fat or low-fat yogurt, or lentils
Get your calcium and vitamin D
Calcium is essential for our bodies’ bone health, nervous system, muscles, and blood clotting. On that same note, calcium is crucial to prevent osteoporosis and bone fractures, which are common as one ages. Vitamin D is essential in its role in absorbing calcium.
Incorporate good dairy sources such as milk, choose, or yogurt into a daily snack or meal
For non-dairy folks, look to other healthy options such as tofu, broccoli, and almonds
Learn to love the “good fats”
Fat gets a bad reputation given the misnomer, but medical professionals recommend that we all intake monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (i.e. the “good fats”). These healthy-fats help protect your body from diseases and can support both your mood and brain function. Omega-3s are a common polyunsaturated fat that has been shown to even be particularly beneficial for lower blood pressure and a healthier heart.
Slap on some peanut butter, almond butter, or avocado on your morning toast
Have salmon on occasion for dinner or mix in some flaxseeds and chia seeds into your smoothie for some omega-3s
Eat more fiber
Dietary fiber does a lot of good for our bodies, such as lowering cholesterol levels, controlling blood sugar levels, and lowering the risk of heart disease, stroke, or diabetes. As we age, our digestion becomes more inefficient, so it’s wise to get in some more fiber.
Aim for about 25 grams of fiber for women and 35 grams of fiber for men
Have a daily serving of fruits, vegetables, and/or lentils to up your daily fiber intake
Love some antioxidants
Antioxidants help curb chronic oxidative stress that increase your risk to chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. These compounds play a pivotal role to help defend your body from cell damage that leads to oxidative stress.
Add a bowl of berries, such as blueberries and strawberries, to your breakfast
Grab a late night dessert snack in some dark chocolate
Hopefully these tips and suggestions make it just a tad bit easier for all of us to develop and tinker with our nutritional choices as we get older to remain healthy. Every season of life brings new changes and adjustments to our bodies, but now we’re readily equipped with the proper nutritional guidance to adapt seamlessly.
Disclaimer: I am not, nor claim to be, a health professional. Please consult your health physician to diagnose the best dietary options for your particular health situation. I am not liable for any actions taken upon reading this post.
“The first wealth is health. “ - Ralph Waldo Emerson
