4 Keys to Nutrition Over 50

The Harvard Health website contains a number of useful articles on nutrition. They provide some guidance for nutrition tips for individuals over 50 years old, which I thought was worth sharing.

Here is a summary of their top four guidelines for nutrition in this over-50’s demographic:

Four Nutrition Guidelines for People Over 50:

(1) Eat more plants, including vegetables, fruits, legumes, seeds, and nuts.

Eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, seeds, and legumes adds vitamins, minerals, fiber, and healthy phytochemicals to your diet. Some of these foods provide antioxidants that can assist with reducing inflammation in your body.

(2) Make Sure To Consume Enough Protein.

You can get protein from a variety of plant and animal sources, although many forms of plant-based protein from beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds are healthier than some meats containing high levels of saturated fats.

Fish is also an excellent and relatively healthy, animal-based protein source.

How much protein do you need?

A Stanford study on longevity suggested that adults over 50 should consume roughly 0.54 - 0.72 grams of protein per pound that you weigh, which translates to roughly 90-120 grams of protein per day for a 165-pound person.

This is a lot of protein every day—I am sitting at my computer writing this, and realizing I might not be meeting this daily protein goal! Where the heck are my reserved canned chickpeas?

It’s OK though, don’t worry about me. I am more interested in talking to you!

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(3) Limit Your Consumption of Processed Foods.

Processed foods are stripped of vitamins and minerals, and often filled with added sugars, unhealthy fats, and sodium.

The Harvard Health website notes that processed foods can cause weight gain, and unhealthy changes in blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

(4) Limit Your Intake of Saturated Fats, Added Sugars, and Sodium.

As a cook and recipe writer, this particular recommendation requires deeper consideration within our industry.

In the context of cooking dishes for other people, it took me a while to gain the confidence to cook with, perhaps….less of everything extra.

Keep in mind: This is different from a recommendation to not season your food!

I suspect some of the most trendy and internet-famous dishes or baked goods as gauged by the public would not fare very well in terms of an analysis of their nutritional content per serving. But I am sure they are delicious.

I suppose the recommendation here would be, as we get older, let’s find some more balance in our diet as we strive to eat more healthy food options!

The average American consumes roughly 3,400 mg of sodium per day, well above the daily recommended level of 2,300 mg.

Have you ever tallied-up your own daily or weekly salt intake with every meal?

It can be especially hard when you cook at home for a crowd, and season your foods by hand, as almost all of us mere humans do.

I suppose my comment for those individuals feeding families with fresh vegetables, fruits, legumes, and proteins cooked up at home would be: Keep It Up! If the dishes you are cooking are too salty, you need to add less salt.

In the meantime, whenever you start cooking with whole foods, you are well-ahead of the game when compared to anyone eating food that comes only from the middle aisles of the supermarket shelves.

Do you have any health-related nutrition tips you would like to share with the community? Or do you have other health-related topics you wanted to see included in emails?

Reach out to me directly at [email protected] and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!

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