Aging and Diet. What Do I Need?
Of course you should be taking care of your skin on the outside, but aging gracefully is an inside job. It starts with your diet.
What is a proper diet? Does it change as I get older? How can I keep up? Do I need supplements?
As we age our hormone production changes, as does our organ function. Our muscles lose mass and strength, our bones break down more than they rebuild, and our skin loses collagen and elastin. This sounds daunting but many of the remedies for these overlap.
A proper diet includes a variety of foods to ensure we get all the trace minerals we need. Eat the rainbow. In addition, you can take supplements to, well, supplement your nutrition. If you can't get the right amount of certain minerals, it may be a good idea to add some in. Here are the minerals we need and the daily amount to aim for according to harvardhealth.edu
Calcium: Men need 1,000 mg per day until age 70, and 1,200 mg after that. Women ages 51 or older need 1,200 mg of calcium per day.
- Food sources: Yogurt, cheese, milk, tofu, sardines, salmon, fortified juices, and leafy green vegetables such as broccoli and kale (but not spinach or Swiss chard, which contain binders that lessen absorption).
Iron: 8 mg per day for adult men and for women starting at age 50 (or whenever menstruation ends).
- Food Sources: Red meat, cooked soybeans, pumpkin seeds, cooked lentils, ground turkey, and fortified bread and breakfast cereal (whole foods being better than fortified ones)
Magnesium: 310 milligrams (mg)/day (women ages 19 to 30), 320 mg/day (women 31 or older), 400 mg/day (men 19 to 30), 420 mg/day (men 31 or older
- Food Sources: Almonds, green vegetables such as spinach and broccoli, soybeans, peanut butter, sunflower and other seeds, halibut, whole-wheat bread, and milk (whole milk is way better than skim or reduced fat)
Potassium: :4,700 mg per day.
-Food sources: Raisins, baked potatoes (with the skin), tomatoes, cooked black beans, plain low-fat yogurt, bananas, and spinach.
Click here for easy and yummy recipes that include all these minerals.
I would be remiss if I didn't add drinking water to the this post. DRINK your WATER. The rule of thumb has been half your weight in ounces. It's a great goal, but not everyone needs that much water, and some need more. Keep an eye on the color of your urine. It shouldn't be too dark or too clear. It should be about the color of a yellow squash. Learn more about lemon water and other gut health remedies in my Gutsy Gal Workshop. *Remember; supplements will give your urine a neon effect*
A good multivitamin can go a long way to supplement your diet as well. I recommend O.N.E. Multivitamin because it is only one pill a day (I don't want to take 6 pills a day thank you), it has CoQ10 which is a must for anti-aging, and vitamin D (the sunshine supplement) which is a mood booster.
If you need support in how to implement these into your life and a personalized plan, you can book a free call with me to discuss your goals. Click here to sign up!
Check with your doctor before adding too many supplements especially if you are taking any medication.