|
|
Top 10 Anti-aging Nutrition Habits
While ageing is
inevitable, physical decrepitude is not. Many of the outwards signs of
growing old can be slowed - and life may even be prolonged - by
maintaining a sensible approach to diet.
 Aim at consuming a balanced diet that is rich in
fiber. Ensure your diet is 60 to 65 per cent carbohydrate
content - that is, fruits, vegetables , breads, pastas and rice.
Of this amount, 55 per cent should be in the form of complex
carbohydrates and whole-grain products, and no more than 10 per cent
from simple carbohydrates (cakes, etc.). Complement this with a diet
that is 20 to 30 per cent fat content, and finally balance off your diet
with 15 per cent protein content - that is, meats, soy and dairy
products. It is important to note that, although protein deficiency
plays a role in the development of osteoporosis, too much protein can
also promote bone loss. So it is imperative to get the correct amount of
protein and avoid eating protein in excess.
A healthy, balanced
diet will help you maintain a healthy body composition and weight and
provide you with the nutrients for optimal health and functioning.
Those aged 60 and older
should try to get the recommended 20 to 35 grams of fiber each day by
consuming a minimum of two servings of fruit, three servings of
vegetables and four servings of whole-grains. But you should avoid
increasing your fiber intake to great amounts than these listed, because
too much fiber can exacerbate existing impairment of the
gastrointestinal tract. Try to avoid spicy foods if you suffer from
gastrointestinal problems, and this may also help prevent hot flashes.
 Anti-ageing
Nutrition Habit #2
Drink more water. Did you know that 50
to 60 per cent of our total body weight is
water? Water is our life force. Common complaints like headaches, lack
of energy, tired and lethargic sensations, injuries, hot flashes and
achy joints and muscles have seen to be associated with dehydration. If
most women would commit to drinking eight glasses of water every day
they would notice a great improvement in their overall health and
energy.
Think of it this way:
Every tissue, cell, organ and system is composed of water and functions
optimally only in the presence of adequate water levels. Degeneration
associated with ageing will occur at a quicker rate if you are
dehydrated. And you can't use thirst to help you determine when you
should be drinking water, because as you age your thirst mechanism does
not function as well as it should.
  Anti-ageing Nutrition
Habit #3
Consume five small meals and snacks throughout the day.
Many women who do not eat breakfast and consume only a very light lunch
are tricked into believing that they are reducing their caloric intake
when, in fact, they are setting themselves up for a snacking binge in
the late afternoon, followed by an overload at dinner and into the
evening. The result is just the opposite of what you intend. Total
calories consumed during the day will end up being higher rather than
lower! And the scale gives you the bad news that you are gaining weight.
Your metabolism, the
rate at which you burn calories for internal functions, is like an
engine - the more often you give it fuel, the better it works. When you
deprive your body of food, even for short down to preserve energy. A
slowed metabolism makes it much more difficult to lose weight and much
easier to gain weight. A diet that is not consistent in calorie and
nutrient intake will also lead to a more rapid loss of muscle tissue,
which we want to avoid at all costs. The good news is that you can get
your body to work for you instead of against you. The rule should be
that you do not go any longer than four hours during the daytime
without eating something.
Most of us have been
conditioned to believe that dinner should be the largest meal of the
day, so changing your eating patterns is not going to be easy. It will
not happen overnight. You will probably have to change other old habits.
  Anti-ageing
Nutrition Habit #4
Reduce fat Intake. Dietary fat is very easily converted to
body fat, so controlling your fat intake is important in controlling
the weight gain associated with ageing. Limit any food choices that are
higher than 30 per cent fat content.
Items such as lard,
animal shortening, oils, butterfat, whole-milk solids, shortening and
margarine all are fats.
Some obvious foods to
avoid are:
-
Fried foods -
saturated in fat and oil and calories!
-
Creams - very high in
fat content
-
Processed foods such
as cakes and cookies and most precooked entrees
Go for wholesome, fresh
foods as the staples in your diet. They will always be higher in
nutrients and lower in fat. Processed foods should only complement a
diet that is rich in fresh fruits, vegetables and whole wheat grains.
Fat is an amazing fuel
that provides us with a limitless amount of energy. Instead of hating
fat and blaming it for all our problems, we should be astounded and
respect it for its outstanding capabilities. Certain fatty acids are
also necessary for good health, and some fat-soluble vitamins require
fat for absorption into the system. Fat also helps to keep us insulated
and warm. Elderly persons who have lost weight due to reduced appetite
need to consume a moderate amount of dietary fat to maintain a
healthy weight .
Unsaturated fats,
especially the monounsaturated ones, are considered healthier; they are
found in nuts, seeds, vegetable oils and soft margarine products.
Saturated fats are found in animal products such as beef, butter, dairy
products and lard; they tend to raise blood cholesterol levels, thereby
increasing increasing risk of heart disease. Be cautious in consuming
coconut or palm oils; these are vegetable oils, but they contain a large
amount of saturated fat.
  Anti-ageing
Nutrition Habit #5
Reduce salt and sugar intake.
By controlling your salt and sugar intake, you can reduce the risk of
developing hypertension and adult-onset diabetes. Do away with the
salt shaker; there is enough salt in most of the foods we eat
without our adding more. If you want to boost taste of certain foods,
use salt-free spices such as basil, oregano or pepper.
When it comes to
watching your sugar intake, choose products with a sugar content that is
less than 10 per cent of the total carbohydrate content. It's important
to avoid items such as cakes, cookies and ice cream. Also limit your
intake of no-fat or low-fat products. You are probably thinking, "
What? Limit no-fat foods? " What do you think makes no-fat products
taste so goods? Sugar, and lots of it. And what do you think sugar is? A
lot of calories! Excess calories, are going to show up on our hips and
thighs and abs. This is why or population continues to get fatter and
fatter in spite of the explosion of no-fat products onto the market.
