Wondering what to eat in your 40s? Maybe your doctor told you to ‘watch your diet’, but didn’t provide any further guidance. Perhaps you’re feeling a little sluggish? Or you might be starting to focus more on health and are curious about the impact of nutrition on midlife. If so, this post is for you. I cover some of the key nutrients that are important to your health during midlife and the foods you can find them in.
Let’s start by covering what health changes occur in midlife to help you understand how nutrition can support your overall well-being.
Health Changes that Occur in Midlife
Around 40 years of age, our bodies start to show signs of aging. Our ability to manage blood sugar decreases, risk of heart disease increases, and we start to lose bone and muscle mass. Vision can also start to worsen at this age (anyone’s arm suddenly too short?). Men see an increased risk of prostate cancer during midlife.
impact of menopause on health
People born with ovaries have the added bonus of facing an acceleration of some of these health changes due to ovarian-aging. This is because of the eventual decline in estrogen levels that comes with menopause. Estrogen is protective to our heart and bone health. With menopause comes an increased risk of heart disease and loss of bone mass.
Bottom line: middle age is a pivotal time for health.
To complicate matters, life isn’t exactly a walk in the park during midlife. Many of us are raising children. Either starting young families or dealing with the raging hormones and immature frontal lobes that accompany adolescence. There’s also aging parents to care for, busy careers, relationships to nurture. Oh, and let’s throw in a global pandemic while we’re at it.
You’re not going to get through all this on an empty stomach!
Important Nutrients for Your 40’s
These are some of the key nutrients your body needs in midlife. They help preserve muscle and bone, keep blood sugar and energy levels balanced, reduce cholesterol, and reduce inflammation. Enjoying foods containing these key nutrients can support optimal health and give you the energy you need to tackle your never-ending to-do list.
Protein
Why You Need It
Protein helps your body build and maintain muscle and bone mass, and helps us to feel satiated after eating. When eaten together with foods containing carbohydrates, protein can help stabilize blood sugar levels and provide sustained energy levels.
How Much You Need
The daily recommendation for adults of all ages is 0.8 grams/kilogram of body weight. I tend to encourage folks to aim for slightly more (about 1g/kg) to prevent age-related muscle loss. Since our body can only utilize so much protein at one time, it’s best to distribute it evenly throughout the day versus having it all at once. Aim for 20-30 grams of protein per meal, depending on your body size, and include a protein containing food with snacks.
Food Sources of Protein
Excellent sources include meat, poultry, fish, and tofu. A 4 oz. serving of meat, poultry or fish will provide about 25g, and 1/2 cup of tofu cubes gives you around 14g of protein. Other sources include beans and legumes at 8 g per 1/2 cup, as well as dairy products, eggs, soy milk, and nuts and seeds.
Fibre
Why You Need It
Fibre helps stabilize blood sugar, lower cholesterol levels, regulate bowel movements, and feed your gut microbiota for optimal gut health.
How Much You Need
Men need 38 grams per day and women need 25 grams. If you normally don’t eat a lot of fibre, increase your intake slowly. It’ll take some time for your digestive system to adjust and you could end up with tummy troubles (or exacerbating existing ones) if you add in too much, too soon. Be sure to drink more water as your intake increases as well.
Food Sources of Fibre
Excellent sources include vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and beans and legumes. Keeping the skin on potatoes, yams, and carrots can help you get a bit more fibre in. Switching to whole grain products is another strategy that might work for you.
Calcium and Vitamin D
Why You Need Them
You probably guessed it – bone health. Calcium is one of the major building blocks of bone and vitamin D helps your body to absorb calcium from your bloodstream. Calcium is also involved with muscle contractions, blood clotting, and aids in normal heart rhythm. Vitamin D helps reduce inflammation in the body, and is involved with cell proliferation, proper immune function, and glucose metabolism.
