Eating healthy is a lifelong journey

Eating healthy is a lifelong journey

Different stages of our life have different nutritional requirements. Just as it was important to eat well as a baby or a child, it is also important to eat well over 50. Here’s how we can do that…

As we age our lifestyle can change and our appetite may change too. When our appetite decreases, we may find we’re not eating all the essential vitamins and minerals needed to thrive. Try and use every meal as an opportunity to eat nutrient dense foods.

Additionally, there are the usual culprits to be mindful of – limit your salt and refined sugar intake, be mindful of how much alcohol you drink, and reduce the saturated and trans fats in your diet.

Over 50 is also a good time to pay extra attention to our calcium intake again. Osteoporosis affects 65% of people over the age of 50 and it’s not only women. Changing hormone levels and some cancer treatments can strip our bones of calcium. Women over 50 should consume four serves of dairy a day and men between 50 and 70 should consume two and a half serves. Men over 70 should increase this to three serves a day.

As well as dairy, other good sources of calcium include seeds, almonds, leafy greens and tinned salmon and sardines.

To help our bones absorb all this wonderful calcium here in Queensland we also need a few minutes of sunshine on most days. And for exercise, weight bearing is best such as the Onero classes we run here in the clinic.

Nadine Meggitt
Associate Nutritionist (Nutrition Society of Australia)

References

Nutrition Australia. 2021. Nutrition and the Older Adult. Retrieved from https://nutritionaustralia.org/fact-sheets/nutrition-and-older-adults-2/

The Royal Children’s Hospital. 2008. How much sun is enough. Retrieved from https://www.rch.org.au/uploadedFiles/Main/Content/immigranthealth/CCA_Vitamin_D_brochure.pdf