Chapter 6
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Your body needs fuel for exercises and physical
activities, and that fuel comes from food. Eating the right nutrients from a balanced diet helps
build muscle and energy. But just what does "balanced diet" mean? What should you eat, and exactly
how much of it should you eat?
The diagram shown below is the United States Department of Agriculture's food pyramid. If you
use it as a guideline, you will be following a balanced diet. It tells you how many servings of each
kind of food you should eat each day. We have also included a chart that tells you what, exactly,
counts as one serving of each kind of food.
If you use the food pyramid as a guideline, you may also be helping to prevent or delay some of the diseases associated with growing older. For example, by cutting down on fats, you will be reducing your risk of getting cardiovascular diseases like high blood pressure. By increasing the amount of fruits and
vegetables you eat, you will be lowering your risk of getting some types of cancer.
Looking at the guidelines, you will see that the biggest part of the calories you take in each
day should come from grains, and the smallest amount should come from fats, oils, and sweets. The
guidelines put heavy emphasis on vegetables and fruits, and less on meat and dairy products.
Some older adults are on restricted diets because of certain health conditions. Kidney
disease is just one example of a condition that often requires restrictions of certain foods or fluids.
If your doctor or nutritionist has asked you to follow a special diet, please follow his or her advice.
Often, people decide to exercise and eat a balanced diet because they want to control their weight. For many people, these healthy habits do result in weight loss...but that's only part of the big picture. Exercise and a healthy diet may not make you thin, but even if they don't, they can help make you healthier. For example, a study showed that obese men who were physically fit had a much lower death rate than normal-weight men who weren't physically fit.
That doesn't mean that being overweight is fine; obesity carries with it many health risks. What it does show is how important physical fitness is.
Exercise and a healthy diet are just one part of becoming physically fit. Think about other lifestyle changes you can make, too. For example, smoking contributes to a variety of serious diseases and can keep you from exercising. So does excessive alcohol. Together, habits like exercise, a balanced diet, and giving up smoking will help you achieve what we wish for you: the best of health.
Chapter Summary
The best way to get the nutrients you need is through a healthy diet, not through expensive
supplements that you might not need. Whole foods provide many nutrients we know about, and probably
contain others that haven't been discovered. You might read or hear many convincing,
scientific-sounding claims about nutritional supplements, such as megadoses of vitamins and minerals,
but not all of them are based on fact. Some supplements may be helpful in certain situations, but
others may cause harmful side effects. Before taking supplements of any kind, check with your doctor.
If your doctor or nutritionist has asked you to eat or avoid certain foods or fluids because
of a medical condition, please follow his or her advice.
A balanced diet is important for everyone, including older
exercisers. To find out what "balanced diet" means, see the U.S. Department of Agriculture
food-pyramid guidelines shown in this chapter. The guidelines say that the largest part of your
calorie intake should be from grain-based foods; the next largest from vegetables and fruits; then
fish, poultry, meats, and dairy products. The less fats, oils, and sweets you eat the better.
"I want to walk young - I think exercise does that for you. You feel better. You feel younger." That's what Cecile Cress, 83, of Pueblo, Colorado, told us recently.
Until last year, Ms. Cress rode her bicycle everywhere, up and down the hilly roads of her town, to get where she needed to go. She retired from her job as a librarian last year.
Ms. Cress stopped riding her bike when she found that it was hard fro her to get started going up steep hills after traffic had stopped for red lights, making it unsafe for her.
"The thing I thought was so great about bike riding is that, going up a hill, you just feel like your heart is really pushing your blood through those veins and arteries," she said.
She didn't have to give up that feeling entirely when she shopped riding her bikie. At least 3 days a week, Ms. Cress does exercises, including endurance and stretching , with the help of two videos for older adults. She began doing that years ago, during the winter, when it was too icy to ride her bike.
To make up for the activity that she would miss when she stopped bike riding, Ms. Cress
began going to a rehabilitation center to use strength-building equipment to improve her muscles
and balance. She could have gone to a fitness club instead of a rehabilitation center, but there
wasn't one that suited her needs in her area. With a little creative thinking, she and her daughter
came up with the idea of asking if she could use the weight room at the local rehab center, instead.
"I knew I had to do something when I stopped riding my bike," she said.
There are seniors' aerobics groups in Ms. Cress' area, but their hours don't fit into her schedule. "I know seniors who are doing it, though, and they look great," she said.
