Eating tasty foods such as salmon, peanut butter, walnuts and good-for-you oils can correct this balance. You'll slash your risk of heart attack and stroke, and possibly cut your odds for arthritis pain and depression, too.
Choice 4
Eat calcium-rich foods
Calcium's not just good for your skeleton. While 99 percent of the calcium in your body is hard at work maintaining the strong, internal scaffolding that supports the bones and teeth, the remaining 1 percent is a major player in keeping your cardiovascular system happy and your blood sugar control
mechanisms healthy. A growing pile of research proves that calcium helps to lower blood pressure, keeps arterties flexible and assists your kidneys in flushing blood pressure-boosting sodium out of your body.
In tandem with other minerals such as magnesium and potassium, calcium can also lower your risk of insulin resistance - a potent risk factor for heart disease, diabetes and even some cancers - by up to 71 percent. It may also guard against memory loss and cut colon cancer risk by 36 percent.
Choice 5
Enjoy lean protein
Protein is your body's basic building material - used to make everything from muscles, bones and the tissues of internal organs to hormones, enzymes and even red blood cells. Putting lean protein on your plate delivers and immediate payoff: meats, low-fat cheeses, eggs and nuts linger longer in your stomach than bread, rice, fruit or veg, so you feel full for longer. Protein also slows the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream, eliminating cravings that occur when sugar soars, the crashes after a crab-heavy metal.
Lean protein is also a rich source of the B vitamins that can help you to feel more energetic, since the Bs help to guide metabolic reactions throughout the body. You also get zinc, which builds strong immunity, and niacin, vital for clear thinking and efficient processing of blood sugar.
Protein's biggest bonus is preserving lean muscle mass. We all lose muscle mass at the rate of 3 to 5 percent per decade starting in our mid 20s. By our 50s and 60s, we've lost plenty - and may be weaker, have poorer balance and a slower metabolism. Protein contains an amino acid called leucine that helps to preserve more muscle mass, studies show.
Choice 6
Eat fewer calories
Note that we didn't say 'eat less food'. Fruits, veggies and beans are filling and satisfying yet contain far fewer calories than fatty foods. That means you can usually eat them to your heart's content and still consume fewer calories.
But it's appropritate to face the hard question of whether you do eat too much food overall. Okinawans don't eat till their buttons burst. Instead, they practise a form of natural portion control called hara hachi bu, which literally means '80 percent full'. In other words, they stop eating before they feel completely filled up.
'Hara hachi bu is sort of an insurance plan against feeling deprived or overeating,' says Dr Willcox. 'It takes about 20 minutes for the body to signal the brain that there's no need for more food. Hara hachi bu gives the brain a chance to catch up.' That restraint, plus a diet filled with low-calorie, high-satisfaction foods - and cooking techniques that use water (steaming and boiling) rather than frying or sauteing with oil - means that Okinawans eat about 1,800 calories a day, which is hundreds less than the typical Westerner consumes in a day.
Don't get us wrong - we don't advocate extreme calorie restriction. So far, no one's proven that drastically cutting calories extends human life (all those headline-grabbing studies only show it works in fruit flies and laboratory mice). And when people try it, super-low-calorie eating seems only to lead to irritability and potentially dangerous nutrient deficiencies.
But experts such as Dr Willcox believe that cutting back a little, without denying ourselves the nutrients we need and the eating pleasure we desire, is an important reason Okinawans and others live to a vibrant old age. Why? Fewer calories mean lower body weight and less of the dangerous abdominal fat that raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure and some cancers - even Alzheimer's disease. Living at a healthy weight also puts less stress on the joints and may reduce the levels of cell-damaging free radicals in your body.
Choice 7
Enjoy eating
Sharing mealtimes with family or friends, and enjoying the smells and taste of foods, all help to make life worth living. Meals among the world's healthiest people are long, happy occasions, not something to rush through or gobble while watching TV. In Greece, the nations's official dietary guidelines include advice to 'eat slowly, preferably at regular times of the day, and in a pleasant environment'.
Enjoying food is almost as important as the nutrients in the food itself. And meals need not be fancy to be cherished and savoured. It's more an attitude of life-enhancing reverence and celebration. Small wonder that one way Greeks identify someone as a friend is by saying 'we have shared bread together'.
Beyond food
Then there's the reality of the modern diet: huge helpings of meat, mountains of grains stripped of key nutrients, and processed food filled with sweeteners, flavours, colours and preservatives. Not only does the modern diet give you lots of what you don't need, it also shortchanges you on what you do need.
Many of the classic signs of ageing - including fatigue, aches and pains, memory lapses, fuzzy thinking, balance problems and more - may be symptoms of unrecognised yet easily reversible nutritional shortfalls. A good diet can help order people to stay in good health, according to the British Nutrition Foundation. Yet national surveys consistently show that older people tend to have high higher intakes of saturated fat, cereals and protein than is recommended, along with lower fibre, vitamin and mineral intake.
