Healthy Eating Tips for Seniors

As we grow older, our nutritional needs evolve with us. Food fuels our bodies so that we can continue to live a healthy and active lifestyle. Whether you have always strived for healthy eating habits, or you are currently trying to enhance your diet, older adults require specific nutrients to age healthily. Learn how to improve your diet and stay nourished with these healthy eating tips for seniors from The Roosevelt, a trusted senior living community in Elmhurst, IL.

Why Healthy Eating Matters

What you eat is just as important as how you use and move your body. Eating the right foods can give you energy to be more active, encourage healthy weight and muscle mass, and prevent or mitigate conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and osteoporosis. A healthy diet can also simply make you feel better — you’ll feel full quicker, more confident, more energetic, and more nourished. 

With age, metabolism slows down, so we need fewer calories to maintain a healthy body and weight. Because of this, it's important to modify portion sizes and be very intentional about our diets. 

What nutrients does your body need? A healthy senior diet should aim to include lots of potassium, calcium, vitamin C, dietary fiber, and vitamin B12. A varied and colorful diet, consisting of protein, vegetables, fruit, whole grains and dairy, is an excellent way to include all of these nutrients and create a healthy plate. 

Healthy Foods for Seniors

1. Lean Proteins: Protein plays a key role in a healthy senior diet. It helps to maintain and restore muscle mass, supports the immune system, and provides energy. While you want to avoid heavily processed meats like hamburgers, hot dogs, bacon, or deli meats, lean proteins are incredibly important for a healthy diet. These include:

• Seafood
• Dairy, like Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and milk
• Soy products
• Legumes, like chickpeas, beans, lentils, and nuts
• Dense greens, like spinach, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and peas
• Eggs

Vitamin B12 is also found in all the animal products above. The body’s ability to absorb vitamin B12 can decrease with age, so eating enough protein helps the body get the nutrients it needs. 

2.  Leafy Greens: Everyone knows that vegetables are crucial for a healthy diet. These foods are an excellent source of fiber, which is crucial for digestion, heart health, and blood sugar control, reducing the risk of colorectal cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. These vegetables are also rich in calcium, vitamins A and K, and iron. Good leafy greens to include in your diet are:

• Spinach
• Kale
• Chard
• Arugula

3. Fruits: Fruit is another important part of a balanced, colorful plate. It is important to watch sugar intake as you age, and the natural sugars found in fruit can help satisfy sugary cravings while offering fiber, potassium, magnesium, and vitamin C. Sweet choices include:

• Dark berries, such as raspberries, blueberries, and dark cherries 
• Citrus fruits like oranges, grapefruits, and tangerines
• Bananas
• Dried fruits like prunes, apricots, and dates

4. Whole Grains: Carbohydrates help a meal fill you up and keep you satisfied. Instead of processed pasta, bread, or rice, opt for whole-grain options. These foods are rich in unsaturated fats and fiber, and a whole-grain diet has been shown to prevent diabetes and heart disease. Whole grain options include:

• Oats
• Brown rice
• Barley
• Quinoa
• Whole wheat bread or pasta

5. Calcium: When you’re young, you’re told that drinking milk will help you grow strong and healthy, and this is good advice for seniors as well. Calcium keeps your bones healthy, and is also essential for muscle function. Consuming calcium is also the best way to prevent osteoporosis. Good sources of calcium include:

• Milk, yogurt, and cheese
• Fortified dairy substitutes, like soy, almond, and oat milk
• Legumes like white beans, edamame, and soybeans

Because metabolism slows with age, you’ll want to avoid the temptation of empty calories like processed foods, sugary sodas, saturated fats, alcohol, sweets, and other foods that don’t provide much nutritional benefits. If you’re curious about a food’s nutritional benefits, inspect the nutritional label or research its nutritional facts. When in doubt, ask your doctor what foods should be added to your diet and what you might want to avoid.

Healthy Eating at The Roosevelt 

At The Roosevelt, we take pride in our food. Our highly trained chefs and kitchen staff seek to provide our residents with delicious and nutritious foods. We are proud to welcome Chef Gabriel Urunuela as our new executive chef, who brings with him 20 years of culinary experience and a thoughtful, wellness-based approach to cooking. Also joining the team is our brand new Food and Beverage Director, Michael Pivoney, bringing decades of high-end culinary and hospitality experience to The Roosevelt’s new dining experience. Our community offers a variety of dining venues, including our new Butterfield Dining Room. We ensure that everything we serve uses the freshest ingredients, follows the highest culinary standards, and meets our residents’ nutritional needs.

Contact us today to learn more about The Roosevelt in Elmhurst, IL, and how we can help you enjoy a healthy and happy lifestyle.