We hit peak bone mass sometime between age 25-30 years of age, meaning our bodies don’t build any new bone after this. (Parents, childhood and adolescence is the optimal time for investing in bone health!) Although we can’t build new bone in our 40’s, it’s important to preserve what we do have. This is especially true for women, who can lose up to half their bone mass due to changes that occur with menopause. Ensuing adequate intake of protein, along with calcium and vitamin D will reduce risk of osteoporosis later in life.
How much you need
For adults up to age 50, the RDA for calcium is 1000 mg/day. For vitamin D, the RDA is 600 International Units (IU).
Food Sources of Calcium
Dairy products are an excellent source of calcium, but you can certainly meet your calcium needs through other means. Good sources include tofu (if prepared with calcium sorbate – check the label), white navy beans, fish with bones (think canned salmon), molasses, and cooked green cabbage leaves.
Food Sources of Vitamin D
It can be hard to meet the recommended vitamin D intake through food alone. You can find it in cow’s milk. Again, check the label – not all countries add it in, but in Canada it’s mandatory. Fortified soy milk and orange juice, egg yolks, and oily fish such as salmon also contain vitamin D.
Vitamin D requirements can also be met through sun exposure. However, given the risk of skin cancer associated with long-term sun exposure, it could be worth taking a supplement if you know you won’t meet your needs through food. In Canada, our latitude is such that you may only get enough sun exposure to meet vitamin D needs in the summer months.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Why You Need It
Omega-3 fatty acids can lower triglyceride levels, reduce blood pressure, help prevent blood clots, and reduce inflammation.
There are three kinds: alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). ALA is an essential fatty acid because our bodies cannot make it, so we need to get it through our diet. Our bodies can make EPA and DHA from ALA. However, this process is not a very efficient one.
How Much You Need
Men and women need 1,600 mg and 1,100 mg of ALA per day, respectively.
Food Sources of Omega-3s
Excellent sources of EPA and DHA are fatty fish like salmon, char, mackerel, sardines, anchovies, and tuna. ALA is found in flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts, soy and soy products, as well as omega-3 eggs. Aim for two servings of fatty fish per week.
Research on the benefits of omega-3 supplementation is mixed. For some situations, like high triglycerides in the blood, there is demonstrated benefit to a DHA + EPA supplement. Omega-3 supplementation can interfere with certain medications and may not be suitable for all individuals. It’s best to consult with a health professional before taking.
Monounsaturated Fats
Why You Need Them
Monounsaturated fats help lower your LDL-cholesterol and can reduce your risk of heart disease. There’s no minimum recommended intake, but I suggest clients replace saturated fats with monounsaturated fats when it’s possible.
Food Sources of MONOunsaturated fats
Avocados and avocado oil, olive oil, peanut oil and high oleic safflower oil are all good sources of monounsaturated fats. Nuts also contain this type of fat. Cooking with olive or avocado oil, and adding nuts to oatmeal, salads, or to have as a snack are a great way to add this type of fat into your diet.
Putting it All Together
It can seem overwhelming for some people to get all these nutrients in to your day, especially when you’re busy. Remember, the important thing is your overall eating pattern over the course of a week or even month. You may have noticed that some of the foods or food groups provide multiple key nutrients. Focusing on these foods first could be a good place to start. For example, enjoying fish twice a week will check off the box for omega-3s and can help you meet your protein needs.
Another method that works for some is aiming to have half your plate consist of vegetables, 1/4 whole grain or starch, and 1/4 protein. Include some omega-3 and/or monounsaturated fats and you have a satisfying, balanced plate.
There’s a lot of different ways to ensure your nutrition needs are being met. Be it through food alone, or a combination of food and fortified foods and/or supplements. Talking to a dietitian can help you find out what works best for you.
Don’t Change Everything All at Once
If you think would like to make changes to how you nourish yourself, just pick one or two small changes to start with. Very few people can just wake up one morning and make big changes – and have them stick. Change usually takes time. Have compassion for yourself – and your partner if you’re making changes together.
The goal is not to eat perfectly all the time. The goal is to find a way of eating that makes you feel good and works best for you. Based on your circumstances, culture, values, health conditions and goals.
Healthy eating will look different for everyone.
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