Healthy Eating For SeniorsWhat Foods Are Healthy?Healthy eating for seniors calorie-wise is about 1,900 to 2,200 calories a day for a man in his sixties, and about 1,500 to 1,800 calories for a woman in her sixties. Metabolism starts slowing down in people once they reach the age of 30 years, and gets progressively slower by the age of sixty. Seniors are less active and because of that should reduce food intake, as they get older. Also many elderly need to drink lots of fluids during the day for dehydration prevention. Let’s find out what foods are healthy to eat at this elderly age.
Nutrition For SeniorsHealthy eating for seniors starts with a low fat, low salt, low cholesterol diet. Refined carbohydrates should be limited or eliminated completely in the senior citizen diet. The elderly should eat plenty of high fiber foods.Nutrition elderly dictates that for good health he or she should consume about 18 grams of fiber daily to help combat constipation, a common health condition of the elderly. Fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains, cereals, oatmeal, legumes, and whole wheat breads and rolls are all good fiber foods.
Elderly Meals on a BudgetSeniors need to have a varied diet to ensure proper nutritional support. Limit refined sugar and saturated fats. Instead, offer fresh natural foods, such as fruit bowls, variety of colorful veggies, turkey, chicken, fish, potatoes, whole grains, and brown rice. Heart disease increases in the elderly so watching what they eat is very important at this stage of their life.Weekly meal planning is important for the individual who cooks for the elderly. Be sure to include them in the process of choosing what they would like to eat at meal times. Of course the cook has the last say. If something is not healthy, don’t cook it, or find a healthy substitute. Many older folks have a sweet tooth and like to have a bit of sugar now and then in the form of puddings, cookies, jello, etc. All of which can be prepared with natural sugars, such as raw honey, fruit juices, raisins, dates, and dried fruit sugars. Stevia, a sweet herb from South America, is now sold in many major grocery stores.
Healthy Eating For SeniorsHealthy eating for older people does not have to be expensive. In fact, below are ten tasty, healthy, inexpensive recipes that can be prepared for under $5 dollars and usually feeds two to four people.
Healthy Eating For Seniors: SnacksKeep on hand a good supply of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole-wheat products to satisfy in between meal cravings. A container kept in the refrigerator filled with ready-to-eat raw vegetables, such as cut up carrot sticks, cucumbers, and wedges of bell pepper are great to have on hand. A great accompaniment would be some small wedges of cheese, yogurt, and cottage cheese.Top of Healthy Eating For Seniors Return to Follow Healthy Eating Guidelines Healthy Eating Homepage
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