Making the Most of Every Bite: How to Make Smart Food Choices

Understanding Changing Nutritional Needs as We Age

What’s the Real Scoop on Nutrition Tips?

Eat more fiber! Peanuts are a great anti-aging snack! Coffee is good for us—no, wait—it’s bad! We are constantly bombarded with so-called expert nutritional advice. Sorting out research-based fact from fiction and what tips for maintaining a healthy diet are appropriate for active older adults can be a challenge!

Rest assured there are, however, generally accepted truths advanced by nutritionists and gerontologists and supported by research that can help us better understand the changing nutritional needs associated with aging—and how we can maximize our health and wellbeing.

Making a Plan for Nutrition & Wellness

According to the National Institute on Aging (NIA), planning a smart eating strategy that considers weight management and healthy eating can help keep us active and healthy longer. Making wise food choices, shopping smart, planning meals, and knowing what specific nutritional needs older adults have makes the process easier.

Factors such as our activity level and any specific dietary restrictions or medically based nutritional needs are also important to consider, and we should always discuss specifics with our doctor, a dietician, nutritionist, or geriatric specialist.

Making Every Calorie Count

The reality is that we need fewer calories to maintain a healthy weight and meet our nutritional needs as we age; therefore, making smart food choices is even more critical. According to the AARP, we burn about 200 fewer calories per day after the age of 50. Because of this, we need to modify our exercise and food intake levels accordingly to avoid gaining weight.

Choosing nutritionally dense foods can help us safely manage our weight. The National Cancer Institute defines nutritionally dense foods in the following way:

  • Food high in nutrients but relatively low in calories
  • Food containing vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, lean protein, and healthy fats

Making smart substitutions can help us replace “empty calories” with nutritionally dense foods. The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics explains that empty calories are calories, or energy, from added sugar and solid fat in foods that contain few nutrients. If the calories from sugar and fat outweigh those from nutrients, the food is considered to provide calories without nutrition, or empty calories. Examples of such foods and drinks are candy, soda and sugar-based drinks, alcohol, fruit juice, cakes, cookies, pastries, donuts, sweetened cereals, and condiments.

The NIA, the American Heart Association, and the Mayo Clinic make the following food-choice recommendations for optimizing senior health:

  • Carrots and other fresh vegetables instead of salty, processed snack foods (such as pretzels and chips)
  • Fresh fruit rather than processed fruit products with added sugars (such as fruit snacks, canned fruit, and fruit preserves)
  • Whole grains (whole wheat, barley, brown rice) instead of products made from refined grains (white bread, white rice, plain bagels)
  • Healthy cooking oils, such as olive, canola, corn, peanut, safflower, soybean, sunflower, and vegetable
  • Naturally flavored waters and skim milk-based coffees instead of high-sugar, high-fat beverages

The Importance of Protein

The results of an exhaustive longitudinal study of nearly 50,000 female participants published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in February 2024 found that protein intake was significantly associated with higher odds of healthy aging, defined in the following ways:

  • Being free from 11 major chronic diseases
  • Having no impairments in memory or physical function
  • Being in good mental health

The study also noted preceding research findings that overall consumption of protein contributes to aging well in the following specific ways:

  • Decreased loss of muscle tissue and bone density
  • Decreased risk of bone fractures
  • Increase in physical ability
  • Increase in cognitive function

Consumption of plant—rather than animal— protein, however, resulted in an even greater significant association with higher odds of healthy aging.

The Sarcopenia-Protein Connection

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) defines sarcopenia as the age-related, involuntary loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength. This condition affects older adults by making our ability to perform Activities of Daily Living, or ADLs, more challenging.

Research indicates that sarcopenia can begin as early as age 50, accelerate after age 65, and can result in up to 50% of muscle mass loss by age 80. Eating enough protein—and including resistance training in our exercise routines—can help offset and even reverse the effects of sarcopenia.

Geriatric medicine specialist and Harvard Medical School professor Christine Ritchie explains that older adults need “proportionately more protein in their diets than they did when they were younger.” Dr. Ritchie recommends eating lean protein at every meal to maximize benefits to the body. There is some discussion among researchers about exactly how much protein is needed, so check with your doctor to determine the right amount for you.

Registered Dietician and Nutritionist Lisbeth Irish with the New York State Office for the Aging shares these sources of lean protein for healthy eating for seniors:

  • Fish, even high-fat fish, such as salmon and mackerel, because no fish has saturated fat but does have omega-3 fatty acids, which provide many health benefits
  • Eggs
  • Lean meats trimmed of fat (loin, tenderloin cuts; 90% lean or higher)
  • Low- or non-fat dairy products (yogurt, milk, cheese)
  • Chicken with skin removed
  • Plant protein
    • beans
    • lentils
    • tofu
    • edamame
    • peas
    • peanuts
    • quinoa

Fiber and Senior Nutrition

Fiber is plant-based dietary material, sometimes referred to as roughage, which doesn’t break down during digestion. Fiber is an important dietary component at every age, but it becomes an even more critical part of our diets when we are seniors. Adding whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, and legumes, such as chickpeas, beans, and peanuts helps us get enough of both types of fiber: soluble (dissolves) and insoluble (doesn’t dissolve).

According to the Cleveland Clinic, the benefits of sufficient fiber consumption go well beyond digestion and colon cancer prevention to include heart health, protection against other forms of cancer, longevity, and healthy weight management.

Dietary Reference Calculator

The US Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Library provides a handy online calculator for Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI). This tool, which considers gender, age, weight, height, and activity level, is for general use only and is no substitute for personalized healthy lifestyle advice from a physician, geriatrician, or senior dietician.

The calculator does, however, provide some overall guidelines and information about macronutrients, vitamins, and mineral intake. The web page also provides links to current Dietary Guidelines for Americans in addition to the calculator.

Eating Smart, Living Healthy

Research-based decisions about how we eat can help keep us healthy and strong. But meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning up can seem overwhelming—particularly when there are other ways we’d prefer to spend our time. Finding a community that prioritizes fresh, healthy, delicious meals can make all the difference in how we feel—and how we embrace life.

An Opportunity to Learn More

Come explore Plymouth Harbor and learn more about this extraordinary community where the health and wellbeing of residents and the joy of eating and living well is a daily celebration! Call 941-361-7512 to schedule your private tour and discover why life truly is better on Sarasota Bay!