Anti-Aging Diet

As you grow older your lifestyle becomes more sedentary and you start requiring fewer calories than you used to require before. Healthy eating is necessary as our vitamin and mineral requirements remain the same or increases between the ages of 40 and 65.

Revising Eating Habits:
When you are revising your eating habits, it can help to throw away recipes for unhealthy foods such as cakes, puddings and rich dishes that contain a lot of cream. This way you will not be tempted to cook them. Start to build a collection of new recipes that are low in fat and high in fibre, vitamins and minerals. Buy yourself a new cookery book containing healthy recipes.

As you get older it is advisable to avoid foods that contain too many additives such as sugar and salt, which are implicated in health problems such as hypertension and diabetes. As part of your dietary reassessment, study the labels of the foods in your kitchen. Compare the additives and ingredients in different foods. Ideally, the food on your shelves should be low in calories, saturated fat, sodium and sugar, and high in fibre and vitamins and minerals. If you become familiar with the composition of different foods, you will quickly become adept at monitoring what you are eating. Make sure that you do not weigh more than 9 kg / 20 lbs more at the age of 50 than you did at 20, regardless of height. Many weight charts are standardized to include age, height and sex; if your weight is 20 per cent above or below the standard, it is advisable to have a medical check up to ensure no problems exist.

Eating Patterns:
The guidelines for a balanced diet are straightforward and are based on eating the right amounts of foods from various different food groups at right intervals. As our digestive system gets sluggish with age, a perfect eating pattern would be a large breakfast, a substantial lunch and a comparatively small meal early in the evening. You can also alternatively follow the grazing approach in which a small quantity of food is eaten throughout the day to prevent overloading the digestive system. This method not only stabilizes the blood sugar level and also provides a consistent supply of energy throughout the day. Foods from all food groups may be eaten in moderation, emphasis is on eating fruits, vegetables and complex carbohydrates. Meat should be eaten not more than 75g / 3 oz per day as recommended by World Cancer Research Fund. Older people are advised to eat plenty of oily fish because they contain omega-3 fatty acids which help us fight heart disease.

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Anti-Aging Foods