Eating a well-balanced diet is an important part of staying healthy as you age. It can help you maintain a healthy weight, stay energized, and get the nutrients you need. It also lowers your risk of developing chronic health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes.
How Do Your Needs and Habits Change with Age?
As you get older, your nutritional needs, appetite, and food habits can change in several ways.
Calories
You’ll probably need fewer calories as you age to maintain a healthy weight. Eating more calories than you burn leads to weight gain. You may find you have less energy and more muscle or joint problems as you get older. As a result, you may become less mobile and burn fewer calories through physical activity. You may also lose muscle mass. This causes your metabolism to slow down, lowering your caloric needs.
Appetite
Many people experience a loss of appetite with age. It’s also common for your sense of taste and smell to diminish. This can lead you to eat less. If you’re burning fewer calories through physical activity, eating less may not be a problem.
Medical Conditions
As you age, you become more susceptible to chronic health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and osteoporosis. To help prevent or treat these conditions, your doctor may recommend changes to your diet.
Medications
You may need to take medications to manage chronic health conditions. Some medications can affect your appetite. Some can also interact with certain foods and nutritional supplements.
Oral Health
Seniors have their own set of oral health concerns. Some of these can interfere with your ability to eat. For example, dentures that don’t fit properly may lead to poor eating habits and malnutrition. Infections in your mouth can also cause problems.
Immune System
Your immune system weakens with age. This raises your risk of food-borne illness or food poisoning. Proper food safety techniques are important at every age. However, you may need to take extra precautions as your immune system weakens.
Home Life
Losing a spouse or other family members can impact your daily habits, including your eating patterns. You may feel depressed, which can lead to a lower appetite. If your family member did most of the cooking, you might not know how to prepare food for yourself. Some people simply choose not to eat, rather than cook a meal for themselves.
How Can You Maintain a Healthy Diet?
Nutritional needs vary from one person to another. However, some strategies can help everyone maintain a healthy diet.
Focus on Nutrient-Rich Foods
As you age, your caloric needs will probably decrease, while your nutrient needs stay the same or increase. Eating nutrient-rich foods will help you get the vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and fats you need. Get most of your calories from nutrient-dense foods, such as:
Vegetables and fruits
Beans and lentils
Nuts and seeds
Whole grains
Low-fat dairy
Lean protein
Serving sizes for the 05 food group are:
Vegetables: a standard serve is about 75 grams (100–350 kilojoules)
Fruit: a standard serve is 150 grams (350 kilojoules)
Grain foods: a standard serve is 500 kilojoules
Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, and legumes/beans: a standard serve is 500–600 kilojoules
Milk, yogurt, and cheese or alternatives: a standard serve is 500–600 kilojoules
Eat Enough Fiber
Fiber is essential for a healthy digestive system. To avoid constipation and other problems, include fiber-rich foods at every meal. Soluble fiber is especially important for maintaining healthy cholesterol levels. Good sources of fiber include:
Fruits and vegetables
Beans and lentils
Nuts and seeds
Oats and oat bran
Whole grains
Choose Healthier Convenience Foods
If you find yourself relying on convenience foods, choose the healthiest options. For example, these foods can be easy to prepare and nutritious:
Frozen or low-sodium canned vegetables
Frozen unsweetened fruit or low-sugar canned fruit
Precooked grilled turkey or rotisserie chicken
Low-sodium canned soup or stews
Bagged salad or coleslaw mix
Instant oatmeal
Steamer bags of veggies in either the produce or freezer sections of grocery stores
Always check the labels on prepackaged foods. Choose options that contain less added sugar, saturated fat, and salt and more fiber, vitamins and minerals.
Consider Supplements
You may find it hard to get some nutrients in your diet, especially if you have to avoid some foods. Ask your doctor if you should take a vitamin or mineral supplement, such as calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, or vitamin B-12. These specific vitamins are often poorly absorbed or not consumed enough by elders.
Stay Hydrated
As you age, you may not notice when you’re thirsty. Make sure you’re drinking fluids regularly. Aim for eight 8 ounce glasses of water daily. You can also get some water from juice, tea, soup, or even water rich fruits and vegetables.
