Chapter 6
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| Did you know that your body uses
vitamin D to absorb calcium, which makes your bones stronger and helps
prevent fractures? Vitamin D is manufactured in the skin following
direct exposure to sunlight. The amount of vitamin D produced in the
skin varies depending on the time of day, season, latitude, and skin
pigmentation.
While many people get enough vitamin D naturally, studies show
that vitamin D production decreases in older people and in those who
are housebound. These people may need to take vitamin D supplements
to ensure a daily intake of between 400 and 800 IU (international units)
of vitamin D.
Tips: Major food sources of vitamin D are vitamin
D-fortified dairy products, eggs, saltwater fish, dark green vegetables,
and liver. Some calcium supplements and most multivitamins contain
vitamin D, so it's important to read the labels to find out how much
each contains.
Caution: Massive doses of vitamin D may be harmful
and are not recommended. | | |
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 on this page is the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
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 shows 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.
The
Big Picture
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 can help make you
healthier. But they 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
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.
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.
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"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.
Ms. Cress used to ride her bicycle everywhere, up and down the hilly roads of
her town, to get where she needed to go. She recently retired from her job as a
librarian.
Ms. Cress stopped riding her bike when she found that it was hard for 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 stopped riding her
bike. 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 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 a 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."
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Supplements: Costly, and Not Necessarily Helpful
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. It would be virtually
impossible for most people 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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What is a serving?
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
1 piece of fruit
1 melon wedge
3/4 cup
fruit juice
1/2 cup canned fruit
1/4 cup dried fruit
Vegetables
1/2 cup of chopped raw or cooked
vegetables
1 cup of leafy raw vegetables
Milk, Yogurt, and
Cheese
1 cup of milk or yogurt
1-1/2 to 2 ounces of
cheese
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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 this
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
1/2 cup
of cooked beans, 1 egg, or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter make up
1/3 of a serving of this food group.
2-1/2 to 3 ounces of cooked
lean meat, poultry, or fish make up one serving of this food
group. |
Examples: a slice of cooked, lean, meat or poultry
that is about 1/4-inch thick and measures 3 inches by 4 inches
weighs 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: Before cooking, a patty this size weighs about 4 ounces.
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
The less fats, oils, and sweets
you eat the better. | |
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It's Really Not Hard to Eat a Balanced Diet
Do you look at the USDA food guidelines
and think, "How in the world will I be able to follow them? 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.
Breakfast:
- Western-style omelet (use egg whites or egg replacers and
low-fat cheese)
- Oven-baked hash-brown potatoes
- Whole-grain toast and jelly
- Small glass of fruit juice
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Lunch:
- Broiled salmon patty on a toasted whole-grain bun
- Spinach
- Rice
- Fruit salad with low-fat or nonfat yogurt dressing
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Dinner:
- Pasta with tomato-and-onion sauce, topped with low-fat
parmesan cheese (lean meatballs optional)
- Garlic bread
- Salad with low-fat or nonfat dressing
- Low-fat ice cream or frozen yogurt
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From the National Institute on Aging
June 2001
http://www.nia.nih.gov/exercisebook/chapter6.htm
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