An important statement from a famous nutritionist: "As people get older ..."
Natalya Pugacheva, a specialist at the Health Management Clinic of the Sechenov Institute of Individual Medicine, spoke about the basic rules of nutrition to prolong a healthy life.
According to the expert, it is a natural process to reduce the amount of muscle tissue in humans as they get older.
"Because of this, the need for calories is reduced. If a person continues to eat as he did in middle age, then as a rule, he begins to gain weight. It has been proven that although a person's weight does not change with age, they need fewer calories.
I know from experience that the attitude to protein products is not the same. In fact, older people need more protein than younger people and middle-aged people. That's why it's important to choose protein foods on your menu as you get older. Why? Because it is very important for maintaining muscle mass. To do this, the body's need for protein increases. At every age, the cells of the skin, hair, nails and muscle fibers are renewed.
However, over time, people's ability to digest and absorb proteins weakens. The activity and concentration of digestive juices decreases. As a result, the body absorbs less protein when it receives the same amount of protein as before. The same thing happens with vitamins and iron, it should be taken into account, "said the nutritionist.
N.Pugacheva advises to rely primarily on animal protein: meat, fish, eggs, dairy products. The value of plant proteins is also great, but it is longer and harder to digest. There is no such problem with animal proteins:
"The diet should contain animal proteins. However, it is better to eat it steamed and boiled in water, not fried. Oven-baked and fried meat forms a crust and makes the protein indigestible. For this reason, protein products are not worth cooking, the amount of protein that the body can take from it is reduced.
It is recommended to include protein products in every meal. Eggs or cottage cheese for breakfast, meat soup for lunch, cutlets or vegetables for dinner. If you have protein in every meal, you are more likely to get enough protein daily.
Nuts and legumes should also be in the diet. These are very valuable and healthy food groups, but you need to know how to cook them. Older people often have difficulty chewing when they have serious problems with their teeth, and ground cookies are more appropriate.
But you should not forget the water. Wrinkles, dry skin, hair loss occur not only due to the loss of collagen properties in the skin, but also due to lack of water in the body. Sometimes a person drinks less water for fear of edema, resulting in increased blood viscosity. This increases the risk of thrombosis, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
The expert explained that the work of the kidneys and heart depends on the amount of water. The less fluid the kidneys secrete, the thicker the urine and the more likely it is to form kidney stones.
"If you do not have serious kidney disease, it is advisable to drink up to two liters a day. In addition, drinking enough water, although strange, has anti-edematous properties. Of course, there is no need to drink at night, enough water during the day helps the kidneys to work better and excrete excess fluid. Water affects many processes. And it solves many problems, "the doctor concluded.