Good nutrition gives you the energy to enjoy the people you love and the things you love to do.
As you get older, good nutrition plays an increasingly important role in how well you age. Eating a low-salt, low-fat diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, and fiber can actually reduce your age-related risks of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis, and other chronic diseases. By eating a wide variety of fresh whole foods, you can easily get what your body needs, including:
- Protein, which is needed to maintain and rebuild muscles. You can get low-fat, quality protein from poultry, fish, eggs or egg substitutes, soy, and limited amounts of nuts and low-fat meat and dairy.
- Carbohydrate, which is the body's preferred source of energy. There are two main sources of dietary carbohydrates: simple carbohydrates, such as sucrose (the white sugar added to sweets and desserts), fructose (the sugar contained in fruit), and lactose (milk sugar); and complex carbohydrates, which come from vegetables and grains. Unlike refined sugars, complex carbohydrates contain vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Get most of your carbohydrate calories from complex carbohydrates, and try to replace fat calories with complex carbohydrates in your diet.
- Fat, which also provides energy. To help keep your blood cholesterol levels low, get most of your limited fat intake from the "good" polyunsaturated fats (as in liquid corn oil or soybean oil) and monounsaturated fats (in olive oil, avocados, and nuts), rather than "bad" saturated fats (beef, pork, veal, milk, butter, stick margarine, shortening, and cheese).
- Water, to replace water lost through activity. Because your kidneys gradually become less efficient at keeping your body hydrated, make a conscious effort to get six to eight 8 fl oz (0.2 L) glasses of water each day.
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You don't need a dietary fiber supplement when you own a Vita-Mix machine!
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Yuck! Gritty powders, barely drinkable drinks.
Who needs it!
We all need more fiber in our diet. But the artificial choice of tablets, pills, powders and beverages don't do the job as well as a healthy diet of fresh whole fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Many of the artificial products on the market use Aspartame sweeteners to make the fiber taste tolerable, increasing the risk of cancer. |
On the other hand, your Vita-Mix machine releases natural flavors along with disease-preventive nutrients when you enjoy a fiber-ful whole food juice.
You can also find your fiber in delicious, warm Vita-Mix whole grain bread -- full of wholesome goodness and nutrition. A whole grain bread tastes great, helps you watch your weight and it's much less expensive than tasteless supplements.
Making healthy homemade bread doesn't have to be hard work. Not when you can grind fresh whole wheat flour and knead your oven-ready dough right in the Vita-Mix container. It's all done in under five minutes. What could be easier?
Try this recipe - Swiss Rye Bread
Osteoporosis: Latest findings and important facts
 28 million Americans are at risk for osteoporosis and cost this country $13 billion in health care annually. Those are painfully large numbers. And while much press has been given to the high incidence of this disease in post-menopausal women, research indicates that at least 30% of men suffer hip fractures due to osteoporosis.
Consuming plenty of calcium (at least 1000 milligrams per day) combined with Vitamin D is a key preventive measure-and diet is the best way to go. Ninety-nine percent of the calcium we eat goes straight for our bones. Low calcium, of course, is not the only risk factor for osteoporosis, but it is one of the few we can control.
According to Suzanne Murphy, a nutrition scientist at UC Berkeley, the best source of calcium is a healthy diet. "Supplement pills are a last resort. Taking too much calcium in supplement form can be unpleasant or even dangerous, leading to nausea, gas or even kidney damage," says Murphy. She further recommends whole food nutrition because "calcium-rich foods taste great and help in preventing and reversing heart disease, cancer and dementia as well." Another good reason to get your calcium from food rather than supplements is a decreased risk for kidney stones.
What tops the list of bone-building nutrition sources? Dairy products top the list, as you know, but leafy greens are a calcium-rich food source that is lower in fat and calories. Collards, kale, dandelion, turnip greens and Bok Choy are great additions to whole juice drinks, soups and salads. If these vegetables sound unfamiliar and you are hesitant to try them, take baby steps. The Vita-Mix machine makes it easy to start adding them to your whole food meals a little at a time. Another bone-building food source is whole grains like brown rice, millet, barley, buckwheat, quinoa and spelt. The Vita-Mix Super 5000 comes with some great recipes using whole grains-and these grains are great for adding to leafy green side dishes double-duty calcium and crunchy texture.
Nutrition researchers at Washington University in St. Louis found that calcium was more easily absorbed when eaten along with foods high in lysine. That's a good reason to include poultry, fish, legumes and nuts with your grains and greens. In the study, 800 milligrams of lysine was consumed each day.
Other recent research at the USDA has discovered the trace mineral boron to be beneficial in preventing calcium and magnesium loss. Boron helps the body synthesize both estrogen and Vitamin D, so this is especially good news for people of any age who want to prevent osteoporosis, arthritis and other bone-weakening conditions. Magnesium, a mineral that aids in calcium absorption, is also important for building bone density. Whole grains are a great source of magnesium.
If you choose to include dairy in your diet, pairing dairy products with other foods containing calcium like broccoli, brown rice and kale can actually be a bone-building bonanza.
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