Use less salt
Everyone requires a certain amount of salt, but too much can increase the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Salt occurs naturally in many foods such as meat, eggs, milk, and vegetables, but much of the salt in the diet comes from the salt added to foods by manufacturers or when adding salt yourself. Older adults should restrict their intake of high salt foods such as cured meats, snack foods (such as potato chips and savory pastries), and sauces.
Drink more water
Water supports provide many vital functions in the body, including hydration, digestion, and blood volume, however, as you age you may not feel thirsty as often, even when your body needs fluid. Aim to drink at least six times a day, and more in warmer weather or if you’re exercising.
Limit your intake of foods containing saturated fats and trans fats
Pies, pastries, fried and battered foods, and ‘discretionary items’ such as chips and chocolate are generally high in saturated fat, and may aldol contain dangerous trans fats. They should only be eaten very occasionally. If you’re in the habit of having desserts, aim to make it partly nutritious and avoid high sugar and saturated fat foods, or those containing trans fats. Try fresh fruits with reduced-fat yogurt for sweetness and flavor, and choose wholegrain.
Be careful with alcohol
Alcohol does not provide any essential nutrients but it is full of kilojoules. Which can add up.
Vitamins and minerals
Vitamin and minerals can play a role in diagnosing deficiencies, which are not uncommon in older people as they may eat less, or have digestion issues due to illness or medication.
Dietary recommendations
Dietary recommendations for fat, carbohydrate and dietary fiber are the same for older people as for the rest of the population.
Oily fish contains long-chain omega-3 fatty acids which can help protect against heart disease and be particularly important for those who have already had a heart attack.
In older people, omega-3 fatty acids may also help to alleviate some of the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, with beneficial effects on swollen and tender joints, grip strength, and mobility. There is some evidence that these fatty acids may also help to preserve eye health, prevent cognitive decline, and improve immune function.
There is a lack of specific recommendations for older people for many of the vitamins and minerals. But we do know that the ability to digest, absorb, metabolize and excrete nutrients changes with age.
Older people should eat a varied diet containing plenty of fruit and vegetables, and include some fortified foods such as bread or fat spreads, which are often voluntarily fortified by manufacturers, as well as breakfast cereals with added vitamins and minerals such as iron, some B vitamins, and calcium.
There are, however, specific recommendations for vitamin D for older people. Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin via the action of sunlight. But older people typically go out of doors less than younger age groups and their skin is less efficient at producing vitamin D from sunlight.
It is therefore recommended that all adults over the age of 65 take a supplement containing 10g of vitamin D daily and regularly eat foods containing vitamin D.
Special considerations for older adults
Bone health
Osteoporosis is characterized by a decrease in bone density which increases the risk of fractures. It commonly affects older people, especially women after menopause. Milk and milk products such as yogurt and cheese are high in calcium, and fish with soft, edible bones, such as canned salmon or sardines, are also good sources of calcium.
Vitamin D is also essential in helping to build and maintain healthy bones. The best source of vitamin D is the sun, but you only need to spend a short period in the sunshine each day, to help your body get the vitamin D that it needs.
Arthritis
Eating a variety of healthy foods is the best dietary recommendation for those with arthritis.
Fish oils may have some benefit for rheumatoid arthritis, so eat fish at least twice a week.
Constipation
To prevent constipation it is important to include foods in your diet that are high in fiber. Wholegrain cereals, whole meal bread, fruit, dried fruit, dried peas, beans, and lentils are excellent sources of fiber.
Healthy teeth and gums
Maintaining healthy teeth and gums is essential to help you enjoy eating, and to eat well. Missing teeth, sore gums, and dentures that don’t fit properly can all make it difficult to chew food, which might mean that you change what and how much you eat. Have your teeth checked regularly and ensure your dentures are adjusted correctly so that you can continue to enjoy a variety of foods and drinks without restriction.
Sense of taste and smell can alter with age, and this can affect appetite and enjoyment of food. Older people tend to eat less and the body’s ability to absorb some nutrients also becomes less efficient with age so it can be harder to get all the necessary nutrients for good health. Older people need to eat a varied diet to ensure an adequate supply of all the essential vitamins and minerals, and enough food to cover their energy requirements.
References
https://nutritionaustralia.org/fact-sheets/nutrition-and-older-adults/
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