Are you eating according to your age?
No matter your age, you have to eat well.
But should you eat the same way in your 20’s as in your 50’s or 60’s?
Some professionals say no.
Eating the right foods at the right time in your life may be the secret to feeling and looking your best.
My goal in this newsletter is to go through the different nutritional needs we have at every age and the best ways to get those nutrients in.
In your 20s
This is the decade where you can down a medium pizza, 6 beers, sleep 4 hours, and suffer little repercussions. Remember those days?
It’s also the decade where habits are created and where creating and reinforcing these habits are as important as the foods you eat.
The average woman in the United States weighs about 150 when she’s 19, but by the time she’s 29, she weighs 162 pounds – that’s a gain of 12 pounds.
An average 19-year-old man weighs 175 pounds, but by the time he hits 29, he is nine pounds heavier, weighing in at 184 pounds.
Stressful jobs, partying, lack of sleep, relationships, little or no movement, and poor food choices are to blame.
Recommendations for those in their 20’s include:
No smoking
Moderate alcohol consumption
Healthy diet
Regular physical activity.
If you follow these tips, you are probably going to stay healthy well into middle age.
So go ahead and take healthy cooking classes.
If you engage in a lot of drinking and snacking, make sure you exercise to offset all those extra weekend calories.
Make sure to monitor your weight. Get a scale and weigh yourself once a week (not every day!!!).
And since bone density continues to grow into your late 20’s make sure to have plenty of calcium to optimize bone health. You can get your calcium needs in low-fat milk-based products.
If you are vegan, you can also find calcium in soy foods, beans, peas, lentils, almonds, chia, and flax seeds.
In your 30s
This is the multitask decade. Work, babies, fitness, friends, family.
The must-haves in your 30’s?
Iron to boost your immune system. You can get that in fortified cereals. Meats and beans are also high in iron. Men and women need between 8-18mg.
Folic Acid if you are trying to get pregnant to prevent neural tube defects. You can find folic acid in oranges, asparagus, and leafy green vegetables for example. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of Folic Acid is 600mcg.
Calcium to keep your bones strong since you start losing bone mass after 35. Low-fat dairy products like yogurt, cottage cheese are great for calcium.
In your 40s
Life gets a little bit more challenging in your 40’s (including taking care of aging parents and dealing with teenagers).
To make things more interesting, your metabolism starts slowing down. So that daily brisk walk you have been taking every day might not be enough.
Make sure you start including (if you haven’t already) strength conditioning exercises using free weights and/or bodyweight.
Impact drills like jump rope also help keep your bones strong.
Also, make sure you limit your salt and processed food intake.
What you also need more of is:
Fiber. It will keep you fuller on fewer calories. How much do you need?
Women need between 21-25g/day and men need between 30-38g/day.
Choose foods like whole grain (brown rice, whole-wheat bread), fruits, and vegetables.
Calcium. Very important in your 40’s. Keep these bones strong with bok choy, broccoli, and calcium-fortified soy milk.
In your 50s
Things start to settle down at home. The real enemy at this age is hormones.
The must-haves at this age are:
B vitamins. Get your B-6 from bananas, potatoes, pomegranates. The RDA for B-6 is 1.9mg.
B-12 from Eggs, fish, chicken. The RDA for B-12 is 2.6 mcg.
Antioxidants. Get them from dark green, dark yellow, or orange fruits and veggies, like broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
Calcium from low-fat milk, cheese, yogurt, and cottage cheese.
Vitamin D can be found in foods like salmon, canned tuna, egg yolks, and mushrooms. The RDA is 600 IU.
Protect your eyes with Lutein and Zeaxanthin in spinach.
You can also ease menopause symptoms with cashews, corn, apples, and soy which are all great sources of phytoestrogens.
In your 60s
As we get older, we start to lose stomach acids. But vitamin B-12 needs stomach acid to get absorbed.
That means you need to eat more of B-12 just to get your recommended intake.
B-12, folic acid, and B-6 can help you lower your levels of an amino acid linked to dementia.
You can get your B-12 in foods like shellfish, eggs, and foods made of whole milk.
If you are vegan, nutritional yeast, shiitake mushrooms, and nori are rich in B-12.
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À bientôt,
Laurent