Good nutrition is essential for optimal health at any age, however at each stage in life requires different nutritional demands. In this article, we will explore the different stages in life and
In your 20’s is the start of your adult life; your life out in the real world. You are most likely starting your first real job, getting into the dating scene or getting married, married with very small children, trying to figure out your place in the world. For most people in their 20’s they don’t even think about eating healthy, but this decade is actually the time to start building good eating habits that will benefit you for a lifetime. This includes eating a diet rich in calcium and iron as well as fruits and vegetables. If you are a pregnant or nursing mother make sure to include foods rich in folic acid such as leafy green vegetables, eggs and beans.
In your 30’s, you are most likely established in your career or business and trying to climb up the financial ladder, expanding your network and your net worth. In addition, you might have young school children all of which will drain a lot of your energy. In addition to having adequate sleep, you need to eat a diet rich in vegetables, healthy fats and iron in order to prevent anemia. It is important to reduce your intake of high starch carbohydrates such as white rice and increase your protein consumption with foods such as beans, nuts, skinless chicken and fish. Doing this will keep you full and at the same time, release the required energy to your body in a consistent and sustained way. In your 30s, hormonal imbalances in women that cause issues such as fibroids, endometriosis and heavy menstrual periods tend to be at their peak so it is important to consume a diet rich in iron. A healthy source of iron is spinach and ugwu. Eating ugwu daily gives the same results as taking an iron tablet daily.
By the time you are in your 40’s, your metabolism starts to slow down and you will find it increasingly harder to lose weight, or you might start gaining weight for no apparent reason. For this reason, it is necessary to reduce your portions of food in general while increasing the level of nutrition. This can be done easily with the addition of healthy fats such as that contained in avocado or raw nuts and seeds. Healthy fats will keep you full as provide you with omega 3s which will help keep your skin and hair shiny, in addition to improving your heart health. Foods that contain good amounts of omega 3s include flax and chia seeds, mackerel, tuna fish and walnuts. Furthermore, you will need to increase your fibre and fluid intake. This is because as you start getting older your digestion also slows down.
Moving on to your 50’s and beyond your body is starting to feel the positive or negative effects of the lifestyle and dietary habits you have sustained from the beginning of your adult life up until this point. This is the period in your life some people get diagnosed with a chronic lifestyle illness such as colon cancer, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and the like. Regardless of your diagnosis, it is not too late to start eating right as eating healthy can actually reverse these health problems. As an older adult, you will need to change that mindset of eating like a king at night and really evaluate your diet and lifestyle if you plan to live well into your old age. You will need to increase your calcium and vitamin D, drastically reduce salt intake, increase your fruits and vegetables and eat more fiber than ever before. You will also need to increase your fluid intake and take measures to prevent dehydration.
In conclusion, nutrition at any stage in life is key; however, special considerations should be taken when going through various stages in life especially during childbearing period and older age. We should all endeavor to eat better no matter what age you are and always remember that whatever you put in can affect your overall health eventually. So eat right and stay healthy.
