There’s a certain irony surrounding ageing and diet that’s hard to ignore. As we get older we become less active, burning fewer calories and requiring less energy from food to fuel the body. However, old age is when we need vitamins and minerals from food more than ever to ward off disease, keep us healthy, and expedite wound healing, for example.

So what do we do? Eat an amount we’re comfortable with and starve the body of essential vitamins, or eat until we’re bursting, putting our organs under the unnecessary strain of extra weight?

It may seem like a lose-lose situation, but there’s a very obvious solution.By swapping out your regular meals for dishes filled with healthy, mineral-rich ingredients, you can find a good balance between fuelling your body, and satisfying your needs.

Why Do We Need to Watch What We Eat?

While there are many reasons why our nutritional needs change throughout different points in our lives, there are three primary reasons for us to start paying more attention to what we eat as we get older.

Firstly, as we age, the body becomes less capable of absorbing nutrients from food. This means that we can be eating the same sort of healthy diet that we did when we were younger, and yet getting much less from it. Some health professionals have rallied for the introduction of recommended daily allowances, or RDAs, specifically for the elderly, as we already have RDAs for adults and children, but as yet this is something that hasn’t materialised in the UK. Until it does, it’s up to us to ensure we’re taking in slightly more than the published RDAs. Don’t worry about taking too much of the good stuff naturally from foods, but if you decide to use supplements, only take the recommended dosage – there can be some nasty side effects if you take too much! [Read more…]