Food is essential to life, but not all food is made equal. Every food item is unique. They each contain various levels of fat, protein, vitamins, and minerals. It is crucial that you get the good stuff as you get older. Maintaining a proper diet in your older days is crucial for living a healthier life. Read on to learn more about the best diet that you can have as a senior.
Leafy Greens
Greens like kale, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, bok choy, and cabbage are terrific for any diet, especially for seniors. These leafy greens are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. They are essential in reducing your risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. These greens also help support your immune system, support gut health, and can even fight against mental decline. Kale, in particular, overflows with vitamins K, A, and C. It also contains essential antioxidants like lutein and beta-carotene. These are crucial in combating oxidative stress diseases.
Alternative Proteins
In addition to leafy greens, you’ll also need good protein sources in your diet. Typically, people find protein in meat. While meat is protein dense, it also lacks fiber and is full of fat and carcinogenics. You should consider protein alternatives such as tofu and seitan. Tofu is incredibly protein dense, but it also contains the nine essential amino acids the body requires. Seitan is also great because it is high in protein, low in calories and fats, and includes many important minerals like selenium and iron.
Know What To Avoid
Sometimes, what’s more important than knowing what to eat, is knowing what to avoid. For example, spicy food is one of the first things you should avoid as you get older. Spicier foods are bad because they can damage your stomach lining and lead to stomach ulcers and even colitis. It can also cause heartburn and reflux disease and even contribute to incontinence.
If you want to prevent incontinence brief leakages, you may want to change your diet and eat less spicy food, citrus items, and dairy products. Citrus can also erode your tooth enamel, and dairy is incredibly high in saturated fat, leading to heart disease.
The best diet that you can have as a senior is not any of the prescribed diets that dieticians and nutritionists talk about. Each person is different and requires different levels of food and nutrients to keep them operating and healthy. You’ll need to experiment a little bit with the foods in this list to find what works for you, but once you do, you’ll feel better than ever before.
