A balanced eating pattern that focuses on key nutrients can improve your chances of healthy aging while having an active lifestyle. This article provides a guide on how to eat healthy in your 50s and 60s.
What Does Healthy Aging Look Like?
While aging is normal and inevitable, you can take certain steps to ensure you stay healthy while it happens. Numerous factors can also affect healthy aging, such as:
● physical activity
● diet
● social support
● genetics
● access to quality medical care
Nutrition also plays a key role in healthy aging by reducing your risk of chronic disease, weakened bones (osteoporosis), and age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia)
Nutrients and Foods to Focus On
The following nutrients can help you stay healthy during your 50s and 60s:
Protein
Protein helps you build and preserve lean muscle, which is important for proper immune health and a strong metabolism. High protein foods include lean meat, fish, tofu, eggs, poultry, and dairy products.
While the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.36 grams per pound, you might have to take 0.5-0.9 grams per pound to support an active lifestyle.
Calcium
Calcium is important for bone health, heart and muscle contraction, and nerve function. You can get this key mineral from dairy products like milk and cheese or fortified beverages such as soy and almond milk.
Fiber
Fiber promotes digestion and bowel movement, slows sugar absorption to stabilize sugar levels, and helps you maintain a healthy weight. Good fiber sources include fruit, vegetables, and whole grains such as brown rice, popcorn, oats, and barley.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids can prevent mental decline and neurological diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Food sources of omega-3 fats include nuts and seeds, algae, flaxseed oil, and fatty fish.
Dietary Changes You Should Consider Making in Your 50s and 60s
You can make the following changes to ensure your body ages well:
Eat Mostly Whole Foods
You should aim for a diet that consists of fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables and proteins such as poultry and fish. Ultra-processed foods should also be avoided as they can increase your weight gain and heart disease risk.
Choose Water As Your Main Beverage
Drinking water consistently can reduce your consumption of foods and drinks with zero nutritional value. Other excellent beverage choices include coffee, dairy milk, tea, and flavored water.
Conclusion
In your 50s and 60s, you need to eat more food that can promote good health and slow down age-related body changes such as muscle loss and slow metabolism. You should also eat a diet rich in protein, fiber, calcium, and omega-3 fatty acids.
