6 Foods Older Adults Should Consume More

Introduction

As we age, it is important to continue to make dietary  changes to our diet to include more nutrient dense foods with anti-inflammatory properties and most times also lower calories,  these are the foods that are needed when we are getting older so as to reduce inflammations, and ward off many illnesses.  Older adults should consider nutrition very important in their diet, as relying on drugs abs supplements will pose more stress to the internal organs.    

Here are the top  6 foods that older adults should consume more frequently to reduce inflammations and avoid or reverse some diseases number one carrrot

Carrot: 

 Carrot is  a low calorie vegetable that is high in vitamin A, It is  low in calories and also easily available, more of Carrots need to be consumed either  as raw carrots or cooked.   Interestingly,  cooked carrots does not lose their nutrients due to cooking like most vegetables, carrot is also classified as a vegetable but most other vegetable loose most of their nutrients after being heated. Carrot is among few  foods that retain their nutrients even after being cooked.   As a matter of fact we need to chew it raw, and also use it in cooking in order to help our body in the making of collagen in reducing wrinkles, supporting our eyes and strengthening our immune system.   It  is a liver supporting food and is one food that also can be eaten during detox supporting our eyes and helping the body to neutralize free radicals.

2.  Boiled Eggs

Chicken eggs are more common than other type of eggs because there are guinea fowl eggs and all  kinds of other eggs but when eggs are mentioned most times our mind goes to chicken eggs and that's exactly the eggs that is being referred   to here,  these eggs are quite high in vitamin A, one of the richest source of vitamin A and also cholesterol but the cholesterol in eggs are being shown not to increase bad cholesterol as the body is also making its own cholesterol so one of the foods that we should consume more regularly is boiled egg as a matter of fact studies are showing that consuming two or more is not a bad idea if we can regulate other foods in the diet as we age and tend to avoid a lot of foods because of health issues.  Avoiding  foods like peanuts,  reducing our meat consumption, processed foods and even some time avoiding too many medications it becomes necessary to consume or include a nutrient dense low calorie food like egg.  Egg  is also complete in terms of amino acids and so consuming it will help us lose weight faster, strengthen our collagen, boost our health and then help our body to fight inflammation and  several other  diseases.  It  is important always to boil it,  cook it the right way because tmfryibg  it rob us of a lot of the benefits and introduce calorie like oil and salt which are ordinarily not found in boiled egg.

3.  Sweet Potatoes:

Sweet potato is also quite rich in vitamin A, easily  digestible,  rich in fibre  though higher in calorie but the calories are actually nutrient density that makes up most of the calories in this food,  for that reason they are best consumed in smaller amount or quantity to avoid weight gain that comes with high calorie foods older adults should  incorporate more of it.  potatoes whether it is Purple potatoes or the white potatoes either of them are okay though the purple potatoes seem to be lower in sugar but we can safely enjoy sweet potatoes of all colours to help our body fight diseases, reduce inflammation and even reduce signs of aging while improving our sight because of its high content of vitamin A.

4.  Green Vegetables: 

We have a wide variety of vegetables green vegetables and all vegetables are good because,  vegetables are low in calorie rich in nutrients including vitamins and minerals,  it is important for older adults to consume  vegetables frequently because of its rich nutrients. A good source of fibre too,  and then it helps to reduce constipation and reduce weight gain and help us get a lot of nutrients without the calories.  Including green vegetables in the diet will also help the older adult avoid weight gain especially women which comes with menopause sometimes requiring us to seek out  supplementation and other tablets to support us.   consuming vegetables will supply most nutrients and keep us in good weight too.

5.  Cabbage and other Cruciferous Vegetables

Green cabbage is a low calorie vegetable and a rich source of nutrients that helps with weight loss and is important for older adults to begin to include more of this vegetable because of its low calorie and its ability to help fight diseases, ward off  inflammations too. Heal  stomach ulcers and help other ulcers to heal as well,  cabbage has a lot of benefits which a lot of people  are yet to know about,  it's important for older adults to begin to include the green cabbage in moderation with other cruciferous vegetables vegetables also like onions are in this group including them also as they act as prebiotics, helping feed the healthy gut bacteria.   We can consume it raw or  also use it to cook or make a cook  slightly on low heart.  it's not good to over cook it as it will lose the  some of its nutrients especially the vitamin C,  Cabbage is also a source of rare vitamin K which helps with clothing of blood.

6.  Almonds:

When it comes to preserving our heart, preventing heart-related problems which may arise as a result of low calcium, low magnesium and other important nutrients as we age,  there are just very few foods that can supply these nutrients and help us  lower cholesterol as well. Almond nuts is needed by older adult in moderation especially as we start to go lower on inflammatory nuts like peanuts and  some other nuts that are much higher in calorie but  does not deliver the nutrients needed for our heart health as much as almond nut,  soaking about 5 or 6 nitd to take other before bedtime also helps to support the brain health, restful sleep, which is most times the problem of older adults some of these problems are due to low calcium and magnesiym and almond is quite high high in  calcium and  magnesium  which also  support our bones.   It is  important to include it in moderation, maximum of 5 or 6  almonds nut soaked before consuming, should be okay.  To be consumed after removing the peels.

 Fatty fish, Walnuts:

Omega-3 food sources like fatty fish or nuts, and  sardines are  rare in foods and it  is important to include more of such foods as we age, avocados is also a good fat that older adults should include in their diet whenever it is in season, it is also good to include good fats like olive oil,  cold pressed coconut oil  needed to increase the diet of older adults because of the brain.  These fats are brain protecting  and supporting fats because most people come down with brain related  issues not remembering things, easily forgetting things, these occur most times because the brain is not able to communicate.   Again as we begin to avoid too many fatty foods in our diet, the negative effect is that the brain suffers.

Summary:

There are  a lot of other nutrients that we can get from several other foods as you age so as to avoid certain illnesses, foods like tomatoes needs to be added, it is a low calorie vegetable, other foods like spices and peppers like cayenne pepper,  these are foods that we should consume regularly as we age because they help us to fight diseases, reducing inflammations and reversing some diseases.  Occasional brown rice is great too because its a source of B vitamins.

Photo Credit:  Times of India.com