Healthy food might not look exactly the same throughout your lifetime. Here are some tips and considerations to keep you thriving as you age.
Healthy food in your forties
This is when you can really sow the seeds for ultimate health later in life. A diet rich in antioxidants will help protect against many problems, so eat a variety of brightly coloured fruits and vegetables each day. Enjoy plenty of fibre rich foods and omega 3s for heart health, such as beans, legumes, whole grains and healthy seafood.
Healthy food in your fifties
In your fifties, you’ll experience many life changes. This can make it hard to maintain a healthy diet, but it’s more important than ever for both your physical and mental health. Continue to enjoy plenty of antioxidants and fibre, steer clear of processed foods that are high in saturated fat, salt (sodium) and sugar and start to include more calcium and magnesium rich foods to maintain bone strength (think chia and sesame seeds, yogurt and full-fat, unprocessed cheese for a good boost). Problems with digestion are also common as you age, so keep your gut healthy by including plenty of probiotics.
Healthy food in your sixties and beyond
As you age, your body becomes less efficient at absorbing nutrients, so it’s important to focus on eating healthy food. Continue the healthy habits above, and start to include more inflammation fighting foods like tomatoes, olive oil dark green leafy vegetables and raw, unsalted nuts. Constipation and diverticular disease (a condition that affects the colon) can become a problem when you enter the golden years, so make sure you’re including plenty of fibre rich foods like oats, whole-grains, brown rice, fruits & vegetables, seeds and psyllium husk for a boost (bonus – it also helps lower LDL cholesterol levels and other markers for heart disease. Try it in a smoothie or with oats). Just be sure to up your water intake as you increase your fibre.
