A healthy diet is important for people of all ages. The right nutrients and foods can help people to feel great while significantly reducing the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer.
This means that a varied and healthy diet is particularly important for elderly people who need to protect their bodies and reduce the onset of frailty as effectively as possible.
Wondering exactly how an elderly person should fashion their diet? Here’s a closer look at the top tips that you should follow.
Fresh fruit and vegetables are loaded with a huge range of vitamins and minerals. These add fibre to your diet, making sure that elderly people can maintain a healthy gut. This plays an important role in helping to prevent digestion problems such as constipation.
A high level of fibre has also been linked with a reduced risk of bowel cancer – one of the key diseases that threaten elderly people across Australia. Of course, a healthy diet can also help to reduce an elderly person’s risk of suffering from a range of other ailments such as heart disease and strokes.
Getting your five a day isn’t as difficult as it sounds, either. You can quickly incorporate fruit and vegetables into your breakfast, lunch and dinner to make your meals healthier and even more exciting too!
Protein is absolutely essential, given that it composes the building blocks of almost everything within the human body! This is why it’s very important that elderly people find high-quality protein sources and incorporate those into their diet.
Men should eat 56 grams of protein per day, while women should eat around 46 grams. Protein can be found in a range of sources including eggs, almonds, chicken breast, milk and much more!
This means that you can find lots of ways to strengthen your body using protein.
Incorporate Healthy Fats
Healthy fats give your body the energy you need to keep going through the course of the day while also supporting cell growth. This helps to keep your organs healthy and this is particularly important for elderly people.
There are four key groups of fats, but the healthiest ones are monosatured and polyunsaturated. These two groups help to achieve the benefits outlined above and they can be found in a wide range of foods such as dairy products and nuts.
Elderly people should seek advice on where they can find healthy fats to boost their health and the resilience of their organs.
Eat Healthy Carbs
Carbohydrates provide the body with glucose, which becomes the main energy source for the body. While carbohydrates are bad for us in large quantities and lead to unwanted weight gain, they are an important source of vitamins and minerals that provide the body with energy.
Elderly people should incorporate whole carbohydrates into their diet to get the healthy energy that they need. These carbs can be found in a wide range of vegetables and a range of whole grains. Not only are these carbs good for the body, they are also delicious too!
Boost Vitamin D Consumption
Vitamin D is a very important nutrient for elderly people given that it can really help with osteoporosis. This is because vitamin D can really help to strengthen bones and make people’s bodies far stronger.
Vitamin D achieves this because it helps the body to absorb calcium and phosphorus from foods. This means that foods rich in vitamin D can help elderly people to live as independently as possible.
Complement a Healthy Diet with Physical Activity
Regular exercise is very important to achieving great health. It can help people to live independently, strengthen their body and avoid a range of diseases like cancer and cardiovascular risks.
It can often be difficult for elderly people to get the exercise they feel they need, but there are more classes and options available than ever before. Even just minimal exercise can have both immediate and long-term benefits for each person.