She has a secret she would like to share with other older adults who would like to stay in shape: Don't stop buying new clothes. Ms. Cress said that occasionally buying something new is one of the things that keeps her inspired to stay fit. "It's important to have more pride in your appearance as you get older. It's good to keep your weight down," she said.
"I never have to diet," she added. "I watch what I eat, but I don't diet."
Supplements are helpful for some older adults who can't eat all the nutrients they need - nutrients like vitamins and minerals. Recently, however, some new kinds of supplements have been appearing in stores even though they haven't been shown to improve health and their safety remains unproven.
A balanced diet is the best way for most older exercisers to get the nutrients they need. But some people in the marketing industry are doing a good job of convincing older people that they need expensive nutritional supplements, some of which haven't been shown to be helpful or safe and some of which most older people may not even need. Some of these claims give older adults the impression that certain supplements can restore youthful energy and strength.
For example, one persuasive clerk at a popular health-food store recently told an older shopper interested in exercise that she should buy certain supplements that cost about $70 a month to increase her energy and her ability to build muscles. The supplements included a protein powder and a vitamin-mineral pill containing the same ingredients as generic-brand vitamins, available at a fraction of the cost at drug stores, and some other substances not proven to build muscles or energy in older people.
This 75-year-old shopper had eaten an excellent diet based on the USDA food pyramid for years, and really didn't need these supplements.
No one likes to spend money needlessly, but for older adults on a limited income - social security, for example - unnecessary expenditures can deprive them of things they really do need (the money to buy whole foods rich in nutrients, for example). What's more, too much protein puts extra demands on the kidneys and can lower calcium levels. Although protein, vitamin, and mineral supplements are helpful to older people who truly need them, excessive doses can have harmful side effects.
A clerk at another health-food store told the same shopper that, if she planned to start exercising, she should buy a powder made of protein, vitamins, and minerals that cost $19 for a 10-serving bottle. Taken once a day, that comes out to about $60 a month. One of the reasons she needed this supplement, the clerk told her, was that it contained the mineral potassium, and "older people require more of that."
Taken as directed on the label, the supplement wouldn't have harmed our intrepid shopper. But the clerk's scientific-sounding advice might have. Overdoses of potassium can cause an irregular heart beat and even death.
For most older adults, standard FDA-approved multivitamin-mineral supplements that contain potassium are just fine if taken as directed, and it would be virtually impossible to overdose on potassium by eating foods that contain this essential mineral naturally. Some people really do need potassium supplements, as prescribed by a doctor, only, for very specific medical conditions and in very specific, carefully monitored amounts. The point we are making here is that anyone can make scientific-sounding claims, but it doesn't necessarily mean that those claims are true or safe. This caution is especially important for people who are on diets with special restrictions - people with kidney disease, congestive heart failure, or diabetes, for example.
Buyer, beware - and check with your doctor before spending your hard-earned money on supplements that promise to restore youthful energy and strength.
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Grains 1 slice of bread 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta 1/2 cup of cooked cereal 1 ounce of ready-to-eat cereal
Fruits
Vegetables
Milk, Yogurt, and Cheese |
Example: a 1-inch cube of hard cheese weighs about 1/2 ounce Note: Buy low-fat or skim dairy products to avoid harmful fats. Note: Some people have trouble digesting lactose, the sugar in milk products. If you have his problem, try eating yogurt with active cultures, low-fat cheese, or lactose-reduced milk. Pills and drops that help digest lactose also are available.
Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts |
Examples: a slice of cooked, lean, meat or poultyr that is about 1/4-inch thick and measures 3 inches by 4 inches weights about 2 ounces; a cooked, lean hamburger patty that weighs 3 ounces is about 3 inches across and 1/2-inch thick - about the size of a large mayonnaise jar lid. Note: Half of a skinless, cooked chicken breast weighs 3 ounces. Note: Egg whites are a good source of protein, but egg yolks are high in fat and cholesterol. Consider discarding the egg yolk. Note: Nuts are a good source of protein, but are high in fat.
Fats, Oils, and Sweets |
Do you look at the USDA food guidelines and think, "How in the world will I be able to eat that much every day? I'd have a hard time just eating the 6 to 11 servings of grain I'm supposed to eat daily!" Take a look at the sample menu below, and you might change your mind. This menu provides the minimum amount recommended for each of the food groups. You might find that you are already eating a balanced diet and that you even have room to add more grains or fruits and vegetables.
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