 Anti-ageing
Nutrition Habit #6
Avoid caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes and other drugs. These
types of drugs will age you quickly. A high intake of caffeine, alcohol
and nicotine inhibits the absorption of of calcium into bone and
speeds up the process of bone loss.
Smoking is associated
with a 60 per cent increase in eye damage, an early onset of menopause
and an increased risk of cancer and liver and heart
disease.
Caffeine is a very
powerful drug with very quick, noticeable and measurable effects on the
central nervous system, peripheral nervous system and digestive system.
In fact, it's used in many prescription and over-the-counter pills.
Like other drugs it is habit-forming, and you will find you have to
have more and more caffeine to get the same effect. Caffeine makes a lot
of people nervous, jittery, tense and stressed. It can often lead to
bowel irritation and diarrhea. It is a diuretic that promotes water loss
from the body. Treat caffeine as you would alcohol - a little bit once
in a while is okay. Moderation is the key. Stick to one or two
small cups a day.
Alcohol contributes to
high blood pressure and breast cancer, and it damages your liver.
Although alcohol is low in fat content, it is very high in empty
calories. It also activates an enzyme that takes up fat from our
bloodstream and stores it in fat cells. Therefore, any food you
consume in combination with alcohol is more likely to end up in a
fat-storage deposit areas like the hips, thighs and abs. Alcohol
also lowers our inhibitions, making us more likely to make poorer food
choices.
  Anti-ageing
Nutrition Habit #7
Control your portion sizes.
If at the end of the day you
have eaten excess calories from any source, you will store these
calories as fat. This, of course, will affect the ageing process.
Let's say you consume
an extra 1,000 carbohydrate calories in the form of plain pasta. It
takes about 23 per cent of these calories to break down the dietary
carbohydrate and store it as body fat, so 770 of the 1,000 extra
carbohydrate calories will be stored as body fat. Now, let's say you
consume an extra 1,000 fat calories in the form of creams. It takes
about three per cent of these calories to break down the dietary fat and
store it as body fat, so 970 of the 1,000 extra fat calories will be
stored as body fat.
It is better to have a
diet richer in carbohydrates than in fat, because less of the excess
will be stored as body fat, but you gain weight whether your diet is low
in fat or not. If your diet contains more calories than you expend in
a day, you will gain weight regardless of the source of the calories.
You must pay attention to your portion sizes no matter what
you're eating. We live in a society that is hooked on super-sizing
everything from shakes and fries and cookies to muffins and bagels and
restaurant entrees. For many of us, it may not be that our food choices
are
poor but that we are eating too much.
When reducing food
intake and portion sizes, do so in the following order:
-
Reduce fat intake
-
Reduce alcohol intake
-
Reduce sugar intake
-
Reduce starches
(pasta, breads, rice)
 Anti-ageing
Nutrition Habit # 8
Lay Emphasis on minimal
consumption of processed foods.
While eating out , always order the
smaller portion size where there's choice. At the same time, Try
eating from a smaller plate or bowl. Split meals with a friend when
dining out - for example, order one salad and on e entree between you
and share. Always drink a glass of water before any meal.
Pay attention to
serving sizes listed on labels. Sometimes what is listed as one serving
is unrealistically small, so you may trick yourself into believing you
are consuming an amount low in caloric and fat content when, in fact you
are eating four times the listed serving size. For example, a box of
macaroni in cheese sauce (not that this would be a particularly
healthy choice) might be listed as four servings but most people would
find it only enough food for two. When calculating caloric and fat
content in such cases multiply the values listed on the label by two to
determine whether it's a healthy choice. Seniors can experience health
problems form consuming too few calories, however. For this reason,
with age we should ensure that our total caloric intake for the day
does not fall below 1,200 calories.
  Anti-ageing
Nutrition Habit # 9
Detox one a week.
Our bodies are constantly assaulted from pollution, stress,
bad posture, sedentary jobs and our own bad eating habits. Over the
months and years, the effects build up and emerge in many different
forms- from skin eruptions, to headaches, ulcers, cancer and heart
disease.
When we detox, two
things happen. First , we stop overloading our body with harmful
substances and secondly, we give it plenty of the right nutrients to
actually speed up the elimination of toxins and promote cell renewal.
According to WHO, Vitamins A, C and E are vital for health. These
vitamins together with mineral selenium, are known as antioxidants. They
can protect us not only against minor infections but also serious
degenerative diseases such as cancer and heart disease, as well as
conditions which come with premature ageing. One of the best places to
find anti-oxidants is in fruits and vegetables, taken raw.
  Anti-ageing
Nutrition Habit # 10
Check your intake of calcium.
For those concerned about
weight and health, the first things often cut from the diet are high-fat
dairy products. But new research suggests high dairy intake may be
healthier than once thought, and actually protect overweight adults from
developing diabetes and heart disease (
http://www.womenfitness.net/dairyintake.htm ).
Women aged 40 and above should consume 3-4 servings of low fat dairy
food daily. Other, non-dairy sources of calcium include fortified
breakfast cereals, canned fish with edible bones, some nuts, seeds and
green vegetables. If calcium supplements are required, the best
absorption rate is from a dose of 500-600mg of calcium once or twice
daily. Vitamin D supplements may be necessary for elderly women with
inadequate sun exposure.
Experts say that the
protective benefits of dairy could be explained by the fact that it is
rich in healthy nutrients like protein and calcium.
Healthy eating is one part of anti-ageing. The bottom line is that
nutrition in combination with
physical activity, is integrally related
and must be addressed both by individual women and by the community to
prevent disease and to maximize quality of life.
Related Links
|
|
|
|
|
