Senior Nutrition: 5 Changes You Need To Make To Your Diet As You Age
Good senior health starts with proper nutrition. If you’re not getting the vitamins and nutrients you need, you can’t expect to live your best life. But many seniors don’t realize that nutritional requirements can change as they get older and this can lead to a lack of nutrients, resulting in a myriad of assorted health issues.
In order to ensure that seniors get the right nutrition to keep them feeling healthy and happy, here are five essential changes that your Trusted Senior Care Provider recommends all seniors implement in their daily dietary routines.
Balanced Diet
Many seniors are used to enjoying certain foods that may no longer be supplying them with the proper nutrients for powering all of the critical systems of the body and mind. Healthy aging means understanding how your food fuels you each and every day. With that said, placing a greater focus on lean proteins and a steady supply of fresh, nutritious fruits and vegetables can be a great first step towards changing how you eat. Whole grains and foods high in fiber are also important.
But a balanced diet is also about avoiding the foods that can have a negative effect on your well-being, such foods high in fats, sodium, carbohydrates, and sugars.
Recommended Daily Allowance
The recommended daily serving size of your essential foods is helpful for understanding what you need to consume to enjoy a balanced diet and help to avoid the pitfalls of weight gain and lack of nutrition. Knowing how many servings of fruit or protein you should be eating each day is a routine you should start practicing as you age, because it can help prevent overeating or under-eating.
Read Nutritional Labels
Most adults fail to read the labels that are marked on the foods they purchase from the supermarket or local grocery store. But as you get older, reading and understanding these labels becomes a lot more imperative for maintaining a healthy diet.
So be sure to read those labels carefully, know what’s in your food, and how much of those ingredients are contained within. It’s the best way to be sure that you are purchasing the right foods to enjoy that are low in the ingredients you don’t want and high in the nutrients you need.
Vitamins
As we age, certain vitamins and nutrients become even more important to consume on a regular basis. Vitamin D and calcium are ideal for maintaining good bone density, potassium has been shown effective to reduce the risks associated with high blood pressure, and B12 is increasingly important for senior nutrition. Choosing foods high in these vitamins and nutrients is a must as you age.
Good Hydration
Finally, if you’re not drinking plenty of water each day, then you need to make this change immediately. Water helps to keep you hydrated, which flushes your body’s system and keeps all of your organs working correctly. Fresh water is preferable to other beverages filled with sugar and sodium as it’s better for you and more effective.