What do we mean by nutritional shortfalls? Well, take vitamin D: in your 70s, your skin synthesises 60 percent less vitamin D than it did when you were a child. One recent British study of 7,437 people showed that 60 percent of middle-aged adults have less than optimal levels of vitamin D - and the proportion rises to 90 percent in winter and spring. The risk is higher the farther north you live and the fatter you are - obese people and those living in Scotland were twice as likely to have low vitamin D than others.
Lead researcher Dr Elia Hypponen comments, 'during the winter, no vitamin D is produced by the sun in the UK, so one has to rely on intake through dietary supplements and foods'. He recommends spending more time out of doors, eating oily fish and maintaining a healhy weight. It may also be sensible to take a supplement. 'Cod liver oil and many multivitamin products contain vitamin D, but
the concentration in these is typically quite low,' he warns. Therefore, these alone may not be sufficient to allow you to maintain summer levels during the winter months. Single vitamin D supplements are available through the internet.
Again, healthy foods to the rescue, in the form of skimmed milk, fish and seafood and greens. But that multivitamin is also the perfect form of insurance.
Or take a look at the curious case of calcium. Many older people think that they don't need as much calcium. They assume it's important only early in life, during the bone-building years of childhood, teens and early 20s. But the fact is, women and men need even more calcium after the age of 50 than before because absorption drops with age. Studies show that nine out of ten older people don't get enough calcium from food, and plenty take no calcium supplements. But research confirms that inexpensive calcium pills can bridge the gap for women and may help men, though some experts warn that extra calcium from dairy products (but not non-diary sources) could raise prostate cancer risk.
In addition, many prescription medicines and over-the-counter remedies can also create nutritional shortfalls by blocking absorption or speeding up the excretion of vitamins and minerals, or interfering with the action of vitamins in the body. In fact, drugs, like other chemicals and toxins, have sometimes been described as 'anti-nutrients'. Particular culprits are acid-suppressing drugs, antibiotics, antidepressants, cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, diabetes drugs, diuretics, pain relievers, laxatives and tranquillisers.
The combination of a less-than-healthy diet and nutrient-draining medications may help to explain why two landmark studies, the Framingham Heart Study and the Baltimore
... having a good diet can help older people to stay in good health
Longitudinal Study on Ageing, found that older people often face these health-threatening nutritional shortages as well.
We'll cover these three supplements in more detail later in this chapter. But let us reiterate our key point: for long life and ongoing health, it's mostly about food. Supplements may help to fill in gaps, but the best way to get the nutrition you need is from the foods you eat.
And so, see next for the first of the seven choices for full-life eating, along with hundreds of tips tricks to make each an easy part of your daily meal routine.
Choice 4
Eat calcium-rich foods
Calcium's not just good for your skeleton. While 99 percent of the calcium in your body is hard at work maintaining the strong, internal scaffolding that supports the bones and teeth, the remaining 1 percent is a major player in keeping your cardiovascular system happy and your blood sugar control
mechanisms healthy. A growing pile of research proves that calcium helps to lower blood pressure, keeps arterties flexible and assists your kidneys in flushing blood pressure-boosting sodium out of your body.
In tandem with other minerals such as magnesium and potassium, calcium can also lower your risk of insulin resistance - a potent risk factor for heart disease, diabetes and even some cancers - by up to 71 percent. It may also guard against memory loss and cut colon cancer risk by 36 percent.
Choice 5
Enjoy lean protein
Protein is your body's basic building material - used to make everything from muscles, bones and the tissues of internal organs to hormones, enzymes and even red blood cells. Putting lean protein on your plate delivers and immediate payoff: meats, low-fat cheeses, eggs and nuts linger longer in your stomach than bread, rice, fruit or veg, so you feel full for longer. Protein also slows the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream, eliminating cravings that occur when sugar soars, the crashes after a crab-heavy metal.
Lean protein is also a rich source of the B vitamins that can help you to feel more energetic, since the Bs help to guide metabolic reactions throughout the body. You also get zinc, which builds strong immunity, and niacin, vital for clear thinking and efficient processing of blood sugar.
Protein's biggest bonus is preserving lean muscle mass. We all lose muscle mass at the rate of 3 to 5 percent per decade starting in our mid 20s. By our 50s and 60s, we've lost plenty - and may be weaker, have poorer balance and a slower metabolism. Protein contains an amino acid called leucine that helps to preserve more muscle mass, studies show.
Choice 6
Eat fewer calories
Note that we didn't say 'eat less food'. Fruits, veggies and beans are filling and satisfying yet contain far fewer calories than fatty foods. That means you can usually eat them to your heart's content and still consume fewer calories.
But it's appropritate to face the hard question of whether you do eat too much food overall. Okinawans don't eat till their buttons burst. Instead, they practise a form of natural portion control called hara hachi bu, which literally means '80 percent full'. In other words, they stop eating before they feel completely filled up.
'Hara hachi bu is sort of an insurance plan against feeling deprived or overeating,' says Dr Willcox. 'It takes about 20 minutes for the body to signal the brain that there's no need for more food. Hara hachi bu gives the brain a chance to catch up.' That restraint, plus a diet filled with low-calorie, high-satisfaction foods - and cooking techniques that use water (steaming and boiling) rather than frying or sauteing with oil - means that Okinawans eat about 1,800 calories a day, which is hundreds less than the typical Westerner consumes in a day.
Don't get us wrong - we don't advocate extreme calorie restriction. So far, no one's proven that drastically cutting calories extends human life (all those headline-grabbing studies only show it works in fruit flies and laboratory mice). And when people try it, super-low-calorie eating seems only to lead to irritability and potentially dangerous nutrient deficiencies.
But experts such as Dr Willcox believe that cutting back a little, without denying ourselves the nutrients we need and the eating pleasure we desire, is an important reason Okinawans and others live to a vibrant old age. Why? Fewer calories mean lower body weight and less of the dangerous abdominal fat that raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure and some cancers - even Alzheimer's disease. Living at a healthy weight also puts less stress on the joints and may reduce the levels of cell-damaging free radicals in your body.
Choice 7
Enjoy eating
Sharing mealtimes with family or friends, and enjoying the smells and taste of foods, all help to make life worth living. Meals among the world's healthiest people are long, happy occasions, not something to rush through or gobble while watching TV. In Greece, the nations's official dietary guidelines include advice to 'eat slowly, preferably at regular times of the day, and in a pleasant environment'.
Enjoying food is almost as important as the nutrients in the food itself. And meals need not be fancy to be cherished and savoured. It's more an attitude of life-enhancing reverence and celebration. Small wonder that one way Greeks identify someone as a friend is by saying 'we have shared bread together'.
Beyond food
Then there's the reality of the modern diet: huge helpings of meat, mountains of grains stripped of key nutrients, and processed food filled with sweeteners, flavours, colours and preservatives. Not only does the modern diet give you lots of what you don't need, it also shortchanges you on what you do need.
Many of the classic signs of ageing - including fatigue, aches and pains, memory lapses, fuzzy thinking, balance problems and more - may be symptoms of unrecognised yet easily reversible nutritional shortfalls. A good diet can help order people to stay in good health, according to the British Nutrition Foundation. Yet national surveys consistently show that older people tend to have high higher intakes of saturated fat, cereals and protein than is recommended, along with lower fibre, vitamin and mineral intake.
What do we mean by nutritional shortfalls? Well, take vitamin D: in your 70s, your skin synthesises 60 percent less vitamin D than it did when you were a child. One recent British study of 7,437 people showed that 60 percent of middle-aged adults have less than optimal levels of vitamin D - and the proportion rises to 90 percent in winter and spring. The risk is higher the farther north you live and the fatter you are - obese people and those living in Scotland were twice as likely to have low vitamin D than others.
Lead researcher Dr Elia Hypponen comments, 'during the winter, no vitamin D is produced by the sun in the UK, so one has to rely on intake through dietary supplements and foods'. He recommends spending more time out of doors, eating oily fish and maintaining a healhy weight. It may also be sensible to take a supplement. 'Cod liver oil and many multivitamin products contain vitamin D, but
the concentration in these is typically quite low,' he warns. Therefore, these alone may not be sufficient to allow you to maintain summer levels during the winter months. Single vitamin D supplements are available through the internet.
Again, healthy foods to the rescue, in the form of skimmed milk, fish and seafood and greens. But that multivitamin is also the perfect form of insurance.
Or take a look at the curious case of calcium. Many older people think that they don't need as much calcium. They assume it's important only early in life, during the bone-building years of childhood, teens and early 20s. But the fact is, women and men need even more calcium after the age of 50 than before because absorption drops with age. Studies show that nine out of ten older people don't get enough calcium from food, and plenty take no calcium supplements. But research confirms that inexpensive calcium pills can bridge the gap for women and may help men, though some experts warn that extra calcium from dairy products (but not non-diary sources) could raise prostate cancer risk.
In addition, many prescription medicines and over-the-counter remedies can also create nutritional shortfalls by blocking absorption or speeding up the excretion of vitamins and minerals, or interfering with the action of vitamins in the body. In fact, drugs, like other chemicals and toxins, have sometimes been described as 'anti-nutrients'. Particular culprits are acid-suppressing drugs, antibiotics, antidepressants, cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, diabetes drugs, diuretics, pain relievers, laxatives and tranquillisers.
The combination of a less-than-healthy diet and nutrient-draining medications may help to explain why two landmark studies, the Framingham Heart Study and the Baltimore
... having a good diet can help older people to stay in good health
Longitudinal Study on Ageing, found that older people often face these health-threatening nutritional shortages as well.
- Thirty percent of people age 67 and older don't get sufficient folic acid, a vitamin that may play a role in heart health.
- Twenty percent are low in B6 - a vitamin that plays a role in sleep, appetite and mood.
- In addition, most older women and men may not get enough magnesium - important for healthy blood pressure - and zinc - significant in wound-healing, immunity and maintaining your sense of smell and taste.
We'll cover these three supplements in more detail later in this chapter. But let us reiterate our key point: for long life and ongoing health, it's mostly about food. Supplements may help to fill in gaps, but the best way to get the nutrition you need is from the foods you eat.
And so, see next for the first of the seven choices for full-life eating, along with hundreds of tips tricks to make each an easy part of your daily meal routine.
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